PSU AgSci IT eNews

Update your eNews RSS Feed !!

2010-03-15T10:39:00.009-04:00

We have completed the migration of our website to Plone, the Content Management System that currently houses the College of Agricultural Sciences and main Cooperative Extension websites.

As a result of moving to Plone, the AgSci IT eNews RSS Feed has changed. The move to Plone has made the RSS Feed creation automatic, a very good thing.

Please update your eNews RSS Feed for the new address:

http://agsci.psu.edu/it/news/latest/RSS

Unfortunately, several features of the old blog/RSS Feed are not supported in Plone. For example, previously you could listen to the RSS Feed via Odiogo or iSpeech, subscribe to the Feed via iTunes, and receive the full article via the RSS Feed.

Vince Verbeke, IT Specialist

AgSci News: Ag IT Website Gets a Facelift

2010-03-11T05:31:00.001-05:00

You will soon notice that the Ag IT website will have a slightly different look. We have almost completed the migration of the website to Plone, the Content Management System that currently houses the College of Agricultural Sciences and main Cooperative Extension websites.

The Ag IT website will still contain all of the valuable information as before, but the look will be slightly different.

One area affected by the move to Plone is the Training portion of the site. You will still use this area to review and register for scheduled training sessions, BUT please look for the link “Register or get more information” at the bottom of the course description to complete course registration.

If you have any questions or comments about the new site, please feel free to submit a Help Request.

Sherry Crum, Educational Technologist

AgSci News: Learn More About Adobe Connect

2010-03-11T05:29:00.001-05:00

Do you need to learn more about how to use Adobe Connect to reduce costs and to reach more people? You’re in luck. You have two avenues of training: the College’s IT Unit and the University ITS Training Services.

Adobe Connect – I’m a Host, What do I Do? This is a hands-on class. Register on our IT Website: http://go.cas.psu.edu/training/

March 17 – 1:30-3:30 p.m.
April 21 – 9:30-11:30 a.m.
May 18 – 1:30-3:30 p.m.

How to Host a Webinar. Register on our IT Website: http://go.cas.psu.edu/training/

March 11 – 9:00-10:00 a.m.
April 15 – 2:00-3:00 p.m.
May 13 – 10:00-11:00 a.m.
June 2 – 9:00-10:00 a.m.

Request an Adobe Connect training for your department, team, unit or county by contacting any of the Educational Technologists: Peg Shuffstall (pshuffy@psu.edu), Jacki Weikert (jweikert@psu.edu), Sherry Crum (slg161@psu.edu), or Albert Nakpil (aln@psu.edu).

Adobe Connect Demonstration session by Information Technology Services (ITS):

Tuesday, March 23, 2010, from 9:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. No registration necessary. Just show up at this meeting room: https://breeze.psu.edu/r54559680/

The Educational Technologist Team Sherry Crum, Ron Matason, Albert Nakpil, Peg Shuffstall, and Jacki Weikert

Security News: Typical Home Windows User Patches Every 5 Days

2010-03-11T05:25:00.001-05:00

"The typical home user running Windows faces the "unreasonable" task of patching software an average of every five days, a security and vulnerability research company said today.

"It's completely unreasonable to expect users to master so many different patch mechanisms and spend so much time patching," said Thomas Kristensen, the chief security officer of Secunia. The result is that few consumers devote the time and attention necessary to stay atop the patching job, which leaves them open to attack.

After comparing the software portfolios on each machine with the bugs Secunia tracked during 2009, Secunia determined that the typical user faced nearly 300 vulnerabilities during the year, and with the number of vendors represented on the PC, had to deal with approximately 75 patch incidents annually.

That averages out to a patch action every 4.9 days.

"It surprised us that there were so many applications on the systems," said Kristensen, "and that then there were so many updates they had to do in a year." Also important, he said, was that the typical user had to master 22 different patch mechanisms, one from each of the 22 software makers whose programs were on her PC."

To read the rest of the article, go here:

http://www.networkworld.com/news/2010/030410-typical-windows-user-patches-every.html

Vince Verbeke, IT Specialist

How Do I... Use Disk Cleanup to Remove System Restore Points

2010-03-11T05:24:00.000-05:00

System Restore is a great feature, but restore points can take up a lot of space as well. Did you know that Disk Cleanup will allow you to remove all but the most recent one? If you are pressed for disk space, this is another trick to eke out a bit more space from your hard drive.

Choose Start menu | All Programs | Accessories | System Tools | Disk Cleanup.
Click the More Options tab.
Under System Restore, click the Clean up button.
When asked "Are you sure you want to delete all but the most recent restore point?", click Yes.
Click OK. Click Yes.
The window will close when done.

The complete How To Use Disk Cleanup is here: http://it.cas.psu.edu/917.htm

When you have finished the cleanup, check out our How To Use Disk Check and How To Use Disk Defragmenter to fill in the gaps of the items you just deleted.

Vince Verbeke, IT Specialist

How Do I... Adobe Connect – "Hiding" the Attendee List

2010-03-11T05:23:00.001-05:00

At times during an Adobe Connect meeting you may not want to display the Attendee list within the meeting "stage." One reason for this may be simply due to a shortage of available space on the screen. If you find that you would prefer not to display the Attendee list on the stage, but still want the Hosts and Presenters to be able to see who is attending the meeting, you do have an option.

There is an area of Adobe Connect known as the Presenter Only area. Anyone with host or presenter permissions can use this area. To learn how to use the Presenter Only Area you can watch this short (under 2 minute) video tutorial.

https://admin.adobe.acrobat.com/_a227210/presenteronlyarea

Sherry Crum, Educational Technologist

How Do I... Saving Multiple Attachments in Microsoft Outlook

2010-03-11T05:21:00.001-05:00

When you receive a message containing several attachments, you do not need to open and save each file separately. In one step, you can save multiple attachments to the same location.

In Outlook 2003, open the message then click File -> Save Attachments, and select Save All Attachments. In Outlook 2007, open the message and select Microsoft Office button -> Save As -> Save Attachments.

Choose a location to save them and click Save.

You can then delete the E-mail message from your Inbox.

Jacki Weikert, Educational Technologist

Tech Spotlight: Chuck Norris Botnet

2010-03-11T05:20:00.001-05:00

This article from Network World entitled "Chuck Norris botnet karate-chops routers hard" describes how poorly configured routers and DSL modems can allow malware into your home network.

"Security experts say that various types of botnets have infected millions of computers worldwide to date, but Chuck Norris is unusual in that it infects DSL modems and routers rather than PCs.

It installs itself on routers and modems by guessing default administrative passwords and taking advantage of the fact that many devices are configured to allow remote access."

The easiest way of preventing this from happening to you is by using a strong password on the router or DSL modem.

Vince Verbeke, IT Specialist

Tech Spotlight: Twitter Safety

2010-03-11T05:19:00.001-05:00

If you use Twitter, here are two issues to bring to your attention.

First, be cautious of Direct Messages (DM) from people you follow.

"Messages asking "This you????" followed by a link are being sent via the system to unsuspecting users. If you click on the link you are taken to a fake Twitter login page, where hackers are just waiting for you to hand over your credentials. In fact, they can automatically post the phishing message from your account as soon as you hand over your details. If you have received a message like this from one of your friends it is likely that their account has been compromised by cybercriminals."

To read more and see a YouTube video for a demonstration of the phishing attack, please visit here:

http://www.sophos.com/blogs/gc/g/2010/02/24/phishing-attack-hits-twitter-users/

Second, this Twitter Help Resources page describes How Twitter Accounts Become Compromised (Did somebody hack me?).

"Accounts may become compromised if you’ve entrusted your username and password to a third-party application, or if your Twitter account is vulnerable due to a weak password, viruses or malware on your computer, or a compromised network

Unexpected updates don't always mean that your account was hacked. Occasionally, a third-party application can have a bug that causes weird things to happen your account. If you see strange behavior, changing your password and revoking connections will stop it, as the application will no longer have access to your account.

It’s best to take action as soon as possible if updates are appearing in your account that you did not intend to have posted or approve. You can find more information about Account Security on the Safe Tweeting help page."

Takeaway Points:

Use a strong and UNIQUE password for your Twitter account.
If you get a weird link from a follower that you think is a phishing site or a spam site, reach out and suggest they change their password right away. You can also send them to the help page for compromised accounts so they can get more information.
Select third-party programs and applications you use with your Twitter accounts very carefully. Learn more here: http://help.twitter.com/forums/26810/entries/76052

Vince Verbeke, IT Specialist

Tech Spotlight: Password Generator

2010-03-11T05:18:00.001-05:00

The PC Tools Password Generator allows you to create random passwords that are highly secure and extremely difficult to crack or guess due to an optional combination of lower and upper case letters, numbers and punctuation symbols.

You can choose from seven different options and click "Generate Password(s) to create a new, strong and unique password.

http://www.pctools.com/guides/password/

Vince Verbeke, IT Specialist

Tech Spotlight: Limit Your Exposure To Cell Phone Radiation

2010-03-11T05:17:00.000-05:00

Cell phones in 2010 are loaded with new features. The Environmental Working Group (EWG) reports that you might be paying a hidden price for these phone: exposure to high levels of cell phone radiation. Since makers and vendors aren’t required to disclose their products radiation output at point of sale, you won’t find out from those pricey ad campaigns or even the labels.

Some models with the highest levels of legal radiation are the Motorola’s Droid, Blackberry Bold 9700, LG Chocolate Touch and HTC Nexus One by Google. To see a list of the 10 best phones, go here: http://www.ewg.org/cellphone-radiation

EWG has created a user-friendly interactive cell phone radiation list and database that covers more than 1,000 phones now on the market. You can see this list here:

http://www.ewg.org/cellphoneradiation/Get-a-Safer-Phone?allavailable=1

Vince Verbeke, IT Specialist

Tech Spotlight: Accurate Outlook Duplicate Remover

2010-03-11T05:16:00.001-05:00

Disclaimer: Information presented here is provided as a general information resource. Any mention of commercial products is for information only; it does not imply recommendation or endorsement.

Accurate Outlook Duplicate Remover (AODR) can find and remove all duplicate Outlook items automatically. It quickly removes duplicates from Contacts, Calendar, Tasks, Notes and Email folders in one click. You can select any folder for Duplicate Removing.

http://accuratesolution.net/AccurateOutlookDuplicateRemover.htm

Vince Verbeke, IT Specialist

All Interest: The U.S. Census 2010: Don’t be Counted as a Victim of Online Fraud

2010-03-11T05:14:00.001-05:00

On February 26th, 2010, the Symantec Security Response Blog posted the following:

"It’s been ten years already; can you believe it? I’m talking about the U.S. Census. It’s been ten years since the last one. Time to do it again. No, it wasn’t on my calendar either. To remind all of us and to encourage us to participate, the U.S. Census Bureau is spending $340 million to get the word out. There was even a Super Bowl ad.

The Census Bureau will not be the only ones trying to get our attention and encouraging us to help them collect data. Cybercriminals will be doing the same thing. But they’ll be trying to fool us into thinking they are the Census Bureau. And the data they’ll be collecting will be a little different. It will be personal information they can use to rip us off.

How do I know this? First, the census is a perfect dodge for cybercriminals. After all, people are already expecting to have to reveal personal information about themselves, and with a little bit of social engineering, criminals could easily use this as a springboard to victimize computer users. And second, in today’s threat landscape, spammers, scammers, and every other sort of online evil-doer seemingly jump all over every major (and even minor) event in an attempt to use social engineering to fool computer users into becoming their prey."

To read the rest of the blog post and get some great tips on avoiding any scams, please go here:

http://www.symantec.com/connect/blogs/us-census-2010-don-t-be-counted-victim-online-fraud

Vince Verbeke, IT Specialist

All Interest: New Poll Shows Most Productive Time of Day

2010-03-11T05:10:00.001-05:00

What time of day is your most productive? For me, it's early morning. But that is my dairy farmer roots.

For the rest of you, you'll need to check out this article to see where your most productive time falls. As it says, "while there seems to be no fixed time of day that is the most productive for everyone, my recent poll of 181 people did provide some insights into who gets the most done when. Here, then, are some insights into people’s most productive times of day."

http://webworkerdaily.com/2010/02/22/new-poll-shows-most-productive-time-of-day

Vince Verbeke, IT Specialist

All Interest: N.Y. Firm Faces Bankruptcy from $164,000 E-Banking Loss

2010-03-11T05:03:00.001-05:00

"A New York marketing firm that as recently as two weeks ago was preparing to be acquired now is facing bankruptcy from a computer virus infection that cost the company more than $164,000.

Karen McCarthy, owner of Merrick, N.Y. based Little & King LLC, a small promotions company, discovered on Monday, Feb. 15 that her firm’s bank account had been emptied the previous Friday. McCarthy said she immediately called her bank – Cherry Hill, N.J. based TD Bank – and learned that between Feb. 10 and Feb. 12, unknown thieves had made five wire transfers out of the account to two individuals and two companies with whom the McCarthys had never had any prior business.

