Category Archives: Newsletter

October 2022 News: Prisma, Word Processing, Backup or Sync, and more…

October 6, 2022

October 2022 | Issue 182 | Archives

This Geeks on Tour monthly newsletter will always be free, but we also have a premium membership with perks like private Zoom meetings, eBooks, tutorial videos, and complete classes. Our premium members support us, making everything else possible. It’s $58 yearly or $68 for one year only.

What’s up with Jim and Chris – the Geeks

September was half travel, half home

The artwork above comes from a photo of the Blue Ridge mountains, then I used the Prisma app to create the artwork with one click. See the article about Prisma in this newsletter (just click the image above.)

Classes

We didn’t give any classes over Zoom during September, but you can see all classes from past months on our Classes page. We call it a “Class” when we deliver a 1-2 hour seminar to a group on a desired topic such as Using Google Photos, Editing Photos with Snapseed, and Map-making with Google My Maps. The web page for each class includes a slide show, several videos and sometimes a written handout. If the class was delivered over Zoom, we may also have the recording of the whole class. These classes are for our
premium members, although we leave them open to the public for the first couple of weeks.

We also did 2 of our Sunday YouTube shows:

In this newsletter:

As usual, we have an eclectic mix of smartphone and technology tips for you.

Embed YouTube video into Powerpoint
What happened to Word Processing?
Turn photos into artwork with Prisma
Backup or Sync, what’s the difference?
Google Photos Q&A: Ask Chris anything
Blast from the past – a 2007 article about traveling with computers

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. Join Now

What’s coming up – Our Calendar October and November

October

What Does This Button Do? Episodes on chosen Sundays at 2pm Eastern
October 4 7:15pm ET Kentucky Indiana PC User Group Presentation
October 6 8:30pm ET Wisconsin All-Computer Users Club
October 11 10pm ET Laguna Woods Presentation
October 25-27 Roadtrek RV Rally, St. Augustine Florida
Google Photos Q&A on a chosen Monday

November

What Does This Button Do? Episodes on chosen Sundays at 2pm Eastern
Google Photos Q&A on a chosen Monday

Be sure to subscribe to our YouTube Channel, click on the bell for notifications, and Like us on Facebook.

That way you’ll get notified when we go live.

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

Turn photos into artwork with Prisma

Prisma is a free app for both iOS and Android and it is just so much fun. Simply open the app, open a photo from the camera roll and then tap on one of the
artwork styles.

Backup or Sync, what’s the difference?

If you learned technology when the #1 lesson was Backup, Backup, Backup, it’s time to take another look at your
processes. Things have changed. Sync is the new backup, but the devil’s in the details. Be sure you will have what you need if disaster strikes.

Whatever happened to Word Processing?

One of the very first software programs I used on a personal computer was WordStar. I used it to write letters, articles, outlines, newsletters, class materials,
and more. Before computers, I had a typewriter. With WordStar, I could toss my old typewriter in favor of this new “Word Processor.” After WordStar came WordPerfect. I liked WordPerfect so much that I became a WordPerfect Certified Trainer. WordPerfect was my specialty from 1986 to about 1992 when I started teaching MS Word on Windows. See this 22 minute video of my 1988 “audition” to be an
advanced WordPerfect Instructor at my computer training center, Computer Savvy.

Google Photos: Live Q&A 9/26/22

32 Questions asked and answered. See the chapter links to see each question.

Blast from past 2007 article: Traveling with Computers

An old article from our early years as fulltime RVers. We learned how to keep our computers comfortable on the road.

Leave us a Review

Have you learned something from Geeks on Tour?

If so, we’d love to get a review from you. Click the link below and you should see
a right sidebar with all Geeks on Tour stuff, scroll down a bit and you should see Reviews and Write a Review.

Geeks on Tour google review

If you like this newsletter, please forward it on to your friends! You might want to remove the Unsubscribe information at the bottom of the page. That will prevent one of your friends from Unsubscribing
you.

If you received this issue forwarded by a friend you can subscribe to get your own copy delivered to your in box – it’s free. You can also visit
the archives of past newsletters. If you’ve learned something from us along the way, we’d love a Google Review from you!

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September 2022 News: Google photos tip, Tech for Travelers, Drones, and Bitcoin

September 5, 2022

September 2022 | Issue 181 | Archives

What’s up with Jim and Chris – the Geeks

August was a vacation month

The photo above shows us in our camper van at the Cape Hatteras National Seashore. When you put your camper on a ferry, you have a houseboat! We love ferries. We took 3 of them on our way up the east coast to New Jersey. Then we left the camper with a friend and flew to England
to visit friends and celebrate a 60th birthday. We partied hearty, then we played tourist for a few days in Southampton, Stonehenge, and Isle of Wight. Now we’re back to our camper in New Jersey and will head south via the Blue Ridge Parkway.

We are loving life! We wish all our US friends a fun and happy Labor Day holiday.

