Changes to Penn's Wireless Networks Coming Monday

Monday, January 24, Computers and phones will need to have a new security fingerprint embedded in the OS in order to connect to AirPennNet.

Penn has made available a wizard, called XpressConnect, to help users configure their laptops and other mobile devices for AirPennNet. The wizard can be run before Monday in order to prepare for the certificate change, or after the new certificates are in place as a means to reconnect to AirPennNet. The wizard is available at http://airpennnet-help.net.isc.upenn.edu/ or by choosing AirPennNet-Help (when on campus) from the list of available wireless networks, and then launching a web browser and following the on-screen directions.

You need to launch a web browser after selecting AirPennNet-Help as your wireless network.

Users who do not prepare in advance of the 24th will have the following experiences:

. Mac OS: Users will need to adjust the trust settings for the new certificate. The instructions for doing so are linked below:
http://www.upenn.edu/computing/help/doc/os/macos/8021xcertificate.html

· Windows: Users will receive a warning that noc#.dccs.upenn.edu is invalid and will not be able to connect. They should connect to the AIrPennNet-Help wireless network and run through the XpressConnect wizard.

· iOS (iPhone): Users will be unable to connect to AirPennNet. Connection attempts will fail. They should connect to the AIrPennNet-Help wireless network and run through the XpressConnect wizard.

Sprint Price Bump

Sprint just announced today that they will be adding a $10/month 'Premium Data add-on charge' to all smartphone activations, starting on January 30th. BlackBerrys are included in this new charge. This will not affect existing customers with smartphone plans.

If you're planning on getting a Sprint smartphone any time soon, you may want to consider doing so sooner rather than later.

Details and press release here:

http://eon.businesswire.com/news/eon/20110118005871/en/Smartphones-Drive-Wireless-Data-Explosion

Screening in the Sky

Come see short films created in Penn's Video 1 and Video 2 classes! The screening is open to all, and it's a great way to see what is produced in the context of the Fine Arts video classes. Monday, January 17, 7-9pm in the Harrison sky lounge. Refreshments will be provided.

Penn's Stepping Up

Development and Alumni Relations created this video called "Penn Stepping Up," featuring our own Chase Irwin and the Pennyloafers (and I saw some footage in there of former lab consultant Neal Behr, too!) Check out it:

File Systems

Computers have different methods for organizing and storing your files on your hard drive. These methods are known as File Systems. There are 3 main file systems you will encounter. Here's what you need to know about them, as it applies to working in the Digital Media Lab.

NTFS is used by Windows (XP, Vista, Win7, etc.)
The Macs in the lab can read from an NTFS drive, but cannot write/save to it.
This means you can bring your files to the lab on your NTFS-formatted drive, but you won't be able to save new files or update existing files on it while you're here.

OSX (aka HFS) is what Macs generally use.
You can read or write to it while you're here in the lab.
Windows machines cannot read or write to an OSX drive.

FAT32 is readable and writable by both Macs and PCs. (Yay!)
So if you're transferring files between a PC and Mac, or you're not sure what kind of machine you'll be using, format your drive as FAT32.
Its main drawback is that there is an file-size limit of 4GB per file. (ie. if your video is bigger than 4GB, you cannot save it to a FAT32 drive).

Ask us if you'd like help formatting your hard drive. (Reformatting your hard drive will allow you to choose a different file system, but it will erase all data stored on it.) Depending on the amount of data on your drive, you may be able to copy all of the data onto one of our workstations, re-format the drive, and then transfer your files back to your own drive.

Bird Eater - a second chance!

In case you missed the first showing... and this time, it's right near campus at the Green Line Cafe @ 45th and Locust.

A film about a monster of a man abandoned in the afternoon sun to devour songbird after songbird so his cold heart can squawk! AND THE DAD WHO HATED HIM FOR LIVING!!

Who	A night of avian extravagance! Brown Bird / Brown Bird Blonde Bird / Birdeater (a film)
When	Wednesday, December 1, 2010 7pm - $5-10 sliding scale - All Ages
Where	45th/Locust (map) 4426 Locust Street Philadelphia, PA 19104

Thanksgiving Hours

Thanksgiving Weekend Hours:

Wednesday: 9am-6pm
Thursday: Closed
Friday: Closed
Saturday: 12-6pm
Sunday 12-9pm

Free $3 MP3 Download Credit from Amazon.com

“Simply click the "Get it" link, follow the directions and get your free $3.00 credit for Amazon MP3! Check out some new music or fill out a few missing spots in your current collection for the best price!”

http://www.fatwallet.com/best-deals/free-3-mp3-download-credit/

Thanks to Jesse for pointing this out. You can use it toward albums or mp3 downloads.

