Tag Archives: phone

Boardwork in online classes

By | August 20, 2020

Boardwork is an essential part of any course that requires free-hand writing, for example math or languages with non-Latin scripts. If you support faculty who use boardwork as part of their teaching, here are two options from LSA Technology Services that achieve the same effect online.  Digital whiteboard: The first option is to use an electronic whiteboard. This… Read More »

How should you clean your phone?

By | March 4, 2020

The average person touches their smartphone more than 2,000 times a day, surveys have shown. Also, people tend to carry their phones everywhere with them, including the bathroom where most contamination happens. So it’s not surprising that phones can harbor lots of bacteria and germs. Wiping your phone or cleaning it with soap and a little water, or preventing your phone… Read More »

Requesting telecomm services just became easier

The ITS Infrastructure team successfully launched the new Service Request System (SRS) on Wednesday October 16, decommissioning the 16-year-old Online Service Center (OSC). The OSC used obsolete technology and had an outdated, non-intuitive web interface. It had also grown unreliable, experiencing routine outages, and had a high risk of permanent failure. The team set out to deliver a… Read More »

Effects of cellphones at summer camp

Recent studies have shown that the use of cellphones has been beneficial and detrimental to summer camps for both the campers and the staff.  “As a society, we spend a tremendous amount of time on screens and with digital media, but we don’t understand the full impact that it is having on children,” states lead author Ashley DeHudy, M.D.,… Read More »

Digital privacy a risk for undocumented immigrants

Undocumented immigrants tend to be careful about public life: They limit contact with authorities, keep close-knit circles, and avoid loitering too long in parks, supermarkets, shows and other public gatherings. Some even avoid driving altogether. But when it comes to their smartphones, they struggle to apply this instinctive caution, according to a study by the U-M School of… Read More »

Court case could affect your digital privacy

By | December 1, 2017

A case pending before the Supreme Court could affect all Americans’ digital privacy for decades to come, according to H.V. Jagadish, professor of electrical engineering and computer science. The case involves the appeal of man whose conviction for armed robbery was based, in part, on location data provided without a warrant to the F.B.I. by his cellphone provider. Jagadish, whose… Read More »

“Musical virus” can hack smartphones

By | March 15, 2017

A security loophole that lets someone add extra steps to your Fitbit might seem harmless, but a group of computer security researchers at U-M and the University of South Carolina say it points to the broader risks that come with technology embedding itself into our lives. They found a vulnerability that allows them to compromise devices through the tiny accelerometers that… Read More »

Phones fill time

By | February 9, 2017

When queued up for an event, to buy a latte or waiting for a bus, most people whip out their phones to pass the time—most often within seconds of arriving. Daniel Kruger of the Institute for Social Research was curious about how quickly people used their phones while passing the time waiting. So he set out to determine… Read More »

Phantom phone alerts

By | February 2, 2017

If you’ve fallen victim to “phantom phone alerts,” the mysterious phenomenon where you think your phone is buzzing but it isn’t, it may be time to take a tech break. Experiencing the nonexistent vibrations could be an indicator that you are too reliant on your cell phone. According to a new study headed by Daniel Kruger, a scientist at U-M’s… Read More »

Happy accidents

By | December 19, 2016

A group of researchers including Josh Ackerman, an assistant professor of psychology at U-M, believe you might be “accidentally” breaking your phone, on purpose, to justify getting a new one. It’s a phenomenon called the “upgrade effect” and according to the study, that’s exactly what we’re doing.The study found that even when people think they aren’t being careless or deliberate… Read More »