\fR oo m-hāk\ n. Any application of ingenuity for those who are committed to observe the 613 Mitzvot. [ORIGIN: Yiddish פֿרום (frum|fR oo m) meaning "commited to observe the 613 Mitzvot, or Jewish commandments" and the English Slang term HACK (hāk|hak) or LIFEHACK (līf-hāk|lahyf-hak) meaning "anything that solves an everyday problem in a clever/non-obvious way or an appropriate application of ingenuity"]

Many of us already recognize the tremendous value that can be found online in the form of audio (and even video) shiurim. These shiurim have rapidly taken the place of the Torah Tapes of our youth and continue to offer thirsty students of Torah the opportunity to enjoy a quality learning experience no matter where they find themselves, anywhere from Brooklyn to Barbados and everywhere in between.

Audio shiurim can be found in a number of places online, two of the best repositories of consistently updated shiurim can be found at YU Torah and OU Radio. These are the two site we will focus on for today’s Mobile How To.

As mentioned above, most of us are aware of the amazing value of online shiuirm, but there is an incredible feature that most of us are probably missing out on: Podcasting. Podcasting is basically just an RSS Feed consisting of MP3 files instead of articles, but the magic of Podcasting is revealed when its features are married with those of today’s always-connected smartphones; with their powers combined they allow the end-user to stream audio shiurim from just about anywhere, without having to download or check for updates. Once you find a class, topic of teacher you like you can use Podcasting just as you would TiVo (chas ve’shalom) to capture new classes automatically and view or listen at your convenience, and using your smartphone (we will focus on Android in this article) you can stream, not download and play, those shiurim from anywhere, whenever the mood strikes or you have a free block of time…think: on your daily commute, waiting in line, waiting for the bus, while at the mechanic…anywhere, anytime.

“How can I set up this magical TiVo for shiurim?” you ask? In about 3 steps and 5 minutes you will be up and running and listening to shiurim wherever and whenever.

Things you’ll need:

• Android Smartphone (any smart phone will do, but we will be using Android for this How To)
• Computer
• Google Account (If you don’t already have one: https://www.google.com/accounts/NewAccount)

Step 1 – Set Up Google Listen:

Scan this QR Code to download Google Listen

Open the Android Market and search for Listen, visit http://listen.googlelabs.com or scan the QR Code to the right with your Android phone to download Google Listen.

Once you have downloaded and set-up Google Listen be sure that it is linked to your Google Account and proceed to Step 2.

Step 2 – Set Up Google Reader:

Open your browser on your computer and goto http://www.google.com/reader. When you set-up Google Listen and link it to your Google Account it will automatically create a new folder in Google Reader called “Listen Subscriptions”; this is where you will add the Podcasts you want to subscribe to.

Goto to your Reader settings page (by clicking the gear in the upper right-hand corner and clicking “Reader Settings”) and click over to the “Goodies” tab. Now, scroll to the bottom of this page and follow the instructions for adding the “Subscribe” bookmarklet to your browser.

Step 3a – Find Your Shiurim and RSS Feed:

YU Torah: Roll over the series of icons you want to subscribe to

For YU Torah: First, find the topic, speaker or series you want to subscribe to, next click-through to the actual shiur page and you will see a line of icons (RSS, Podcast, Apple logo, envelope), roll over them and click “Podcast”, next select the number of shiurim you want displayed at a time and click “Go”. A new window should now be open with the XML code of the RSS feed of your series of shiurim. Proceed to Step 3b.

OU Radio: Click the RSS icon to open the Subscription page

For OU Radio: Visit http://www.ouradio.org/podcasting, find the series you want to subscribe to, click the little RSS icon and proceed to Step 3b.
>Step 3b.

Step 3b – Subscribe and Enjoy!

Click "Feed Settings" to move your subscription to the "Listen Subscriptions" folder

All you need to do now is click on the bookmarklet you created in Step 2 and subscribe to this page. Once you are subscribed click “Feed Settings” and move the subscription to the “Listen Subscriptions” folder, now just fire up your Android phone, open the Listen app and you can stream all your subscribed shiurim, which will automatically update as new content is added!

Whether you use this tool for professional development, personal learning, to stay in touch with your students or to keep up to date on a class when you can’t be there, podcasting is an amazing tool that will help us all stay a little closer to Torah learning no matter where we find ourselves…happy streaming!