“She was told to go to the branch next day, and she did, and the people at the branch were very nice, apologetic, and said, ‘Whatever happened, we’ll replace it,’” Karen McCarthy’s husband Craig said. “She called them up on Wednesday, and they gave her the runaround. Then she finally got to talk to someone and they said ‘We don’t see the error on our side.’” "

To read the rest of this Feb 24, 2010 article, please go here:

http://www.krebsonsecurity.com/2010/02/n-y-firm-faces-bankruptcy-from-164000-e-banking-loss/

Vince Verbeke, IT Specialist

Lighter Side & Interesting Links

2010-03-11T05:01:00.001-05:00

How DO They Get Those Pants So Clean? The story behind getting Penn State's uniforms clean after the Capital One Bowl. http://pennstatermag.com/2010/02/23/how-do-they-get-those-pants-so-clean-video/

[Video] Dancing the Boogie-Woogie Personally, this should be called PLAYING the boogie woogie. The piano player (and the band) just kill it. http://www.flixxy.com/dancing-the-boogie-woogie.htm

[Video] Will You Go Lassie Go Judy Collins and Pete Seeger sing Wild Mountain Thyme by William McPeake. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Kbr6tUhDRI

Keyboard Art This is from 1948, a long time before :-) appeared. http://blog.modernmechanix.com/mags/PopularMechanics/10-1948/ascii_art.jpg

Pet's Eye View Digital Camera You clip it to your pet's collar and it will record snapshots of their day. http://www.thinkgeek.com/geek-kids/7-13-years/afbc

[Video] Time Lapse You need to wait for the Milky Way segment. http://vimeo.com/8918647

The Sugar Shack at Tintinhull Farm Let's make some maple syrup. http://www.durhamtownship.com/March0410.html

Three Day Old Calf Walks Along its Mother It is not that kind of calf. http://www.flickr.com/photos/maratriangle/4384049991

When Liz Taylor Tweets Forever, She Means It Two of the RT were for the same guy though. http://historicaltweets.com/2010/02/22/when-liz-taylor-tweets-forever-she-means-it

Parenting In Post 2.0 You can talk to today's children, carefully. http://geekandpoke.typepad.com/geekandpoke/2010/02/parenting-in-post-20.html

Vince Verbeke, IT Specialist

AgSci News: ITChatter Series

2010-02-25T04:57:00.003-05:00

Our 3rd ITChatter Series was a HUGE Success!

Mike and Vince brought in a record number of participants for the February ITChatter session, entitled What's in your Closet? A Look at the hardware in your office.

They gave us a tour of a county network closet and the equipment found inside. They also discussed a few things you can do to check the connectivity of your computer or for the office before contacting our Help Desk.

For those of you that missed the session, you can find the recording here - http://it.cas.psu.edu/2101.htm along with our previous ITChatter sessions.

Next month’s topic is How to Keep up with it all - Start Pages. Learn how Peg Shuffstall, Educational Technology Team Coordinator, keeps up with it all (RSS feeds, news and more) by viewing one webpage. This can save time throughout your day and week.

Please join us on Tuesday, March 16, 2010. The chatter gets started at 12:15 and will wrap up by 12:50. Participants are asked to arrive in the Adobe Connect meeting room (http://breeze.psu.edu/ITChatter) at noon.

Hope to see you there!

Upcoming dates and topics include:

4/20 – Twitter Lingo 5/18 – How many Accounts do I have? 6/15 – Windows 7 7/20 – Using PowerPoint better in Adobe Connect 8/17 – Topic TBA

Jacki Weikert, Educational Technologist

AgSci News: Adoption of Wireless 2.0 Service Encouraged

2010-02-25T04:53:00.003-05:00

In 17 months (July 1, 2011) Penn State will phase out the need for Cisco VPN to authenticate, login, and use wireless network access at Penn State campus locations.

Read the full ITS News story at http://news.its.psu.edu/story-1177

Note: If you use wireless networks at a Penn State campus, you'll need to follow step-by-step connection and setup instructions and/or perform a onetime download and configuration of the Penn State Wireless 2.0 client.

https://www.work.psu.edu/access/dot1x/prod/

Once the Penn State Wireless 2.0 service is setup, you no longer have to download VPN or relaunch a VPN session when moving from building to building on your campus.

Note: If you use the College's AG Exchange server, you will still use the 'ISPtoPSU' VPN connection entry to read your E-mail while out of the office.

Vince Verbeke, IT Specialist

AgSci News: Ag IT's Statewide Training Schedule

2010-02-25T04:49:00.003-05:00

Ag IT is offering a wide variety of trainings over the next few months! We hope you can join us! We have some new topics listed so please take a look!

Be sure to check out the All about Word series, our ITChatter sessions, and our new class "PowerPoint Advanced!" There is a topic for everyone!

For the complete list of topics & dates & times along with a description about these trainings, please visit our website - http://it.cas.psu.edu/TechTraining.htm and click on Scheduled Training.

A Look @ Social Networking and your Program – Heard of Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Flickr? Learn what they are and how you could incorporate these into your program by attending this overview session.

3/24
4/8
5/5
6/15

Adobe Connect – I’m a Host, What Do I Do? – Ready to host a meeting or training using Adobe Connect? This class is for you!

3/17
4/21
5/18

All About Word 2007 - Join us for a new series of "All About Word" training sessions. During this 9 session series we will cover a range of beginner, intermediate and advanced Word topics used to create and enhance Word documents. Each session will last 2 hours and will include demonstration and hands-on practice time. The sessions are designed as a series and participants are encouraged to attend all sessions; however, attendance at all sessions is not required and recordings of previous sessions will be available.

3/23 – Formatting Paragraphs
4/26 – Formatting Pages
5/28 – Working with Graphics
6/23 – Building Tables & Charts
7/29 – Creating Newsletters
8/24 – Working with Long Docs and Other COOL things!
9/24 – Printing & Reviewing
10/27 – Creating Mail Merges

Create a Blog using Blogger.com – Need to get your information out fast and then update it along the way? A blog may be your answer!

3/10
6/3

Creating a Podcast – Learn how to use Audacity to create a podcast and upload it to iTunes or your webpage.

3/25

Creating a Wiki – Learn to build a wiki for your team or group using PBWorks (formerly PBwiki).

3/25

Creating Multimedia Presentations with Adobe Presenter (and PowerPoint) – Take your PowerPoint presentation and put your voice to it, then make it available via the web or CD.

3/25

Excel Basics (a 2 part series) – Learn how to manipulate data, format data and create a chart in Excel

5/5 & 5/12

How To Host a webinar via Adobe Connect – Learn what is involved in doing a webinar with you as the host!

3/11
6/2

ITChatter – Join the Ag IT team and invited speakers for lunch conversations about different technologies and their uses. We will be meeting monthly for a new ITChatter series. Participants are asked to arrive in the Adobe Connect meeting room (http://breeze.psu.edu/ITChatter) at noon. The chatter gets started at 12:15 and will wrap up by 12:50.

3/16 – How to Keep up with it all – Start Pages
4/20 – Twitter Lingo
5/18 – How many accounts do I have?

Online Survey Tools (a 2 part series) – Need a survey? We will show you how to use Survey Monkey to create the survey and pie and column charts and Excel to create combination charts.

6/9 & 6/22

Photo Manipulation with MS Picture Manager – Have lots of pictures to edit? Learn how to do it with MS Picture Manager.

PowerPoint 2007 Basics (a 2 part series) – We will show you how to create a presentation, start to finish!

4/7 & 4/14

PowerPoint 2007 Advanced – We will show you some cool features to make your presentation stand out from others!

5/19
7/6

SharePoint Tips & Tricks - A major challenge for NWGs and program teams is finding effective ways to share information and collaborate as a team. As a collaboration tool, SharePoint has a lot to offer. This session will focus on tips and tricks that will help you use SharePoint more effectively.

Using SharePoint 2007 – Hear what all the fuss is about and see what great things SharePoint 2007 can do for you!

3/4
4/27

Using SurveyMonkey to Summarize Statewide Programs including Paper Surveys

3/15
4/7

For Video Teleconference training contact Ron Matason - mailto:ram5@psu.edu.

For the complete list of topics & dates & times along with a description about these trainings, please visit our website - http://it.cas.psu.edu/TechTraining.htm and click on Scheduled Training.

To register or see more information, click on the topic, enter your information, and click Submit. Sessions are offered via Adobe Connect unless stated otherwise.

We need at least 6 staff registered to hold the training, so please register today!

---- Also available are the eXtension's professional development opportunities which are open to all Cooperative Extension faculty, staff and employees. No preregistration. For detailed information go to: http://about.extension.org/wiki/Schedule_of_Professional_Development_Opportunities

Don't see a topic listed that you are interested in? Please remember that we have various Self-Paced learning opportunities and On Demand Training available too. Check out our main Technologies and Training Page - http://it.cas.psu.edu/TechTraining.htm.

If you have a suggestion for training, please let us know.

The Educational Technologist Team Sherry Crum, Ron Matason, Albert Nakpil, Peg Shuffstall, and Jacki Weikert

AgSci News: Texas A&M AgriLife Social Media Guidelines

2010-02-25T04:47:00.003-05:00

Texas A&M AgriLife has set forth guidelines "to help those within the agencies and service units of Texas A&M AgriLife manage social media tools in support of professional communications efforts."

You can review their guidelines and tips here:

http://agrilifeweb.tamu.edu/us/social/guidelines/

Vince Verbeke, IT Specialist

How Do I... Insert a Sound File into PowerPoint 2007

2010-02-25T04:45:00.001-05:00

Did you know that you can add a sound file to your PowerPoint presentation? Yes you can. You can actually add various sounds and sound effects to an individual slide or to many slides, or to the entire presentation.

I want to insert a sound clip that will automatically play when I go to that slide.

Go to the slide that you want to add the sound clip.
Click the Insert tab. Within the Media Clips group, click Sound.
From the drop down list, choose Sound from File.
Browse and locate the audio clip. Select it and click OK. Note: You will be prompted with a message asking "How do you want the sound to start in the slide show?"
1. Automatically means it will start playing when you get to that slide.
2. When Clicked means you will have to click on the sound icon to start it.
Choose Automatically or When Clicked.
You should now see a Speaker Icon on the slide. You can move this to any location on the slide.
To test the sound clip, you will need to preview the slide or view in Slide Show view.

Microsoft has a really nice training module for adding sounds to PowerPoint. The 45 minute tutorial can be found here - http://office.microsoft.com/training/training.aspx?AssetID=RC101714751033&pid=CR100654571033&ofcresset=1

For more How To’s on using similar features of PowerPoint 2007, be sure to register and attend one of our upcoming PowerPoint Advanced training sessions scheduled for May 19 and July 6. See our registration page for information and to register: http://go.cas.psu.edu/training/

To find other topics related to sound in PowerPoint 2007, click on the little blue question mark at the top right corner of your PowerPoint window, then type in insert sound in the search link. Click Search.

Jacki Weikert, Educational Technologist

How Do I... Download Files from SharePoint

2010-02-25T04:43:00.001-05:00

Documents in SharePoint can easily be edited by clicking the name of the document and checking the document out. However, there may be times when you do not necessarily want to edit a document, but rather would like to save a copy of the document on your computer. In order to have your own personal copy of a document, you can download a copy.

Open the document library.
Hover your cursor over the name of the document.
Using the drop‐down menu that appears on the right, choose the Send to option and then the Download a Copy option.
Click the Save button.
Browse to the location on your computer where you would like to save the document.
Click the Save button.
When the Download Complete message appears, click the Close button.

Sherry Crum, Educational Technologist

Tech Spotlight: Facebook's New Look Limits News Feed

2010-02-25T04:42:00.001-05:00

It appears that Facebook only wants you to hear from 250 of your closest friends. 250 may seem like a lot of friends. But when folks like even Vince Verbeke have 313 "friends" then the number is a bit low.

The new Facebook is a list of 'Recommended Friends' but that's their recommendations! If you don’t care who they recommend and want to see everybody, you need to adjust a setting.

Login to Facebook. Click on the News Feed icon.
Scroll down to the bottom of your News Feed and click the Edit Options link on the right.
In the Maximum number of friends shown in Live Feed box, enter a number high enough to accommodate your friends with a bit of room to grow. Note: 5000 is the maximum amount of friends Facebook allows you to have. So you could just enter this number.
Click Save.

This should allow all the latest news about your friend's farm, fish, park, or mafia to flow freely across your screen once more.

Vince Verbeke, IT Specialist

Tech Spotlight: Annual Sub-$300 Camera Roundup

2010-02-25T04:39:00.001-05:00

In this New York Times video, David Pogue looks at nine point-and-shoot cameras that cost less than $300.

http://video.nytimes.com/video/playlist/technology/1194811622271/index.html

Vince Verbeke, IT Specialist

Tech Spotlight: Digital Voice Recorder VR5220

2010-02-25T04:35:00.001-05:00

From RCA, "this Digital Voice Recorder has everything you need to capture audio. The VR5220 comes with a new sleek design that is built for portability. Capture hundreds of hours of audio recording with the built-in 512MB memory. New to the RCA line this year is a built-in, flip-out USB connector. Now it is simpler than ever to connect to your PC and share via email, or archive."

http://www.rcaaudiovideo.com/product.aspx?product=416

I did hear a sample sound recording from the device, and quality was very good. They are available from various sources, including Amazon and Walmart. Price is less than $40.