See lots of photos in our Album: Road trip to England
Also, check out our 5 minute live stream from an air museum in Southampton: Hello from Southampton

Classes

Just because we’re on vacation, it doesn’t mean we don’t give some classes! As long as we have good internet, we can deliver them from anywhere, even from our camper van in a national park! We gave 2 such classes in August. You can see all classes from past months on our Classes page. We call it a “Class” when we deliver a 1-2 hour seminar to a group on a desired topic such as Using Google Photos, Editing Photos with Snapseed, and Map-making with Google My Maps. The web page for each class includes a slide show, several videos and sometimes a written handout. If the class was delivered over Zoom, we may
also have the recording of the whole class. These classes are for our premium members, although we leave them open to the public for the first couple of weeks.

We also did 3 of our Sunday YouTube shows:

Aug 21 2022 Episode 241: Google Maps – Navigation Basics
Aug 14 2022
Episode 240: Using Snapseed for Editing Photos
Aug 7 2022 Episode 239: Don’t backup your phone, use Sync instead

In this newsletter:

As usual, we have an eclectic mix of smartphone and technology tips for you.

Google Photos Tip: How to capture a still shot from a video
Technology for Travelers – when it works
Jim is done with drones
Chris thinks Bitcoin is fascinating, what do you think?

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.

Click Here to
Join

What’s coming up – Our Calendar September and October

Back from our UK trip and headed home in the RV

Regular schedule of shows and some presentations

Be sure to subscribe to our YouTube Channel, click on the bell for
notifications, and Like us on Facebook.

That way
you’ll get notified when we go live.

September

September 11 2pm ET Episode 242 “What Does This Button Do?”
September 11 3pm ET Backstage Pass Zoom Meeting for Members Only
September 19 3pm ET Google Photos
Live “Ask Chris Anything”
September 25 2pm ET Episode 243 “What Does This Button Do?”
September 25 3pm ET Backstage Pass Zoom Meeting for Members Only

October

October 4 7:15pm ET Kentucky Indiana PC User Group Presentation
October 9 2pm ET
Episode 244 “What Does This Button Do?”
October 9 3pm ET Backstage Pass Zoom Meeting for Members Only
October 11 10pm ET Laguna Woods Presentation
October 19 3pm ET Google Photos Live “Ask Chris Anything”
October 21 2pm ET Episode 245 “What Does This Button Do?”
October 21 3pm ET Backstage Pass Zoom Meeting for Members Only

Stay safe. Wash your hands. Get boosted.

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

Google Photos Tip: How to capture a still shot from a video

Technology for Travelers – when it works

Technology allows us to travel our way. It gives us complete freedom, but when it doesn’t work, it can be agonizing.

This article tells you about our recent experiences traveling in the UK. spoiler – we love trains travel.

Read the article

Jim is done with Drones

He got his first drone in 2014, and he crashed his last drone just this year while we were in Italy. He’s decided he’s too old for the stress of flying drones. “I think I’ll stick to flight simulators in virtual reality. When you crash them, no one’s heart or wallet gets hurt!”

Read the article to see why he thinks this way and be sure to click the link to his playlist of drone videos he’s done over the years. From a hot-air baloon
festival, to an RV park in Malibu, to a dive boat in the Indian ocean, there’s some pretty cool videos here.

Read the article

Chris thinks Bitcoin is fascinating, what do you think?

The world of technology changes fast. Chris is passionate about learning and teaching technology and she sees Blockchain and Web3 as the next big technology.
Bitcoin is just the tip of the iceberg.

Read the article

Blast from past: Going way back this time

Click the picture to enlarge and read the article about the Computer Training business that Chris owned from 1983-1996. Jim was the network administrator for Computer Savvy.

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Have you learned something from Geeks on Tour?

If so, we’d love to get a review from you. Click
the link below and you should see a right sidebar with all Geeks on Tour stuff, scroll down a bit and you should see Reviews and Write a Review.

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July 2022 News: Google Photos storage, Fireworks photos, Google Photos Q&A, Blast from past

July 8, 2022

July 2022 | Issue 179 | Archives

What’s up with Jim and Chris – the Geeks

Chris has been a Product Expert for Google Photos since 2016. Each year, Google has a conference for all the product experts around the world. This year it was in New York City. Learn all about it by going to Twitter and searching for the hastag: #PES22. But, the most important thing to
know is that Chris received the Video Creator Award! They used a Superhero theme at the award ceremony, and she loves her blue cape!

For the month of June we were mostly home

Our neighborhood in South Florida is great for walking, especially when the Royal Poinciana are in bloom.

Classes

We did not deliver any classes in June, but you can see all classes from past months on our Classes page. We call it a “Class” when we deliver a 1-2 hour seminar to a group on a desired topic such as Using Google Photos, Editing Photos with Snapseed, and Map-making with Google My Maps. The web page for each class includes a slide show, several videos and
sometimes a written handout. If the class was delivered over Zoom, we also have the recording of the whole class. These classes are for our premium members.

In this newsletter:

As usual, we have an eclectic mix of smartphone and technology tips for you.

Cloud storage for Google Photos costs less than you think
Fun with fireworks photos
Google Photos Q&A
Blast from the past – tutorial video from 2007

We did 2 new episodes of our “What Does This Button Do?” YouTube show, in June:

Jun 26 2022 Episode 236: Google Photos update and Product Experts #pes22
Jun 12 2022 Episode 235: Google Photos for Travel Albums

Show Notes

If you’ve been missing our show notes, we have good news! Chris finally got caught up and the show notes are now ready for Episodes 233, 234, 235, and 236. Whew! If you don’t know about our show notes, here’s your article: If you like our YouTube show, you’ll love our show notes

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.

