Here is the fifth in our series of Review Questions from our “What Does This Button Do?” show. These can’t be graded, but if you want to see the discussion of our answers to these questions, you can click the link provided. The link will take you to the time in the specific episode where we start the discussion of review questions. Since we have produced 79 episodes so far, this “Test Your Smartphone Smarts” will be an ongoing series of posts here.
If you click the time link, you will be viewing the Youtube video for that episode. The link takes you directly to the end of the show where we discuss the review questions. You can always drag the video playhead to the beginning to watch more of that episode. And, if you are a premium member of Geeks On Tour, you have access to the show notes for each episode. You will find all show notes on the Weekly Show page. So, how did you do on the questions? Leave any comments below! See previous “Smartphone Smarts”
There are show notes below which document what was covered in the show and include timeline links, so you can watch just the part of the video that you want. If you are not a Geeks on Tour member, you can watch Episode 47 video on YouTube, but you won’t get the show notes.Become a member here. This episode covers:
Quick Tips: A potpourri of tips today. Emergency info on your phone, Camera settings, Saving places on Google Maps, Facebook autoplay videos, iCloud Backup limits, and more
August was a *busy* month. Our two biggest rallies, FMCA Madison and Escapade Gillette, were both this month. It was exhausting and exhilarating – *so* many people told us how much they learn from our seminars and videos, and it makes us feel wonderful. In addition to our standard seminars with hundreds of people in the audience, we also gave some hands-on classes to small groups; one on photo editing with Picasa and another we call ‘Camp Reboot’ that teaches those computer fundamentals that you would have learned in school *if* you had computers back when you went to school!
Upcoming Tour Dates
Here’s our schedule for the rest of the summer. See our Event page for details.
In case you missed it earlier in August, watch the latest ‘Gabbing with the Geeks’ and see Chris’ new office with custom furniture, two computers and three monitors.
Also see Jim show off his new toy … an iPad2!. He shows how you can watch Geeks on Tour videos on the iPad now.
Our Q&A Forums are a good place to ask questions (anyone can read the topics, you must be a paid member to ask a question.) We promise to respond to any questions posted here, and we have several active members who also respond with valuable information as well. Here are a few topics from the past month.
Save the Date! We have booked Paradise Oaks RV park for April 22-28, 2012 for our first joint RV Rally with our friends from TechnoRV. Lots of classes, lots of gadgets, get all your computer questions answered and have a good time too! See the Techno-Geek Learning Rally Event page on Facebook for more details.
This article is going to explore the different notation used for entering Latitude and Longitude coordinates to find places in Streets and Trips. Sometimes you may need to convert the coordinates you have to the format that Streets and Trips understands. This article will show you how to make the conversions using Google Earth.
Question: My Garmin says N 36 degrees 37.458′ W 92 degrees 08.017′ The Garmin will get me right here to the entrance of this ranch. But when I try to put it in Streets & Trips 2011, I keep getting an error each time. I am trying to locate Cloud 9, Caulfield, MO. Cloud 9 Ranch is a membership park in the Ozarks and we are planning some events involving Geocaching. We want to be able to provide people with the correct coordinates for whatever device they are using.
You know we love our Droids! This ‘touch an address’ feature, we just gotta show you. This is a very short video showing you how to simply touch an address and let Droid take you there!
Swype is a new way to type on mobile/touch-screen devices. Instead of needing to lift your finger from the screen after each character, you only lift your finger after each word. You touch the first character of your word, then, keeping your finger on the screen, you swype to the subsequent characters. When you’re done with the word, you lift your finger from the screen. Swype deciphers what word was typed and it usually is correct. If not, it gives you some choices. Just touch the correct one. Swype inserts your word and automatically adds a space so you’re ready to Swype the next word.
When we presented our Facebook seminar to a packed room at the Escapade RV Rally this week, we got the most applause for teaching how to block Apps, so we thought it would be a good topic for a newsletter article! If you’ve used Facebook for any length of time, you’ve probably been annoyed by games and other apps that your friends may be playing. Many of my friends, for example, were playing Farmville. My Facebook home page was quickly overrun with invitations to play Farmville, and notices when a friend’s crop was doing well, or a pig needed some more corn?! I didn’t want to unfriend a person just because they were playing this game. Who am I to say what game they should or shouldn’t play? But, I really didn’t want all those notices on my News Feed.
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That’s all for now. We hope you learned something. Your next issue will be next month. Any questions, please visit our forum. 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. To see the archives of past newsletters, go to www.geeksontour.com/newsletters.
Happy Computing!
The Geeks on Tour website is an online learning library for Travelers who want to learn to use their computers for managing digital photos, making blogs, using maps and other online resources. Anyone can watch our free videos, read articles on our Computer Tips for Travelers Blog, sign up for our free monthly newsletter, or Picasa weekly tips. A small fee makes you a ‘member‘ and you can then view any of our 200+ video tutorials on these subjects in our Learning LIbrary..
Swype is a new way to type on mobile/touch-screen devices. Instead of needing to lift your finger from the screen after each character, you only lift your finger after each word. You touch the first character of your word, then, keeping your finger on the screen, you swype to the subsequent characters. When you’re done with the word, you lift your finger from the screen. Swype deciphers what word was typed and it usually is correct. If not, it gives you some choices. Just touch the correct one. Swype inserts your word and automatically adds a space so you’re ready to Swype the next word. It takes a little getting used to, but not as much as you may think. It is quite easy. Once you’re used to Swyping, you’ll never go back to tapping individual letters. The best way to understand Swype is to see it in action, here’s a video from Swype:
More than Just Typing
In addition to being a faster, easier way to type your text, Swype also has easier ways to access the numbers and punctuation. For example, if you need to type an address with a street number, you don’t need to put the keyboard into symbol mode just for those few numbers. You will see numbers above the letter characters, so, for example, the number 4 is above the d. You simply hold down on the d and it will type the number 4 without taking you out of text typing mode. What I miss the most in on-screen keyboards is arrow keys – a way to move my cursor. If you touch the Swype key and drag your finger to the right, the ABC key, that puts your Swype keyboard into selection mode. You now have arrow keys, Cut, Copy, Paste, Select … even a Select All! To see more of the capabilities of Swype, watch these additional basic videos on Swype.
How Do I Get Swype?
First of all, you need to check and see if Swype came pre-installed on your Android phone. It may be installed, but not selected. To check, you click on any text field – e.g. pretend to start an email and touch the message section to type. If you touch and hold on that field, you should see a dialog box pop up and the words ‘Input Method.’ Touch Input Method – you will see ‘Android keyboard’ and perhaps ‘Swype.’ If you see Swype, just touch it to make it your default input method. You’re done. Start Swyping!
If Swype did not come pre-installed on your phone, then you need to download and install it. You won’t find Swype listed in your Marketplace where most apps are. Swype is taking it’s time rolling out the app. It is still in the Beta-Testing stage. It’s actually been closed to new users for months, but it recently re-opened the program. To get it, you need to go to the Swype website and register. You will then receive an email with a link to download Swype to your phone. It’s free. Just open the email on your phone and touch the link to download. Follow the instructions to install it, and further instructions to change your phones settings so that the Swype keyboard is your default input method.
Here is the fifth in our series of Review Questions from our “What Does This Button Do?” show. These can’t be graded, but if you want to see the discussion of our answers to these questions, you can click the link provided. The link will take you to the time in the specific episode where we start the discussion of review questions. Since we have produced 79 episodes so far, this “Test Your Smartphone Smarts” will be an ongoing series of posts here.
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