Vince Verbeke, IT Specialist

Tech Spotlight: FillAnyPdf, Fill Out Any PDF Form

2010-02-25T04:34:00.001-05:00

"FillAnyPDF.com is a website where you upload your PDF form and link to it so other people can fill it out and sign it online. No software is needed. Any PDF form can be used, even if it's not "interactive", so you can get started right away. You can even invite a group to fill out your forms and track the results. Anyone that collects signatures or filled out forms will find FillAnyPDF.com to be a valuable time-saving resource."

This is a great idea. You don't need to sign up to try the site. Try it out by clicking the Browse button and picking a PDF file from your computer. Then click Upload.

Note: If you see a message that ask ‘Do you want to view only the webpage content that was delivered securely?’, you can click No.

Follow the prompts to view the file. You will be shown the PDF with easy to use tools. You can change the font color and size of the typing. You can even "write" as long as you have good mouse skills.

When done with your edits, click Download to save the edited file to your computer. You can then print or send the PDF to whoever needs it.

https://www.fillanypdf.com/

Vince Verbeke, IT Specialist

All Interest: 2010 Health Outcomes Map

2010-02-25T04:30:00.001-05:00

From http://www.countyhealthrankings.org/health-outcomes:

"Health outcomes in the County Health Rankings represent how healthy a county is. We measure two types of health outcomes: how long people live (mortality) and how healthy people feel while alive (morbidity).

Mortality - We examine mortality (or death) data to find out how long people live. More specifically, we measure what are known as premature deaths (deaths before age 75).

Morbidity - Morbidity is the term that refers to how healthy people feel while alive. Specifically, we report on the measures of their health-related quality of life (their overall health, their physical health, their mental health) and we also look at birth outcomes (in this case, babies born with a low birthweight)."

Pennsylvania's 2010 Health Outcomes Map is here. The # 1 county is Chester and #67 is Philadelphia.

http://www.countyhealthrankings.org/pennsylvania

The map of the USA is here: http://www.countyhealthrankings.org/

Vince Verbeke, IT Specialist

All Interest: Mileage Tracker GPS Unit

2010-02-25T04:28:00.001-05:00

The road warriors out there may find this useful. Price is $199.00.

"Few travel annoyances are as much a pain as tracking mileage. Stop ‘guesstimating’ with the MILEAGE TRACKER. Using a built-in GPS system, the MILEAGE TRACKER tracks data for business expenses, reimbursements, and tax credits. You can accurately track miles driven (including time, date for every trip), then easily transfer data to any computer, streamlining the recording and reporting task."

http://www.themileagetracker.com/

Vince Verbeke, IT Specialist

All Interest: Get on the Bus, the Wi-Fi Bus

2010-02-25T04:26:00.001-05:00

"Students endure hundreds of hours on yellow buses each year getting to and from school in this desert exurb of Tucson, and stir-crazy teenagers break the monotony by teasing, texting, flirting, shouting, climbing (over seats) and sometimes punching (seats or seatmates).

But on this chilly morning, as bus No. 92 rolls down a mountain highway just before dawn, high school students are quiet, typing on laptops.

Morning routines have been like this since the fall, when school officials mounted a mobile Internet router to bus No. 92’s sheet-metal frame, enabling students to surf the Web. The students call it the Internet Bus, and what began as a high-tech experiment has had an old-fashioned — and unexpected — result. Wi-Fi access has transformed what was often a boisterous bus ride into a rolling study hall, and behavioral problems have virtually disappeared."

To read the rest of The New York Times article, go here:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/12/education/12bus.html

Vince Verbeke, IT Specialist

All Interest: Solve the Cube

2010-02-25T04:24:00.001-05:00

"The Worlds Fastest Lego Mindstorms RCX Speedcubing Robot. Built entirely from lego elements with a lego web camera to scan the faces of the cube, The solve engine (algorithm) running on the computer is provided by the incredible "Cube Explorer "software which also provides the colour recognition required to determine the exact location of each coloured square.

"Cube Explorer" has the ability to produce very fast solutions to a successfully scanned cube, usually around 20 face turns! Doesn't sound a lot , but it is believed that around 20 turns are enough to solve ANY 3x3x3 cube combination. I'm still working on "CubeStormer" I would like to see it reach sub-10 and feel it's close to that. but reliability begins to suffer when you start to push things just that bit too far."

Watch the RCX Speedcubing Robot in action here:

http://www.youtube.com/user/RoboticSolutions

I have a niece who is a self-described robotics geek. She would appreciate the technology behind this.

Vince Verbeke, IT Specialist

Lighter Side & Interesting Links

2010-02-25T04:13:00.001-05:00

[Video] THON Special How can college students help to fund pediatric cancer research? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYxPnIuYP8M

[Video] The Orangutan and the Hound Surya, the orangutan, meets a hound dog by the river. http://video.aol.com/video-detail/the-orangutan-and-the-hound/1234581161

Introducing the Hot New Social Network The PhoneBook allows you to call friends and speak to them. http://www.borowitzreport.com/2010/02/09/introducing-the-hot-new-social-network-phonebook

Poodwaddle World Clock Poodwaddle uses Flash to demonstrate a statistical world clock. http://www.poodwaddle.com/worldclock.swf

The Mariana Trench This scale demonstrates the ocean's deepest point (yes, you need to scroll to see it all). http://i.imgur.com/m3ZxZ.jpg

Garage Lion Now this is a bad clip job. http://i.imgur.com/yymWC.jpg

[Video] Almost Everything on TV is Filmed with Green Screen This 'advance' would make being an actor pretty boring. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=clnozSXyF4k

Vince Verbeke, IT Specialist

AgSci News: Symantec Endpoint Protection's Network Threat Protection

2010-02-11T07:50:00.003-05:00

Ag IT has seen an increase in calls concerning malware programs infecting computers throughout the Ag domain. These malware programs typically come in the fashion of a rogue Antivirus scanner that warns you of an infection.

We have been testing a feature within Symantec Endpoint Protection (SEP) called Network Threat Protection to help eliminate some of these malware programs. We have tested at both University Park and Cooperative Extension offices without any negative impact.

Ag IT will be enabling the Network Threat Protection on Monday February 15th at 5:00pm for those computers that are managed by our server (Enterprise Network).

Note: If your computer is managed by our server, you will not need to take any action.

On or after February 16th, your Symantec Endpoint Protection will have its Network Threat Protection set to On. To view the status of SEP, Double Click the Symantec Endpoint Protection icon (see below, looks like a Yellow Shield with a green dot). On the Status screen, you will see three Protection Technologies listed. The third choice is Network Threat Protection and it should be listed as On.

If your Network Threat Protection is Off and your client is managed by our server, please put a Help Request in at http://it.cas.psu.edu/contactform.htm.

Mike Leiter, IT Support Coordinator

AgSci News: Computer Security - Back to Basics

2010-02-11T07:49:00.003-05:00

The Ag Information Technologies Help Desk has been receiving increased calls from staff whose Enterprise computers are being attacked by rogue 'Antivirus' pop-up ads. These programs proclaim, with some urgency, that the computer has been infected with a virus and you need to install their program to remove the viruses. In fact, if you were to install the program, you would be installing malware on your computer.

In this Feb 6, 2010 "Malware continues to be a challenge to computer security" story Kathy Kimball, senior director in Penn State's Security Operations and Services Office, explains how easy it is to infect a computer with malware. She says,

"The scary part is, you don't have to do anything wrong anymore to infect your computer. The threat has changed such that you do not need to click on anything, just visit a compromised page. That's the game changer -- the user does not have to do anything active at all, not even a click. Just visiting the infected site is sufficient if active content (scripting) is allowed at all. Legitimate Web browsing can compromise a computer, if the site you browse to has been compromised. That's the big 'wow.' It means we don't have a great way to make sure your computer won't be taken over."

We are all pressed for time in our busy work day. As we get "back to basics" on this issue, please consider that the time you spend to prevent the issue will be much less than to recover from it. Even with the added protection from Symantec Endpoint Protection's Network Threat Protection as detailed above, here is a short list of recommendations from Ag IT to help limit your risk to these rogue programs.

Keep Software on your Computer Up-to-Date While your Enterprise computer may be up-to-date with Windows and Microsoft Office updates, chances are you have 3rd party software installed on your computer that is not up-to-date. Adobe Flash, Acrobat Reader, Apple QuickTime, and Sun Java may host security vulnerabilities waiting to be exploited. Secunia Software Inspector is a free online scanner that can alert you to vulnerable software. You can then follow our How To's to update this software. How To Use Secunia Online Software Inspector In addition, our How To Download Latest Updates for Enterprise Dell Computers contains links for common software installed on Enterprise computers.
Be Cautious of Web Search Results and Social Application Links Malware authors can poison web search links that take you to malicious sites to be infected. When you perform a search for a current topic, you are most at risk. As we write this article, terms would include: Haiti, earthquake, Apple iPad, or even Valentine's Day gifts. In Google searches, pay close attention to the blue links, the descriptions of the page, and the green links. The underlined blue clickable links are what you usually click on to reach a website. They might look OK. But examine the descriptions and the green links (which show the site's true address) before you click. This extra information will provide tip-offs that clicking the blue link might take you to an unknown, and potentially damaging, website. Social networking sites like Facebook or LinkedIn could also expose you to malware or phishing scams. You might assume that since a link comes from a "friend" that it is safe. Not true! It could be that their account has been hacked and you are being spammed by your friends. Unfortunately, the only advice to offer here is to be alert and cautious of all links. You can learn more about Facebook security here.
How To Respond to an ‘Antivirus’ Pop-Up Ad Even "good" sites can be hacked. This could be your local coffee shop's site or The New York Times. When you arrive at a compromised site, malware attempts to install itself on the computer. If you are up-to-date with all your Windows and 3rd party software, you should be OK. But you never know. For example, zero day attacks attempt to exploit computer application vulnerabilities for which no security fix is available as yet. Please print and file the steps from our How To Respond to an ‘Antivirus’ Pop-Up Ad to prepare for the day you see a rogue pop-up on your computer. http://it.cas.psu.edu/1926.htm

Vince Verbeke, IT Specialist

AgSci News: ITChatter - What's in your Closet?

2010-02-11T07:47:00.003-05:00

What's in your Closet? A Look at the hardware in your office. Mike Leiter and Vince Verbeke from Ag IT will give you a tour of your network closet, network equipment and what you can do when the power goes out. Come ready to label your equipment so you don't have to remember what each piece is!

No need to register but if you do then you’ll get a nice reminder! http://go.cas.psu.edu/training/

Participants are asked to arrive in the Adobe Connect meeting room (http://breeze.psu.edu/ITChatter) at noon. The chatter gets started at 12:15 and will wrap up by 12:50.

Hope you can attend and hear the chatter!

Vince Verbeke, IT Specialist

AgSci News: Managing Risk is Everyone's Business at Penn State

2010-02-11T07:45:00.002-05:00

The following article was posted to Penn State Live on Jan 18, 2010. As you might expect, 2 of the top 10 risks are associated with the use of technology.

"Just mentioning the word 'risk' makes some people nervous. Risk is something that few beyond the world of poker, sky diving or NASCAR are willing to take on.

But mention risk to Gary Langsdale and he sees an opportunity for change. As Penn State's risk manager, Langsdale is charged with identifying the University's potential risks and helping people assess, eliminate, reduce, avoid or manage these risks. Everything from data security, student behaviors, pandemics, laboratory environments, weather emergencies and more — these are the events and operations that Langsdale knows if not handled correctly could threaten Penn State's ability to achieve its goals.

Langsdale and his team set out to broadly identify risks at Penn State, by defining risk as "any impediment to accomplishing institutional goals." Through 53 face-to-face interviews across the University, more than 100 possible risk items were identified. Ten were pinpointed as having a higher probability of occurrence or negative outcome. The 10 risks in no particular order are:

1. Unique risks involved in operating an academic medical center. 2. Data/information security risks (protecting the confidentiality, integrity and availability of electronic data). 3. Emergency prevention, preparation and management (identified as both an operational and hazard risk). 4. General physical well-being and safety of students and employees. 5. Protecting Penn State's reputation and maintaining the quality of a Penn State degree. 6. External funding and its impact on operations (both state and federal funding). 7. Technology initiatives, rapid changes in technology, data storage and Penn State's ability to keep up with commercial applications and maintain interoperability. 8. Meeting the changing student demographics in today's marketplace. 9. Alcohol impact related to high-risk drinking by students. 10.The regulatory environment and Penn State's ability to maintain compliance with a complex set of laws and regulations.

Langsdale said in addition to these 10 items, there are numerous other risks that must be continually monitored and addressed by the University and its employees. These include: adequate space and facilities; employee retention; fiscal oversight and management controls; the increasing cost of healthcare and benefits; and fundraising and endowment management issues.

Penn State's risk manager suggested that supervisors and employees look within their own work units to identify possible risk. He also said managers need to support training that may be needed to help staff develop the skills to see potential risks and help leadership decide if the risk should be avoided, accepted, reduced of shared."

Read the full story on Live: http://live.psu.edu/story/43820/nw4

Vince Verbeke, IT Specialist

Security News: Attackers Targeting .EDU Sites in SEO Poisoning Campaigns

2010-02-11T07:44:00.000-05:00

Did you know that you could limit web searches with an "inurl" command? To explain, URL stands for "Uniform Resource Locator", and is the address of a site, service, or resource on the Internet. If you wanted to do a Google search for the term 'bee' within a URL, you could enter inurl:bee.

