August 2021 | Issue 168 | Archives
What’s up with Jim and Chris – the Geeks
Out West
July was a busy month! We presented seminars at 2 rallies in Wyoming, then we played! We visited hot springs, and took a covered wagon ride, then met up with friends parked in the wilderness and took a hike. We visited National Parks, and drove over a 12,000 foot mountain pass. If you like the photo above, be sure to read the complete article on using Snapseed to “beautify” your photos and you’ll learn exactly how it was done.
Where travel meets business
As we write this newsletter, we are parked at a unique location in Montrose, Colorado where some RVers you may have heard of – HeathAndAlyssa.com – have decided to settle down and build their own RV Park! They are focused on providing a place where mobile entrepreneurs can have not only an RV Park, but co-working facilities complete with high-speed Internet, conference facilities, and more.
They haven’t even broken ground yet, but the schoolhouse on the property has fibre Internet, plenty of air-conditioned working space, showers, and a kitchen. We ended up staying 3 days, got a lot of work done, and had fun getting to know the other RV Entrepreneurs who were parked there. It’s not really an RV park yet, but you can reserve boondocking sites here. Thanks Heath and Alyssa – and good luck in your endeavors, we love the concept.
They haven’t even broken ground yet, but the schoolhouse on the property has fibre Internet, plenty of air-conditioned working space, showers, and a kitchen. We ended up staying 3 days, got a lot of work done, and had fun getting to know the other RV Entrepreneurs who were parked there. It’s not really an RV park yet, but you can reserve boondocking sites here. Thanks Heath and Alyssa – and good luck in your endeavors, we love the concept.
Beauty of the West!
Our travels in Wyoming, Utah, and Colorado this month were filled with so much beauty that I’ve decided to dedicate this newsletter issue to photo editing. We took lots of photos with our phones, then used Google Photos for basic editing, Snapseed for “beautifying” and some special features of Apple Photos as well as Samsung Gallery that we had fun with. I hope you’ll read thru these tips and follow along to learn just how easy it is to have people go “WoW!” when they see your photos.
If you have the book, Learn Google Photos, editing is covered in Chapter 7. And here’s the YouTube playlist of videos that goes along with Chapter 7.
Materials from the RV Rallies
We presented several seminars at 2 RV rallies in July. Whether you joined us in person or not, you can access the class materials for all of these seminars on the web pages we’ve made.
- FMCA – 4 seminars: all class materials here
- Escapade – 3 seminars: all class materials here
Right now, these pages are open for anyone to view. We leave them open for about a month then change their status to members only.
See you Sunday!
It’s been a while since we’ve done our Sunday Live YouTube show – did ya miss us? We will do our best to be somewhere with Internet and electricity this Sunday so we can stream episode 217 of What Does This Button Do? We’ll tell you all about our travels for the past month and give lots of tips about living off-grid and off-line as well as a few of our favorite travel apps.
Recent YouTube Shows
What Does This Button Do? (YouTube shows)
July 11 #216 Technology for Travelers: 4 seminars
July 11 #216 Technology for Travelers: 4 seminars
Recent Tutorial Videos
- Thank you to our premium members for supporting us and making this newsletter possible! If you learn something from us, and you’re not a member, consider joining us now.
What’s coming up – Our Calendar August 2021
We’re Presenting Online
Plenty of content on our calendar this month!
August is a travel month. Pay close attention to time zones.
- Aug 8, 2pm CDT- Episode 217 of What Does This Button Do?
- Aug 8, 3pm CDT Backstage Pass for Members Only Zoom meeting
- Aug 16, 7pm ET- Google Photos: Ask Chris Anything Live
- Aug 22 2pm ET Episode 218 of What Does This Button Do?
- Aug 22, 3pm ET Backstage Pass for Members Only Zoom meeting
- Aug 27, 7pm ET- Members Only Orientation and Q&A Live
We’re not sure what September’s calendar will look like. If we’re back home, we’ll have the regular line-up of shows and specials.
- Sep 5, 2pm ET- Episode 219 of What Does This Button Do?
- Sep 5, 3pm ET Backstage Pass for Members Only Zoom meeting
- Sep 13, 3pm ET Members Only Zoom – Google Photos update
- Sep 19, 2pm ET- Episode 220 of What Does This Button Do?
- Sep 19, 3pm ET Backstage Pass for Members Only Zoom meeting
- Sep 20, 7pm ET- Google Photos: Ask Chris Anything Live
- Sep 24, 7pm ET- Members Only Orientation and Q&A Live
Live YouTube Shows Sundays at 2pm OUR LOCAL time “The Button Show”
We are traveling. Our local time may be MDT, CDT, or EDT. Make a note.
August 8th and 22nd
September 5th and 19th
Stay safe. Wash your hands. Get vaccinated.
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
Basic Photo Editing using Google Photos
If you’ve never used Google Photos to enhance your photos, then you need to learn how to get in to edit mode and to navigate amongst the different tools (see this video). If you already know that, then there are just two features that made the difference in the photo above:
- Adjustments: Shadows – slide to increase light in the shadows
- Pop: Scroll to the right until you find More…, choose Pop and slide to increase
- Done and Save
Beautifying your photos using special editing features of the free Snapseed app.
Once you start playing with Snapseed, you won’t be able to stop. The option called Ambiance takes any scenic shot and makes it look like a painting. It’s just one slider and it makes such a difference.
Some special editing features of the Samsung Gallery app
I felt this picture needed a better sun, a happier sun, a fun sun! So, I used Samsung Gallery and added a sticker.
A special editing feature of the iPhone Photos app
As long as you know how to take a “Live” photo with your iphone, you won’t believe just how easy it is to get the effect above. The article includes a video that shows you exactly how to do it.
Learn Google Photos 2021 available at Amazon
Google Photos is changing all the time, and we have several ways of alerting you to the changes, but sometimes the changes are significant enough that we need to reprint the book. The Learn Google Photos book has been updated to reflect the changes that took place on and before June 1, 2021. If you click the
image at right, you will go to the Amazon page to look inside the book at the first several pages of the Kindle edition of the book.
Buy from Amazon: Kindle version 7.95 | Paperback 24.95
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