eNews Volume 131 - 11/25/2009

On Friday October 30, 2009 the Ag IT department upgraded Ninja, our current Spam filter, to the latest version, VIPRE. The unplanned upgrade was due to an issue we were experiencing with Ninja. Sunbelt, the owners of Ninja/VIPRE recommended we upgrade to the most recent version. After the installation was complete, we implemented the same rules that Ninja had to determine whether an E-mail is Spam.

College of Ag Science customers who use our Outlook Exchange server should not see anything different in their Outlook.  You should continue to see a Spam Folder with subfolders of Allowed Senders, Blocked Senders, and Quarantine.

To learn more about VIPRE and how it protects our mailboxes from Spam, check out our How To's on VIPRE.

Mike Leiter, IT Support Coordinator

PBWorks - What can a wiki do for me? Not sure what a wiki is? Hear from Lee Young, Horticulture Educator in Washington County, how she is using wikis to collaborate with her Extension Board and Master Gardeners. Talk to the Ed Techs and others about ways you might be able to use a wiki. Then, you can take our Create a Wiki class scheduled for Jan 26 to get started with your own wiki!

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!

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

The Ed Techs are now tweeting.  Follow us on Twitter, we are AgITTraining. We will be tweeting about upcoming training classes, technology tips, tricks and best practices and a whole lot more. Follow what we are saying or tweet at us (@AgITTraining) if you have questions, comments or any exciting technology-related information to share.

Not sure what Twitter is or need to know how to get started? Check out the Lynda.com tutorials (http://www.its.psu.edu/training/lynda/) related to using Twitter. Here are two examples:

• Twitter Essential Training
• Social Media Marketing with Facebook and Twitter

Sherry Crum, Educational Technologist

The Penn State Computer Store administrative offices, as well as the Store's product distribution center and Software Licensing and Media Duplication services, have relocated to 820 North University Drive, USB1, Suite 147D. The administrative offices are open Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m. to assist customers with the above-mentioned services.

University students, faculty and staff should continue to visit the Computer Store's two showroom locations to make hardware, software and other product purchases. Both showrooms, HUB (next to the id+ office) and 12 Willard Building, are open Monday through Friday, 9:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m., except during holidays.

Vince Verbeke, IT Specialist

Sun's Java software uses a portion of your computer's hard drive as a cache where frequently accessed data can be retained for rapid loading. This Java Runtime Environment (JRE) cache must sometimes be cleared manually in order to allow the latest Java version to load and install. In addition, clearing the JRE cache can improve performance for web-based programs that use Java.

These steps will show you how to empty the JRE cache. These steps can be done at anytime, but could be part of a monthly computer maintenance schedule.

In addition, you can reduce the size of the JRE cache so that it will 'flush' out older data by itself.

1. Click Start, then Control Panel.
2. Open the Java control panel. If you don't see it, click the Switch to Classic View link on the left. Then open the Java control panel.
3. When the Java control panel opens, you will be at the General tab.
4. Under Temporary Internet Files, click Settings.
5. Click Delete Files.
6. All options should be chosen. Click OK.
   
   Note: The following graphic shows that the 1000 MB is the default size allocated for the JRE cache. This is much too large. We recommend that you edit this number to be 20 MB. If you have yet to make this change, you can do so now.
   
   
   
   
7. When ready to close the Java control panel, click OK. Click OK.

Here is our list of past Action Item (Maintenance) tasks for EN computers in 2009.

• 09-17-2009: Determine the Strength of Your Password
• 08-07-2009: Reduce the Size of your E-mail Disk Space
• 04-16-2009: Use Disk Cleanup
• 01-22-2009: Check VIPRE's Quarantine Folder

Vince Verbeke, IT Specialist

Bulleted lists are fine. But with a quick click you can make your audience's socks go up and down with the addition of SmartArt graphics instead.