Click Here to
Join

What’s coming up – Our Calendar June and July 2022

We’re back home for a while! It sure is nice to be back in our studio.

Regular schedule of shows and some presentations

Be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel, click on the bell for notifications, and Like us on Facebook.

That way you’ll get notified when we go live.

July

July 6 6:30pm ET Snapseed presentation via Zoom to STUG
July 10 2pm ET Episode 237 “What Does This Button Do?”
July 10 3pm ET Backstage Pass Zoom Meeting for Members Only
July 11 12noon ET Chris is a guest on TechForSenior
July 13 noon-2 Bitcoin and Blockchain for APCUG Webinar Wed
July 18 time tbd Google Photos Live “Ask Chris Anything”
July 24 2pm ET Episode 238 “What Does This Button Do?”
July 24 3pm ET Backstage Pass Zoom Meeting for Members Only

August

August 7 2pm ET Episode 237 “What Does This Button Do?”
August 7 3pm ET Backstage Pass Zoom Meeting for Members Only
August 15 time tbd Google Photos Live “Ask Chris Anything”
August 18 PCBUG Presentation on Google Photos over Zoom
August 21 2pm ET Episode 237 “What Does This Button Do?”
August 21 3pm ET Backstage Pass Zoom Meeting for Members Only

Stay safe. Wash your hands. Get boosted.

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

Fun with Fireworks Photos

If you’re like me, you can’t resist taking photos of fireworks, even though my only camera is my phone. Here’s a couple ideas on fun ways to use those photos. In this article, we show you how to make an animation like that above, also how to turn your photo into artwork. Happy 4th of July!

Read the article

Cloud storage for Google Photos costs less than you think

Do both you and your spouse use Google Photos? Are you reaching your 15GB limit on storage? Did you know you could purchase just one plan upgrade – minimum $20/year – and share it? It’s called the Family Plan.

It’s easy, but it’s kind of hidden. This article and video will show you how.

Read the article

Google Photos Q&A, June 20

Chris answers 20+ questions in this YouTube Live-Stream, complete with demonstrations on computer, iPhone and Samsung, Android phones.

Watch the video

Blast from the Past: Tutorials from 15 years ago

We’re celebrating GeeksOnTour.com’s 15 year anniversary all year. And, here’s a tutorial video about Internet Explorer 7 from 2007. It’s fun to see these old screens and feel nostalgic! Many of the current browser tools started with IE7, so much of the teaching is still valid. Check it out.

First look at Internet Explorer 7 – tutorial video 050

Leave us a Review

Have you learned something from Geeks on Tour?

If so, we’d love to get a review from you. Click the link below and you should see a right sidebar with all Geeks on Tour stuff, scroll down a bit and you should see Reviews and Write a Review.

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If you like this newsletter, please forward it on to your friends! If you received this issue forwarded by a friend you can subscribe to get your own copy delivered to your in box – it’s free. You can also visit the archives of past newsletters. If you’ve learned something from us along the way, we’d love a Google Review from you!

April 2022 News:, Time Zones, Free up space on your phone, Blast from the past, Google Photos QA

April 2, 2022

April 2022 | Issue 176 | Archives

What’s up with Jim and Chris – the Geeks

Keys

During March we traveled a bit

As you can see from the photo above, that’s not Florida! Chris traveled to Nevada to visit her friend, Melinda, who lives on the edge of Washoe Valley which is home to herds of wild horses. From one extreme to the other – we also went kayak diving here in Fort Lauderdale, see Jim’s video here.

Classes in March

Mar 2, 2022 Guests on Tinkering with Tech: Google Photos – Tinkering with Shared Albums

In this newsletter:

As usual, we have an eclectic mix of smartphone and technology tips for you.

Google Calendar makes time zones easy
Google Photos will free up space on your phone with one click
Blast from the Past: Live Streaming beginnings.
Google Photos Live Q&A

We also did 1 new episode of our “What Does This Button Do?” YouTube show:

Mar 20 2022 Episode 231: Hodgepodge of Tech Tips (some really good stuff here!)

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. Join-Now

What’s coming up – Our Calendar April 2022

We’re Presenting Online and Live

Things are all online on our calendar this month.

April

Apr 3, 2pm ET- Episode 232 of What Does This Button Do?
Apr 3, 3pm ET Backstage Pass for Members Only Zoom meeting
Apr 4, 12 Noon ET- Tech for Senior Chris is their guest on Zoom this week presenting How to take better smartphone photos. Visit their YouTube Channel
Apr 24, 2pm ET- Episode 233 of What Does This Button Do?
Apr 24, 3pm ET Backstage Pass for Members Only Zoom meeting
Apr 27, 4pm ET Glendora Seniors Computer Club “Introduction to Google Photos” on Zoom

May

We’re in Italy for the month of May. Anytime we have the bandwidth and ambition, we will go live on short notice.

Be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel, click on the bell for notifications, and Like us on Facebook.

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

Google Calendar gives us the easiest way to tell time across multiple time zones.

