Florida in December

December started off with our own TechnoGeek Learning Rally, click the link to read all about it.  The next one is tentatively scheduled for end of March in the same RV park in Bushnell, Florida.  If you’re interested please leave a comment at the end of the article.

Then we moved on to our favorite Thousand Trails park, Peace River.  We presented several afternoon seminars while we were there, but still had plenty of time to paddle the river.  We even made a short video of our kayaking trip.

We ended the year home for the holidays in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.  While visiting with family and lots of friends, we found ourselves giving impromptu smartphone lessons.  After helping one friend set up email on her phone, she exclaimed, “That was THE BEST Christmas present EVER!”  We love what we do!

Happy New Year everybody!

The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.
Eleanor Roosevelt

Calendar: Coming up in January/February

If it looks like we’re in your area, contact us to come to your RV park!  See our Frequently Asked Question: How Can I Get the Geeks to Come to My RV Park?

• Jan 9 Sarasota PC Users Group (Cloud Computing)
• Jan 11-17 Geek Week at Peace River Thousand Trails (Picasa, MovieMaker, Smartphone photograpy)
• Jan 21 Bellagio Computer User Group in Boynton (Smartphones)
• Jan 29  Betmar Isles Computer User Group in Zephyrhills
• Feb 5  Charlotte County Computer Group in Port Charlotte
• Feb 12 Greater Tampa Bay Computer Users Group in Brandon
• Feb 15 Tampa SNUG (Facebook)
• Feb 16 all day, Central Florida Genealogical Society (Picasa, Blogger, Photo Story)
• Feb 17 Central Florida Computer Society
• Feb 18 Valencia Falls Computer and Technology Club
• Feb 19 Palm Isles Computer Club in Boynton Beach
• Feb 20 Boca Raton Computer Society
• Feb 21 Valencia Lakes Computer and Technology Club in Delray
• Feb 25-28 Florida Ass’n of Computer User Groups Technology Camp at Club Med in Port St. Lucie

For more details, see our website Calendar.  

Top Ten Picasa Tips of 2012

Chris Guld, of Geeks on Tour, writes a Picasa Tip of the Week.  She’s been doing this nearly every week since mid 2008, and you can see them all in our PicasaTutorials.com website.  If you subscribe to the email for Picasa Tip of the Week, then you’ve already seen these, but it’s nice to review.  Here are the top ten articles from PIcasaTutorials this year:

1. What happened to Picasa Web Albums?
2. Upgrading to Picasa 3.9
3. Picasa Tip: Resizing a Picture’s Height and Width
4. Picasa Tip: Framing Photos
5. Sorting Folders vs. Sorting Pictures within a Folder
6. Adding Text to a Collage
7. Is Picasa the Only Software for Managing all your Travel Pictures?
8. Picasa Tip: Make a Collage for your Facebook Cover Photo
9. Fun with Picasa 3.9 Effects
10. Picasa Tip: Adding Lipstick

Forum Topics

The Q&A Forums on the Geeks on Tour website are a great place to discuss the topics we cover.  This is where we answer our members’ questions.  Anyone can read the forums, you need to be a member to post.   Here are some topics of interest:

1. Picasa – Preserving Albums
2. Android – FoxFi no longer free
3. Tracking Visitors to your Blog
4. Pointers on Pictures
5. Google Plus?

RV LED Lighting

There’s more to technology than computers and smartphones!  All the rage in lighting these days is LED lighting.  Brighter, less heat, more efficient, these lights are perfect for RVs. But, they’re also a bit pricey, the more you understand about them, the better choices you will make.  Our friends at TechnoRV have written a Buyer’s Guide to RV LED Lighting. Check it out by following this link: TechnoRV Buyer’s Guide

Thinking of Michael

Chuck Woodbury of RVtravel.com writes a New Year message about Michael that we should all read.  As RV Travelers we have such wonderful opportunities to enjoy our world.  Take advantage and enjoy it.
Read Chuck’s article and more at the current issue of RVTravel’s Newsletter.

Share a Map of your Travels with Google Maps

Every year that goes by, it gets harder to remember where we traveled.  So, I like to end the year by making a map that I can share using Google Maps.  I’m not going to cover how to plan travels and change the destinations or routes.  I’m also not going to cover making custom markers with your specific information, there is a video for that.  In this article, I just want to show how to create a quick and easy map of all your travels for the year, save it, and share it with others. The first thing to understand in Google Maps is the difference between ‘Get Directions’ and ‘My Places.’  Get Directions is just a tool, what you see is temporary and will be

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What is Cloud Computing?

The ‘Cloud’ is simply The Internet – but it is taking on special meaning as Apple, Google, Microsoft, and others are offering accounts where you can have your own slice of the sky.  They also offer device independence.  If you can start a document with your computer, finish it on your tablet, and view it on your smartphone, you’re using Cloud Computing.  With names like DropBox, Google Drive, iCloud, or SkyDrive, it no longer matters what device you have in your hand because the application, and the content is in the Cloud.

The Cloud is the Internet

So, where is this cloud?  And who owns it?  Remember … the

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Make Friends with your Smartphone; go on a Date!

While home for the holidays, we saw a lot of old friends.  One of them, Mary Helen, told us how she was frustrated with her new Android smartphone.  She’s always been pretty proficient with computers and it bothered her that she didn’t understand this new device.  I said, let’s spend an afternoon together and see what I can show you about your phone.  I love mine, maybe I can help you make friends with yours!

So we got together one day and Mary Helen brought her phone, and her list of questions and we started to chat.

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