PostBop » Technotes http://postbop.com ergo propter bop Sat, 16 Jul 2011 01:39:16 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 en hourly 1 Sending Email at Palo Alto Library http://postbop.com/2006/04/sending-email-at-palo-alto-library/ http://postbop.com/2006/04/sending-email-at-palo-alto-library/#comments Thu, 20 Apr 2006 22:45:48 +0000 Bill http://postbop.com/2006/04/sending-email-at-palo-alto-library/ OK, humor me. Let’s say you’re doing some work at Palo Alto’s Main Public Library. You’re working on your Powerbook and you need to send an email message. You write the message in the email client of your choice (for me that’s Entourage at the moment). You select your office account and hit send. Oops, there’s an error:

SMTP Error Message

This is a new error for me given the hundreds of emails I’ve sent from the library. I consulted a librarian and found the Library blocks emails sent using SMTP out of concern that such email might be seen as coming from the library (or at least the Library’s IP address). Nothing about this restriction on the Library’s Wireless Internet Access FAQ or Internet Use Policy.

Equally confounding: I resent the message using my gmail account (same client via SMTP) without a hitch! Maybe only certain SMTP accounts are authorized??

Again, no documentation. It’s new. It’s a surprise. And it’s a timewaster…

Perhaps it protects the library from being associated with illicit email, but it also makes the library a bad place to work if you have to respond to a business-related email message. And since you can use gmail via SMTP, hey, it doesn’t even protect the library.

Oh well…

]]> http://postbop.com/2006/04/sending-email-at-palo-alto-library/feed/ 0 Printing at Palo Alto Library http://postbop.com/2006/03/printing-at-palo-alto-library/ http://postbop.com/2006/03/printing-at-palo-alto-library/#comments Fri, 31 Mar 2006 00:44:39 +0000 Bill http://postbop.com/2006/03/printing-at-palo-alto-library/ OK, this may be just for me. Let’s say you’re doing some work at Palo Alto’s Main Public Library. You’re working on your Powerbook and you need to print something. The good news: unlike many libraries, you can print from your laptop.The bad news: there are several printers to choose from, you can only print to one of them, the instructions provided by the library don’t explain which one, and the staff may or may not be able to tell you.

Hmm, that just happened to me, but with some help and good old trial and error, we figured it out. So, at this moment, the following image may be worth a thousand words:

printingatpalibrary.png

Your mileage may vary…

]]> http://postbop.com/2006/03/printing-at-palo-alto-library/feed/ 0