FALL 2015 | ISSUE 1 STUDENT TECHNOLOGY SERVICES In this Issue:

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Fordhamwifi Updates..................................... 1 The Hoverboard Buzz..................................... 1 Sustainability? There’s an App for that....... 2 iPhone 6 3D Touch.......................................... 2

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Tesla’s Model S Autopilot.......................... 3 The Risks of Apple Pay ............................... 3 Eliminating Cyber-Bullying ........................ 4 Improving your Google searches............... 4

An Update on Fordham’s

WIRELESS NETWORK IMPROVING FORDHAMWIFI ONE STUDENT AT A TIME by: RTC Katie Quinlisk

Occupied with class registration, midterm exams, and group projects, Fordham University students have expressed concern about the current state of Fordham’s wireless network, Fordhamwifi. With 33% more devices accessing the network when compared to last year, Fordham IT is working to accommodate the current wireless needs of the University’s community. The department has outlined a multi-step process that includes doubling Fordham’s bandwidth. Until this project is completed, students can help reduce unnecessary network traffic by: 1. Eliminating unnecessary streaming. Netflix is the biggest WiFi consumer; log off when you aren’t watching and be a conservative streamer. 2.Powering down wireless printers. Wireless printers interfere with the network; improve your connection by only powering on your printer when using it. Following these simple tips can help Fordham IT achieve their long-term solution. If you would like to report wireless network issues, contact your RTC or IT Customer Care at 718-817-3999.

KEEP IN TOUCH WITH YOUR FORDHAM RTCS Twitter @FordhamRTC Website fordham.edu/RTC Facebook facebook.com/fordham.rtc

WHAT’S THE DEAL WITH HOVERBOARDS! by: RTC Amirah Brown Today’s hot new gadget is the IO Hawk Board, AKA the hoverboard. You’ve probably seen them around campus. The big question is: how do they work? Well the science behind it isn’t too different from that of the Segway. Both are battery powered, self-balancing boards, the IO Hawk Board doesn’t have a handle bar, making it more like a skateboard. Adding lights and a colored body frame for cool factor, the new and improved IO Hawk Board is both useful and trendy. Riding an IO Hawk boards is not as hard as it looks. You simply step onto the board, holding onto something if needed, and balance yourself standing up. That is the hardest part, the rest comes easy. To move forward, you lean forward, and vice versa to go backwards. To turn right you press your right foot down and the opposite for the left. These boards can be a blast once you get used to it. You can purchase one directly from the IO Hawk website or other models from Amazon. Why not give this gadget a try?

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SUSTAINABILITY? THERE’S AN APP FOR THAT...

by: RTC Claire Siegrist With the UN Climate Change Conference in Paris coming up, there has been a lot of talk about what decisions our world leaders will make to fight climate change on an international scale. However, this also raises questions about what we can do on a personal scale. Here are 4 apps to make your life more sustainable:

GOODGUIDE Shop smarter with GoodGuide’s database of over 250,000 products. Find environmental, health, and social ratings of products from food to household goods by scanning the barcode.

GIVE O2 Automatically track your carbon footprint with GiveO2, then view statistics, get points to compete against friends, and redeem points with retailers such as Amazon and Converse.

iRECYCLE Disposing of waste is tricky, whether it’s your worn-out couch or used batteries. Access a database of 100,000 recycling locations and contact info for 200+ products.

JOULEBUG Save money and cut your carbon footprint by competing to go green. By awarding redeemable points, JouleBug encourages users to be more sustainable. Bring a reusable coffee mug? 5 points. Biked to work? 16 points. User savings average $200 annually.

IPHONE 6’S NEW 3D TOUCH by: RTC Daniel Nasta Apple has made the iPhone 6S and 6S Plus more sophisticated than ever before with a new feature called 3D Touch. New technology allows the iPhone to detect how hard you press on the screen; distinguishing between a tap, a press, and a deep press. A deep press in particular will now allow you to, for example, open a particular message thread or immediately begin a Shazam search for a song from your home screen. There is tremendous potential in 3D touch, and its integration with Apple apps is very well done at the moment, but hesitation comes in as to whether or not it will catch on with third party app developers to become anything more than a gimmick. To understand how things might work out unfavorably, one only needs to look at the Force Touch feature of recent MacBooks. While Apple programs utilize this feature splendidly, there has been almost no third party adoption. In this way the user is almost deterred from using better alternatives to these programs in order to utilize the new and shiny features. There is certainly potential that 3D Touch will go the same way. The future of this feature is in the hands of the developers of popular apps, and how they integrate it will likely decide if 3D touch becomes an essential part of mobile computing or a forgotten gimmick.

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APPLE PAY – IS CONVENIENCE

WORTH THE RISK ?

