LSP News

To help you migrate your customer emails to Exchange, ITC is providing the Enterprise edition of Aid4Mail to LSPs free of charge.

Aid4Mail is a Windows application that migrates local email stores from varied clients to Outlook (and others). It can export messages for viewing through a browser, Excel, or a database; convert messages to extract or re-insert attachments; and archive them to save space. Aid4Mail processes attachments and embedded content, and can also export message status information such as “unread”, “read”, “replied”, and “forwarded” from most mail clients.

The ITC-licensed version of Aid4Mail is for use on Uva-owned computers for faculty and staff only, not for students. We have limited licenses, so when you download the client, please send a tally of the number of your installations to ITC-DCS@virginia.edu.

Enterprise Aid4Mail can be downloaded from the ITC TechNet server under Special Distributions.

If you have trouble authenticating to the TechNet server, try following these instructions.

The version available from the LSP TechNet server is 1.973. After installation, check for updates to get an updated version.

If your department has already purchased Aid4Mail, please contact Aron Teel (AWT3K) about reimbursement.

ITC is also testing Emailchemy for migrating Mac client email stores. If the tests are successful, we will make this tool available as well.

Any questions or comments, please email ITC-DCS@virginia.edu.

Since 1997, ITC Computing Advisors (CA) — a group of first-year students hired to advise and assist their peers with computing — have conducted technology surveys of incoming first-years. This year’s annual survey reveals some interesting data about the next generation of UVa technology users, the Class of 2012:

• Laptop ownership has reached an all-time high of 98% (up 3% from last year)
• Mac ownership has reached an all-time high of 26% (or about to 1 in 4, up from 1 in 5 last year)
• 60% of PCs run Vista (!)
• 2% of first-years have iPhones (as of August; one can conclude that number is up since the holidays); and an additional 3% have other Smart Phones/PDAs
• 85% have mp3 players (up from 77% last year); iPod ownership is up to 75% of all first-years (up from 67% last year); and once again, a mere 10% have non-iPod mp3 players

More info, and year-to-year breakouts from this annual survey, which has been conducted for the past decade, can be found at:

http://www.itc.virginia.edu/stuserv/ca/cainventory/

I am fascinated by this technology. A group at Stanford has created a 3-D modeling algorithm that can create virtual worlds from single 2-D images, such as photographs. According to an article from the Stanford Report:

“…the Make3d algorithm, developed by Stanford computer scientists, can take any two-dimensional image and create a three-dimensional “fly around” model of its content, giving viewers access to the scene’s depth and a range of points of view…”The algorithm uses a variety of visual cues that humans use for estimating the 3-D aspects of a scene,” said Ashutosh Saxena, a doctoral student in computer science who developed the Make3d website with Andrew Ng, an assistant professor of computer science. “If we look at a grass field, we can see that the texture changes in a particular way as it becomes more distant.”

To demonstrate the process, the researchers have created a website (http://make3d.stanford.edu/) where you can upload your own 2-D images and render them into 3-D. (As of this writing, the website is down, but promises to be back up in the first week of February.)

The algorithm uses a database of “visual cues” to render flat images into 3-D. In addition to fly-through models of landscapes and cities, the technology is similar to that used to create morphable faces, as demonstrated in the clip below.

Are you concerned about the amount of wasted paper in your office every time somebody prints out a web page or other document? A company called GreenPrint has released a free version of their eco-friendly printing application called GreenPrint World. The new driver allows you to easily eliminate wasted pages from your documents before they print, subtract images to print text-only documents, or print directly to PDF without the full Adobe Suite. GreenPrint installs on Windows 2000/XP/Vista and requires the .NET Framework 2.0 (installed automatically); a Mac version is in development.

To understand the full potential of this application, I encourage you to view the tutorial.

Event: DML Groups (G-Lab) Open-House
Date: Thursday, January 31st, 2008
Time: 2pm - 4pm
Location: Clemons 3rd Floor

If you or your customers are interested in the future of digital media at UVA, then you should plan to visit the new G-Lab in Clemons Library.

Late last semester, the Digital Media Library quietly opened a new space, DML-Groups, for service to the university community. Also known as the G-Lab, this spacious area provides 14 Macintosh computers loaded with media creation applications as well as microphones and audio distribution amps for headphones (multiple listeners). Offering both entry level and high-end audio and video editing software, this space has many functions, including reserve-able spaces to handle the increase in group assignments requiring the use of rich media, and spaces where students can schedule peer group instruction and screen their work.

To celebrate the success of this new venture, the DML is holding an Open-House party this Thursday to introduce the G-Lab to the university community, and you are all invited (free food!). There will also be a drawing for an 80GB LaCie HD, courtesy of Cavalier Computers.