We schedule our live streaming YouTube show at 2pm Eastern time. We have people who join us from all over North America, some in Europe and some in Australia. What time is it for them?

Google Calendar can tell me at a glance as long as I set it up right.

Google Photos: How to free up space on your phone with a single click.

If you take a lot of photos and your phone is getting full, you may one day see a message that there is not enough free storage to take any more photos.

Google Photos has a one-click “Free Up Space” command that will delete all photos and videos from your device if they have been backed up to Google Photos in the cloud.

Learn the right way to free up space on your phone, without losing any photos.

Read the article and watch video

Blast from the Past: We started live-streaming in 2014. We were crazy.

In 2014, when we started live-streaming, we used Google Plus and Hangouts on Air. We had a lot of trials and tribulations, but we loved the challenge.

We now have 231 “What Does This Button Do?” Live-Streaming episodes under our belt. They’re all listed on this page.

Google Hangouts on Air no longer exists. We now use Streamyard. See Episode 225 to learn about Streamyard.

You have to be a little crazy to jump in at the bleeding edge.

Read all about it in this 2014 article.

Chris answers over 30 questions in this one hour, Live, Q&A. In Youtube, below the video you will see direct links to each question.Google Photos – Ask Chris Anything

Recent Rave Reviews

Dear MrsGeek:

Sending a link as you suggested worked like a charm! Thank you!

I also want to thank you for the great job you and your husband do! You are so clear with your instructions, and your website is so user-friendly. I always know that if I need help with Google, this is the place to go!

Barbara M

—————————————————

Jim & Chris,

I can’t tell you how MUCH I appreciate the tip about removing backgrounds. I have been an active photographer all my life and have always wanted a way to easily remove the background from a photo without removing it pixel by pixel.

This is probably the best photography tip I have ever gotten and I have taken many photography classes.

Cheers,

Herb V

Leave us a Review

Have you learned something from Geeks on Tour?

If so, we’d love to get a review from you. Click the link below and you should see a right sidebar with all Geeks on Tour stuff, scroll down a bit and you should see Reviews and Write a Review.

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January 2022 News: Streamyard, Bitcoin, Travel maps, and Google Photos book

January 2, 2022

January 2022 | Issue 173 | Archives

What’s up with Jim and Chris – the Geeks

Keys

We hope you all had happy holidays.

We were home for the whole month of December. We celebrated the holidays with lots of friends and family. For Christmas, Jim and I gave each other the gift of travel! On January1 we will be going on a 3-week trip called “Route of the Maya” with Overseas Adventure Travel. All the planning is done for us. I still laid it out in Google My Maps. Click the link and you can see the map. We will add notes and
photos to the map when we’re there. If you are a Geeks on Tour member, you will get a link to our photo album so you can follow along with us day by day.

Classes in December

During the past month we presented a class over Zoom on using LastPass. You can review the whole class at the link below. It will be public until February when it changes to members only.

December 8, 2021 Presentation to Sun City Center Computer Club – Using LastPass

In this newsletter:

As usual, we have an eclectic mix of smartphone and technology tips for you.

Live streaming with Streamyard, it’s easier than you think.
Our Travel map for 2021
Video: Overview of Bitcoin and Blockchain
Praise for our Google Photos book
Sample videos: Long exposure photos on iPhone, Time Zones on Google Calendar

We also did 2 episodes of our “What Does This Button Do?” YouTube show:

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 January 2022

We’re Presenting Online

Things are all online-only on our calendar this month.

January We’ll be out of the country most of January but we plan on going live on YouTube and Facebook during our travels.

Be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel, click on the bell for notifications, and Like us on Facebook.

We expect to do a Button Show January 30th with a recap of our trip.

Jan 30, 2pm ET- Episode 227 of What Does This Button Do?
Jan 30, 3pm ET Backstage Pass for Members Only Zoom meeting

Live YouTube Shows Sundays at 2pm Eastern time “The Button Show”

Also on our Facebook page

Be sure to subscribe and like the page

February

Feb 13, 2pm ET- Episode 228 of What Does This Button Do?
Feb 13, 3pm ET Backstage Pass for Members Only Zoom meeting
February 21 – 24 Riverside RV Resort 3 sessions
Feb 27, 2pm ET- Episode 229 of What Does This Button Do?
Feb 27, 3pm ET Backstage Pass for Members Only Zoom meeting

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

Live streaming with Streamyard, it’s easier than you think.

Have you ever taught a class or spoken up at a meeting about a topic of interest? Might you want to reach a bigger audience on that topic? How would you like to have an informal group of people who talk about that topic and broadcast their discussions to anyone else who is interested – anywhere in the world. And, you can do it for free!

Our Travel map for 2021

I add markers to this map all year long. Now that the year is over, I can consider our travel map complete. The red line is going out, westbound. The green line is coming home. Clicking on the map will take you to the original, interactive, MyMap. Then you can click on the markers to see more information and some
photos.

If you’re interested in making these maps for yourself, check out this article. It includes links to all our teaching material on Google MyMaps.

Praise for our Google Photos Book

We were so excited to get this email from Sue Hepler today. So I don’t have to tell you about how good my book is! You can listen to Sue!

