Welcome to the weekly newsletter dedicated to everything IT! Newsy, fun, informational—get your quick digest of tech content and then go about your day.

Check for updates here every Monday.

June 17

Google Updates

A reminder about the upcoming changes to Google:

Appointment slots to become appointment schedules

In July, Google will be getting rid of the "appointment slots" function and replacing it with an "appointment schedules" function. Miami users who are currently using the "appointment slots" function will be contacted individually about this notice. You can learn more by visiting their website. 

Google Sync to be deprecated

Google Sync is a tool that allows users to link their Miami Gmail, Calendar, and Contacts to third-party, platform-specific apps. For example, iPhone users can use Google Sync to sign in with Microsoft Exchange to get Miami Gmail messages in Apple Mail or Calendar events in the Apple Calendar native app.

With the deprecation of this tool, you will need to configure your mail, calendar, and contact apps to "Sign in with Google" instead of with just a password. This feature will be removed on Sept. 30, 2024. 

Miami users who are currently using the Google Sync service will be contacted individually about this notice! Read more about this at Google's support site or our article here.

Annual Network Failover Testing 

This notice previously announced that the testing would take place this Sunday, June 23. However, this work has been rescheduled. Please stay tuned for more information about the rescheduled dates.

IT Services will be doing annual network failover testing. 

This testing enables IT Services to exercise the resiliency of our network systems to provide highly available and stable core communications systems for all Ohio campuses of the University.

There will also be VoIP failover testing, although no service disruptions are expected. There is the possibility that internet and VPN access could be disrupted intermittently, from both on and off-campus.

Keep an eye out for an article for including more information and the locations that are expected to lose connectivity. 

If you have any questions about this work, or experience issues after the fact, please contact IT Help at 513-529-7900 or MiamiOH.edu/ITChat. To view planned IT activities and the current status of major systems and services, please visit our dashboard at MiamiOH.edu/ITStatus.

Celebrating and Remembering Juneteenth

This past Wednesday, June 19, 2024, was Juneteenth, and we want to take a moment to talk about why it is important in America's history. The holiday commemorates the end of slavery in the United States when on June 19, 1865, 2,000 Union troops arrived in Galveston Bay, Texas to announce the freedom of more than 250,000 enslaved African Americans in the state.

On this day we recognize the journey for freedom, civil rights, and equality for African Americans and how that journey continues today. You can learn more about Juneteenth by visiting the National Museum of African American History and Culture'scollection on it here or by visiting Miami's Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion's Juneteenth webpage.