Summer’s almost over but sheesh it certainly seems like the temperature’s still rising and the heat is at its worst! Even with the A/C turned up I still wake up in a cold sweat and ask, isn’t summer overl? With the election done, vacation almost over, school is in the offing. For most, including my Keoni, it’s hard to believe that kids are heading back to school sometime in the next few weeks.

That means it's time to get on a schedule and prepare your selves for another school year of lessons, lectures, homework and tests. And for fresh grads, sure, there is a lot of fun to be had—but the party is going to come to a screeching halt when you get out there into the real world. Time to hit the job-hunting arena! So for those going back to school here’s a list of some gadgets that I think may teach you how to cut corners more effectively, saving you some time and moolah…

APPLE IPAD – The gadget of the hour! In just months, iPads have been propping up everywhere. I particularly am not “in love” with it, and see it as just a bigger iPhone as it also runs on a modified version of the iPhone OS. But lotsa people are hot about it and I respect that. Well for students who could afford it, and mind you there’s lots, this “tablet computer” by Apple is most useful for Internet browsing, media consumption, gaming, and light content creation. In the photo, our editor ArtSam took a shot of this writer and fellow contributor John Nieves with the MB iPad.

I admit, it seems to have established a new class of devices between smartphones and laptops and as of the merry month of May, Apple had already sold a million. It is controlled by a multi-touch LCD sensitive to fingertips. It uses uses Wi-Fi or a 3G data connection to browse the Internet, load and stream media.

A NICE LAPPY – Most students I asked said a Mac Book Pro would do it for them. When it comes to toting a laptop across campus, this 4.5 lb., 13 in. (2 kg, 33 cm) packs a solid punch — not to mention killer looks — in its compact shell. The new model that sells for about P75,000 has a speedy 2.26 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, integrated NVidia graphics for smooth video playback and gaming, 2 GB of RAM and a roomy 160-GB hard drive, good for storing thousands of songs, HD movies and even the odd term paper. Best of all, this has been earning raves for its impressive battery life — north of 5½ hours, in some cases — which makes it perfect for browsing on the quad when there's nary a power socket in sight.

AMAZON KINDLE DX – For the avid readers - the DX, a 19-oz. (0.5 kg) electronic reader that is only a third of an inch thick and comes with a 9.7-in. (25 cm) screen, 3.3 GB of storage (good for about 3,500 books) and the ability to download an entire volume over its 3G antenna in under a minute. Not only will you be able to buy and download more than 275,000 books, newspapers and magazines from Amazon's standard Kindle catalog, you'll also get access to textbooks from other educational publishers. Thanks to the Kindle's low-power e-paper display, you'll be able to peruse your book collection for up to four days without plugging into an AC outlet. Neat, huh?