“I just received my new Google Photos book from you. Came home, heated up a cup of soup, plopped down at the table and opened your book for the first time. I just grabbed a chunk of pages at random and came to Chapter 5. I read page 73 about archiving. I’ve never used archive before because I didn’t really understand it and didn’t think I’d ever need it. Now I think it is a MIRACLE!!!!
My biggest problem of scrolling through all our photos by date is the issue of seeing all the housewatch photos we take on a daily basis. NOW (thanks to you) I know I just have to select them and hit archive. I still have the photos if I should need them for future reference but I don’t have to scroll through them all to get to the one or two photos I took that I want for my blog or for personal use.
THANK YOU!!!! If I hadn’t ordered your book, I would never have realized a simple solution to my ongoing problem (annoyance).
You remain WONDER WOMAN in my world. I am a HUGE fan.
Sue Hepler”

Click here to learn how to buy the book

Learn about Bitcoin and Blockchain

One of our motivations for visiting El Salvador specifically, is that they are using Bitcoin as legal currency and we’d like to see how it works. Here is a 20 minute excerpt from Episode 206 of our YouTube show.

Why You Should Learn About CryptoCurrency Tutorial Video

Have you seen these tutorial videos?

Here is a sample of our tutorial videos.Apple Photos, soft waterfall effect

Google Calendar and Time Zones Tutorial Video 697

Leave us a Review

Have you learned something from Geeks on Tour?

If so, we’d love to get a review from you. Click the link below and you should see a right sidebar with all Geeks on Tour stuff, scroll down a bit and you should see Reviews and Write a Review.

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December 2021 News: Samsung S21 Ultra – surprise, Google Photos, Smartphone Settings

December 6, 2021

December 2021 | Issue 172 | Archives

What’s up with Jim and Chris – the Geeks

Keys

Home again

We were home for the whole month of November. It looks like December will be the same. In January, we’ve booked a tour of Central America. Something different. All the planning is done for us. I still laid it out in Google My Maps so we could grasp the concept of where we’re going. We will add notes and photos to the map when we’re there.

During the past month we presented a few classes over Zoom and YouTube. Here are links so you can review them:

In this newsletter:

As usual, we have an eclectic mix of smartphone and technology tips for you.

Chris’ new Galaxy S21 Ultra phone: an unexpected surprise feature!
As we’re ending the first year of paying for Google Photos storage, people are asking “What happens if I stop paying?
A Smartphone Tip about using Search to find those settings on your iPhone or Android device…

We also did 2 episodes of our “What Does This Button Do?” YouTube show:

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 December 2021

We’re Presenting Online

Things are all online-only on our calendar this month.

Live YouTube Shows Sundays at 2pm Eastern time “The Button Show”

Also on our Facebook page

Be sure to subscribe and like the page

December

Dec 12, 2pm ET- Episode 225 of What Does This Button Do?
Dec 12, 3pm ET Backstage Pass for Members Only Zoom meeting
Dec 8, 7pm ET- Sun City Center Computer Club Zoom meeting: How do I use LastPass?
Dec 26, 2pm ET- Episode 226 of What Does This Button Do?
Dec 26, 3pm ET Backstage Pass for Members Only Zoom meeting

January We’ll be out of the country most of January but we plan on going live on YouTube and Facebook during our travels. Be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel and Like us on Facebook.

Stay safe. Wash your hands. Get vaccinated.

Q&A

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

Taking photos with Chris’ new Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra phone – A Surprise Feature

I bought this phone because of the lenses. I knew that taking telephoto shots was going to be awesome. What I did not know is that the Samsung Gallery app has a feature called Object Eraser. I strongly considered getting the Google Pixel 6 instead of the Samsung, and one of the reasons is the Google Photos
feature called “Magic Eraser” which is only available on the Pixel 6.

I usually do not use the Gallery app that comes with Samsung phones because I use Google Photos instead. Read More
…

What happens to my Google Photos if I don’t pay for storage?

If you think of your Google Account Storage like a real world storage unit, these concepts will be easier. Let’s say you had a small storage unit that would hold 15 boxes of stuff. Once it gets full, what happens? You can’t store any more stuff! If you take out some of the old boxes, you can put in new ones, but
you’re limited to 15 boxes total.

3 Choices when your storage is full

It’s the same with your Google Account Storage. Google gives everyone 15GB of storage for free. Once you fill that up, you have 3 choices:

Do nothing
Get rid of some stuff
Pay for a bigger storage amount

If you choose #1, you won’t be able to add any more photos to your Google Photos but you will be able to access what is already there. That may be acceptable but there’s a catch. Read More …

How to use Search to find those pesky Smartphone Settings

All smartphones have dozens, maybe hundreds, of settings that customize the way your phone works. For example, does your phone’s screen go black when you don’t want it to? If you’re writing an email and you take a minute to think about what you want to say, your phone thinks it’s time to go to sleep and your screen goes dark just as you’re about to type the next word. That’s aggravating, right? Well, there’s a setting for that. On Android phones it’s called Screen
Timeout. On iPhones it’s called Auto-Lock. Yours may be set to 30 seconds, which means you don’t get much time to think before the screen goes black! You can change it to something more reasonable, like 1 or 2 minutes – IF you can find it. Read the Article and watch the short videos to learn how.

