February 5, 2009 • No Comments
To get through spam filters, spammers are more frequently spoofing From: addresses in e-mails to use the domain of the receiving organization. For instance, they will send messages from joe@example.com to doe@example.com because many organizations whitelist any mail coming from their own domain.
To combat this, I recently decided to blacklist all email from @mbgsd.org to @mbgsd.org. Internal emails still work fine, but anything that comes from the outside to our spam filter with @mbgsd.org in the from field is rejected to block all of that spam. This change immediately reduced the spam tactic’s effectiveness, but it “breaks” features like “emailing to a friend” found on many websites because those websites actually spoof (in a less unsolicited way) the From: address to look like their messages came from the person originating the request.
So it’s a tradeoff: block tons of spam and lose the ability to use the “email this” features found on some websites, or let the spam in and keep those features.
December 16, 2008 • No Comments
If you want more features from the new staff RTC (real-time collaboration) system like notification popups, sounds, custom away messages, try the Spark client (download link below).
Once you install the Spark program, launch it and login to the RTC system by entering your network username and password, and im.mbgsd.org in the server field (see screenshot; click to enlarge).
Continue reading ‘Spark Program for Staff IM System’
December 15, 2008 • No Comments
Our new staff instant messaging system allows group chat, either through the always-available Staff “lounge” or via rooms that you create. Group chat is a quick/efficient way to have IM conversations with mulitple users.
To access the Staff chatroom, login to the IM system and click the “Conferences” tab at the bottom of your contact list. Then double click the “Staff” chatroom (click images to enlarge):
Continue reading ‘Group Chat on the Staff IM System’
December 15, 2008 • No Comments
To send instant messages (IMs) on our new staff instant messaging system, simply double click on a contact in your contact roster (or right click the contact and select “Start a Chat”) to open an active IM with the user. Then type your message in the bottom portion of the IM window (click images to enlarge):
Continue reading ‘Messaging on the Staff IM System’
December 15, 2008 • No Comments
To add yet one more way to communicate with staff in the District, I have set up a real-time collaboration (instant messaging) system (similar to AIM, Yahoo Messenger, MSN, etc.) for staff use. To access and use the system, simply go to http://im.mbgsd.org from any computer in the District, and you’ll be presented with a login screen. Simply enter the same network username you use to login to your computer (or other MASD network resources), and then enter your network password (click images to enlarge):
Continue reading ‘Staff Instant Messaging System’
December 10, 2008 • No Comments
Since July 1, 2008 there have been 542 helpdesk tickets submitted. Below is the breakdown by category:
Helpdesk Report - By Category - December 10, 2008
And by school:
Helpdesk Report - By Building - December 10, 2008
December 2, 2008 • No Comments
The top 5 most visited websties from MASD users are (in order):
1. google.com
2. microsoft.com
3. mbgsd.org
4. yahoo.com
5. aol.com
September 30, 2008 • No Comments
The discussion forums server is operational at: http://forums.mbgsd.org
If you want a board set up, just log in to the site with your standard network username and password, then send me an email with the board name and to which people you want to give permission to the board.
It’s running phpBB3 on an Ubuntu LAMP server.
September 29, 2008 • No Comments
I think I have the e-mail notifications working on the blogs.mbgsd.org server so that when someone posts a comment on a blog, the writers will get notified. Also, I should now get notified when a new user signs up.
Progress..
September 24, 2008 • No Comments
Since the built-in podcasting/blogging server of Mac OS 10.4 wasn’t geared towards feature-rich blogging, I decided to offer 2 options to staff/students: WordPress blogging and (hopefully soon) a Mac OS 10.5 podcasting option. There will be some overlap between regular blogging content being posted on the podcasting server and podcasts being published to the blogging server, but I think this gives the most functional options to bloggers and media makers.
The Podcast Producer server in Leopard is giving me a hard time. Even if I manage to get a podcast job submitted to the server, the job will fail before it ends so the content never gets published. If/when I get it working (using integrated network accounts), it will be a seamless way for staff and students to upload video and audio content.
