By Eleine Fang

At the brink of the Aquarius age, or better known as the 21st century, the general public has access to almost any type of information it could imagine. Through the computer, the typical person is exposed to a gateway of knowledge relating to anything the mind desires. Here are a few sites that are the offspring of the information era:

Two words…Stumble Upon. Stumbleupon.com is either a procrastinator’s best friend  ~ or worst enemy…especially during finals (oops). What’s this site got in store, you ask? Only all your interests jam- packed into one browser tab! On your first visit, you will be asked to check off your interests. From there, Stumble Upon collects what seems like an endless list of sites and pages to pique your curiosity. You can like or dislike the pages suggested for you and from there the stumbling is further personalized by your choices and other like-minded stumblers’ opinions. The pages will become more and more relevant to your personal preferences ~ see how this can get addicting? I once spent hours looking through 10 years of Simpsons’ quotes and pictures of food ~ and let’s just say my Econ exam the next morning wasn’t on any of the above topics.

Bargain hunters/starving college students look no further! Entrepreneur Andrew Mason has created Groupon.com to bring the best deals from local businesses to your mailbox ~ or rather, your inbox. From Facebook, Twitter or your email, you can receive daily discounts like 50% off a delicious $30 dollar meal at a local restaurant you’ve been wanting to try but couldn’t afford to 68% off a romantic hot air balloon ride for two!  You can even share your discounts with your friends or that special someone ~ time to make the moves on that cute barista or waiter you’ve been eyeing (oh yeah, I know about those stolen glances)! Just print the voucher or pull it up on your phone to redeem your deal. If you can’t find your deal on Groupon, livingsocial.com is yet another coupon site for those of you determined to get more for less.

If there is an electronic out there that meets all your eggs-pectations, but is eggs-trodinarily eggs-pensive, seek solace in this savory sunny-side up site! Newegg.com is an electronic marketplace goldmine. They have the cheapest deals on over 84000 products for you avid e-shoppers. From PCs to cameras and even home theater systems, this site provides up-to-date product information as well as the best prices on the market. Newegg promises “a superior shopping experience, rapid delivery, and stellar customer service” ~ sounds like a egg-cellent deal to me (please eggs-cuse my EGG-cessive word play…I’m just eggs-stra eggs-cited about the deals on this site)!

For even more savings, Yesstyle.com is the place to shop for reasonably priced clothes from abroad! Dig the Japanese Harajuku street styles? Yesstyle put Asia’s hottest styles and trends right at your fingertips. From sweet looks to sultry looks to facial cleansers, yesstyle.com is one of the most popular places to pick up some modern far-East flair just in time for school. Free shipping on orders $70 or more should be persus-ASIAN enough to check out the site (OK, OK, I admit it, I have a problem!).

Another online clothing store that has always been a favorite of mine is threadless.com. Similar to bustedtees.com and zazzle.com, threadless sells those oh-so coveted obscure graphic tees. From Ts with funny slogans to just plain weird images, this site has the perfect top for men, women and yes, even babies! If lately you’ve been tapping into to your creative side, zazzle.com sells the same style tees and actually lets you customize and design your own. Maybe the Andy Warhol in you will create the next Campbell Soup picture for tees!

Now that you’ve got your fall wardrobe, it’s time to hit the books. With the largest database of student reviews, ratings and suggestions regarding professors and classes at thousands of colleges nationwide, Ratemyprofessors.com has bundled class hunting into one website with ratings on overall quality, class difficulty, helpfulness, clarity, and even “hotness.” Now you can find out before you sign up for classes if the professor is a total babe, total ball-buster, or total bore! Do you even need the textbook? You can find out through ratemyprofessors.com and save tons on useless heavy bricks weighing down your backpack.

Hope these sites will help you get a great start to your school year!