Arts IT Savvy

Google have added “Promote”, “Remove” and “Comment” buttons to their search results.

New Google Buttons

I haven’t found the definitive answer as yet, but it appears at least that these only affect your searches, and are not a way to promote or demote sites that you do, or don’t like.  I certainly hope that is the case, otherwise we will start seeing sites popping up to the top of Google searches not based on their popularity, but on how many people they have in the background doing constant Google Searches that bring up their site, and clicking on the “Promote” button (and clicking “Remove” on any competitor’s site).

However, it seems a bit pointless at this stage- after all, I Google to find a site / information that I don’t know about, so each search is new and unique, and therefore the results will be fresh and unaffected by previous buttons I’ve clicked.  Secondly, I’d probably rather not have my biases affecting my search results – and would rather the most popular sites (and therefore hopefully the ones most likely to match my search criteria) coming to the fore.

Adobe have released an online TV channel that may be of interest to some.

This is in addition to a number of video podcasts that are available through iTunes with tips, tricks, techniques and methods on various Adobe products.  There is now so much info out there, to watch it all you’d hardly find time to actually get anything done!

This isn’t really IT based, but it is using the technology to give a bit of a feel for something most of us will never be able to own.

Earth Blue is a book by an Australian publisher, it is 61cm high, and when opened spans 2m.  It weighs 30kg and comes with its own plinth.  It also costs around $5000.

This site was created so us meer mortals can at least get a feeling for what the book is like (and perhaps inspire those who can afford it)

To navigate the book, either drag the top right corner across, or simply click on it to turn the page.

That you can access your network drives from anywhere in the world?  It’s a great way of ensuring you have a backup of your presentation, data or whatever, and all you need is a computer with internet access.

You access it simply through my.monash and click on “Shared network drives” in the left-hand column.

Highlighted here for example is my personal U: Drive, accessed through an internet browser.

I’ve taken the liberty of repeating some info from the Monash Technical Mailing list here:

If you find in ESS that the date is diplayed in the US format, then this article will assist you in getting it displayed correctly.

Browser settings affect how dates are displayed in ESS.  If the day and month are transposed, (i.e mm/dd/yyyy), the “Languages” may need to be changed in the browser to English/Australia [en-au]  so that dates are displayed properly.  Instructions to do that are as follows:

Firefox Version 2

1.        Open Firefox and select Options from the Tools menu
2.        Select the Advanced icon and then click on the General Tab
3.        In the Language section click the Choose button
4.        In the ‘Languages in order of preference’ box you need to move the English/Australia[en-au] option to the top of the list by using the Move Up or Move Down buttons
5.        If English/Australia [en-au] is not available, click on ‘Select a language to add’ and select English/Australia [en-au] and repeat step 4 to move it to the top of the list
6.        Click on OK once complete
7.        Log off and restart Firefox before attempting to use ESS again

Firefox Version 3

1.        Open Firefox and select Options from the Tools menu
2.        Select the Content icon
3.        In the Language section click the Choose button
4.        In the ‘Languages in order of preference’ box you need to move the English/Australia[en-au] option to the top of the list by using the Move Up or Move Down buttons
5.        If English/Australia [en-au] is not available, click on ‘Select a language to add’ and select English/Australia [en-au] and repeat step 4 to move it to the top of the list
6.        Click on OK once complete
7.        Log off and restart Firefox before attempting to use ESS again

Internet Explorer

1.        Open Internet Explorer and select Internet Options from the Tools menu
2.        Select the General tab
3.        Click on the Languages button located at the bottom of the window (above the OK button)
4.        In the Language box make sure ‘English (Australia) [en-au]‘ is available and located at the top of the language list.  Use the Move Up or Move Down buttons to move it to the top of the list.
5.        If ‘English (Australia) [en-au]‘ cannot be seen, click the Add button and select it from the available list, click OK and move to top of list if necessary.

Google Chrome is coming – today if the reports are right (US timezone though!)

What is Chrome?  Google’s answer to Internet Explorer and Firefox to put it in a nutshell.  It is pretty big news actually – too large to know the implications of this move at this stage, but the entry of a new, major internet browser is going to give a lot of IT people kittens I’m sure.

You can read more about it here, and a comic by Google about the decision, and the process they went through is available here, or as a downloadable pdf.

We’ll watch this new release with interest!

This is Arts IT Savvy – an ever-developing blog that has been set up to become a depository for some of the interesting and useful bits of information that we come across that may be useful for the wider Faculty of Arts community.

For the past couple of months I have been posting a variety of content to give some idea of the sorts of information the site will be providing, from suggestions about hardware, through to current IT related news, tips and tricks, and training videos (under the banner ArtsIT.TV)  As sections grow, they will be adapted to ensure the useful stuff isn’t simply buried under piles of (old) posts.

The site is searchable, and as it grows it will increasingly become a useful source of information.

Shortly, a training calendar will be provided on the site, listing upcoming courses being offered by ArtsIT, starting off with short lunchtime sessions.

If you have any requests for content, suggestions for videos, or even if you would like to become a regular contributor to  the site itself, please email the helpdesk, who will forward it onto me (in my role as “Editor-in-Chief”).

I am endeavouring to have something new on the site each (working) day, so check back often.  The site, by its very nature is highly dynamic, so be aware that older posts can become dated in their information.  This is also mentioned in the site’s disclaimer, which I’d encourage you to read. As the site grows, it will begin to develop in new directions, which is one of the very interesting aspects of a blog – they begin to tailor themselves to suit the requirements of the readers.

One thing to point out – some of the information (some images, and the videos) are hosted offsite, so to see all the content that is available, you do need to be logged into the Monash Proxy

Thanks to the web team for their work in the background getting the templates created, widgets in place etc.

Regards,

Stuart Lees

From HR:

The new improved version of Employee Self Service (ESS) is now live.

To help get started with ESS there is simple web based training modules available at

http://www.adm.monash.edu.au/ias/ess/online-learning/

For further information on how to use the new version please look at the frequently asked questions in ask.monash or contact the SAP service desk +61 3 990 51777

Questions regarding HR information on ESS or SAP should be directed to the HR Enquiry Team +61 3 990 20400.

While you are checking out the new look and feel please take the time to look at your address, emergency contact, mobile phone numbers and educational qualifications and update them as required.

ESS can be found at
https://eservices.monash.edu.au/ess

This news is a bit old now, but still worth flagging.  Earlier this year, Ebay attempted to first make Paypal a mandatory payment option by sellers, then to make it the only payment option available.

For those that are not aware, Paypal allows buyers to use their credit card to make purchases from online sellers, without the sellers needing to establish a relationship directly with the Visa/Mastercard etc.  There are fees incurred by the seller for the service, incuding getting your money from Paypal.

Paypal is owned by Ebay.  Selling on Ebay also incurs fees for sellers (which are significant), so using Paypal as well, slugs the seller twice.  The problem for Australia is there is no other online trading site with anywhere near the same number of buyers, and obviously the more buyers, the higher the potential final price of an auction will be.

Once 100s of complaints were received by the ACCC, a draft ruling was drawn up, but before it could be enacted, Ebay has withdrawn its plan to make Paypal the only payment option.  It has managed to maintain the requirement for Paypal to be one of the options on all auctions, and as this is still a very convenient method for buyers to use, the sellers still have to deal with the double fee structure.

As an aside, if a seller stated that Paypal was not preferred in the text of the Ebay advert, their auction was pulled from the site, often with hours before the auction ended (after 7 days of bidding).