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"  Kids these days. Your average 18-year-old college freshman is part of the first generation raised from the cradle in the era of the personal computer. These young men and women grew up to the tune of cellphones ringing and video games bleeping. The World Wide Web was invented when they were only 1 year old. For this reason and many others, today&amp;#039;s college students make fascinating test subjects for consumer electronics. They have an innate aptitude for and fearlessness about technology, and their enthusiasm has generally not yet been tempered by the sting of having to pay for their gadgets themselves. At Popular Mechanics, we bring all sorts of electronic devices into our labs for testing. But the everyday chaos of the real world is also instructive--and when it comes to hardcore use and abuse, only the monkey cage at the zoo rivals a college dorm. Since we knew that PM was going to be spending some time investigating America&amp;#039;s institutions of higher learning for our College Special, we decided to find a school that could use a little cheering up and create the ideal high-tech student lounge. Considering the hardships endured over the past year by Tulane University, the school seemed the obvious choice. When Hurricane Katrina slammed into the Gulf Coast in August of 2005, Tulane was directly in its path. Situated in the middle of the city of New Orleans, the campus was evacuated on Aug. 27, and, according to Tulane spokesman Michael Strecker, 65 campus buildings were flooded by the ensuing levee breaches. The school suffered $150 million in property damage and the fall semester was canceled, causing an additional $150 million in operating losses. But Tulane helped lead the city&amp;#039;s rebuilding efforts. The campus was renovated and ready for students by Jan. 12 of this year, and 88 percent of the student body returned after spending the fall enrolled as &amp;quot;visiting students&amp;quot; at universities around the country. These students have volunteered 50,000 hours in the community and, beginning this fall, incoming students will be required to do community service to graduate. In May and June, Tulane held a free &amp;quot;lagniappe&amp;quot; (Creole for &amp;quot;a little something extra&amp;quot;) summer semester to help students catch up on credits and classes. And Popular Mechanics descended on Tulane&amp;#039;s Butler House dorm complex like a high-tech summer Santa Claus. We came bearing a Sony Vaio Media Center PC, Netgear wireless router, Canon all-in-one printer/scanner/copier, Sharp LCD television, Xbox 360, two WowWee robots and a Braun Tassimo coffeemaker that had all been generously donated by the manufacturers for the computing, printing, viewing, playing and coffee-sipping pleasure of the dorm&amp;#039;s residents. When we arrived with the high-tech toys, the students briefly scratched their heads in bafflement at their good fortune, then commenced crawling all over their new gear like fire ants on a box of abandoned cupcakes. Graves Bates, a junior from Cape Cod, Mass., and Sheridan Lewis, a senior from Dallas, immediately set about the task of mounting the Sharp TV to the wall, while Ali Thariani, a freshman from Omaha, Neb., sat down at the Sony Vaio VA-series computer and set himself up as the PC&amp;#039;s administrator. Then, pretty much every other student within 10 square miles gathered around the Xbox 360 to vie for the chance to play first. They showed little interest in the instructions as they tore open boxes and set up all the gear--feeling their way through the functionality of each machine with an efficiency that seemed a combination of trial and error and muscle memory. The energy of the students was overwhelming. Everywhere we looked, they were poking, prodding and programming the new electronics. When we finally left, there were still a lot of unexplored possibilities--the Xbox 360 had not yet been set up as a Media Center Extender; the wireless router wasn&amp;#039;t properly tapped into the school&amp;#039;s network; and a convenient supply of water for the coffeemaker had not yet been found. But we were confident they would figure it all out in time ... that is, right after one more game of Madden &amp;#039;06.   HOMEWORK CENTRAL 1-Tassimo Hot Beverage System Around exam time, we expect the Tassimo to be a dorm favorite. It uses disposable T Discs to brew everything from coffee to cappuccino to tea. $130 2-Canon PIXMA MP830 It&amp;#039;s a color printer, copier and scanner--capable of pumping out term papers fast or printing high-quality photos at 9600 x 2400 dpi. $300 3-Netgear Rangemax WPN824 This 802.11g router has seven internal antennas to deliver data at up to 108Mbps over an area of 500,000 sq. ft. $100 4-Sony Vaio VGC-VA10G Sony&amp;#039;s all-in-one Media Center PC is an entertainment powerhouse with a 20-in. widescreen, TV tuner and DVR, as well as built-in Wi-Fi, a DVD burner and a remote control. $1999 5-Canon PowerShot SD600 When the students want to put down their camera phones and take a serious photograph, the SD600 crams 6.0 megapixels and a 2.5-in. screen into a compact package. $349 6-Logitech Z-5450 A powerful PC needs powerful speakers. This 5.1-channel surround-sound system has wireless rear speakers and a 315-watt amp. $500 7-Logitech QuickCam Fusion This 1.3-megapixel Web cam uses Logitech Video Effects to track the movements of your face, creating on-screen avatars that mimic your expressions. $100 8-Belkin Battery Backup 750VA To prevent power outages from eating the students&amp;#039; homework, Belkin&amp;#039;s battery backup system provides 38 minutes of power. $100 "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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