"12 Days of Apple" contest
has prize of iPod mini
A "12 Days of Apple" contest began Monday, Nov. 29, on the K-State Manhattan campus and
is open to all K-State students and employees. Like the last contest,
an Apple iPod mini is the prize. The contest ends noon Friday, Dec. 10, followed by a drawing to select the winner.
This competition has a new approach. Solve a riddle-a-day on the
homepage.mac.com/twelvedaysofapple site, and
each correct answer is an entry into the final prize drawing. A new riddle is posted daily, so each
contestant can have up to 12 entries. After the drawing, the winner will be notified by e-mail and must show a
valid K-State ID to accept the prize. See the above website for details.
—J. Jacobs, K-State Apple campus representative
K-State's Internet connection to improve in January
K-State to KanREN to Qwest (in Kansas City) to Internet. That's how K-State
gets its commodity Internet service (aka "Internet1").
But whenever KanREN's connection to Qwest fails, K-State
loses its Internet connection.
Thus, improving reliability in its Internet connection is a high
priority for K-State and KanREN, the Kansas Research and Education Network
(www.kanren.net). A few weeks ago, routing changes
were made so if the Qwest connection fails,
K-State's Internet traffic goes through SBC Internet Services (SBCIS) in Wichita.
It works, but performance is abysmal because SBCIS's 75 Mbps "pipeline" is much smaller
than the Qwest connection.
In mid-November, KanREN university members agreed to increase the SBCIS
Internet1 connection to 250 Mbps to match the Qwest connection so that
both connections provide backup for each other. The additional bandwidth should be in place in January,
before the start of the spring semester or soon thereafter.
When it's finished, K-Staters will likely not even notice a performance degradation
during a network failure. Besides the improved reliability, the other good news is the cost. Due
to the continuing trend of lower rates for Internet service, K-State is
able to buy this additional redundant bandwidth at no additional cost.
For more details, see the CNS news article.
—H. Townsend, Computing and Network Services
TechBytes Dec. 3: Digital cameras
A final TechBytes session on digital cameras is scheduled for 1 p.m. Friday, Dec. 3, in 501 Hale Library.
The session will cover purchasing tips, shooting techniques, file formats, storage, etc. Refreshments will be provided.
Check the TechBytes website for details.
—C. Rodriguez, Information Technology Assistance Center
Site license provides JRB utilities
for Novell administrators
K-State has purchased a one-year site license for the JRB utilities,
a package of Novell server management tools.
On Nov. 5, these utilities became available to Novell administrators on the K-State Manhattan campus.
At this time, the site license does not cover the Salina campus.
"JRButils" version 10 includes 125 programs and two NLMs (NetWare Loadable Modules).
K-State Novell administrators can use these tools free of charge. To obtain a copy,
contact Raymond Cheung, cheung@ksu.edu, 532-5474.
The software must be used on the university's servers/systems.
For more about the utilities, visit www.jrbsoftware.com.
—R. Gilbert, Computing and Network Services
Tegrity campus agreement benefits K-State
Stemming from high levels of interest on campus, K-State has entered
into a site license agreement with Tegrity Inc. that offers more
features, improved service, and a lower cost to the campus community.
Tegrity is a multimedia platform that captures audio, video, writing,
and drawing, and automatically creates a full presentation that is
easily deployed into K-State Online or put onto a CD.
Rob Caffey, director of the Office of Mediated Education, said new
users would benefit not only from the decreased cost, but also from
the increase in options.
"In the past you had to buy an entire packaged Tegrity system,"
Caffey said. "Now you can choose your own hardware configuration that
fits your teaching style and budget." Hardware includes anything from
Tablet PCs, fixed or mobile stations, and options for cameras,
microphones, and other equipment. K-State currently supports 23 Tegrity
systems, each with a price tag of approximately $15,000.
Under the campus agreement, new Tegrity
systems will start at less than $7,000 (including the licensing fees) and vary
depending on the hardware options. For departments that already have
the hardware, the annual support cost will be $3,950 per year. The
price per system should go down each additional year as more
departments participate in the license agreement.
Caffey said the fees are only for cost recovery and that the
substantial costs for the server will remain centrally funded as part
of the K-State Online infrastructure.
For more information concerning the license agreement or current
Tegrity services e-mail tegrity@ksu.edu or go to
ome.ksu.edu/wps/tegrity.
—S. Weis, Office of Mediated Education
IT award nomination deadline extended to Dec. 5
Sunday, Dec. 5, is the last day to nominate an IT
colleague or IT team for a job well done.
Use the nominations page and nominate
someone today. See the IT awards website for more information.
—T. Dille White, Computing and Network Services
Call for presentations: Kan-ed Annual Membership and Leadership Forum
This is a call for presentations on the use of technology in higher education for the
First Annual Kan-ed Membership and Leadership Forum, June 15-17 in Wichita. Send a brief description of your
presentation to dmarrs@ku.edu. Presentations of particular interest are
video conferencing, the use of wimba, partnerships between institutions or with businesses, and
examples of using Kan-ed services and resources. Other ideas will be considered.
Dec. 31 is the deadline for submissions. Four presenters will be selected and notified in January.
For more information about the conference, see
conference-kan-ed.org.
—C. Madden, Kan-ed
| On the spot: IT questions from K-Staters |
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Why are the printers in the InfoCommons
having so many problems?
This is due to several factors. For one, Windows XP Service Pack 2 was recently installed
on all the computers in the K-State InfoCommons, which caused small incompatibilities with the printer drivers.
Each printer had to be fixed individually.
Several weeks ago, unusually high humidity levels in the library
began causing continuous printer jams. That problem is still being addressed.
The technical staff are testing different kinds of paper and performing maintenance on an ongoing basis.
—the editors, InfoTech Tuesday
Got a comment? TellTuesday@ksu.edu.
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| Web watch |
Anti-Phishing Working Group
www.antiphishing.org is an
excellent anti-phishing website. Its resources include:
Be aware that local and regional phishing scams may not be included in this site.
—the editors, InfoTech Tuesday
Find a good site? TellTuesday@ksu.edu.
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