Have you seen these tutorial videos?

How to put a Multiple Clock Widget on your Smartphone Tutorial Video 717

Making a Web Page for Your Google Photos Albums Tutorial Video 716

Leave us a Review

Have you learned something from Geeks on Tour?

If so, we’d love to get a review from you. Click the link below and you should see a right sidebar with all Geeks on Tour stuff, scroll down a bit and you should see Reviews and Write a Review.

Geeks on Tour google review

October 2021 News: Google Drive, Smartphone Keyboards, Google Maps Share Location

October 8, 2021

October 2021 | Issue 170 | Archives

What’s up with Jim and Chris – the Geeks

Just a few miles traveled in September

After our 3,000+ miles in August, from the time we got home on September 3, to the end of the month, we just stayed home and chilled. At the end of the month, we just had to go somewhere, so we took the motorhome for a few days in the keys. People come from all over the world to see this beauty and it’s right in our backyard.

In this newsletter:

If you missed our Episode 219 Hodgepodge of Tech Tips, check it out now (see below) – we got a lot of interest in these tips, especially the one about making a website for Photo Albums. Then came #220 about Google Drive for Desktop. This topic was so complex, I wrote a follow up article in hopes of clearing up some of the confusion. For something fun this month, check out the article on Google Maps – navigating to a person’s location. And, everyone should go over the list of smartphone keyboard tips to be sure you’re not doing things the hard way!

What Does This Button Do? (YouTube shows)
September 12 #219 Hodgepodge of Tech Tips

September 26 #220 Google Drive and the New Drive for Desktop

Recent Tutorial Videos

What’s coming up – Our Calendar October 2021

Our calendar on our website is the best way to see what we’re doing.

October

We have one in-person Roadtrek Rally planned starting on the 26th in Sarasota, Fl.

Oct 10, 2pm ET- Episode 221 of What Does This Button Do?
Oct 10, 3pm ET Backstage Pass for Members Only Zoom meeting
Oct 18, 7pm ET- Google Photos: Ask Chris Anything Live
Oct 24, 2pm ET- Episode 222 of What Does This Button Do?
Oct 24, 3pm ET Backstage Pass for Members Only Zoom meeting
Oct 26-28, Roadtrek Rally in Sarasota, Fl.
Oct 29, 7pm ET- Members Only Orientation and Q&A Live

Live YouTube Shows Sundays at 2pm Eastern time “The Button Show”

Also on our Facebook page

Be sure to subscribe and like the page

October 10th and 24th

November 7th and 21st

November

Nov 7, 2pm ET- Episode 223 of What Does This Button Do?
Nov 7, 3pm ET Backstage Pass for Members Only Zoom meeting
Nov 15, 7pm ET- Google Photos: Ask Chris Anything Live
Nov 21, 2pm ET- Episode 224 of What Does This Button Do?
Nov 21, 3pm ET Backstage Pass for Members Only Zoom meeting
Nov 22, 10am Hilton Head Island Computer Club Google Photos
Nov 26, 7pm ET- Members Only Orientation and Q&A Live

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

Google Drive for Desktop: Confusion is strong with this one.

On Oct 1, Google retired the product called “Backup and Sync.” In its place is a product called Drive for Desktop. People are asking,

“What was Backup and Sync, and how do I know if I have it?”

“What is Drive for Desktop and why would I need it?”

“What happened on October 1 and do I need to do anything?”

Episode 220 of our YouTube show was all about Google Drive and the New Google Drive for Desktop. We showed in detail how to use it
and how to migrate from Backup and Sync, but I don’t think we sufficiently answered the questions above, so I’ll try in this article.

Find your spouse with Google Maps

No, I’m not talking about finding your future spouse. The name is Google Maps, not Google Matchmaker I’m talking about knowing the whereabouts of your current spouse.

And Google Maps makes it so easy. My husband and I both share our Google Maps location with the other, so if one or the other needs a ride, there is no hassle to get directions to exactly where they are. This 1 minute video will show you how.

Google Maps – Navigate to a Person’s Location Tutorial Video 707

Back to Basics: Your smartphone’s keyboard

This article documents 14 tips for iPhone and Android phone keyboards. All practical skills for working better and faster with your phone’s keyboard.

I know you use the keyboard on your smartphone all the time, but it never hurts to take a minute to “sharpen the saw” and see if there are any bits of knowledge that can make your life easier! So, I’ve made a little checklist here of basic features of the keyboards on smartphones. Since smartphones fall into two categories, I’ll make the
checklist twice, first for iOS: iPhones and iPads, then for Android phones.

Read the article

Google Photos update – for members only

On Sep 13 we hosted a members-only Zoom meeting for an update on Google Photos.

If you missed it, we saved all the goodies on our Classes page.

You can access the recording of the Zoom meeting, all the links that were mentioned, and the slide show.

