Chanatown

Article first published as Just How Safe Is Your Email Address? on Blogcritics. Tell me if this looks or sounds familiar: "Dear Customer, As we have communicated over the course of the last week,  Epsilon —a marketing vendor that sends e-mails on our behalf—notified us about unauthorized outside access to files that included COMPANY NAME customer e-mail addresses.  The information obtained was limited to the e-mail address of some customers. No account information or other information was compromised. We’ll continue to provide updates when we have important new information to share. And, we’ll let you know what impact, if any, these developments will have on you." The letter continues with how protecting customers is a top priority, how you should ignore emails requesting confidential information, and an apology for the inconvenience.  When I first received this email, I deleted it thinking that this kind of stuff happens from time to time.  Howe...

Outlook is Outlook, right? Well, if only it were that simple. The problem is that there are two different ways our teachers can access their email from their desktops, and both can be called Outlook. During these first few weeks of school, I've noticed many faculty and staff using one version when they might be interested in the other. We'll dive into both interfaces here, so you'll be better equipped to make your own informed decision. 

Let me know if this looks familiar: A colleague recently came in and mentioned that all of her contacts received a virus email with inappropriate content. Most likely, you can relate, and an increasing number of us have been the "sender" of malicious mail. So I thought I'd put together a short to-do list to ensure that this doesn't happen to you. Of course, there are no guarantees, and spamming seems to be an unnecessary part of the digital life, but here are a few things I've done to minimize the pain.

Image via Wikipedia It's back to school week in Chanatown, so how's about we get started with a few tips on smartphone usage? Many teachers I meet with are now toting new and improved smartphones, and it's awesome! I don't feel like such a geek (as much) anymore, now that more and more phones are equipped with keyboards, faster processors, bigger screens, and features galore. Heck, even my wife got a new Android phone last week (more on that to come), so I thought it might be useful to consider how a smartphone can best impact a teacher's daily grind.