You can also choose to limit the search to just Education sites, or those sites with a .EDU in the URL. For example, to search for term "Dairy", you could enter inurl:.edu Dairy.

This is the good news. The bad news is relayed to us in this Jan 26, 2010 article from Kaspersky Lab's Security News Service Threatpost.

"Having mastered the art of poisoning search engine results for .com sites, attackers are now turning their attention to .edu sites, linking their keyword campaigns to educational institutions as a way of lending their malicious sites more credence in the eyes of Google.

The goal of these attacks is the same as those targeting commercial sites: to elevate the rank of the malicious sites so that they become more attractive to users searching for information on a given topic. Robert Hansen, a security researcher and CEO of SecTheory, has been investigating the SEO poisoning campaigns, and what he found was not very heartening.

By getting .edu (which ranks higher than .com for instance) to link to a site with the right keywords, Google is tricked into thinking the site is of higher value. Yes, Google’s algorithm really is that simple to get around, which is why there is a lot of garbage in their index now. It just took a while for the bad guys to get a large enough mass of hacked sites."

Warning: If you decide to read the rest of the article (http://threatpost.com/en_us/35Z), please DO NOT attempt to use any of the search terms mentioned there. please In all likelihood, you will arrive at a phishing site or other undesirable destination.

Takeaway Point: Within Google search results, be sure to give a quick glance at both the sample text and the actual (green) link for suspicious information before automatically clicking on the blue link.

Vince Verbeke, IT Specialist

Action Item: Smartphones and Outlook Recurring Appointments

2010-02-11T07:42:00.002-05:00

A smartphone, according to Wikipedia, is "a mobile phone offering advanced capabilities, often with PC-like functionality (PC-mobile handset convergence)."

If you use a smartphone to read your College of Ag Sciences Exchange account, here is a simple recommendation to ensure that your Calendar items sync successfully.

We recommend setting an end date on all of the recurring events (weekly, monthly & yearly) in your calendar.

Did you know that your Outlook calendar will reach out to August 4500? To see this, open Outlook 2007 and click the Calendar icon. From the Go menu, choose Go To Date. In the Date field, enter 8/1/4500 and click OK. You will be transported to the 46th century. From the Go menu, choose Go To Date. Update the date to be 9/1/4500 and click OK. You will see an error message that this is not a valid date. Click OK. Click OK.

Takeaway Point: Events created in Outlook that won't sync to a smartphone can be caused by a bad recurring event in Outlook or conflicts with these events. By adding end dates to all your recurring events, you can limit the number of appointments that need to be synced as well. You really don't plan to work for the College for another 26 centuries anyway.

Vince Verbeke, IT Specialist

How Do I... Use Notifications (Alerts & RSS Feeds) in SharePoint 2007

2010-02-11T07:41:00.001-05:00

In Dennis Calvin's monthly Directors update he has mentioned the use of SharePoint and setting up an RSS Feed so you know when the SharePoint site has been updated. RSS Feeds are one option to get notification when the site has been updated. Alerts is another method.

Both RSS Feeds and Alerts are explained on this How To along with setting them up for a entire site, a library or even a list on your favorite SharePoint site.

http://it.cas.psu.edu/1153.htm

If you aren’t sure what SharePoint is or how you can use it with your office, department or NWG, please plan to attend our Using SharePoint 2007 training session coming up in March. Register here or listen to an already recorded session here.

If you missed Dennis' update, you can find the presentation and the recording on the Cooperative Extension’s SharePoint site. You can find the presentation under the Announcements web part.

http://sharepoint.ag.psu.edu/coext/default.aspx

Jacki Weikert, Educational Technologist

How Do I... Keep the Time between PowerPoint 2007 Presentations to a Minimum

2010-02-11T07:39:00.001-05:00

In eNews issue 135, we had an article called How Do I... Open PowerPoint Without Having a New Blank Presentation. As a follow-up to this article, we received an E-mail from Gregory Martin of Lancaster county. As he says, "If you are running a meeting with several talks in a row, here is another way of keeping the time between presentation loads to a minimum."

Here is Gregory's solution for helping you quickly give a series of PowerPoint talks.

In your My Documents (or your Local Documents) folder, create a new "Day" folder to hold the various PPT files. (e.g. Crop Day PPTs)
For easy access, create a shortcut to this folder on your desktop. To do that, Right Click on the folder, choose Send To, and click Desktop (create shortcut).
You should now copy all the talks to be given into the "Day" Folder.
1. Go to the folder containing the original PPT presentation.
2. Right Click on the file and choose Copy.
3. Double Click on the Shortcut to the "Day" folder on the desktop to open this folder.
4. In the "Day" folder, Right Click and choose Paste.
5. Repeat to copy and paste in the rest of your talks.
To help sequence the presentations, Right Click on a file and choose Rename. Add a number to the file name. (e.g. 01, 02, 03, etc.). Repeat with all the files.
KEY POINT: On the day of the program, open the "Day" folder using the shortcut. Then, to show a presentation simply Right Click on a file and choose SHOW. Note: This keeps PowerPoint from loading the entire program in order to kick it into show mode. It also saves RAM on slower moving (older) computers.
At the end of a presentation, simply press Escape to return back to the folder. You can then Right Click on the next file and choose SHOW to repeat. Note: Since "Day" folder has copies of the original files, when you are finished, you can delete both the "Day" folder and the shortcut to the "Day" folder from the desktop.

Gregory also included another option for fast loading of your presentations: PowerPoint Slide Show files. PowerPoint Slide Show files (PPSX and PPS) are files you can double-click on and the presentation will launch and display automatically. To do this in PowerPoint 2007, click the Microsoft Office Button, choose Save As and then click PowerPoint Show. Save the file of the original PowerPoint file to your "Day" folder. You can then use from there on the day of the talk.

Vince Verbeke, IT Specialist

Tech Spotlight: Word Files do not Preview in Outlook 2007 Correctly

2010-02-11T07:38:00.001-05:00

When you receive an Outlook message with a Word file attached, you can click on its icon once. This allows you to preview the file without leaving the Outlook message. Please be aware that some formatting may not display or is displayed incorrectly in the preview. This includes, but is not limited to the following formatting:

Multiple columns are displayed as one column.
Intentional blank pages are lost.
Footnotes are not displayed.
Alternative text directions are displayed by using the standard text direction.

This occurs because the Word previewer used by Outlook uses the Web Layout view to display content. The formatting that is mentioned above is not supported in the Web Layout view.

To work around this issue, double-click the attachment in the E-mail message to open the document in Word. After you do this, the original formatting will be displayed as expected.

Vince Verbeke, IT Specialist

Tech Spotlight: Integrate Twitter into PowerPoint

2010-02-11T07:36:00.001-05:00

In today's Web 2.0 world, sometimes you as the presenter are the only one who isn't connected with what the audience is thinking. Everyone else in the room is able to see the Twitter stream and react to it. You are standing alone up front.

Based on the SAP (Systems, Applications and Products) BusinessObjects Xcelsius technology, these tools are free to use. You embed them in any PowerPoint slide set. The tools include a real-time Twitter ticker feed, a Twitter feedback slide, and a set of Twitter voting templates.

You can read more about these PowerPoint Twitter Tools on their webpage. I recommend that you scroll down past the Download Now button to read about the tools first.

Go to http://www.sapweb20.com/blog/powerpoint-twitter-tools
Scroll down to read about the various tools.
If you are interested, create a folder on your computer for these files. (Example: SAP PowerPoint Tools)
Click the DOWNLOAD NOW button. Click Save. Save the powerpoint_twitter_tools.zip to your folder. Note: The link called "Download the PowerPoint presentation with embedded PowerPoint Twitter Tools as a .zip file (Office 2007)" will download the same .zip file as the large download button.
Open the folder on your computer with the powerpoint_twitter_tools.zip file.
Unzip (expand) the .zip file. If you need help, see http://it.cas.psu.edu/303.htm.
Open the powerpoint_twitter_tools folder.
Open the powerpoint_twitter_tools.pptx file.
View the presentation as a slide show. In it, you will be given locations to download additional tools as needed. Note: You can view a short video on the tools here. Additional instructions are here. http://www.sapweb20.com/blog/powerpoint-twitter-tools/instructions

Thanks to Jeffrey Hyde from Ag Ec and Rural Soc for suggesting these tools. Be sure to test and practice with your new toys before the big day!

Vince Verbeke, IT Specialist

Tech Spotlight: Penn State's Optical Wireless Tech Does Gigabit, Bounces off Walls

2010-02-11T07:34:00.001-05:00

With a tip of the hat to Timbuk3, "The Future's So Bright, I Gotta Wear Shades." The Engadget article describes how Penn State researchers are advancing technology for our future.

"We love our WiFi, but it's far from perfect. Speed depends greatly on conditions, magnetic waves don't always play nicely with sensitive equipment, and the ability for someone to drive by and steal your precious infos is always disconcerting.

Researchers at Penn State have what they believe is a better solution: light. The team uses laser diodes to convert data signals to light, then photo diodes on the other end to convert it back to data, a system that (unlike others we've seen) doesn't require direct line of sight as the light will bounce off of walls -- except those painted black (sorry goths).

Data access could easily be constrained within a single room or, if it was needed elsewhere, wired relays could bring it through walls. Speeds at this point are already at the 1Gb/sec range, twice what Siemens was able to manage a few weeks ago, and enough for wireless transmission of high-definition video. Someday your Wiimote and remote might not be the only things beaming back at ya in the living room."

http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/04/penn-states-optical-wireless-tech-does-gigabit-bounces-off-wal

Vince Verbeke, IT Specialist

Tech Spotlight: Penn State Researchers Develop 100mm Graphene Wafers

2010-02-11T07:31:00.001-05:00

Here we have a second article from Feb 3, 2010 where Penn State researchers at the Materials Research Institute have advanced technology.

"A carbon semiconductor called graphene could replace silicon in computer chips in the near future, researchers at Penn State found. They claim to have developed a way to put the graphene on 4-inch wafers. The Electro-Optics Center Materials Division scientists say their work can eventually lead to chips that are 100 to 1,000 times faster than silicon.

Graphene is a crystalline form of carbon that is made up of two-dimension hexagonal arrays which is ideal for electronic applications. Attempting to place the material onto sheets using the usual methods turns them into irregular graphite structures, however. David Snyder and Randy Cavalero at Penn State say they came up with a method called silicon sublimation that removes silicon from silicon carbide wafers and leaves pure graphene.

A similar process has been used for graphene before, but the EOC is the first group that claims it has perfected the process to a point that lets them produce 4-inch wafers. The smallest wafers using a more conventional method have resulted in 8-inch graphene wafers. Typical wafers used for processors today are roughly 11 inches across."

http://www.electronista.com/articles/10/02/03/penn.state.finds.method.of.making.graphene.chips

Vince Verbeke, IT Specialist

Tech Spotlight: Stolen Twitter Accounts Valued at $1,000

2010-02-11T07:30:00.001-05:00

This January 29, 2010 article from Network World details how criminals will pay for more than just your bank passwords.

"According to researchers at Kaspersky Lab, cybercriminals are trying to sell hacked Twitter user names and passwords on-line for hundreds of dollars.

Since 2005, the bad guys have been developing new data-stealing malware that is now a growing problem on the Internet. Some of these programs look for banking passwords, others hunt for on-line gaming credentials. But the fastest-growing data stealers are generic spying programs that try to steal as much information as possible from their victims, said Kaspersky Researcher Dmitry Bestuzhev, speaking at a press event Friday.

In 2009, Kaspersky identified about 70,000 of these programs -- twice as many as the year before, and close to three times the number of banking password stealing programs.

They're popular because criminals are starting to realize that they can do better than simply swiping credit card numbers. Bestuzhev has seen Gmail accounts for sale on Russian hacker forums, (asking price 2,500 roubles, or $82) RapidShare accounts going for $5 per month, as well as Skype, instant messaging and Facebook credentials being offered.

Asking prices can vary greatly, depending on the name of the account and the number of followers, but attackers are looking for an initial, trusted, stepping stone from which to send malicious Twitter messages and, ideally, infect more machines.

Bestuzhev said that one Twitter account, with just over 320 followers, was offered at $1,000 in an underground hacker forum. The user's name was a simple three letter combination that Bestuzhev thought might make it more valuable to criminals. Compare that to an MSN account, which Bestuzhev has seen priced at €1 ($1.40). "The price for Twitter accounts is really high," he said."

To read the rest of the article, go here.

Vince Verbeke, IT Specialist

All Interest: Video Name Tag

2010-02-11T07:28:00.001-05:00

This product takes the simple name tag to the next level, for *only* $200.

http://www.videonametag.com/

If you are really interested, be sure to check out the Features and FAQ pages.

Vince Verbeke, IT Specialist

All Interest: Visualize a Twitter Search

2010-02-11T07:27:00.001-05:00

Visible Tweets is a visualization of Twitter messages designed for display in public spaces. For example, if you had a computer at a 4-H conference, you could search on that term. Then participants could see the buzz around 4-H. Try it out here.

http://visibletweets.com/

To reset the search, move the cursor back to the top of the browser windows and click the Visible Tweets logo in the upper left. Other terms you could search on include: #beef, #nutrition, #dairy, or even #PennState.

You can choose from different animations in the upper right. I prefer Rotation.