What: Zoom meeting and class for members only
Topic: Google Photos updates
Class materials and Recorded meeting: Google Photos Update for Members only

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September 2021 News: Google Photos issue

September 7, 2021

September 2021 | Issue 169 | Archives

What’s up with Jim and Chris – the Geeks

3,021 Miles traveled in August

August was a play month! We visited a national park, drove over a 12,000 foot pass in the Rockies, visited lots of friends, showed off our Star Trek geekiness by stopping at the Future Birthplace of Captain James T. Kirk (photo above), slept at a winery, and hung out at the shore. Fun, fun, fun.

We’re home now. Here’s the complete summer tour map:

There were no work stops on our schedule this month, but that didn’t prevent us from doing some online work. Three online events happened to be all about Google Photos – so we decided to dedicate this issue of the newsletter to that topic. See articles below about Editing with Google Photos, Making movies with Google Photos, and 30 questions answered
about Google Photos.

What Does This Button Do? (YouTube shows)
August 8 #217 Technology for Travelers: Prepare to be offline

August 29 #218 Making movies from your photos with Google Photos

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 September 2021

We’re Presenting Online

Things are all online-only on our calendar this month.

Sept 12, 2pm ET- Episode 219 of “What Does This Button Do?
Sep 12, 3pm ET Backstage Pass for Members Only Zoom meeting
Sep 13, 3pm ET Members Only Zoom – Google Photos update
Sep 20, 7pm ET- Google Photos: Ask Chris Anything Live
Sep 24, 7pm ET- Members Only Orientation and Q&A Live
Sep 19, 2pm ET- Episode 220 of What Does This Button Do?
Sep 19, 3pm ET Backstage Pass for Members Only Zoom meeting

October

We have one in-person Roadtrek Rally planned starting on the 26th in Sarasota, Fl.

Oct 10, 2pm ET- Episode 220 of What Does This Button Do?
Oct 10, 3pm ET Backstage Pass for Members Only Zoom meeting
Oct 18, 7pm ET- Google Photos: Ask Chris Anything Live
Oct 24, 2pm ET- Episode 220 of What Does This Button Do?
Oct 24, 3pm ET Backstage Pass for Members Only Zoom meeting
Oct 26-28, Roadtrek Rally in Sarasota, Fl.
Oct 29, 7pm ET- Members Only Orientation and Q&A Live

Live YouTube Shows Sundays at 2pm Eastern time “The Button Show”

September 12th and 26th

October 10th and 24th

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

All about Google Photos

Jim and I are evangelists for Google Photos, so it surprises us when we meet someone who doesn’t know what it is. We recently asked someone if they used Google Photos, and they said “Sure, I Google for images all the time.” No, no, no, we’re not talking about public photos, we’re talking about your private library of photos and videos. I have 84,000 photos and videos stored in my Google Photos account. From scanned photos of me as a baby, to high school
graduation and world travels, to to selfies from last week at the beach. I can simply search for any photo I want to see.

We pay $20/year for storage space in the cloud. With that we get all the features that are part of Google Photos. In this newsletter issue, we’ll tell you about 2 of these features:

Improving your photos with Editing,
Making movies from your photos and videos.

The 3d article is about our open Q&A session where you’ll be able to see our answer to 30 different questions about Google Photos.
Lastly, we’re announcing a members-only Zoom meeting to discuss recent updates to Google Photos

Want to learn more? Buy the Book – Learn Google Photos 2021

Editing can take your photos from trash to treasure

Built right in to Google Photos are tools for improving your photos. Tools like Crop, straighten, Adjust exposure, Adjust color. You can use these tools on the computer/web version of Google Photos as well on the iOS and Android app. Whenever you’re looking at your photos, take a minute to make them look better.

This article gives you the exact process to make the changes in the photos above, and it includes a YouTube show where we demonstrate that and more.

Read the article

Using Google Photos to make instant movies from your photos

If you use Google Photos to store your photos and videos, you need to try making movies! It is drop-dead easy to make short movies complete with music that you can then share with your friends.

This article outlines the 3 basic steps to create a movie and also tells you about some of the options. If you use motion photos (Live photos on iPhone) be prepared for a treat when your movies come to life!

At the end of the article is a 50 minute video with lots of demonstration and discussion about the easiest and best ways to make movies.

Read the article

30 Questions answered about Google Photos

Most every month, we host a Youtube and Facebook live stream for open Q&A about Google Photos. During our August session, we had 30 questions.

You can watch the full 1 hour show, or you can read thru the list of questions and click on the timeline link for just those that pique your interest.

Google Photos update – for members only

If you are a premium member of GeeksOnTour.com, please join us on Monday, Sep 13 at 3pm Eastern time for an update on Google Photos. There’s nothing major, but a lot of minor changes since the book was published in June. Some of these changes could be important for you!

We’ll be using the Zoom links for the Backstage Pass. You can find that link on the Member Login page.

What: Zoom meeting for members only
When: Mon Sep 13 at 3pm Eastern
click here to add to your Google Calendar
Where: Zoom meeting link for Backstage pass found here.
Topic: Google Photos updates

Leave us a Review

Have you learned something from Geeks on Tour?

If so, we’d love to get a review from you. Click the link below and you should see a right sidebar with all Geeks on Tour stuff, scroll down a bit and you should see Reviews and Write a Review.

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August 2021 News: Photo Editing issue – Google Photos, Snapseed, Samsung Gallery, Apple Photos

August 6, 2021

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.