Note: If you plan to use a PowerPoint presentation with a SmartArt Diagram via Adobe Connect, BE SURE TO test and look at it BEFORE the day of the presentation. Most SmartArt graphics do not display as expected when used via Adobe Connect. As a workaround, you can share your screen while doing the presentation via Adobe Connect.

1. Open your PowerPoint 2007 presentation. Go to the slide you wish to edit.
2. Right-click anywhere in the bulleted list and choose Convert to SmartArt.
   
   Note: If you don't see a list of diagram layouts, click More SmartArt Graphics and choose a layout from the Choose a SmartArt Graphic dialog box.
   
   
3. Click the diagram layout that you want to use (you can change this later).
   
4. The SmartArt Tools Design and Format tabs appear when the diagram is active. You can edit the bulleted text or choose a new SmartArt diagram from these menus.
   
   Note: To learn more about SmartArt, you can view this Microsoft PowerPoint 2007 Help and How-to page: Spice up your text with SmartArt graphics

Here are some samples. When creating these, if I didn't like the layout I would click Undo (or press Ctrl + Z) and then right-clicked again in the bulleted list to choose a different SmartArt layout.

Original, bulleted list

SmartArt Circles

SmartArt Arrow

Vince Verbeke, IT Specialist

These steps avoid the hassle of saving an attached document to your computer, then replying to the original E-mail and attaching the revised document. Be forewarned that you need to do these steps in order to have them work as expected.

For insurance, you can make a copy of the message before performing these steps. Select the message in your mailbox. Press Ctrl + C to copy it. Press Ctrl + V to create a copy of the message in your mailbox. You can then open one of the messages and edit the document. After sending the edited document you can delete the extra message.

1. Open the message.
   
   Note: Key point #1, when you open an attachment from the Reading pane it creates a read-only attachment. You must open the file from the message itself.
   
   
2. Double-click on the attachment to open it. If you are prompted with the "You should only open attachments from a trustworthy source" message, click Open.
   
   Note: Key point #2, do not close the message before you save and close the attachment!
   
   
3. Edit the attachment as needed. Do not close the message at this point.
   
   Note: As long as the message is open there is a pointer between it and the attachment. Your changes will be saved to the document that will be sent when you forward it.
   
   
4. Save and close the attachment that you were editing.
5. Forward the message (do not reply) and then address it back to the original sender. Add any comments to the new message. Click Send.
   
   Note: You will have a copy of the edited document in your Sent Items folder at this point.
   
   Note: You can now close the original message. Outlook will ask if you want to save it. Click Yes to save if you want the edited document to replace the original document in the message. Click No to keep the original.
   
   Note: When you forward a message in Step 5, you can send the edited attachment to anyone else as well.
   

To get the trick of doing these steps, you might send messages to yourself as a start. You don't need to have a oops moment when sending something out to an entire list!

Vince Verbeke, IT Specialist

Moomeo is a free service that allows you to share emails on Twitter, Facebook or anywhere online. It supports attachments as well.

To test, send an E-mail to post@moomeo.com. You will then receive a message back from Moomeo with a link to your content. You can then share this link online.

Moomeo provides a link that allows you to delete the post as well. There is a place for comments on the post, which is nice. Please note, the online E-mail will NOT include the addresses of sender or recipient. You will see addresses if you forward an E-mail however.

http://www.moomeo.com/

I've sent this same article (with attachment) to Moomeo. Click this link to see the sample: http://bit.ly/4147ND

Vince Verbeke, IT Specialist

Google will be offering the complimentary service through Jan. 15, 2010. In exchange for the free Wi-Fi, you will be asked to set Google as your homepage or try the Google Chrome browser after you sign in to the free service. In addition, you will be asked to contribute to three nonprofit groups Google has partnered with: Engineers without Borders, One Economy Corporation and Climate Savers Computing Initiative. Google will match donations of up to $250,000 per airport.

Baltimore (BWI), Pittsburgh (PIT) and State College (SCE) are on the list.