Vince Verbeke, IT Specialist

All Interest: Resource List of Various Twitter Applications

2010-02-11T07:26:00.000-05:00

Tweeterland is dedicated to everything Twitter. They have two excellent pages. The first lists Twitter resources and the second Twitter applicatons. Even if you are a power user of Twitter, I'll bet you'll find some items listed that you never heard about.

Vince Verbeke, IT Specialist

All Interest: Geek Health Issues

2010-02-11T07:24:00.002-05:00

Kevin Rose from Digg interviews Dr Andrew Weil about issues related to "geek" health. The assumption is that geeks sit in front of computers all day (and all night), eat bad foods and don't get much exercise. For example, geeks are likely low in Vitamin D.

You can take all of this with a grain of salt (ha ha). Some of the questions included:

How bad are soft drinks or other sugary drinks?
Are there are any good energy drinks?
Is Dairy bad for you? (He compares our dairy industry to what exists in Mongolia)
What about Soy Milk?
What about supplements and vitamins?
What about cell phone radiation?

I will say that as a result of listening to this recording, I have added green tea to my daily regimen.

To listen to the interview, go to http://kevinrose.com/post/354908516/drweil

Vince Verbeke, IT Specialist

All Interest: Swiss Flash Knives from Victorinox

2010-02-11T07:23:00.001-05:00

Victorinox have knives with built-in flash drives. They have 30 SwissFlash knives on their (really slow) web site.

http://www.swissarmy.com/multitools/Pages/Category.aspx?category=swissflash&

Along with the flash drive, there are knives with laser lights and ballpoint pens as well. Prices start at about $30.

If you're boarding a plane, there is a way to detach the flash drive and pack the knife separately.

Vince Verbeke, IT Specialist

Lighter Side & Interesting Links

2010-02-11T07:14:00.001-05:00

Food and Nutrition Information You Can Trust The American Dietetic Association (to which my sister belongs) has a website to help you make informed food choices. http://www.eatright.org/

[Video] Birth of a Calf Watch an Angus heifer give birth. http://kansascattleranch.blogspot.com/2010/02/birth-of-calf.html

A Dog's Purpose We should all live the "dog's life." http://i.imgur.com/zhmrX.png

Figure it Out: Mop or Dog? The dog's nose gives it away. http://stevebass.posterous.com/figure-it-out-mop-or-dog

Figure it Out: Bread or Dog? I'm not so sure this time. This might have used a little Photoshop. http://imgfave.lg1x8z.simplecdn.net/image_cache/1262307816371696.jpeg

Plush I would go with Star Trek or Monty Python but the Tauntaun Sleeping Bag rocks. I need this for work. http://www.thinkgeek.com/geektoys/plush

Time and Date Help This site has a number of calendar, time, and date calculators. I like the "When Are You 10,000 Days Old?" http://www.timeanddate.com/

Heinz Revamps Ketchup Packets In 5 years I wonder if they will bring back "classic" packets. http://www.wjactv.com/news/22461940/detail.html

[Video] Table Turns into a Secret House We only had blankets over the couch and chairs. http://gadgetblips.dailyradar.com/video/the-daily-shelter

Mt. Washington Rim Ice The wind was blowing from just the one direction that day. (Hi Brian) http://thechive.com/2010/02/01/rime-ice-on-sign/

Ad Placement What are you dreaming about? http://i.imgur.com/1GWhN.jpg

[Video] Shonky and the SoundRacer V8 I've been informed that they have these in Auburn. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b9XAC-BvUyo

[Video] No Need for a Peeler According to Mary Ann, it's MAGIC! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z4W0qIPJmoo

Vince Verbeke, IT Specialist

AgSci News: 2nd ITChatter Series a Success!

2010-01-28T08:53:00.005-05:00

I feel like a broken record but I have to admit that our 2nd ITChatter was a huge success! We shared some great tips for getting blogs looking more a part of Penn State and Cooperative Extension and of course getting more viewers. Here is the blog we put together with all the tips we discussed - http://buildabetterblog4cas.blogspot.com/

For those of you who missed the session, you can find the recording link here - http://it.cas.psu.edu/2101.htm

Coming up in February is another ITChatter session, entitled "What's in your Closet? A Look at the hardware in your office." Vince and Mike will give you a tour of your network closet, network equipment and perhaps even inside the computer. Come ready to label your equipment so you don't have to remember what each piece is!

Please join us on Tuesday, February 16, 2010. The chatter gets started at 12:15 and will wrap up by 12:50. Participants are asked to arrive in the Adobe Connect meeting room (http://breeze.psu.edu/ITChatter) at noon.

Hope to see you there!

Jacki Weikert, Educational Technologist

AgSci News: Digital Commons Changes Name to Media Commons

2010-01-28T08:52:00.041-05:00

Penn State's Digital Commons service has changed its name to the Media Commons in a move to better reflect its mission. The Media Commons is a University-wide initiative to provide students and faculty with the means to create digital media for courses to enrich the educational experience. Media Commons studios at each campus provide state-of-the-art equipment and software to create digital video, audio, and photographs. Along with a new name, the Media Commons is introducing new facilities and resources for students and faculty. The College of Ag Sciences will soon have its' very own Media Commons in 109 ASI. Penn State's ITS is hoping for a soft opening in June. More information to come about this exciting opportunity for the College.

To read more, please go to http://news.its.psu.edu/story-1170?id=1170.

For more information on the Media Commons, visit http://mediacommons.psu.edu//.

Vince Verbeke, IT Specialist

AgSci News: Ag IT's Statewide Training Schedule

2010-01-28T08:52:00.040-05:00

Ag IT is offering a wide variety of trainings over the next few months! We hope you can join us! We have some new topics listed so please take a look!

Be sure to check out the All about Word series and our ITChatter sessions.

For the complete list of topics & dates & times along with a description about these trainings, please visit our website - http://it.cas.psu.edu/TechTraining.htm and click on Scheduled Training.

2/11
3/24

Adobe Connect – I’m a Host, What Do I Do? – Ready to host a meeting or training using Adobe Connect? This class is for you!

2/11
3/17

All About Word 2007 - Join us for a new series of "All About Word" training sessions. During this 9 session series we will cover a range of beginner, intermediate and advanced Word topics used to create and enhance Word documents. Each session will last 2 hours and will include demonstration and hands-on practice time. The sessions are designed as a series and participants are encouraged to attend all sessions; however, attendance at all session is not required and recordings of previous sessions will be available.

2/23 – Formatting Text
3/23 – Formatting Paragraphs
4/26 – Formatting Pages
5/28 – Working with Graphics
6/23 – Building Tables & Charts
7/29 – Creating Newsletters
8/24 – Working with Long Docs and Other COOL things!
9/24 – Printing & Reviewing
10/27 – Creating Mail Merges

Create a Blog using Blogger.com – Need to get your information out fast and then update it along the way? A blog may be your answer!

3/10

Creating Multimedia Presentations with Adobe Presenter (and PowerPoint) –Take your PowerPoint presentation and put your voice to it, then make it available via the web or CD.

3/25

Excel Basics (a 2 part series) – Learn how to manipulate data, format data and create a chart in Excel

2/17 & 2/24

How To Host a webinar via Adobe Connect – Learn what is involved in doing a webinar with you as the host!

2/16 – What’s in your Closet?
3/16 – How to Keep up with it all – Start Pages
4/20 – Twitter Lingo
5/18 – How many accounts do I have?

Online Survey Tools (a 2 part series) – Need a survey? We will show you how to use Survey Monkey to create the survey and pie and column charts and Excel to create combination charts.

2/23 & 3/9
6/9 & 6/22

Photo Manipulation with MS Picture Manager – Have lots of pictures to edit? Learn how to do it with MS Picture Manager.

2/11

Using SharePoint 2007 – Hear what all the fuss is about and see what great things SharePoint 2007 can do for you!

Using SurveyMonkey to Summarize Statewide Programs including Paper Surveys

2/17
3/15
4/7

For Video Teleconference training contact Ron Matason - mailto:ram5@psu.edu.

For the complete list of topics & dates & times along with a description about these trainings, please visit our website - http://it.cas.psu.edu/TechTraining.htm and click on Scheduled Training.

To register or see more information, click on the topic, enter your information, and click Submit. Sessions are offered via Adobe Connect unless stated otherwise.

We need at least 6 staff registered to hold the training, so please register today!

If you have a suggestion for training, please let us know.

The Educational Technologist Team Sherry Crum, Ron Matason, Albert Nakpil, Peg Shuffstall, and Jacki Weikert

AgSci News: Make Webinars as Engaging as In-Person Events

2010-01-28T08:52:00.039-05:00

This is an excellent recording on how to exploit the advantages that web conferencing offers to make your web presentations as engaging and productive as traditional room-based seminars. I learned quite a bit and I think all of you doing webinars for the public or for your peers will learn some good tips as well.

It was sponsored by Adobe and the presenter is from Webinar Success.

The recording is worth the 45 minute listen and the 15 minute Q&A is worth listening to as well.

https://admin.adobe.acrobat.com/_a227210/p70233726/

The presenter covers information on

How to interact with the audience
How to speak to your audience
How to enhance your PowerPoint presentation for a webinar
How to use various tools available in Adobe Connect

I hope you will take the time to listen to some of it or all of it.

Jacki Weikert, Educational Technologist

AgSci News: Need to Keep Up with SharePoint? Use Notifications!

2010-01-28T08:52:00.038-05:00

SharePoint sites are becoming increasingly popular among counties, departments, natural work groups and program teams. As the popularity increases, so does the amount of information available and the number of places one needs to visit to access the information. One easy way to manage this new wealth of SharePoint information is through the use of SharePoint Notifications. SharePoint provides two methods for being notified when content on a SharePoint site is modified: Alerts and RSS feeds.

Both Alerts and RSS Feeds notify you about changes that occur in SharePoint. The difference between RSS Feed and Alerts is in how a user receives them.

Alerts are received via e-mail and appear in the user's default email program at periodic intervals. For example, a user could subscribe for an Alert to notify them when the announcement list on a site is updated.

RSS Feeds are received at periodic intervals and appear in the user’s designated RSS reader. Both Microsoft Outlook and Internet Explorer have built in RSS feed reader capabilities and are commonly used to manage RSS feeds. More information about RSS Feeds can be found at http://it.cas.psu.edu/623.htm.

The process for adding alerts and RSS feeds is quite simple. Let’s look at an example, say I want to sign up for an Alert to tell me when the announcement list on the Volunteerism site (http://sharepoint.ag.psu.edu/coext/CentralRegion/VolunteerDev/default.aspx) site is updated.

Add an Alert

Navigate to the area of the SharePoint site where you want to set up an Alert. Note: In this example, you can go to the Volunteerism Announcement List at http://sharepoint.ag.psu.edu/coext/CentralRegion/VolunteerDev/Lists/Announcements/AllItems.aspx
On the toolbar, click the Actions drop-down list and select Alert Me.
On the New Alert page:
1. Alert Title section: You may change the name to make it more distinct.
2. Change Type section: specify what type of changes you want to be alerted about.
3. Send Alerts for These Changes section: specify filters for alerts.
4. When to Send Alerts section: specify how frequently you want to be alerted.
Click the OK button.

You can repeat similar steps for each part of your SharePoint site (Calendar, Tasks, Shared Documents, or Announcements).

Remove an Alert

If at some point you decide you no longer want to receive an Alert, you can remove it by doing the following:

Click the arrow beside the “Welcome…” link in the upper right corner of the screen.
Select the My Settings option.
On the toolbar, click the My Alerts link.
Check the box next to any alerts you would like to remove.
On the toolbar, click the Delete Selected Alerts link.
Click the OK button.

Similarly, I could have signed up to be notified about changes in the Volunteerism Announcement list by subscribing to the list’s RSS feed.

Subscribe to an RSS Feed

Open the list or library for which you want to be notified of changes.
On the toolbar, click the Actions drop-down list and select View RSS Feed.
The feed appears in a browser window.
On the page that appears, click the Subscribe to this feed link.
If prompted to subscribe, click the Subscribe button.

Unsubscribe to an RSS Feed

Users will need to unsubscribe to a SharePoint RSS feed from within the RSS Feed Reader program they are using. Frequently RSS Feeds are managed through either Internet Explorer and/or Outlook. Users can unsubscribe to an RSS Feed in Internet Explorer and Outlook using the instructions below.

Unsubscribe to an RSS Feed through Internet Explorer

From within Internet Explorer, click the Favorites (star) icon.

Click the Feeds icon.

Right click the feed for which you would like to unsubscribe.

Select the Delete option.

Click the Yes button.
Unsubscribe to an RSS Feed through Microsoft Outlook

From within Outlook, click the + beside the RSS Feeds folder to expand it.

Right click the feed for which you would like to unsubscribe.

Select the Delete “feed name…” option.

Click the Yes button.

Sherry Crum, Educational Technologist

Action Item: Sun Releases Java(TM) 6 Update 18

2010-01-28T08:52:00.033-05:00

As of Jan 27, 2010, the current version of Sun's Java client is Java(TM) 6 Update 18.

If you see the Java Update icon or "Java Update Available" balloon in the lower right corner of the screen, the latest version of Java should be ready to install. You can click the icon and follow its prompts to apply the update. Note: We recommend that you do not install any offered "extras" like Microsoft's Bing Toolbar, MSN Toolbar, or OpenOffice.org Installer. Please un-check these options if they appear. Our How To Update Sun's Java Software has complete steps on how to install Java from either the "Java Update Available" message or how to download and install Java manually.

