SPRING 2017 | ISSUE 2 STUDENT TECHNOLOGY SERVICES In this Issue:

§ § § §

Fordham Releases Microsoft Office Online FREE Antivirus Updates Did Someone Say Pi? Self-Driving Vehicles

1 1 2 2

§ DNA Hard Drives § A Step Towards Mixed Reality § A Review of Amazon Alexa

2 3 3

Collaborate using

MICROSOFT OFFICE ONLINE by: IT Intern Tim Kelly Fordham Information Technology is pleased to announce that students can now access their Microsoft Office documents on the web using Microsoft Office Online. After requesting access to Microsoft Office Online through their My.Fordham portal, students will be able to open their documents in their web browser and edit their files on almost any device that has an Internet connection. Microsoft Office Online will serve as an extension of Microsoft Office 365 (also offered to students for FREE through the Fordham portal). Students will be able to view, create, and edit their Word, Excel, OneNote, and PowerPoint files while on the go. Once access is requested users can also share their files with others through the use of OneDrive. Microsoft Office Online does not include the complete suite of Office apps. For access to Outlook, Access, Publisher, and Skype, students should download the complete Microsoft Office 365 Suite on their laptop or desktop computers. Available features within Microsoft Office Online are also limited compared to their desktop applications; Microsoft Support offers a complete list of differences between Microsoft Office Online and the downloadable version of Office 365.

FORDHAM & BITDEFENDER UPPING OUR CYBER SECURITY GAME by: RTC Amirah Brown Fordham has just provided all faculty, staff, and students with a new free antivirus software, BitDefender. Known to have the largest security delivery infrastructure in the world, BitDefender can detect dangers on your machine within as little as three seconds. BitDefender has been a great security solution for many years and is now available to the Fordham community. You can find the link to download the software and other installation instructions on Fordham’s website; www.fordham.edu/antivirus. This software is available for both PC and Mac users. By the Fall of 2017, BitDefender will replace Symantec Endpoint Protection (the previously offered antivirus software). All machines that access Fordham’s network are required to have an acceptable form of antivirus software. Download BitDefender today to further protect your devices and make use of Fordham’s cyber security resources. For installation help or questions, please contact your RTC or IT Customer Care.

Interested in technology? APPLY for a job with Fordham IT! Applications are now being accepted. To apply, visit: fordham.edu/ITJobOpportunities

1

THE RASPBERRY PI & YOU

AUTO-DRIVING VEHICLES

by: RTC Daniel Garrett

by: RTC Jeff Chen Cars that drive themselves have been a movie marvel since Batman first used his Batmobile’s “remote control activator” in 1966. Although the idea seems to be the result of movie magic, the reality of self-driving cars might be just around the corner. Ever since Ford executives dropped in on Silicon Valley, many other car company CEOs have started to collaborate with hightech companies. After just a few days at CES (a global consumer electronics and consumer technology tradeshow), a host of companies have whipped up an impressive number of partnerships, buyouts, and consolidations. Audi paired with NVidia, Microsoft with Volvo, BMW and Intel with Mobileye. While the show floor was littered with shiny concepts proclaiming the future, those contracts—banal as they might sound—were the real news. Reliability is the most important part of making an auto-driving vehicle. Recently, a man using an autodriving system by Mobileye was killed when his selfdriving car failed to distinguish an oncoming white truck from the sky around it. Despite this devastating news, the stock price of Mobileye continues to climb, as consumers have remained interested in the budding field of self-driving technology. Someday, the autodriving dream might come true as our dream to fly came true decades ago.

The Raspberry PI Foundation has changed many perceptions on what it means to buy a computer. To most people a computer is an expensive commitment, but PI has been producing microcomputers for as low as $5. The Foundation’s first two computer generations were not much faster than smartphones. However, the Raspberry PI 3-B is a new beast that will change the game. Boasting a beefier 64-bit architecture and Gigahertz clock speeds, developers could not resist buying such a strong computer for only $35. If you think that isn’t strong, Macbooks offer the same clock speed and only 7GBs of more RAM for $1300 more. So, what opportunities come with this new microprocessor? Programmers who loved old game systems can turn their PI 3 into an emulation database, including the classics Game Boy, NES, SNES, Genesis, PS1 and N64 (among many more). Since the PI 3 has built in Wi-FI, it can connect to the Internet and become part of a network. Developers have written software that can make your PI function as a multi-media engine: recording and playing thousands of movies, series, and songs. The PI Foundation also designs special cameras and sensor modules that can attach to the PIs – which come in handy for robotics projects or biology studies which require observing but not disturbing wildlife. A Raspberry PI is a cheap computer that can be overwritten and reused for any project. If you have an idea that involves a low-cost low-power computer, a PI 3-B is a smart investment.