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

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

Read the article for more examples

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.

Read the article to see how this is done.

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.

Read the Article

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

Leave us a Review

Have you learned something from Geeks on Tour?

If so, we’d love to get a review from you. Click the link below and you should see a right sidebar with all Geeks on Tour stuff, scroll down a bit and you should see Reviews and Write a Review.

Geeks on Tour google review

June 2021 News: Travel Planning, Harvest Hosts, Google Photos 2021

June 5, 2021

June 2021 | Issue 166 | Archives

What’s up with Jim and Chris – the Geeks

Get ready to travel

The big RV Rallies were all cancelled in 2020, but they’re ON this year. Both the FMCA Int’l Convention, and the Escapees Club Escapade are being held during the month of July in Wyoming. We’ll be there, and we hope to see many of you there too. The Escapade is already sold out, but
if you’re registered, there is still room in our pre-rally Smartphone Photography workshop.

Since we’re getting ready to hit the road ourselves, the theme for this newsletter is Travel Planning. We use lots of different maps and apps to plan our travels – we’ll be teaching a seminar at both rallies called, “Maps and Apps for RV Trip Planning”. If you can’t attend, you can still view all of the class materials here.

Check out the articles this month about calculating dates in your travel plans, staying at Harvest Hosts, and finding those scenic gems with the Roadtrippers website.

We’re also happy to announce that our Learn Google Photos book has now been updated to reflect the changes in the product before and thru June 1. We’ll be showing the Kindle version of it as we teach how to control the Kindle app in Episode 214 of our YouTube show on June 6.

What Does This Button Do? (YouTube shows)
May 23 #213 How to play your music in the car

May 8 #212 Our problem with Trip Planning – Solved

May 17 Learn Google Photos open Q&A (make sure to use the chapter links in the description – they link to 27 separate questions!)

New 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 June/July 2021

We’re Presenting LIVE – online and in person!

Lots of stuff on our calendar this month!

June 1, 3pm ET Venice Technology User Group Travel apps
June 6, 2pm ET Episode 214 of What Does This Button Do?
June 6, 3pm ET – Backstage Pass for Members Only Zoom meeting
June 20 2pm ET Episode 215 of What Does This Button Do?
June 20, 3pm ET – Backstage Pass for Members Only Zoom meeting
June 21, 3pm ET – Google Photos Live Q&A streaming to Facebook and YouTube. Chris will demo and take questions
—————————————————————-
July 7-10 FMCA 103rd International Convention in Gillette, WY.
- Wed at 2:30 MDT – Smartphone Photography
- Thur at 1 MDT – Remember & Share your Travels: Photos, Maps, Blogs
- Fri at 9am MDT – Google Photos
- Sat 2:30 MDT – Maps & Apps

We’ll have a table in the FMCA Information Center for Books and Memberships

July 11, 2pm MDT Episode 214 of What Does This Button Do?
July 11, 3pm MDT Backstage Pass for Members Only Zoom meeting
July 16-17 Camp Reboot – Smartphone Photography & Google Photos
July 18-23 60th Escapade in Rock Springs, WY
- Mon at 3pm MDT Smartphone Photography
- Tue at 8:30am MDT Maps and Blogs
- Wed at 10:30am MDT RV Trip Planning

We’ll have a booth in the Escapade vendor area for Books and Memberships

Live YouTube Shows Sundays at 2pm Eastern time “The Button Show”

June 6th and 20th

July 11th

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

Travel Planning: Calculating Dates

If you use a trip-planning app, here’s how it usually goes … you enter your starting location and your starting date, then you enter every night stop along the way and the app will calculate the dates of arrival. But what if you don’t want to plan every night? We’ve come up with an easy trick to make it all work.

Travel Planning: Staying at Harvest Hosts

When you travel by RV, you don’t really need a place to stay, you just need a place to park. RV parks with full hookups are nice but not always necessary. If you’re willing to park somewhere without hookups, you have many more options. One of our favorites is called Harvest Hosts.

Places we would have missed without Roadtrippers

If you want ideas of sights to see and places to stay, you can’t do better than the Roadtrippers website and app.

Maps and Apps for RV Trip Planning

All of the tips above are part of our seminar called Maps and Apps for RV Trip Planning. We will be presenting that seminar at both the FMCA and the Escapade RV rallies in July. We presented the same seminar at the Tampa RV Supershow in January, and also to several clubs over Zoom.

We’ve collected all the class materials and put them on one page for you to peruse whenever you want! Just visit the page Maps and Apps for RV Trip Planning and you’ll be able to download the seminar handout and view the slides we use to present the class.

You’ll also find links to all the apps and websites that we mention. Last but not least there is a playlist of over a dozen of our tutorial videos on subjects related to travel planning.

View the Class Materials

Learn Google Photos 2021 now 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

Make sure to tune in to Episode 214 of our YouTube show. We will be using the Learn Google Photos 2021 book to demonstrate how to use the Kindle app.

Leave us a Review

Have you learned something from Geeks on Tour?

If so, we’d love to get a review from you. Click the link below and you should see a right sidebar with all Geeks on Tour stuff, scroll down a bit and you should see Reviews and Write a Review.

Geeks on Tour google review