Vince Verbeke, IT Specialist

How Do I... Open PowerPoint Without Having a New Blank Presentation

2010-01-28T08:52:00.031-05:00

When you open PowerPoint 2007 you automatically get a new blank presentation. For some this may be a pain. Here are the steps to create a new shortcut to PowerPoint so it launches without any presentation open. Don’t forget the special /c at the end of the string.

Right-click an open area on the desktop, point to New, and then click Shortcut.
In the Type the location of the item box, enter (or copy and paste) in this text. "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\OFFICE12\POWERPNT.EXE" /c
Click Next.
In the Type a name for the shortcut box, enter Open Only PPT (or any name you choose).
Click Finish.
Double-click the shortcut to open just the PowerPoint 2007 application. You can then open the presentation of your choice.

Thanks to John Rowehl in York for asking this question.

Jacki Weikert, Educational Technologist

Tech Spotlight: Listen to Excel 2007 Speak

2010-01-28T08:52:00.030-05:00

Prior to Excel 2007, Excel had a Text to Speech Toolbar that provided access to several text to speech commands.

Speak Cells
Speak Cells - Stop Speaking Cells
Speak Cells by Columns
Speak Cells by Rows
Speak Cells on Enter

Unfortunately, this toolbar has disappeared in Excel 2007. Never fear, you can place these commands on the Quick Access Toolbar (QAT) instead. If you have never used the QAT, you can visit http://it.cas.psu.edu/903.htm.

Use Text-to-Speech Commands in Microsoft Office Excel 2007

Next to the Quick Access Toolbar, click Customize Quick Access Toolbar.
Click More Commands.
In the Choose commands from list, select All Commands.
Scroll down to Speak Cells. Click the Speak Cells command, and then click Add.
Click OK.
You will see a new icon on the Quick Access Toolbar.

To use the Speak Cells command, you select a range of cells. Then click the Speak Cells button on the QAT. The text to speech voice will read the contents of the cells back to you. This is useful when verifying data. Excel will read off the data in the spreadsheet while you verify the data from a paper document.

Vince Verbeke, IT Specialist

How Do I... Keyboard Shortcuts Help You Deliver Smooth PowerPoint Presentations

2010-01-28T08:52:00.029-05:00

Here is a reference list for all the PowerPoint power users out there.

Action Shortcut Start presentation from first slide F5 Run the next animation or advance to next slide Enter or Spacebar (or click the mouse) Return to the previous slide Backspace

Jump to a particular slide Type the slide number and press Enter Jump to the first slide Home Jump to the last slide End Jump to the next hyperlink on a slide Tab Jump to the previous hyperlink on a slide Shift + Tab Launch selected hyperlink Enter

Go to a black screen or resume slide show from a black screen B (or period) Go to a white screen or resume slide show from a white screen W (or comma)

End a slide show Esc or - (hyphen)

Hide the pointer and the Popup Menu button Ctrl + H Hide the pointer and the Popup Menu button after 15 seconds Ctrl + U

Change pointer to a pen (and display it and the Popup Menu button, if hidden) Ctrl + P Change pointer to an arrow (and display it and the Popup Menu button, if hidden) Ctrl + A

Display the shortcut menu Shift + F10

Vince Verbeke, IT Specialist

Tech Spotlight: 2009 Crunchies Award Winners

2010-01-28T08:52:00.026-05:00

The Crunchies is an annual competition and award ceremony that looks to recognize compelling startups, Internet and technology innovations of the year. A select list of list of nominees and winners is below. You can see the full list here.

Best Overall Startup or Product Of 2009: Android (Google) Facebook (Winner) LinkedIn ngmoco Twitter Zynga

Best New Startup Or Product Of 2009: Aardvark Bing (Microsoft) (Winner) Foursquare Hunch Milo Spotify

Best New Gadget: Apple Magic Mouse Barnes & Noble nook (Winner) litl webbook Motorola Droid Sonos S5 Zune HD

Best Internet Application: Animoto Dropbox (Winner) Groupon MOG All Access Posterous Yelp

Vince Verbeke, IT Specialist

Tech Spotlight: Upload Your Files and Access Them Anywhere with Google Docs

2010-01-28T08:51:00.016-05:00

Google has announced that it will roll out the ability to store any type of file up to 250MB in size in your Google Docs account. You will have 1GB of free storage for files that are uploaded and not converted to a Google Docs format.

You can read more here:

http://googledocs.blogspot.com/2010/01/upload-and-store-your-files-in-cloud.html

Vince Verbeke, IT Specialist

All Interest: Agriculture and Social Media Web Conference Summary

2010-01-28T08:51:00.014-05:00

As a special topic for Cooperative Extension, eXtension hosted a special topic professional development web conference on January 21, 2010 on the use of social media in the agriculture industry. The purpose of this conference was to provide examples of how social media is being used in agriculture.

Here are links to the recorded session, the presenters’ presentations, the conference chat, and the tweets associated with the conference.

Anne Adrian of the Alabama Cooperative Extension System has blogged about the conference. You can read her entries for a summary of the events.

Agriculture and Social Media Web Conference Summary - Jan 26, 2010
Notes from Agriculture and Social Media Web Conference - Jan 25, 2010

Anne even mentions Chris Raines, extension meats specialist and assistant professor of meat science and technology, in the 2nd blog post. Of course, you may know Chris better as @iTweetmeat.

Vince Verbeke, IT Specialist

All Interest: Penn State Students Build a Blog Empire

2010-01-28T08:51:00.013-05:00

The Chronicle of Higher Education spotlights Onward State, a student-run blog that focuses on Penn State and the Penn State community.

http://chronicle.com/article/Video-Penn-State-Students/63521/

Vince Verbeke, IT Specialist

All Interest: A Tale of Courage - My Name is Kristi

2010-01-28T08:51:00.012-05:00

This is a touching video about a teen's farm accident.

Kristi Ruth, an Iowa 4-H Club member from Lucas County, tells a story of courage about her recovery from a farm mishap.

http://video.extension.iastate.edu/2009/10/27/my-name-is-kristi/

Albert Nakpil, Educational Technologist

All Interest: AccuWeather Launches WeatherMD iPhone App

2010-01-28T08:50:00.006-05:00

"AccuWeather has unveiled WeatherMD, a new iPhone app that offers health and weather information for exercise enthusiasts and anyone with ongoing medical issues.

The app helps users predict when symptoms for various ailments will be at their worst. It also aids fitness enthusiasts by showing what days will have weather conditions suitable for different kinds of activities.

WeatherMD is location-aware, covers chronic conditions like arthritis and asthma, displays "highly visual" weather maps showing concentrations of pollen and other allergens for the next two days, and also offers standard weather forecasts. The app costs $3.99 and is available now in Apple's App Store."

To see images and links to the App store, go here:

http://www.appscout.com/2010/01/accuweather_launches_weathermd.php

Vince Verbeke, IT Specialist

Lighter Side & Interesting Links

2010-01-28T08:50:00.005-05:00

Crayola Color Chart, 1903-2010 There are more colors than black and white? http://www.weathersealed.com/2010/01/15/color-me-a-dinosaur/

[Video] Julia Child on McDonald's French Fries Julia liked the "original" way the fires were prepared. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DF31qCrclC0

Missing the Boat What is on your To Do list today? http://i.imgur.com/bnfvU.png

Big Spider Attacks Daddy This little girl already knows how to talk to the men in her life. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRV4d9LCawU

A New Spin on Tetris The same old game, you just need to spin the screen rather than the shapes. http://firstpersontetris.com/

Don't Forward That E-mail Dilbert speaks the truth to his boss. http://dilbert.com/strips/comic/2010-01-27/

The World’s 18 Strangest Tunnels Popular Mechanics takes on tunnels from around the world. http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/transportation/4343590.html

Vince Verbeke, IT Specialist

AgSci News: Designing PowerPoint Presentations for Adobe Connect

2010-01-14T07:11:00.003-05:00

When designing PowerPoint presentations for use in Adobe Connect there are specific things you will need to do and NOT do. PowerPoint presentations designed for a live audience often times will NOT display correctly when displayed through Adobe Connect. We have developed guidelines to help ensure your presentation will display appropriately for an Adobe Connect audience.

You will want to use the following guidelines for all presentations developed for use with Adobe Connect:

http://it.cas.psu.edu/2127.htm

Sherry Crum, Educational Technologist

AgSci News: Penn State Wireless 2.0 - No VPN Required

2010-01-14T07:08:00.002-05:00

Penn State is transitioning over to the Wireless 2.0 Service. As a result, the Wireless 1.0 Virtual Private Network (VPN) service will no longer be supported after June 30, 2011. As an alternative to Wireless VPN, users should transition over to Penn State's Wireless 2.0 service.

The Penn State Wireless 2.0 service incorporates recent 802.1X wireless authentication and encryption methods that are aimed at enabling an improved level of security and improved performance. You no longer have to download a VPN or relaunch a VPN session when moving from building to building within a wireless zone. Just open your laptop and you'll see the psu network.

Penn State employees can check online to find available Wireless 2.0 locations.

To get connected to the Penn State Wireless 2.0 service, you'll need:

A Penn State Access Account
A laptop with an 802.11 compatible wireless network card

It's easy to get connected to Penn State Wireless 2.0. All you have to do is:

Power up your laptop
Use the psu wireless network for your tasks

You can find instructions to connect to the Wireless 2.0 network here:

Windows | Macintosh | Unix/Linux | Apple iPhone/iPod Touch.

If you have trouble getting a wireless connection, the ITS Help Desk can assist you.

Vince Verbeke, IT Specialist

AgSci News: Update to Personal Web Space Application Process

2010-01-14T07:06:00.002-05:00

On January 8, 2010, Penn State's Information Technology Services (ITS) updated the Personal Web Space application form/quiz (https://www.work.psu.edu/webspace/) to provide for instant Web space creation upon successful completion of the five-question application quiz. This means that users will no longer need to wait the estimated one-to-three business days for Personal Web space creation. All Penn State students, faculty, and staff can apply for Personal Web space on the Personal server. Students, faculty and staff who request Personal Web space will get a www folder added to their respective Penn State Access Account Storage Space (PASS) folders. Space allocations for this service no longer apply due to the 10GB maximum quota available to PASS users. More information about PASS is found on the PASS information page at http://its.psu.edu/PASS/.

Visit http://its.psu.edu/web.html for Web publishing information, resources, and instructions. Inquiries and requests for assistance should be directed to ITS Help Desk staff at helpdesk@psu.edu.

For the most current information regarding this alert, please see http://alerts.its.psu.edu/alert-1345.

Vince Verbeke, IT Specialist

Action Item: Security Updates Available for Adobe Reader and Acrobat

2010-01-14T06:56:00.003-05:00

Adobe shipped a critical security update to its Adobe products on Jan 12, 2010 that addresses a vulnerability that can cause the application to crash and allow an attacker to take control of the affected system. Note: To determine the version of any of the above applications, open the Adobe program. Then from the Help menu choose About Adobe, (name of program). You should see the version listed in a new box. Then, you can click anywhere on this box to close it. The current version of the Adobe Acrobat and Adobe Reader is version 9.3. If you have an earlier version of Adobe Acrobat Professional, version 8, Adobe has released an 8.2 update as well. Action Required: Ag IT recommends that College of Ag Science faculty and staff update any Adobe products to their current version.

Detailed steps can be found on the Ag IT Tech Alerts blog here:

http://icttechalerts.blogspot.com/2010/01/security-updates-available-for-adobe.html

Vince Verbeke, IT Specialist

Action Item (Maintenance): Cleaning Offline File Cache

2010-01-14T06:46:00.004-05:00

Over the past few months we have received compromised computers that have had personal data found in files that are no longer in use on computers. These files come from Offline File Cache, a feature that gives you the ability to view your My Document files while not connected to the network. We need your help in cleaning out these unused files. Please follow these quick steps to clean out the unneeded files.

Before you begin:

YOU MUST BE IN YOUR OFFICE TO DO THESE STEPS. Do not do these steps from home or from a secondary Penn State location.

We recommend that you follow these steps during Support's normal business hours of Monday through Friday: 8:00 am to 5:00 pm. If you run into issues, please submit a Help Request Form - http://it.cas.psu.edu/contactform.htm

Step One: Manually Synchronize Your My Documents Folder

Save and close any open files and programs.
Open My Computer.
From the Tools menu choose Synchronize.
Click the Synchronize button. Note: Once Synchronization is complete the box will automatically disappear.

Step Two: Delete Offline File Cache (Please make sure you have completed Step One)

Note: The My Computer window should still be open.

