In this issue:

• FuquaWorld Receives Updates
• Fuqua Multimedia: Now Showing in Quicktime™
• WRDS Conference

Video Tip

Want to learn how to set-up your Remote Desktop? View this issue's video tip, and learn how.

You'll need Quicktime to watch the video.

Fuqua IT Factoid

Fuqua IT is recommending the Firefox web browser from the Mozilla Foundation. The Firefox browser is seeing wider acceptance because of its speed in rendering web sites and its lower profile with software hackers. Firefox will be added on all newly deployed computers. Call the TSC with any questions.

TSC Tips

USB Keys

USB keys are becoming increasingly popular and it isn’t hard to see why. They are convenient and an inexpensive way to transport your information. These devices are like mini hard drives capable of storing 1GB of data (and more!) on a “stick” that fits on your key ring. These memory keys are simple to use. Just plug one into any available USB port on your computer. The disk space can viewed under “My Computer” as an additional drive.

It's nice to know that you can contact the TSC for assistance with things like this. However, we also hope to be able to provide tips to solutions that allow you to maintain your productivity without skipping a beat. Stay tuned for more tips!

Contact the TSC

Have a technical mishap? Need some technical support? Here's a directory of IT staff that can assist you.

Accessing Technical Support

Also, as always, the technical support center is reachable via e-mail at:
tsc-help@fuqua.duke.edu

This seasonal communication supports Fuqua faculty, staff and students with use of our technology environment and brings awareness about capabilities to help enable innovation, leadership, and productivity.

FuquaWorld Receives Updates

New staff and faculty versions of the FuquaWorld portal were recently launched. In addition to a redesigned look and feel, several new features have also been added based on feedback received from staff members. Popular destinations such as Momentum, Monday Morning Message and recent school announcements remain in their prominent spots.

Exciting new features include a current day snapshot of your MeetingMaker personal calendar with the ability to quickly view and add activities to your calendar without having to leave the FuquaWorld homepage; a link to MeetingMaker's web client for convenient access to your schedule when traveling or working remotely; today's headline news stories courtesy of CNN.com; Distinguished Speaker Series video archive; access to your Duke Webmail remotely with a simple click; quick access to Fuqua's web-based discussion boards; online capabilities and resources, including requesting a meeting space and Tech Tools (online TSC information) are included as a convenient resource.

If you have comments or suggestions, please feel free to submit your feedback online by clicking on the feedback link located in the top right corner of FuquaWorld (login required).

Fuqua Multimedia: Now Showing in Quicktime™

Fuqua Multimedia has recently changed video formats from RealPlayer to QuickTime. New video content (Monday Morning Message, first-year student videos, etc.) will utilize the QuickTime format. There is some archived content in FuquaWorld, including the archived Distinguished Speaker Series, that will remain in the RealPlayer format.

The benefits of the QuickTime format include better video quality, better security, and a more flexibility. Fuqua Information Technology has also received many requests from students to change to Quicktime.

You will need to download and install QuickTime in order to view new Fuqua Multimedia content. The download is available from the MBA Software Downloads site. Scroll down the page until you see the "Quicktime 7" download box. Installation instructions are listed below the "Download QuickTime 7" link.

If you have any questions about downloading or installing QuickTime please contact the Technical Support Center.

2005 WRDS Users Group Meeting

Fuqua hosted the 2005 WRDS user group meeting November 14 -15. This meeting was the first regional meeting of its kind. All prior meetings have been held at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, or at Wharton’s West in San Francisco.

WRDS, which stands for Wharton Research Data Services, is a comprehensive web-based data management system that allows faculty and students to easily retrieve information from a wide variety of financial, economic and marketing data sources. Developed in 1993 to support faculty research at The Wharton School, the service has evolved to include over 140 academic institutions.

The conference had over 70 attendees and consisted of various talks and breakout sessions. John Harer, professor of mathematics and computer science and director of the center for computational science, engineering and medicine at Duke was the introductory speaker. Other sessions included an overview on WRDS web-queries, tools and support and how to integrate WRDS into university sites. The conference ended with a talk from Cheryl Doninger of SAS on GRID computing.

“The conference was tremendous,” said Robin Gold, marketing director of WRDS. “This was our first venture out to do a regional meeting and I’m so glad we did. The faculty and Ph.D. students at Fuqua and Duke were able to utilize the services we provide which was great, since they may not have been able to attend one of the other conferences. Fuqua was a great place to have the meeting.”

Nevin Fouts, associate dean for information technology at Fuqua, agreed that the conference was a success. “I was very pleased with the turn-out and the enthusiasm of the attendees,” Fouts said. “It was a true collaboration of what are normally competing universities. I feel that everyone took away useful information that they can take back to their respective jobs.”