To see the complete list of airports for Google sponsored free Wi-Fi:, go here:

http://gizmodo.com/5401118/google-serves-up-free-wi+fi-at-47-airports-for-the-holidays

Vince Verbeke, IT Specialist

"Marc Ostrick and Michael Sean Wright set out to document a day at Blog World Expo in Las Vegas. Ostrick, Co-Founder of eGuiders teamed up with fellow documentarian Wright, founder of nicefishfilms, to take the pulse of what some are calling the new media ‘revolution’.

The gathering of bloggers, lifestreamers and seasoned journalists provided an opportunity to dialog with media producers from around the world. Ostrick and Wright attempted to push the limits of the current technology, shooting with Kodak Zi8 and Flip Ultra HD cameras.

The short doc is part of the conversation focused on the shifting landscape of media. The new dial tone is a dialog among media producers, technologists and bloggers who are looking to express their ideas into the stream of the real-time web.

The filmmakers shadowed Robert Scoble, early technology blogger-evangelist as he interacted with the influencers in social media.

“Social media… is the new dial tone,” according to author Chris Brogan."

http://blip.tv/file/2756277

The above video was created with 2 low-cost cameras; neither cost more than $200.

If you found the first video of interest, their episode 2 is also worth a view.

http://www.blip.tv/file/2821897

Vince Verbeke, IT Specialist

On November 16, 2009 Google added a number of feature upgrades to its Translate service. Among the updates, the site now lets you see your translated text instantly as you type. This is very cool.

Read more about the new Google Translate here: A new look for Google Translate

You can check out Google Translate here: http://translate.google.com/

Vince Verbeke, IT Specialist

The Marine Traffic project "provides free real-time information to the public, about ship movements and ports, mainly across the coast-lines of Europe and North America. The project is currently hosted by the Department of Product and Systems Design Engineering, University of the Aegean, Greece. The initial data collection is based on the Automatic Identification System (AIS)."

You can view their Live Map here. Click to zoom in on a part of the world or better yet use the drop-down menus in the upper left to choose a particular area or port. For example, there is plenty of action within the English Channel.

They also have some awesome pictures. This is an example of a salvage tug connecting to a tanker.

Vince Verbeke, IT Specialist

This Nov 12, 2009 Arstechnica article entitled Apple grabs 17% of smartphone market in latest quarter has two great images of Smartphone sales.

http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2009/11/apple-grabs-17-of-smartphone-market-in-latest-quarter.ars

Vince Verbeke, IT Specialist

This could actually be really useful for people with disabilities.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zE5PGeh2K9k

Vince Verbeke, IT Specialist

New UPS Mobile iPhone App lets you track, ship, and find UPS via GPS. It's a free download as well.

http://www.ups.com/iphone/

Vince Verbeke, IT Specialist

This article tells us when all these things started: Arpanet, Email, BBS, MUD, IRC, ISP, Spam, Emoticons, WWW, and more. How many will you remember?

http://sixrevisions.com/resources/the-history-of-the-internet-in-a-nutshell

Vince Verbeke, IT Specialist

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.

[Video] Face-Off With a Deadly Predator
National Geographic photographer comes face-to-face with one of the arctic's most vicious predators.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zxa6P73Awcg

Tweet Until You Drop (or Fall Asleep)
This could never happen to me.
http://adamhelweh.posterous.com/-mayhemstudios-i-hav-to-stop-giving-u-a-hard

[Video] How To Open Wine Without A Corkscrew
You can open a bottle of wine using the patented hit-it-against-a-wall method.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7h8LkCC2TXg

[Video] Banana Boat Song
The Muppets turned 40 this month.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jpg-KIKD5gU

Dollar Bill Origami
Won Park folds greenbacks into tiny figures, never using more than two dollar bills at a time and no glue.
http://www.dailyicon.net/2009/11/won-park-dollar-bill-origami

Vince Verbeke, IT Specialist