From the Tools menu choose Folder Options.
Click the Offline Files Tab
Press and hold the CTRL and SHIFT keys, and then click Delete Files. Note: You receive the following error message: The Offline Files cache on the local computer will be re-initialized. Any changes that have not been synchronized with computers on the network will be lost. Any files or folders made available offline will no longer be available offline. A computer restart is required. Do you wish to re-initialize the cache?
Click Yes.
Click OK to the Folder Options box.
Click Yes to restart. Note: The logon time may be longer as the cache time is reset. Note: Once the desktop re-appears, verify that your My Documents folder shows "blue arrows" to indicate that the My Documents folder will synchronize. If you DO see the blue sync arrows, your Offline File Cache will be re-populated as you work normally by the computer's automatic sync. You are finished!
If you DO NOT see the blue sync arrows after the restart, Right-click on My Documents and choose Make Available Offline. In the Offline Files Wizard, accept all the default choices. You may be asked to click OK; or, Next and then Finish. You do want to "make this folder and all its subfolders available offline" if asked.
Allow the sync to occur. (See the next Notes.) Note: You will likely see errors during this first sync! This is due to the fact that the manual sync that you started and a behind-the-scenes 'automatic' sync are both running. The automatic sync will lock a file and prevent the manual sync from making it available offline. These initial errors can be ignored. Note: We recommend that when the manual sync completes you click Start and choose Log Off. Allow the regular sync to complete. This should finish without errors.

If you have any questions please submit a Help Request Form - http://it.cas.psu.edu/contactform.htm

Mike Leiter, IT Support Coordinator

How Do I... Use Different Signatures in Outlook 2007

2010-01-14T06:44:00.001-05:00

Like most of you, I send E-mail messages to different groups of people. Because of this need, I have different signatures in Outlook. Each signature includes similar but different contact information about me or my work team.

For example, this is my general signature for almost all of my messages:

Jacki Weikert Educational Technologist Need training? Check out: Self-Paced & Scheduled Penn State University - Ag IT Tionesta PA 16353 814-755-3794 jweikert@psu.edu

And this is one I use when I send out information about our statewide training sessions:

If you have a suggestion for training, please let us know. The Educational Technologist team -Jacki, Peg, Sherry, Ron and Albert

Jacki Weikert - jweikert@psu.edu Peg Shuffstall - pshuffy@psu.edu Sherry Crum - slg16@psu.edu Ron Matason - ram5@psu.edu Albert Nakpil – aln@psu.edu ------------------------------------------- Information Technologies 401 Ag Admin Bldg University Park PA 16802 http://it.cas.psu.edu/

To change between these signatures, I use the Signature button in the Include group on the Message tab of a new message. Use the dropdown arrow to select another signature.

To create a new signature or to edit an existing signature, choose Signatures from the same dropdown arrow. Use the New button or edit section as needed. Be sure to click Save and then OK to update all your signature files.

Jacki Weikert, Educational Technologist

How Do I... Use Windows Explorer to work with SharePoint Document and Picture Libraries

2010-01-14T06:43:00.000-05:00

Looking for a quick way to add documents or pictures to a SharePoint Document or Picture Library? Need to create folders and organize documents or pictures in a library? SharePoint provides the ability to open a document or picture library in Windows Explorer where you can create new folders and use the cut, copy, paste, drag and drop tools to organize files. And, it is SUPER simple to do:

Open the document or picture library.
On the toolbar, click the Actions drop‐down list and select Open with Windows Explorer to open Windows Explorer in a new window.
Create new folders as desired.
Cut, copy, paste, drag or drop files as desired.
When finished close the Windows Explorer window.
Click the File menu. Choose Close.

Sherry Crum, Educational Technologist

Tech Spotlight: Google Dictionary

2010-01-14T06:42:00.000-05:00

As you would expect, Google Dictionary allows you to look up words and see definitions and synonyms. But you can also choose to look up a word in other languages. So if you are in a pinch, give it a try.

http://www.google.com/dictionary

Vince Verbeke, IT Specialist

Tech Spotlight: Skyfire: Free Mobile Browser for Windows Mobile and Nokia Phones

2010-01-14T06:41:00.001-05:00

"For the first time ever, on your phone, you can watch any video, connect with friends, listen to music, shop, and browse the web using the full-featured PC versions of your favorite websites. With free mobile media browser, Skyfire, mobile browsing just works - speedy page loads, full video, images and audio."

Learn more here: http://www.skyfire.com/product

Vince Verbeke, IT Specialist

Tech Spotlight: Flippity

2010-01-14T06:39:00.001-05:00

Flippity asks two simple questions. What would you like to buy? Where do you want to find it? Once you fill in these choices you will be taken to a screen where you will see any available items mapped out for you. You can then refine your search by category or distance.

http://www.flippity.com/

Vince Verbeke, IT Specialist

Tech Spotlight: Auslogics Duplicate File Finder

2010-01-14T06:38:00.001-05:00

Auslogics Duplicate File Finder is a freeware Windows application that helps you to get rid of unnecessary duplicate files.

http://www.auslogics.com/en/software/duplicate-file-finder/download

You can find screenshots of how the program works here:

http://www.auslogics.com/en/software/duplicate-file-finder/screenshots

Vince Verbeke, IT Specialist

All Interest: Treating Your Body Like a Computer: Trouble-shooting Tips

2010-01-14T06:37:00.001-05:00

This University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension article entitled Treating Your Body Like a Computer: Trouble-shooting Tips starts with the following:

"If your body was a computer, would it be receiving lots of "error" messages? Is it beginning to run slower and take longer to "start?" Here's a checklist to help optimize your performance and prevent crashing."

Since we all probably think that our computers take too long to start, we don't want our bodies to be the same predicament. Here are the bullet points from the article. They sound very computer-like don't they.

Are you trying to run too many programs at the same time?
Is your anti-virus software up-to-date and running?
Is your battery dangerously low?
Are you bogged down by unneeded files and programs?
Do you need to hit "escape," "undo" or "delete?"
Time to reboot

Please read the full article to see how they relate to your REAL health and well-being.

http://lancaster.unl.edu/food/ftdec09.shtml

Robin L. Kuleck, Elk County Extension Director

All Interest: Google, Privacy, and You

2010-01-14T06:35:00.001-05:00

This Jan 7, 2010 Securosis article entitled Google, Privacy, and You lists ways that your data and/or items you research with Google are being tracked. You can add to this list words that you look up with Google Dictionary.

All your web searches (Google Search).
Every website you visit (Google Toolbar & DoubleClick).
All your email (Gmail).
All your meetings and events (Google Calendar).
Your physical location and where you travel (Latitude & geolocation when you perform a search using Google from your location-equipped phone).
Physical locations you plan on visiting (Google Maps).
Physical locations of all your contacts (Maps, Talk, & Gmail).
Your phone calls and voice mails (Google Voice).
What you read (Search, Toolbar, Reader, & Books)
Text chats (Talk).
Real-time location when driving, and where you stop for food/gas/whatever (Maps with turn-by-turn).
Videos you watch (YouTube).
News you read (News, Reader).
Things you buy (Checkout, Search, & Product Search).
Things you write -- public and private (Blogger [including unposted drafts] & Docs).
Your photos (Picassa, when you upload to the web albums).
Your online discussions (Groups, Blogger comments).
Your healthcare records (Health).
Your smarthome power consumption (PowerMeter).

To read the full blog post, go here:

http://securosis.com/blog/google-privacy-and-you

Note: Securosis is an information security research and advisory firm that has a blog about its industry.

Vince Verbeke, IT Specialist

All Interest: What To Do With Your Old Home Computer Equipment

2010-01-14T06:33:00.001-05:00

Dell has partnered with Goodwill Industries International on the Reconnect program for five years. You can drop off your old home computer and computer accessories at participating Goodwill locations at no cost. They will then give you a tax receipt for the donation.

Dell Recycling: http://www.dell.com/recycling

You can find participating Goodwill nearest you here: http://reconnectpartnership.com/locations.php

Learn what Reconnect will accept (just about anything computer related) here: http://reconnectpartnership.com/items.php

Vince Verbeke, IT Specialist

All Interest: Best and Worst Jobs 2010

2010-01-14T06:32:00.000-05:00

From the Wall Street Journal, "The 200 best and worst jobs in the U.S. in 2009 based on five criteria -- environment, income, employment outlook, physical demands and stress -- according to a newly released study from job site CareerCast.com."

http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/st_BESTJOBS2010_20100105.html

The top 5 are Actuary, Software Engineer, Computer Systems Analyst, Biologist, and Historian.

The bottom 5 jobs are Welder, Dairy Farmer, Ironworker, Lumberjack, and Roustabout.

Agricultural Scientist (111) is slightly behind a Piano Tuner (109) but beats out a Cashier (112), Barber (113) and Appliance Repairer (114).

Final note, a Farmer is better off than the more specialized Dairy Farmer, 161 vs. 197.

Vince Verbeke, IT Specialist

All Interest: Chevy and OnStar Unveil OnStar Mobile App

2010-01-14T06:30:00.001-05:00

"The OnStar app will allow [2011 Chevy] Volt owners to check the health and status of their vehicle from their mobile phone anywhere in the world, run reports on their mileage and travel, see their overall mileage and miles-per-gallon, and more. The app also allows you to tell your vehicle to e-mail or text you when it's finished charging, or to send you an alert if something's happened to interrupt the charge cycle.

Additionally, the OnStar mobile app gives users the ability to remotely start their vehicle and automatically adjust the cabin climate to their preference. For example, you can tell the app that in the summer you prefer the cabin at one temperature, and in the winter you'd rather it be a little warmer, and the app will make the adjustment for you. The app can also be used to remotely lock or unlock the Volt, or sound the horn and flash the lights on command."

Phones supported by the OnStar Mobile App include the iPhone, Motorola Droid (Android 2.0 only), and the Blackberry Storm.

Lighter Side & Interesting Links

2010-01-14T06:08:00.001-05:00

Pennsylvania State Farm Show Results Look up winners from your county. http://www.farmshow.state.pa.us/results.aspx

Pennsylvania State Farm Show Food Court Menu I'll take a chicken parmesan sandwich, a 'schroomie' along with peach tea. http://blog.pennlive.com/life/2010/01/pumpkin_pie_meatball_sandwich.html

Farm Show 2010 Official Photos Check out photos from the Pennsylvania Farm Show. http://www.farmshow.state.pa.us/EventPhotos2010.aspx

Junior Rodeo Riders - Pennsylvania Farm Show 2010 Will Stotler has Farm Show images in this flick stream. http://www.flickr.com/photos/willstotler/4260555033/in/photostream/

Pennsylvania Farm Show 2010 EJ also has Farm Show images in their flick stream. Check out the crowd shot! http://www.flickr.com/photos/ejsactionphoto/sets/72157623050736393/

Escorted by the PA State Police Mounted Unit The patrol car is surrounded. http://www.flickr.com/photos/jimhpa/4260643860/in/photostream/

2010 Harrisburg Farm Show Dave Sherwood has a set of Farm Show images. http://www.flickr.com/photos/42446840@N00/sets/72157623176759098/

PA Farm Show Horses Draft horses at the Pennsylvania Farm Show from gypsymarestudios. http://www.flickr.com/photos/31714338@N07/sets/72157623052154925/

More Cowbell!! The Pennlive.com site has oodles of Farm Show coverage. http://www.pennlive.com/farm-show

Vince Verbeke, IT Specialist

CAS News: Holiday Reporting for AG Server-Related Interruptions

2009-12-23T07:12:00.002-05:00

Ag IT Support has an after-hours support service for problems that may be encountered with college servers. These services include E-mail (Outlook/Exchange), file servers (My Documents), and web sites hosted on the college server. More information is on this web page.

http://it.cas.psu.edu/AfterHoursServerContact.htm

DURING THE WINTER HOLIDAY BREAK, the Penn State Call Center will be open 7:00 AM to 7:00 PM Monday, December 21 through Wednesday, December 23 and 8:30 AM to 4:30 PM Thursday, December 24 through Thursday, December 31. They will be closed on Christmas Day, December 25 and on New Year's Day, January 1, 2010. Normal hours will resume on Saturday, January 2, 2010. There are no evening hours.

Mike Leiter, IT Support Coordinator

CAS News: 1st ITChatter Series a Success!

2009-12-23T07:11:00.001-05:00

Thank you to all that attended our 1st ITChatter session last week on "PBWorks – What can a wiki do for me?" Lee Young, Horticulture educator from Washington County, shared how she uses wikis to collaborate and share information with her Extension Board and how she offers training to her Master Gardener volunteers. She gave us the quick demo on how easy it is to add or update a wiki page.

For those of you that missed the chatter, we have a recording available here - http://it.cas.psu.edu/SelfPaced.htm, click on ITChatter series.

If you are ready to create your own wiki, join us for our Create a Wiki class on January 26 from 9:30 to 12 noon. You can register via our website http://go.cas.psu.edu/training/

Upcoming dates and topics:

1/19 – Blogs – How to dress them up for Effect!
2/16 – What’s in your Closet?
3/16 – How to Keep up with it all – Start Pages
4/20 – Twitter Lingo
5/18 – How many accounts do I have?

ITChatter is a lunchtime conversation about different technologies and their uses. We will be meeting monthly for a new ITChatter series. Participants are asked to arrive in the Adobe Connect meeting room (http://breeze.psu.edu/ITChatter) at noon. The chatter gets started at 12:15 and will wrap up by 12:50.

Jacki Weikert, Educational Technologist

CAS News: Planning to Host a Webinar

2009-12-23T07:09:00.001-05:00

Webinars are a cost-effective method of sharing your information with a broad audience. BUT what do you need to think about before you host one.