Who of us doesn’t know about Chinese Acupuncture? The Chinese discovered the medical treatment using needles to heal when they are inserted at certain points in the body. The Chinese have mapped out and named all the points of the body du 24 – du 70 – du 23, and so on. And the Chinese Journal of Medicine – to which everyone important in the field of Acupuncture subscribes – published an amazing article, absolutely astonishing. The main article in volume number 70 of the Journal deals solely with the Tefillin of the Jewish People.

The article conclusively establishes that the contact and pressure points covered by the hand and head Tefillin are exactly those points at which the Acupuncture needles are inserted in order “to increase spirituality and to purify thoughts.” The non-Jewish author of the article puts it that the points covered by the Tefillin are those where the Acupuncture needles are inserted.

Reverse the statement to read: The Acupuncture needles are inserted in those points which are exactly where a Jew puts on Tefillin.

The article details all of the Acupuncture points which are the same as the points-of-contact of the head Tefillin – front and back – as well as the points-of-contact of the hand Tefillin on the arm and hand.

In the opinion of the expert who wrote the article, these are the only Acupuncture points that will achieve this result [to increase spirituality and to purify thoughts] which, in addition to following the Torah‘s command to place the Tefillin on the arm (hand) and head as a sign that HASHEM brought us out of Egypt with a strong hand, is likely the reason that Jews put on Tefillin.

Absolutely amazing!

Image via CrunchBase

I have this idea about a month or two ago, at which point I Googled the idea to see if I was the first, apparently I was not the first to think of it, I mean, how could I be? Jews are constantly innovating their mediums for Torah Dissemination…so the next logical step from Torah Blogs is Torah Tweets…the first post I saw regarding this concept is at a fellow Blogger blog: On Chanting (http://www.onchanting.com/2009/02/790-fear-of-twitter-torah.html) but the author hadn’t quite finalized the idea yet and not started Torah Tweeting yet. I of course thought of a great name for it, because that is what I do, and called a friend for advice/approval (Shuey) and we discussed his disdain for the whole concept of Twitter and the idea went onto my back burners…

Ever been working on a really big project, like your Semicha Test, a book design project, or anything else, only to have your computer crash, get stolen, or the like (Chas Ve’Shalom, Lo Aleinu)?
What about a shiur you just downloaded, or a song you just recorded that you want to share with a bunch of friends? Email is a pain, because you have to attach it and it takes forever to upload, download and then most of the time you can’t even send it because it is to big.
Remember the time you were writing a dvar Torah, forgot the whole thing on your desktop at home, and forgot to put it on your thumb drive?
Have you ever accidentally saved something when you didn’t mean to and really, really messed it up?
Also do you like to share pictures easily with your friends and family?

Well this is the coolest tool I have come across in a while. My first reaction when I came across it was the potential awesomeness for file sharing, mainly the painful ones to email, like audio shiurim and videos, but then after watching the below video I realized the amazing potential such a tool offered.

Basically, when you install it, Dropbox creates a folder on your computer and anything in that folder is automatically synced up with its website interface and anyother computer you have registered with your Dropbox account. Plus it has an option to make a file public, meaning you get a web address where that file is located and anyone can access it by going to the link. It also has a built in photo album software (much like Jalbum) and keeps revision info on your files, so if God forbid anything bad happens you can just revert back to an older version. It is sorta like Google Docs, except for all your files, oh yeah, and on steriods.

As you can see from the video, Dropbox allows you to easily transfer, sync ans share files, making the internet sort of like a hub to keep all you files and then allowing you download them from anywhere. Sharing pictures is also a snap with the pictures folder, and the public link folder is much easier than having to upload files to a website or emailing them around.

All in all a really cool tool. The catch is it is still in the Beta phase of its development which means that only those lucky enough to get an invite are allowed to join. I happen to be one of those people and have been using Dropbox for a few days. I love it. With my membership I get 10 free invites, meaning I can invite 10 of my friends to join in the fun. Lucky me right? Lucky you! The first 10 of you that either get in touch with me or post a comment requesting an invite will be so lucky. And of course I will post an update as soon as it leaves the Beta phase. (PS those of you who do get the invites, share the wealth with your fellow Frumhakers, post a comment and invite away!)

[Update: Using this link will get both of us free extra space! http://www.dropbox.com/referrals/NTQ4NzA1OQ ]