The Nerdy Student

Pokémon in the Spotlight: Goomy!

June 24, 2015

Gloomy is a pile of goo which looks like a slug. It is widely considered as the worst Dragon type Pokémon, which is one of the reasons I chose it! Goomy is a Dragon type.

Goomy evolves into Sliggoo, which then evolves into Goodra.

> Strategy Guide

– Stats

Goomy has high Special Attack and Defense stats. This means that it is well-rounded in the ‘Special’ area.

Stat

Range

At Lv. 50

At Lv. 100

HP:	45

105 – 152

200 – 294

Attack:	50

49 – 112

94 – 218

Defense:	35

36 – 95

67 – 185

Sp.Atk:	55

54 – 117

103 – 229

Sp.Def:	75

72 – 139

139 – 273

Speed:	40

40 – 101

76 – 196

Total:	300	Thanks to Bulbapedia!

Minimum stats are calculated with 0 EVs, IVs of 0, and a hindering nature, if applicable.

Maximum stats are calculated with 252 EVs, IVs of 31, and a helpful nature, if applicable.

– Suggested Moveset

Dragon Pulse
Hidden Power (this would be Fighting type)
Rest
Sleep Talk

An Eviolite would be a good choice for Goomy, as it a NFE (Not Fully Evolved) Pokémon. The Eviolite boosts Defense and Special Defense of the holder by 50%, but only if it is a NFE Pokémon.

Dragon Pulse is Goomy’s major move, as it has 85 power, and can do good damage to other Dragon type Pokémon. Hidden Power is also another good choice, as it is Fighting type, which means that you can get good damage on Normal, Ice, Rock, Dark and Steel Pokémon. If you Goomy is low on HP, you can use Rest, which heals it, and also removes status problems. You can then use Sleep Talk to use a random move, which will make sure that Goomy is not helpless whilst asleep.

– Type Defenses

If Goomy has the Sap Sipper ability, then Grass will not be effective.

Goomy is a great Pokémon if it has the right ability and moves. I would not recommend putting it in your competitive team, but it is a fun Pokémon to play with.

Thanks for reading!

Feel free to comment with what Pokémon you want next, and what you think about Goomy!

TCG: Strengthen Your Deck with Muk!

June 17, 2015

Muk is a Pokémon that can add an edge to your card game.

This version of the Muk is in the Platinum Series: 57/133. It is a uncommon card.

Muk is Lv. 49, and has a HP 100. It is weak to poison, and costs three energy cards of any type to retreat. To use Muk in your deck, you’ll need to obtain a Grimer.

> Moves and Poké-Body

Muk has two moves; Strange Poison and Strange Sludge. Both moves require at least one Poison energy card, and another energy card which can be anything. If you know how to use Muk properly, it could be a brilliant late game changer.

Muk’s first move is Strange Poison. It does 30 damage, and then a coin is flipped. If the coin lands on heads, your opponents Pokémon is poisoned. This means 10 health is subtracted every one of your opponents moves. If the coin lands on tails, Muk, your Pokémon, is poisoned. This may sound bad, but Muks Poké-Body will boost your health, and there is an even better advantage with having Muk poisioned.

Muk’s Poké-Body is Sludge Cell, which means that if Muk remains affected by any Special Conditions between turns, your remove two of the damage counters on Muk. This means that after your go, if Muk still has a special condition, you can remove 20 health from it. Therefore, it might be better having Muk poisoned then not poisoned.

Muk’s second move is Strange Sludge. This move does 50 damage, and does 20 more and confuses the opponents Pokémon if Muk is poisoned. Therefore, you might just want to have Muk poisoned.

All in all, Muk is a great Pokémon, and it’s even better poisoned! Muk is one of the Pokémon I included in my deck, and I would recommend that you try it out in your deck too!

Thanks for reading!

What do you think about Muk, and what Pokémon card do want next? Feel free to day so in the comments below!

Make Wikipedia Look Great with Wikiwand!

Uncategorized

June 13, 2015

Wikiwand is a chrome extension to make Wikipedia look great.

What a page looks like when loaded

We all use Wikipedia (even if we’re not meant to). It’s a great source for researching for homework, essays or just for looking up things that interest you.

I was always slightly off-put when using Wikipedia due to its ugly looks. Some may find it fine, but I found it off-putting. Wikiwand changed that. It still allows you to access Wikipedia’s features, but it makes it look great. There is an easy to use table at the side, and the article is in the centre. You can still access links on the page, and access the Wikipedia tools. You also get the option to change it back to the normal Wikipedia view, and this can be done by clicking on the Wikipedia logo that can be seen on the bottom right.

All in all, Wikiwand is a great way to make Wikipedia look great, whilst retaining its functionality. I would recommend you try it out.

Feel free to have your say in the comments below, or contact me if you have any questions!

Pokémon in the Spotlight: Wailord!

