Four Quick Tips
- Google Calendar Tip
- Turn off Gmail nudges
- Duo Dexterity – Always have a backup plan!
- What The Heck Is this New (USB-C) Port?
Google Calendar Tip
If you use Google Calendar to invite people to meetings, you can choose to give your invitees the ability to add notes, attach documents, and the like. And you can do this event by event, or you can change your default Calendar settings and then override those defaults whenever you want.
If you only want to give your invitees these abilities on occasion, all you need to do is check the box under the “Add Guests” area of your calendar event.
If you want to have that box checked by default, click the Gear icon in Calendar, select Settings, and then scroll down to Event Settings. There you can choose to give your guests permission to “Modify event.”
Don’t worry! You will get notifications if your invitees make changes to the event.
Turn off Gmail nudges (in about a minute)
Duo Dexterity — Always have a backup plan!
Duo has been helping keep our accounts safe, but don’t get caught without a way into your account! You can receive a set of 5 backup-codes that you should write down and keep with you in case your phone is out of battery, forgotten at home, broken or otherwise gone.
If you cannot receive a text message at your Duo phone number, come to the Helpdesk in the CMC and we can generate codes for you!
What The Heck Is this New (USB-C) Port?
If you’ve bought a new phone or laptop in the last year, chances are good you’ve grieved the loss of at least one port (like a stereo jack) and wondered how to hook the new device into all your old stuff, like chargers, external hard drives, and headphones.
We are losing ports for two primary reasons: 1) more ports mean extra programming logic and more physical circuitry, and 2) older ports tend to be physically larger. Given the pressures manufacturers face to pack more and more features into thinner and thinner devices, their response has been to offer fewer, newer ports that each do more things. Learn more about the technology behind USB and this recent change.
If you want USB connections to perform at their best, you should start slowly replacing your old hubs, chargers, and hard drives, etc., with newer models that typically have the USB-C port and speak USB 3.1, 3.2, or (in the case of Apple) Thunderbolt 3, protocols. Carleton-owned equipment will receive necessary cables; check with us if you have questions about particular connectors or cables.
Anyway, the bottom line is that if you get a new phone or laptop, don’t be shocked if you end up with fewer ports (or several ports that look exactly the same). You can mourn their loss, but accept the inevitable and be ready to buy new cables—good ones from a reputable manufacturer.