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Issue : May 3, 2007

No contacts? No links? No problem: send your inquiries and comments to oitbrief@umn.edu.

The UM Tech Brief is a resource for University of Minnesota technical support staff and department and unit decision makers.

Security and
Internet Services

Security home

SPAM AND VIRUS STATS
March 12 through April 9:
32  million messages were attempted

of those, approximately 9 million messages were accepted (28%)

QUICKTIME VULNERABILITY.
There is a Critical vulnerability in QuickTime that can compromise your machine even when you are visiting legitimate web sites that have unknowingly been compromised. See http://www.uscert.gov/cas/techalerts/TA07-065A.html.

Network and Telecommunication
Services

NTS home

WI-FI.
NTS is researching campus-wide Wi-Fi technology applications. WiFi would improve campus wireless access and also offer new voice applications. The selected WiFi application will be compatible with the IEEE 802.11 specifications for on- and off-campus (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IEEE_802.11). Look for informational Town Hall meetings soon.

TEMPORARY DISRUPTION IN PHONE SERVICE.
NTS is updating wiring mainframes for the telephone services on May 25th and 26th along the Church Street area. All telephone lines in this area will be out of service for this period. More information and details available on the NTS Web site: www.umn.edu/nts.

GO4CONF.
Gopher Conference (GO4CONF) and its applications are still under development. Some new features and upgrades were added; a more complete package will be introduced this summer.

THE MODEM POOL.
The University's low-speed dial-up modem pool (627-4250) is aging and declining in usage. We have 1300 modem lines, which are becoming increasingly expensive to support and maintain. NTS is negotiating connection solutions from other Internet Service Providers (ISP) for students, staff and faculty at the University of Minnesota. Stay tuned for details!

Academic and
Distributed
Computing
Services

ADCS home

UTTC'S SUMMER SCHEDULE ONLINE SOON!
Check out our 2007 summer schedule to find training for exciting new and updated computer applications. Microsoft Office has some big changes, and UTTC has short courses to get you up to speed. We also have new courses on Adobe Connect and Adobe Presenter, formerly known as Breeze, and much more! Check out all our new offerings by going to "What's New" at http://uttc.umn.edu and selecting COMING SOON!

USED COMPUTERS FOR SALE: JOIN OUR LIST.
Want to purchase a refurbished U of M desktop or laptop but seem to "just miss the good ones" at University Computer Services (UCS)? Level the playing field by joining over 1000 UCS customers: sign up for automatic emails. You select the email criteria based upon which
equipment type (e.g. PC laptops, Mac desktops). You will receive an email the day the computer equipment you selected becomes available for sale at UCS. The UCS refurbished computer equipment list is updated nightly. Visit the UCS website at http://www1.umn.edu/ucs/ and click on "Computer Sales" and "UCS" to sign up for updates. UCS respects the privacy of our customers and does not share its email contact list with other sources.

Digital
Media
Center

DMC home

2007-08 DMC FACULTY FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM RECIPIENTS.
The DMC welcomes five new faculty fellows: June LaValleur, Josephine Lee, Anne Minenko, Gillian Roehrig, and Polly Szatrowski. See:
http://dmc.umn.edu/fellowship/.

EDUCATIONAL ENTOMOLOGY VIDEOS: STARRING GOOD TEACHING STRATEGIES (AND A COCKROACH).
A perfect storm of technologies has given rise to a video deluge. Assistant Professor Stephen Kells believes this could have a positive impact on teaching and learning. He is developing videos for an online extension course that he hopes will get students "sitting up in their chairs." Read more: http://dmc.umn.edu/projects/kells/.

REMINDER: MAY 3 TEL SEMINAR.
Panelists will discuss projects that illustrate ways technology can provide students with opportunities to apply classroom material to real-world or simulated situations: May 3, noon-1:30 p.m., 402 Walter Library, also Webcast live and later Podcast. See:
http://dmc.umn.edu/events.shtml.

REMINDER: JUNE 6-12 DIGITAL TEACHING WORKSHOP.
Faculty and P&A instructors who want an overview of technology- enhanced learning can develop their pedagogical and technical skills in a week-long blended-format workshop. Participants also can opt in to an ongoing learning community and qualify for $500 worth of production work. See: http://dmc.umn.edu/digital-teaching/.

JUNE 13: EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGISTS FORUM "UNMEETING."
Find out about resources for campus educational technologists from representatives of SOS, iROC, UTELL, and ATAC, help brainstorm next year's forum events, and consider new ways the forum can provide
support and professional development opportunities: June 13, 3-4:30 p.m., 402 Walter Library. See: http://dmc.umn.edu/etf/.

The URL of this document is http://umtechbrief.umn.edu/07/tb0507/tb0507.html
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