June 9, 2015

I thought as my first post I would do my favorite Pokémon, Wailord! Please contact me if any info is incorrect, or if you want more stuff added to future posts!

Wailord is a large whale Pokémon, which appeared in the Generation III games. It is most well known for being the largest Pokémon; its height is around 14.5 metres.

Wailord evolves from Wailmer.

> Strategy guide

– Stats

Wailord is a offensive Pokémon, with its Attack and Sp. Attack stats higher than its Defense and Sp. Defense.

Stat

Range

At Lv. 50

At Lv. 100

HP:	170

230 – 277

450 – 544

Attack:	90

85 – 156

166 – 306

Defense:	45

45 – 106

85 – 207

Sp.Atk:	90

85 – 156

166 – 306

Sp.Def:	45

45 – 106

85 – 207

Speed:	60

58 – 123

112 – 240

Total:	500	Thanks to Bulbapedia!

Minimum stats are calculated with 0 EVs, IVs of 0, and a hindering nature, if applicable.

Maximum stats are calculated with 252 EVs, IVs of 31, and a helpful nature, if applicable.

– Suggested moveset

Wailord would be most strong with these moves:

Water Spout
Ice Beam
Hidden Power (this would be Grass type)
Surf

I would give Wailord the Choice Specs as its item.Remember that the Choice Specs raise Special Attack by 50%, but they lock the holder into one move. I would choose Surf as that move, as it damages both of the opponents. You might want to choose Water Spout as that move (as it has 150 power), but you must remember that it only has 5pp and that it becomes weaker the more damage your Wailord takes.

If you don’t want to use the Choice Specs, you can always use Leftovers. Leftovers give you small amounts of health during the battle, but in the long run they might make the difference between you winning or losing.

You can also damage other water type Pokémon with Hidden Power, which means your Wailord might have a chance against Pokémon such as Blastoise.

– Type defenses

All in all, Wailord is a great Pokémon, and it is very underrated. Try one out in your team and see how it goes!

Thanks for reading!

Feel free to comment below!

Pokémon Appear on The Nerdy Student!

Announcement

June 7, 2015

Hello there!

You may have seen that I recently added a survey, and that was to decide whether stuff about Pokémon would be added to The Nerdy Student.

I am happy to announce that the results were in favor of Pokémon being added!

Pokémon in the spotlight and Pokémon Cards are what people want to see most, so you can expect to see posts on this topic.

If you don’t like Pokémon, do not fear! The normal productivity posts, software reviews and reviews (and more) will still be added.

I am planning to post Pokémon related stuff every Wednesday, and continue posting the usual stuff every Saturday.

I hope you enjoy the new changes!

Tell me what you think in the comments below!

IFTTT: Automate Your Life

Uncategorized

June 6, 2015

IFTTT: Put the internet to work for you

IFTTT is a great tool for putting the internet to work for you. You can automate things such as saving all your favorite tweets into a note in Evernote, switching your alarm on when you leave your house and switching your phone to vibrate when you enter school.

The IFTTT logo

I perform many tedious tasks, and there are many things I want to automate to make my life quicker, easier and more simple. With IFTTT, you can set up ‘recipes’ (which are actually macros) to automate many things.

My favorite recipes can be found below.

Using IFTTT will smooth up your work flow, and probably increase the amount of time you have to do things. Keep forgetting to switch your alarm on or off? Set up a recipe so that when you leave a location your alarm is switched off. Got a new follower on Twitter? Thank them. Want to add your notes from Notability to Evernote, with three taps? Do it all automatically with IFTTT.

IFTTT is integrated with loads of services (called ‘Channels’ in the IFTTT world). You can find the full list here.

All in all, IFTTT is a great way to save time, and its kind of fun to set up, and see you recipes in action. Its massive amount of integrations mean you will be hard pushed not to find the service you want on it.

IFTTT have recently released the DO apps, and they are another way to smoothen your life out at the tap of a button.

You can find all of my recipes here.

Do you use IFTTT? Do you like it and why? Feel free to comment in the comments section below!

Have Your Say in the Future of The Nerdy Student!

Announcement

June 3, 2015

Hello there!

I have been considering whether to add Pokemon to this blog, Please take the 10 second survey below to have your say in the future of The Nerdy Student!

Thank you very much!

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Never Have to Worry About Losing Your Important Files with Cloud Storage!

May 30, 2015

Cloud storage is great for students, as it means all your work is safely backed up, and accessible from anywhere. I especially love it because if I forget some work at home, I can just print it off at school.

There are many companies offering cloud storage, and the main ones are Box, OneDrive, Dropbox and Google Drive. Below, I will compare the storage size they offer, the file size limit, and the size of boosts you can get. Below is a detailed list of the bigger cloud service providers.

My favorite cloud service is Dropbox, but due to the limited space limit, I use OneDrive for nearly everything. I currently have 200 gigabytes of space, as I got 15 from camera upload, and I have joined special events which have given me 100 gigabytes each.

