Hult Prize at Emporia State University

IT worked with Hult Prize Campus Director, Amir Ammar to promote the Hult Prize Competition for Emporia State University. Producing HornetTV content and an IT Only takes a Minute web series special episode 

The Hult Prize, in partnership with the United Nations, is the world’s largest student competition for budding social entrepreneurs, and every year welcomes college and university students from all around the globe. Named as one of the top five ideas changing the world by TIME Magazine, the annual competition for the Hult Prize aims to identify and launch the most compelling social business ideas—start-up enterprises that tackle grave issues faced by billions of people. From more than 50,000 applications received every year, one winning team will receive 1 million USD in seed capital, as well as mentorship and advice from the international business community.

For more information ➡ https://youtu.be/J39nICcKvN0

myIT Tip of the Week

myIT Tip of the Week

Wait, what’s this https thing?

You may notice while browsing websites if you enter the URL into the box instead of using a search engine that almost everyone has replaced http:// with https://. Most of the time, no one even fills this part out. We rely on our browsers to do so. But when we shop online, (as more than 140 million shoppers in the US are projected to do this Black Friday) or send sensitive information through a website, this can mean quite a lot.

 

On the other side of the bar in Internet Explorer, or right next to it in Firefox, Chrome and Safari, secure sites will also display a handy lock icon, letting you know that this site has HTTPS. HTTPS stands for Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure. It is a standard way of preventing your information from ending up in the wrong hands. Sometimes, thieves try to get your information. They will try to intercept your messages on their way to the server, read them, and then send them on so that no one will be the wiser. With the S, not only would thieves have to intercept the signal, they would also have to decode it. If you have any questions or see anything which makes you suspicious, feel free to contact the IT Helpdesk at (620) 341-5555 or by email at helpdesk@emporia.edu.

Cheers to a cybersecure holiday season!

Get ready for the cheerful season!

Cyber Monday 2017 is expected to be the biggest shopping day in U.S. history, according to Techradar. The Pew Research Center reports about 80 percent of adults purchase products online and Adobe found that 30 percent of online sales were conducted via mobile devices last year.

But what does this mean for you?

With so many people shopping online during the busiest time of the year, this is also a prime time for cyber criminals. Kaspersky Labs, for example, reported significant spikes of phishing scams imitating well-known brands such as Amazon, American Express and Ebay during the 2016 holiday season. We often have a million things to be done during this season and don't look twice before we click. However, much trouble can be avoided by exercising some caution.

Here is what you can do to protect yourself and enjoy the holiday season with peace of mind:

1. Keep clean machines: Make sure your devices are free of viruses and malware before you shop. Download ESU's free antivirus software here.
2. Lock down your login: Safeguard your online shopping, email and banking accounts by creating passphrases or enabling two-factor authentication. Learn more here.
   
3. Conduct research: Before you shop, research the websites you are going to use. Read reviews and pay attention to other people's experiences with the company. Pay special attention to the URL of popular sites. For example, criminals may create a fraudulent site called www.shop-amazon.com instead of the legitimate www.amazon.com.
4. When in doubt, throw it out: Be especially cautious with emails about problems with your credit card or account or status of an online order. Pay special attention to ads that offer discounts too good to be true. If you're not sure whether an email you received is legitimate, contact the ESU IT Helpdesk at 620-341-5555 or helpdesk@emporia.edu.
   
5. Your information is like money. Value it. Protect it.: Be alert to the information being collected about you - remember you only have to fill out the required fields at checkout. Your personal information has value, just like money.  

To learn more, view the full holiday shopping tip sheet here. Happy holidays!

IT Goes to Adobe Max - The Creativity Conference

Recently Brian and I paid a visit to Adobe Max, the Creativity Conference, and it was absolutely incredible! We got to hear amazing stories from tons of famous creative professionals, hone our skills through creative workshops and sessions, and even get a first glimpse at new technologies from major tech companies. All the while surrounded by the splendor of Las Vegas, Nevada.

The first day is pretty typical as far as conferences go: Get on a plane, watch a movie, get off a plane, check in at a Hotel, and go to the convention center to get checked into the conference. The difference this time? The Hotel and convention center are the same building. And no, it's not like having a meeting at a Holiday Inn lobby. This place is MASSIVE. There's a full casino(for obvious reasons), tons of restaurants and shops, and there's a river on the second floor.

I could go on a rant about how amazing the Hotel/Resort was, but there's not enough time in the day. What's important here is that you can leave your room, hop on an elevator, and walk right over to the conference. This is a life saver, because Ubering/Lyfting/Whatevering back and forth from a Hotel to a Convention center(like we had to do in Los Angeles) gets old. It made it easy for us to walk down and grab our conference passes before passing out from a long day of travelling. Props to you, Adobe.

Day two is when the action starts.

The opening Max keynote is when Adobe themselves open up to you. They show new features for products you already own, share new ideas for what the future holds, and they do all of this through two hours of presentations and live demos. After the Keynote, you've got ample time to grab a bite from the lunch hall and tour the vendor expo floor before heading off to the first set of sessions. This is, of course, assuming you don't get sucked in at the vendor expo….. It can easily happen. There's lots of cool stuff.

Speaking of sessions, there were tons of good ones. We started off strong by going to "A Fireside Chat with Pete Souza". Pete Souza was the White House Photographer for the Regan Administration and, more prolifically, for the Obama Administration. Set in the style of an interview, he shared a multitude of stories, insights, and nuances through many of his incredible photos. This set the bar pretty high for the rest of the day.

We decided to divide and conquer for the remaining sessions. Brian tackled ones revolving around new web features and responsive design, while I revolved around sessions dabbling in video production through Adobe Premiere and After Effects. It was a long day, but ending it with food, drinks, and music at the vendor expo was rewarding.

We started off day three with another keynote. Instead of hearing from Adobe, we got to hear from creative professionals such as, Jonathan Adler(renown potter), Annie Griffiths(National Geographic photographer), and Mark Ronson(music producer).

This preceded another set of sessions before leading into the evening events. The first of which is something Adobe calls: Sneaks. It's a very informal showcase where they bring up a guest to give commentary while they show entirely new products that Adobe hasn't even released yet. In our case, our guest was the very talented comedian Kumail Nanjiani.

This pretty much wrapped up our Adobe Max experience. Although we did step out into Vegas to take a look at the sights. I could share what happened, but you know what they say… What happens in Vegas, stays on YouTube. Which reminds me, there will be a full recap video coming to our YouTube channel soon. Thanks for reading!

William Allen White Libraries and Archives: Technology Upgrade

This fall, IT worked with William Allen White Libraries and Archives to install new technology in the newly renovated 2nd floor spaces. 

In a special episode of IT Only Takes a Minute, we talk to Bethanie O'Dell (Assistant Professor / Virtual Learning Librarian) to learn about how these new technologies are improving user experience at the library. 

Check out our new video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFRkYHtwfrE

myIT Tip of the Week

myIT Tip of the Week

 Setting up an Out Of Office reply.

If you are using Outlook 2016 on your computer, click on File in the upper left, then click on Automatic Replies (Out Of Office).

If you are using the Hornet365 website, click on the Settings button in the upper right, then click on Automatic Replies.

You can then manually start the automatic replies, or you can select a date range for when you want the replies to be sent.  You can send a different message to internal and external email addresses if you’d like.  After you select the date range, type the message you want to send in the message field, then click OK.  If you’ve not selected a date range, the messages will start being sent immediately, otherwise they will start at the selected date and time.