Please plan to come by this Thursday afternoon to check out the new space, bring a friend, enjoy fine food and company, and learn about the exciting new plans for digital media creation.

This event, and others, can be found on the LSP Calendar.

This may be old news to some, but if you have a Google Mail (GMail) account, you can now enable IMAP under Settings. After enabling IMAP, follow the link to Configuration Instructions for a list of client instructions.

In other news from Google, according to the Official Google Docs Blog, Google Presentations (their slideshow program) includes new features such as embedding of slideshows in websites, quick ways to import slides, drag-and-drop image insertion, and faster ways to rearrange slides and change background schemes. To show off these capabilities, I am embedding a demo below:

After months of beta testing, on Dec. 18 Microsoft provided a Release Candidate of Windows XP Service Pack 3. According to this NeoSmart article, SP3 adds a handful of new features (most of which should look familiar to Vista users) plus a roll-up of previous security patches.

As always, read the whitepaper first, and only install on a test machine.

I took the opportunity to rebuild a test machine this weekend and then bypassed the gazillion security patches and went straight to SP3. So far, not only is everything working just fine, but my test machine seems a little snappier than before.

If you try SP3 yourself, I would be interested in reading your comments below.

If you were exploring the frontiers of the internet in the mid-1990’s, then like me, your first web browser was probably Netscape Navigator. I was unimpressed with the early iterations of Microsoft Internet Explorer and preferred to use a stand-alone browser. I designed my first web page using the HTML editor built into Netscape Communicator, and learned to appreciate the suite of built-in tools, including an email client and newsreader.

After Netscape was purchased by AOL in 1998, the suite became larded down with all sorts of “extras” that I had no use for, so I became a reluctant IE user until Firefox emerged as a mature product.

It was therefore with mixed emotions that I met the recently announced demise of Netscape Navigator. As of Feb. 1, all official support for Netscape products will end, and Netscape.com will exist only as an internet portal.

Many of the features that I liked in Navigator exist in Firefox, but I still like the crisp look and feel of Navigator, particularly the collapsible tool bars. There is at least one plug-in available to apply a Netscape-theme to Firefox, but it did not work particularly well for me.

As much as I like Firefox, I would also like to have a cross-platform browser suite that can take plugins. Which is why I was delighted to find out about the SeaMonkey Project. According to Wikipedia:
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At the Dec. 18 LSP Collective meeting, Brian Davis shared a presentation on the new University SSN Policy. A link to the PDF is here.

The University has issued a new policy on Protection and Use of Social Security Numbers which classifies SSNs as “highly sensitive data.” In order to meet the policy requirements, departments will need to get approval before using SSNs in any new way. By July 2008, departments will need to identify all records and records systems within their purview that use SSNs and develop a remediation plan, which, following approval, must be implemented by July 2009. No SSN data may be retained without approval and any retained data will need to be highly secured. Related to this, a new data classification policy is expected early in 2008; an ancillary document will prescribe strict data protection standards for highly sensitive data. Additional information is available by writing ssn-initiative@virginia.edu or visiting http://www.virginia.edu/ssninitiative/

Many of you may have already read an email that is being circulated from Jim Traub of University Human Resources regarding the formation of Career Path Task Forces as part of the HR Restructuring plan. To quote from Jim’s letter:

…These visible and tangible career paths will (provide) employees with more career opportunity, a clear linkage to training and professional development, and will form the foundation for improved market and merit-based compensation plans. We are currently working to assemble members for each of the Career Path Task Forces. These groups will begin work in January, and are expected to complete their recommendations toward the end of March.

One of these Task Forces is looking at Information Technology. Professional Development is a key growth area of the LSP Program, as evidenced by the LSP-Pro initiative, and LSP participation in a University-sponsored task force looking at career improvement and compensation will benefit all of us.

HR is seeking nominees to serve on these Task Forces and has provided informational packets to help explain the program and identify constituents who may be interested in serving. Rather than clutter your emails with attachments, I have provided links below:

• Overview and Structure: a PDF file providing an overview and structural map of the planned Career Path Task Forces.

• Self-nomination form: a protected Word document that employees can fill out electronically and email to hrrestructuring@virginia.edu. Alternatively, the form can be printed, filled out manually, and sent via interoffice mail to P.O. Box 400127.

I strongly encourage you to look at the documentation, familiarize yourself with this new initiative, and consider participating in this important program. This seems like a grand opportunity for IT professionals at UVA to take part in their own career development. If you’re interested, don’t put this off, for all applications to serve must be received by this Thursday, Dec. 20.

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