The Educational Technologists have recorded a self-paced learning module to help you have a successful webinar. We gathered lots of feedback from several of the already successful Webinar hosts: Allyson Muth from PA Forest Web Center, Kristen Saacke-Blunk and Eileen Wheeler from the Manure Du Jour Webinar series and Mark Douglass and John Turack from the Marcellus Shale webinars. So, listen to what they have to say here:

http://downloads.cas.psu.edu/it/training/webinarsdoIwantone/index.htm

Then, if you still have questions or want some advice, contact the Educational Technologists via the Help Desk Request Form and we’ll help you through the process.

Peg Shuffstall, Educational Technologist

CAS News: Update Planned for Penn State Kerberos Servers

2009-12-23T07:08:00.001-05:00

On Wednesday, January 6, 2010, Penn State's Information Technology Services (ITS) will make a configuration change to Penn State's Access Account Kerberos servers during the regularly scheduled maintenance window (5:00 - 7:00 a.m.).

During this timeframe, Access Account password changes will be disabled. In addition, services reliant upon the Access Account Kerberos servers may experience intermittent outages.

For more information regarding this alert, please see http://alerts.its.psu.edu/alert-1350.

Vince Verbeke, IT Specialist

CAS News: University Plans Changes to Spam Forward Handling

2009-12-23T07:06:00.001-05:00

As of January 5, 2010, Penn State's Information Technology Services (ITS) will no longer forward E-mail messages flagged as Spam for Penn State E-mail users who forward their respective psu.edu e-mail to a third-party e-mail service (for example, gmail.com and yahoo.com).

This change is an effort being made by ITS to reduce the likelihood of Penn State being erroneously blacklisted.

Blacklisting is a process where groups actively monitor the Internet for reports of E-mail traffic from a variety of sources sending Spam. These names are then publicly listed for others to reference as a method for combating Spam. ISPs can use blacklist databases as a filter applied to their incoming mail servers in order to help prevent Spam proliferation.

We have seen several cases where Penn State being blacklisted has caused E-mail to be blocked by outside organizations. This action is a welcome step to avoid being blacklisted.

For more information regarding this alert, please see http://alerts.its.psu.edu/alert-1343.

Vince Verbeke, IT Specialist

CAS News: Thanks for All Your "Cards and Letters"

2009-12-23T06:40:00.002-05:00

Another busy year for the Ag IT Support team has come and gone. As we end 2009, here are just a few of the numbers from our Support Center. Please note that these numbers don't "add" up. ;-) They are broad numbers about the volume of support that happens each year for the College. Requests arrive from places other than the Help Request Form.

4,415 - # of Help Desk Submission Form requests (Ave per Month - 368) 6,301 - # of Issues (trouble/help tickets) entered into the Help Desk database (Ave per Month - 525) 2,730 - # of Sent Messages from Computer Support's E-mail account (Ave per Month - 225)

2008 numbers were 4,189, 5,871 and 2,532 in the same 3 categories.

So we've seen increases across the board in each category. Next year we hope that some of these numbers go down!

226 - Help Desk Submission Forms
430 - Issues in Help Desk database
198 - Sent Messages

Mike Leiter, IT Support Coordinator

Security News: Be Wary of 'Breaking News' Web Search Results

2009-12-23T06:37:00.001-05:00

The "bad guys" know that we all use search engines to find information on current, breaking news. They will react almost immediately to salacious news. They have the means and ability to hack search results so that sites like Google will redirect you to malicious sites that present scareware warnings for rogue anti-virus products.

Here are links to recent examples as posted to Sunbelt's blog.

Dec 15, 2009, Dangerous web searches
Dec 16, 2009, Google Doodle search results poisoned

Vince Verbeke, IT Specialist

How Do I... Send Personalized E-mail to Multiple Contacts in Outlook 2007

2009-12-23T06:35:00.001-05:00

Many of us have used Microsoft Word or Excel to create a Mail Merge. But how many of us have done the same with Microsoft Outlook? In essence you can create an E-Mail Merge with your contacts. We recommend that you experiment with a small group of contacts before attempting this on a large scale.

Limitations:

The mail merge feature does NOT work with Outlook's personal distribution lists. You must use individual contacts for the merge.
You cannot add recipients to the Cc or Bcc line. Each recipient receives a copy of the message by being addressed on the To line of the message.
Outlook's Mail merge doesn't support attachments - if you add one, it's sent as an icon in the message body. The recipients will not be able to open it.

Step 1: Select Outlook Contacts

Open Contacts in Outlook 2007 (press Ctrl + 3).
Select the contacts for the E-mail. Here are some tips to do this.
- Press Ctrl + A to select all.
- Hold down the Ctrl key and click just the Contacts you need.
- Assign categories to your contacts. You can then view your contacts by category (View .. Arrange By .. Categories). You can click on the category header to select for the merge.

Step 2: Use the Mail Merge Wizard to Start the E-mail

From the Tools menu choose Mail Merge.You now see the Mail Merge Contacts dialog box.
In the Contacts section, select Only selected contacts.
In the Field to merge section, leave All contact fields selected. Note: Skip the Document file section for now.
In the Merge options section, click the Merge to drop-down arrow and select E-mail.
In the Message subject line, enter the subject of the E-mail.

Step 3: Create E-mail in Word

We skipped the Document file section under Step 2 in order to explain it further here. You can create the E-mail from a blank Word document; or, you can create a Word document with the text of the E-mail prior to starting the process. You can then choose this Word file as the merge document.

In the Document file section, you can use either the New document or Existing document choice.

New document

Leave New document selected to start from scratch.

Click OK. Note: If you see a message that "This action will apply to all items in the selected groups", click OK.

Word will open with a blank document to serve as the body of your E-mail.

Existing document

Click the Browse button. Choose the Word document for your letter. Click OK.

Word will open with the existing document to serve as the body of your E-mail.

Go back to Outlook and click OK to close the Mail Merge Wizard dialog box. Note: If you see a message that "This action will apply to all items in the selected groups", click OK.

Now go back to Word.

At this point the Mailings tab will be selected for you automatically. Ignore the Create and Start Mail Merge groups in the Word 2007 ribbon! You have already selected who the E-mail will go to. If you see the normal Mail Merge wizard window on the right, please ignore. You will NOT use this wizard. You need to use the buttons from the ribbon instead.

Enter the text of the E-mail in the Word documents. You should save this file as you work.
To enter a Greeting, from the Write and Insert Fields group in the ribbon, click on Greeting Line. Make your choices. You will see a preview of the names. Click OK.
Optional: To add additional fields to the letter itself, from the Write and Insert Fields group in the ribbon, click on Insert Merge Field. You can choose from a variety of contact fields. Click Insert as needed. Click Close when done.

Step 4: Preview and Send

From the Preview Results group in the ribbon, click Preview Results. Click on the left and right arrows to review the letters.
When ready, from the Preview Results group in the ribbon, click Finish & Merge and choose Send E-mail Messages. Note: The Mail format drop-down will show choices of HTML, Plain text, or Attachment. HTML is the recommended default choice. If you choose Attachment or Plain text, you will be prompted to allow access for the merge to occur. Further, if you choose Attachment, the Word file itself will be sent as an attachment.
In the Merge to E-mail dialog box, click OK.
You can close Word at this point. Save the Word file if needed.
You can switch back to Outlook. The messages should be in your Sent Items folder.

Vince Verbeke, IT Specialist

How Do I... Insert Pictures from SharePoint Library into Word or PowerPoint

2009-12-23T06:33:00.001-05:00

Pictures that have been stored in a SharePoint picture library can quickly be inserted into a Word document or PowerPoint presentation, saving you the step of downloading a copy of the picture and then inserting it into the file.

Open the file into which you want to insert a picture.
Open the SharePoint picture library.
Check the box below the picture you would like to insert.
On the toolbar, click the Actions drop‐down list and select the Send to option.
From the Insert into an open file drop‐down, select the document or presentation into which you want to insert the picture.
OPTIONAL: Click the Options link.
1. Choose an appropriate size for the image.
2. Click OK.
Click Send.

Sherry Crum, Educational Technologist

How Do I... Move One Sheet/Workbook to Another in Excel 2007

2009-12-23T06:32:00.001-05:00

Sometimes it’s necessary to move one Excel spreadsheet to a new workbook or maybe just to another tab in the same worksheet. Here’s how you can do it.

Select the worksheet tab you want to move (or copy).
Right click on the tab and choose Move/Copy.
When the Move or Copy dialog box appears, you have some decisions to make.
1. In the To book: option, you can choose an existing workbook (that is open) or you can choose (new book). If you chose an existing, open workbook, then you get to decide where to place this worksheet (before an existing tab or move to end).
2. If you chose to new book, you are all set.
3. LAST option, do you want to Create a copy of this worksheet? If yes, check that box at the bottom.
When all set, click OK.

Here are a couple of notes to think about if your worksheets contain calculations or formula references:

Be aware that calculations or charts that are based on worksheet data might become inaccurate if you move the worksheet.
Similarly, if a moved or copied worksheet is inserted between sheets that are referred to by a 3-D formula reference, data on that worksheet might be unexpectedly included in the calculation.

Want to see other steps to move or copy data? Go here.

Jacki Weikert, Educational Technologist

Tech Spotlight: Facebook Privacy Settings: What You Need to Know

2009-12-23T06:29:00.001-05:00

This December 10, 2009 blog post breaks down Facebook's new privacy settings. Forewarning, the author is from across the pond so 'privacy' may not sound as you expect.

http://www.sophos.com/blogs/gc/g/2009/12/10/facebook-privacy

You can also read more in this 10 New Privacy Settings Every Facebook User Should Know article.

http://www.allfacebook.com/2009/12/facebook-privacy-new

Vince Verbeke, IT Specialist

Tech Spotlight: Dragon Dictation comes to the iPhone

2009-12-23T06:28:00.001-05:00

Dragon Dictation allows you to talk to your iPhone. It then connects to computers that translate voice to text. It's from the same folks who bring you Dragon Naturally Speaking. For a short time, it's free.

http://www.tuaw.com/2009/12/08/dragon-dictation-comes-to-the-iphone-wow

Vince Verbeke, IT Specialist

Tech Spotlight: 15 Best Free Windows Mobile Apps

2009-12-23T06:25:00.001-05:00

"Windows Mobile was the original smartphone OS and it inherited years of applications from the Pocket PC.

Phone manufacturers and mobile operators include a handful of apps on new devices but there are literally thousands of other Windows Mobile apps out there.

The best navigation app from the iPhone? It's been on Windows Mobile for years.

The problem is that there's no one place to look for apps: as well as the new Windows Marketplace for Mobile and the Handango store, there are hundreds of mobile software developers, large and small, with their own sites. This is our pick of the best Windows Mobile apps - and where to find them."

http://www.techradar.com/news/phone-and-communications/mobile-phones/15-best-free-windows-mobile-apps-653071

Vince Verbeke, IT Specialist

Tech Spotlight: Raw Therapee - Digital Photo Processing Software

2009-12-23T06:24:00.001-05:00

"RawTherapee is a free RAW converter and digital photo processing software. It is available for Windows and for Linux and is actively developed.

RawTherapee is used to adjust some of the most often changed parameters when optimizing digital images. A normal user often just wants to adjust the white balance or brightness of a photo he took. Instead of using a big and expensive image editor you could use a small and fast (specialized) tool like RawTherapee.

More and more cameras also support RAW formats. RAW files usually offer higher color depth than JPGs (JPG is limited to 8 Bit per color). So the adjustments are done with the high color depth and then afterwards converted to or saved as JPGs. Thus you loose no picture detail in the JPG as you would when changing the JPG itself.

RawTherapee supports JPG (8 bit), PNG (8 or 16 bit) and TIFF (8 or 16 bit). All image processing is done in 16 bit/channel mode."

To learn more:

Vince Verbeke, IT Specialist

All Interest: How To Have a Clean Inbox in 2010

2009-12-23T06:22:00.001-05:00

"2010 is right around the corner, and a new year always feels like a fresh start. Don't your email accounts deserve a fresh start too?

Many people keep emails in their inboxes for days or even weeks or months, waiting to be handled. While there's no physical weight to that material, there's certainly psychic weight: some of those things are tasks that need to get done, some are waiting for someone else to do something, and some are just there because you don't know what they need or where to put them.

Follow these steps to clear them out, and you'll be able to start handling your email in a whole new way in 2010."

To read the rest of the OutlookPower article, go here:

http://www.outlookpower.com/issues/issue200912/00002464001.html

Vince Verbeke, IT Specialist

All Interest: TheFind Launches Comparison Shopping Feature

2009-12-23T06:20:00.001-05:00

"In time for the holiday shopping season, TheFind, a technology-heavy shopping search engine, has launched a nifty comparison shopping feature that’s worth a spin.

When you do a search for a product on the find, you can now choose to see the “best price” view. For now, the feature is only available for electronics and appliances, which amounts to around 40 million products (or 10 percent of the total index) indexed by TheFind. The search engine will do a lot of the heavy lifting for you. It will automatically try to detect your location and list the best prices from local retailers. The engine will also list the items that have the lowest verified price."

To read the rest of the TechCrunch article, go here. To take TheFind for a spin, go here:

http://www.thefind.com/

Vince Verbeke, IT Specialist

All Interest: Business Cards 2.0 Style

2009-12-23T06:18:00.002-05:00

I don't suppose that Google really cares that their name is being used here. If I had a business, this would be an idea I would use.

http://www.smeech.net/smeech/2009/12/15/business-cards-20-style.html

Vince Verbeke, IT Specialist