Bird Eater

Lab regular Neal Swisher has a film out, showing through this Saturday:

A film about a monster of a man abandoned in the afternoon sun to devour songbird after songbird so his cold heart can squawk! AND THE DAD WHO HATED HIM FOR LIVING!!

Playing at Cha Cha Razzi Studios
Thursday, Nov 18th, 8pm
Friday, Nov 19th, 8pm
Saturday, Nov 20th, 5pm

1918 S. Bancroft St

To be followed by "The Bird Opera of Orpedis," an original al-birdsong opera.

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=124072624320208&index=1

Pennyloafers Show Thursday

Come see The Penny Loafers Present: "LOAFERS WANTED: Bread or Alive" (with our very own Chase Irwin) this Thursday and Saturday at 8 PM in Dunlop auditorium. Tickets will be sold on the walk all week!

World's largest panorama

Thanks to Jesse for pointing out this new, 80 gigapixel 360 degree panorama--the world's largest as of November, 2010. Make sure you check this out, and see how far you can zoom in. VERY impressive.


http://www.360cities.net/london-photo-en.html

Closed Wednesday for a class

We'll be closed this Wednesday (11/17) for a class from 4:30-6:30. Sorry for any inconvenience!

National Recycling Day

Monday is National Recyling Day. Penn's own David Perlman (and Vitale Digital Media Lab regular) has produced a podcast on how to recycle your gadgets.

Check it out at http://www.e-four.org/Home/e4-resources-1/e4resourceforthepublic-repurposingyourgadgetsandyourprivacy

Closed Wednesday for a class

We'll be closed this Wednesday (11/10) and next wednesday (11/17) for a class from 4:30-6:30. Sorry for any inconvenience!

Erased

Hey guys. Just a reminder that the workstations in the lab are erased without warning and on a fairly regular basis, so you should never leave your files on our computers if you ever want to see them again. We'll be glad to store your files on our network drive for up to 3 days at a time (just ask the lab consultant on duty for help). Even better would be to store your files on your own portable hard drive--they're very inexpensive anymore.

Scanning

Please scan only paper in the lab. 3D objects like keys and coins scratch the glass and prevent others from making high-quality scans. Thanks!

Public USB

Very cool & interesting project in New York City. To quote the manifesto (see links below): "Dead Drops is an anonymous, offline, peer to peer file-sharing network in public space." Someone has mounted USB drives (5 to start with) in walls in various public locations, and is encouraging people to come by to share files. Not only that, but others around the country (ok, just Boston so far) have started mounting their own "dead drops" for people to do the same thing. Check out the full story at: http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2010/10/dead_drops_preview.html and http://deaddrops.com

Clipart!

We now have a subscription to clipart.com on all of the machines in the Vitale Digital Media Lab.

With over 10,000,000 downloadable photos, illustrations, animations, fonts and sound effects, Clipart.com helps you find what you need. Use keywords, and search Clipart.com to find the content that matches your creative concept.

Just visit http://schools.clipart.com from any of the machines in the lab to get started. Please ask the lab consultant on duty if you'd like us to install one of the fonts.

Youtube - Jump to Time Code

I just discovered this and thought I'd share, although maybe it's old news. Apparently you can include a timecode in the URL for a YouTube video, and when someone clicks on the link, they will jump to that specific point in the video.

For example, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ymKLymvwD2U#t=01m38s

Will jump to 1 minute 38 seconds into the video. Click on it and see.

Library ITA On Duty!

We once again have a Library ITA providing help outside the Digital Media Lab. The lab itself provides assistance with multimedia, sound, graphics and video projects. The Library ITA, who will be at a table right outside the lab entrance, provides assistance with Van Pelt laptop or PC technical issues, Office 2007, wireless connectivity and printing. The hours scheduled so far are:

Monday, 12-2pm
Wednesday, 12-2pm & 4-8pm

Hours for this and other services available in the WIC are listed at http://wic.library.upenn.edu/wicabout/partners.html