June 2020 News: Google Photos Workshop, How your phone can run your TV, Oura Ring

Image  June 2020 | Issue 154  | Archives

What’s Up with Jim and Chris – the Geeks?
May was another full month of quarantine. Our new normal is full of social activity, it’s just all online. The screenshot above is one of our Geeks on Tour members-only meetings.  We did our YouTube shows on scanning photos, and on the weeks that we didn’t do a live show, we held class on Zoom for our members only. See our May Google Photos album for some more pictures, and our blog for #stayhome daily diary.
What Does This Button Do?
We added one new episode to our YouTube “Button” shows in May.
Members Only Zoom meeting / classes
We held 2 classes for our premium members using a Zoom meeting. See all replays here.
Tutorial Videos
We also added a few of our short show-me videos. See the complete list here.
What’s coming up – Our Calendar
Not much.
We’re still under stay home orders.
All public appearances are cancelled for the foreseeable future.
Announcing!! Google Photos Workflow: a hands-on workshop with Chris Guld, a Google Photos product expert. Chris will show you how best to work with Google Photos. You’ll even have exercises to do on your own device with Google Photos.
  • What: a 2 hr workshop held over Zoom with maximum 12 attendees
  • When: 1) Wednesday June 10 2pm Eastern to 4pm
  •    OR    2) Tuesday June 23 7pm Eastern to 9pm
  • Cost: $30 per person
  • How to sign up: just reply to this email and we’ll send you the link
Live YouTube Shows Sunday at 2pm Eastern time. Most weeks.
If we don’t do a live Button Show, we’ll do a Member Zoom at 2pm Eastern.
Live Zoom meetings for Premium Members after the live shows. Watch your email for announcements of scheduled shows.
Stay safe. Wash your hands.

Ask the Geeks Q&A forum. Anyone can read the forum, only members can ask questions. This is a valuable benefit of membership. Join Today! Here are some recent discussions:

  1. Which SD Card is Best?
  2. Photo Count-Photo Stick-Backups
  3. Moving from Picasa to Google Photos
  4. Facebook Audience selection
  5. Duplicate Photos

Your Phone can make your TV look Smart
Does anyone watch network TV any more? The evening news is about it for me, and then the commercials drive me crazy. When I want entertainment I get it from streaming services like Netflix, HBO Go or Amazon Prime. Sometimes I even get my news from streaming services like YouTube, CBS, or PBS. But, how to accomplish this? I don’t have a smart TV, but I do have a Chromecast on the TV which means I can bring up a show on my computer or phone and “cast” it to the TV as
long as the TV input is set to the correct HDMI port. I’ve discovered that my phone is the best way to provide programming to the TV.

Oura Ring
If you like smart watches, get ready for a smart ring! This Oura ring is something different. It’s a lot smarter than the watches I had even though it doesn’t tell time. It’s jam-packed with sensors. There are two infra-red LED emitters and an IR detector that samples your heart rate 250 times per second. There are 3 temperature sensors, an accelerometer, a gyroscopic sensor, memory, and a battery, all in a
ring that fits on your finger!

How Google Photos can Scan a QR Code
All iPhones and many Android phones can now scan these codes with just the camera that came built in with the phone. Simply open the camera app and focus on the code, you will see a link pop up that will lead you to where the code goes.
But, what if you see a QR code that you want to keep and scan later? That’s where Google Photos comes in.
Show your Google Photos like a screensaver on the TV and other Photo Frames


Image
We no longer turn our TVs off except for overnight. The rest of the time, if we’re not watching a show, they are displaying our chosen Google Photos albums. We just love that our house is filled with our travel photos, especially in this time of the CoronaVirus when we’re stuck at home.

What you need

You don’t need a fancy TV, any TV with an HDMI port will do.
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