Safely remove a USB drive

If you pull the USB out of a computer without "safely removing", you can damage the drive or the computer.  So, what if you get the dreaded message, "This device is currently in use."

Here's your solution on "How to safely remove a USB drive even when Windows says it isn't safe to do so."

Campus workshop on digital piracy, copyright

There was a discussion of digital piracy and copyright on campus recently. It's an interesting read about movie and music piracy. Mentioned is a new "six-strike copyright alert system" introduced earlier this year, through copyright holders and ISPs, not the government. This article asserts the new rules don't take fair use into account, and will lead to ISPs being more intrusive of user's contents. I wonder if this may effect computers on campus being shut off due to copyright violations, if will people now get warnings instead of being shut down.

University seeking social media interns

Just thought I'd pass this along: the University is looking for students for social media internships this summer including video production. The article in UDaily doesn't indicate whether or not it's paid. Deadline this Friday.

New and Improved Gmail

I'm not sure about everyone else, but my inbox gets pretty messy during the school year with all of the shift requests, messages from professors, Sakai, and of course the random spam mail. Luckily, Google has decided to improve its Gmail and update with cool features such as auto-sort that separates certain messages into different tabs and will notify you when certain kinds of e-mails are received. I know e-mail isn't completely related to the equipment in the Student Multimedia Design Center, but it is something that we all use, so I feel it's important to know about new features offered to us! Click the following link read all about the update: Gmail Update

Hope everyone is having a great Summer break!

At the center, in the Center

This is my final blog post before graduation, when I will be moving on from the first job where I felt at home and, thankfully, put to good use. I've loved this place and these people.

Of course, I'm talking about the Student Multimedia Design Center. While many of our blog's posts have dealt with advancements in technology and helpful software techniques, this one is going to focus on where the needs of our users most critically intersect with the services of our Center.

And of course, I'm talking about us staff and student assistants.

As cliche as this may sound, we're the heart and soul of the Center, and I'd like to offer a few reminders of what we should be giving to this several-thousand square foot space.

Electronic Entertainment Expo 2013

Hey everyone, as this summer approaches, I advise all video game, electronic media, and hardware enthusiasts to look towards E3 for the latest technology and design innovation coming to the world in this upcoming year. This event is usually tailored to gamers because of the large presentations from Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft. Though,the expo will also boast a strong presence from audio/visual technologies, developmental software/hardware, internet products/services, and more. Make sure you check out E3 June 11-13. It can be viewed via online streaming.

Some design examples for inspiration

I found this blog post on a design site that gives 20 nice examples of well done stationary design. If you are ever in Photoshop, Illustrator or InDesign struggling with designing a layout, check these examples out for some inspiration.

http://stocklogos.com/topic/professional-examples-stationery-design