Reading Your Email the Plain Ol’ (Safer!) Way

Many of us receive our email in what’s known as HTML format.  In other words, when you receive an email, it can display multiple fonts, colors, pictures, etc.  It’s nice to look at.  Unfortunately, the technology that allows your email to be formatted in an aesthetically pleasing way also provides holes for malicious attackers to abuse. So, to make your email safer to read, it needs to be uglier!  This is simply accomplished by reading your email in plain text format.  Below is an example of an email (supposedly from Facebook) in HTML format followed by the same exact email … Continue reading Reading Your Email the Plain Ol’ (Safer!) Way

Introduction to Moodle Class

ITS will be holding two “Introduction to Moodle” training sessions to help new users transition from Blackboard to our new learning management system. In the first half of the class, we will cover logging in, navigation, and adding materials and online assignments to courses. During the second half, participants will have to time to work on their course or explore additional features in Moodle. This is a great opportunity to get started if you are thinking of using Moodle for a spring semester course.  Additional training will also be held in early January. The course will be offered at the … Continue reading Introduction to Moodle Class

Academic Tech Fair 2010 Re-Cap

Thanks to everyone who participated in the 2010 Academic Technology Fair.  For those of you who are looking for more information on some of the great topics presented this year, or for those who were unable to attend, all of our materials are now available for download: DimDim is a web-based, real-time, collaboration solution that allows for easy, cross-platform (Windows, Mac and Linux, equally) conferencing.  Only presenters who want to share their screens—not attendees—need to install anything.  If you need to present somewhere when it would be inconvenient to go in person, DimDim can help you get there “virtually.” DimDim … Continue reading Academic Tech Fair 2010 Re-Cap

Beardsley Media Center Adds Pen Tablets for Image Editing

The Beardsley Media Center in has added ten new Bamboo Fun pen based tablets from Wacom to all of the computers in the main room this Fall. These new tablets are ideal for illustration, drawing or photo editing in which the use of a pen would be advantageous. These are medium sized tablets, and they come with a multi-function pen/stylus that lets you navigate contextual menus as well as edit your material. They are pressure sensitive, so artists drawing can vary the width of their “brush” by adjusting how hard they touch the surface with the pen. The tablets can … Continue reading Beardsley Media Center Adds Pen Tablets for Image Editing

October 26, 2010 – Academic Technology Fair

10am-2pm Tuesday, October 26, 2010 Scheuer Room Information Technology Services, in partnership with the Language Resource Center and the Library, proudly presents the 2010 Academic Technology Fair: Collaboration and Creativity. This event is open to ALL Swarthmore College community members. We’ve worked hard to put together our most interesting program to date, featuring: DimDim DimDim is a web-based, real-time, collaboration solution that allows for easy, cross-platform (Windows, Mac and Linux, equally) conferencing.  Only presenters who want to share their screens—not attendees—need to install anything.  If you need to present somewhere when it would be inconvenient to go in person, DimDim can … Continue reading October 26, 2010 – Academic Technology Fair

Give Your Computer a Fighting Chance

Regardless of the type of computer you use, someone somewhere is always trying to infect it or break in.  One of the best defenses you have is keeping your operating system and applications up to date.  Today, like it or not, patching is a necessity although many treat it as optional. When software vendors announce patches, miscreants immediately begin reverse engineering (if they weren’t already) the changes to determine where the security holes exist in the software.  They then write code designed to exploit these holes and gain access to your computer.  The number one way to deliver this malicious … Continue reading Give Your Computer a Fighting Chance