DATA STORAGE OF THE FUTURE: DNA HARD DRIVES by: RTC Christopher Hayduk Recently, researchers at Columbia University and the New York Genome Center have made significant progress in using DNA to store data. These researchers were able to restore and successfully retrieve without error a computer operating system, an 1895 French film, an Amazon gift card, and other files from DNA strands. DNA presents several advantages when compared to traditional storage media. For example, it is much smaller than typical hard drives—one gram of DNA stores 215,000 times more data than a one terabyte hard drive. However, most researchers have been unable to unlock the full storage potential of DNA. This breakthrough by Columbia and the New York Genome Center has brought us one step closer to unlocking this potential by mapping the bits of each file to DNA nucleotides. Afterwards, researchers synthesize the nucleotides and store the molecules in a test tube. In order to retrieve the information, researchers sequence the molecules. This technology could represent a major advancement in the field, and companies like Microsoft are beginning to invest heavily in DNA storage. However, study coauthor Yaniv Erlich believes that we are more than a decade away from mainstream use of DNA hard drives, so don’t get rid of your traditional storage media just yet.

2



The next step in virtual reality...

MIXED REALITY CHANGING THE WAY WE EXPERIIENCE LIFE by: RTC Lauren Fiorica Virtual Reality garnered a lot of buzz last year; however, can it maintain it’s momentum going forward? It seems that VR has a competitor in something new called Mixed Reality (MR). Though built off shared technology, virtual reality and mixed reality do not offer the same experience. Virtual Reality replaces the environment or world that a user is in with something else entirely. An offshoot of virtual reality, Augmented Reality attempts to enhance the user’s environment by adding new elements on top of it. Mixed Reality is a more powerful Augmented Reality. MR seeks to scan your environment and produce a fully interactive and digital 3D replica. Here, digital content is not just statically layered on top of the user’s world, but actually allows the user to interact with the added digital content. Imagine an international conference call, for example, that uses mixed reality to drop all participants in the same virtual surrounding, allowing them to interact with the same virtual material. From work to education to advertising, day-to-day life may soon find itself routinely virtually enhanced. The key to making any of MR a possibility and success is cost. The average consumer is unlikely to purchase a pricey device or add-on. Much can be learned from how Google Cardboard allowed users to experience VR at an inexpensive price point. A company called Zappar has announced the release of a mixed reality cardboard for only $30. There are also rumors that the iPhone 8, set to be released in September of 2017, will be a mixed reality device. Given its size and reach, Apple could certainly catapult MR into the lives of everyday people.

KEEP IN TOUCH WITH YOUR ----------------

PROS & CONS OF by: RTC Erinn Halasinski Amazon Alexa is very different from the Siri that most people are familiar with. Released in November 2014, Alexa is a cloud-based platform that allows users to interact with their devices using voice. Amazon is constantly updating the services that Alexa can provide, so the user can personalize his or her device. By adding different apps to Alexa that fit a user’s personal needs, the user can use the voice-activated service in his or her everyday life. For example, certain small tasks are convenient through this service, such as setting an alarm or using Alexa as a Bluetooth speaker. However, Alexa’s skills are limited in that when you want to hear information from a certain app or company, they might not have the answers you are looking for. The user must also remember all the services it programs into Alexa to make sure that the user is asking Alexa the right questions. The app used to control Alexa may be a little too confusing and overwhelming for the average user. However, Amazon makes navigating Alexa’s services a little easier by sending emails to users to inform them of what they can add to Alexa. Overall, Alexa has been received positively and has been an asset to many people’s lives.

---------------------- FORDHAM RTCS Twitter Blog Website Facebook

@FordhamRTC Fordhamrtc.blogspot.com fordham.edu/RTC facebook.com/fordham.rtc

Questions or tech concerns? Text, call, email, or stop by your RTC for assistance 7 days a week! We’re here to help! 3