Box
Box is free for anyone, and its great for collaborating. It allows you to comment on files, add tasks, share files with other people and get notified when the file changes.

Box is great to use with Office 2013, as they offer Box for Office, which adds a location to your Microsoft save areas. You can also download Box Sync, which syncs your hardrive and Box together.

Box is best for businesses, as it allows you to password protect files and choose who you share folders with.

OneDrive

[ Changes have been made to OneDrive: Only 5 GB space for free, and no camera upload bonus ]

OneDrive is already built into Windows 8 and 10 computers, and gives you the most free space for free. When you install OneDrive for mobile, and switch on photo backup, it gives you 15GB, which would give you a total of 30GB.

OneDrive also offers loads of free bonuses, and the two latest ones will give you 100GB of space each.

Dropbox
Dropbox is the largest cloud storage provider as it is simple, easy to use, and its sync is extremely quick.

You can add any file type to Dropbox, either through the website or the desktop app. There is no size limit on the files on Dropbox, but if you’re a free user your file size will probably be limited by Dropbox’s 2GB free space.

Dropbox does allow you to get more space for free; if you participate in the getting started tutorial, you get 250MB, and if you connect your social media you get 250MB per each one. If you refer a friend, both you and the friend will get 500MB if they sign into the web version and install the desktop app. You can keep referring friends up to 16 GB.

I use Dropbox to store important PDFs in, and I use my IFTTT recipe (below) to automatically send my Notability notes to Evernote with Dropbox.

Google Drive
Most people will have experienced the irritation of attempting to add a file which is too big to an email. If you use Gmail, you will be happy to know that you can add files to an email you might be sending via Google Drive.

Google Drive comes with 15GB of space, which is shared over the cloud drive storage, Gmail, and Google+. In my experience, Google Drive does not give out much free space, and when they do it is usually only around 2GB (which is still a lot of space!). If you create something using Google Docs, Google Draw, Google Slides or Google Sheets, the document will not take any space out of your storage.

All in all, I think that cloud storage is a great way to store stuff you don’t want to lose it to a dreaded hard drive crash. It also means you can access it across all devices, and that you don’t need to worry about losing or forgetting that important document.

Get 500MB on OneDrive for free using this referral!
Get 500MB on Dropbox for free using this referral!

Feel free to share your opinions on cloud storage in the comments section below!

Write, Scribble or Sketch with the Adonit Jot Script 2 Evernote Edition

May 23, 2015

Write, scribble or sketch with the Adonit Jot Script 2 Evernote Edition.

The stylus in its boxing

You may have heard about the Adonit Jot Script 2, which costs around £60 (inc. VAT). It is an active stylus designed for iPad’s which have Bluetooth 4 or later. It is made by Adonit, which make many well known and high quality styluses.

The stylus on its USB charger

I found that taking notes by hand helps me remember things (many studies say that handwriting notes is better for the memory). I originally started out using a Wacom Bamboo Solo 3, but I found that it did not cut it for me. I decided to spend some money, and get an upgrade.

Pairing the stylus

The stylus arrived in two days after I got the shipping notification email; as soon as I got it I gave it a go. It arrived in a neat box, and was ready for use straight after unpacking. It is easy to use, and just requires you to switch bluetooth on, and pair it with the app you use (I use Evernote’s Penultimate handwriting app), and your ready to go.

The Adonit Jot Script 2

Writing notes quickly is easy with the Adonit Jot Script 2. It feels like your writing with a real pen, and the battery lasts for ages. When the Jot Script 2 runs out, it only takes 45 minutes to fully charge it again. To see how long it will last on your device, see below:

iPad Air 2 – 30 hours
iPad 4 – 20 hours
iPad Air 1 – 50 hours
iPad Mini – 50 hours

The Adonit Jot Script 2 Evernote edition is a solid choice for digital notetaking, even with the hefty price tag. It is accurate, light, and is a pleasure to use.

Buy it from the Evernote Market here.

Feel free to ask questions or voice your opinion in the comments section below!

Annotate Images Easily Using Skitch

May 16, 2015

Skitch is an application made by Evernote which allows you to easily annotate images, and then save them to Evernote or to your computer.

The Skitch application on Windows

You may have seen on many of my blog posts that bits and pieces are pixelated, have squares and arrows pointing to them, and this is all done with Skitch.

Skitch is also built into Evernote, and this allows you to directly annotate images in the Evernote client. If you are a premium user (try Evernote Premium out for one month free by using this link), you will be able to annotate PDFs in the Evernote client, or in Skitch for iOS or Android. After the PDF has been annotated, you will get an annotation summary, which will indicate things such as how many of the tick stamps you used, how many question mark stamps you used, and how many highlights you made, for example.

An annotated PDFs summary

Skitch is a great tool for students and teachers that want to point out objects in images in a clear and professional way. You can download it for Windows, Mac, iOS and Android.

Feel free to share how you use Skitch in the comments below!