PUTTING YOUR IDENTITY AND LIFE SAVINGS AT RISK by: RTC Toni Nicholas Since its initial release in October 2014, Apple Pay, which allows people to make transactions without cash or a credit card, has continued to grow in popularity. The entire process is very simple - you just hold your iPhone or Apple Watch over the card reader while touching your finger on your phone’s touch ID for authentication or entering a four-digit pin on an Apple Watch. While it is undoubtedly convenient, many users are skeptical about the safety of Apple Pay despite many measures Apple has taken to protect its users. Apple doesn’t associate your credit card information with your Apple ID, and your identity is kept a secret throughout the transaction process. Instead, Apple creates a “Unique Device Account Number” for your iPhone or Apple Watch, which is used along with a transaction-specific security code. Another added feature is a confidential chip built into every iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, and Apple Watch, which is why your credit card information isn’t shared between your Apple devices. Unfortunately, there is still one loophole, which is that Apple is surprisingly lenient on how banks authenticate Apple Pay cards; in some cases with just a simple phone call from the cardholder. This has made it even easier for fraudsters who have already stolen some one’s credit card to activate Apple Pay on their own devices. Thus, fraud rates have increased six-fold among banks partnered with Apple. So, it seems that the question is not about the security of Apple Pay, but rather the dependability of your bank.

TESLA’S MODEL S AUTOPILOT ANOTHER STEP TOWARDS THE SELF-DRIVING CAR

by: RTC Justin Feinman If you have $75k in cash burning a large hole in your pocket, try investing in the future of automobiles, in particular the Tesla Model S. The Tesla Model S is a plug-in hybrid super car with a 240-mile range, 5.2 second 0-60 time, and 140 mph top speed. The Tesla Model S is more powerful and luxurious than most gas fueled sports cars, but the price is a deterrent for many. Tesla’s newest technological advancement is the Tesla Autopilot. The autopilot feature includes 12 long-range ultrasonic sensors that can sense 16 feet around the car in all directions at any speed along with a high-precision digitally-controlled electric assist braking system. These advancements include all the hardware necessary for self-driving car. Autopilot on the Model S enables the car to steer within a lane, change lanes with the easy tap of a turn signal, and manage speed by using active, traffic-aware cruise control. Motors, brakes and steering are controlled digitally which helps to avoid collisions. Model S can also scan for a parking space, alert the driver when one is available and parallel-park on command. The Tesla Model S is a pioneer in the automobile industry and again, it can be yours for the low, low starting price of $75,000. 3

THE EMOJI: A CYBER-BULLYING SOLUTION by: RTC Tyra Trinidad How many times have you seen a mean or hateful comment on YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, or another social media platform? Of those instances, how many times did you respond to the hateful comment and defend the person being targeted? Unfortunately, cyber-bullying is a common occurrence due to the increased use of social media. Fear of instigating backlash or being misunderstood often prevents bystanders from confronting cyber bullying. As a result, many say nothing in the face of everyday bullying. The I Am A Witness anti-bullying campaign seeks to end the silence and turn passive bystanders into an active collective. The I Am A Witness campaign revolves around the Witness emoji, which looks like a speech bubble containing an open eye. It was released along with a host of other emojis on the iPhone’s iOS 9.1 upgrade, but can also be downloaded as a keyboard on both Apple and Android devices. The campaign’s #IAmAWitness took social media by storm when it officially launched on October 22. As a result, social media sites, such as Facebook, Twitter, Google, Snapchat, Whisper, and Kik, have adopted #IAmAWitness advertisements. The campaign hopes that people will use their emoji as a way to call out cyber bullying and stand in solidarity with those being bullied.

#IAMAWITNESS

SEARCHING GOOGLE MORE EFFICIENTLY REFINING YOUR SEARCHES FOR BETTER RESULTS

by: RTC Rachel Madigan

ADDITIONAL SUPPORT SERVICES FOR YOU IT Customer Care 718-817-3999 [email protected] Monday-Friday, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. ITCC Walk-In Centers Rose Hill, McGinley 229 Monday-Friday, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Lincoln Center, Lowenstein SL19A Monday-Friday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

HELP WANTED! Give yourself a professional edge. Work for Fordham IT. Current openings are listed at fordham.edu/ITJobOpportunities

Ever wonder if there are hidden tips and tricks to performing a Google search? There are! Here are just a few: § Tell Google to search for an exact phrase by putting quotation marks around it. § To exclude a search term add a hyphen before the word you want to exclude. This is useful if you’re searching for a word with several meanings, or searching for the lesser-used meaning of the word. For example, searching mustang –car will exclude the reference of mustang cars from your search results. § To search for a topic within a specific website, you can do a site search to get results within that domain; to search for technology articles only on business insider, you can search site:businessinsider.com technology. § If you want to find a page with one of several words, use a capitalized OR between words to search for both separately. § If you’re having a hard time finding a song you like because you only know every other word, use an asterisk in place of those missing words as a wildcard and Google will help you find the missing words of the song or phrase. Using these simple tricks will help you get the most out of your everyday Google searches 4