Tag Archives: Techno-Geek Learning Rally

RVers Learn About Technology

Marion Kerns was not happy when her husband, Karl, said he signed them up for a computer learning rally.  She told him that she would just stay in the RV and do her quilting while he went to class.  But no, that wasn’t Karl’s plan!  He made her come to class along with him.  By the end of the week, Marion was seen carrying her iPad with her everywhere.

Chris helping Marion with Facebook on her iPad

With a little extra encouragement in a one-on-one session, Marion had learned enough to open her eyes to new uses for her tablet computer, but what she liked most about the rally was the small size.  With only 20 couples who shared breakfast and dinner each day of the rally, she said it felt like family by the end of the week and she truly enjoyed herself.  Good job Karl!

TechnoGeek Learning Rally is for RV Travelers

It’s called the TechnoGeek Learning Rally and it is co-hosted by Geeks on Tour and TechnoRV.  RV travelers actually use technology more than average seniors because it is just so useful to our lifestyle.  Whether it’s GPS technology for getting us where we want to go, or cellphone/smartphone technology for keeping us in touch wherever we are, RVers are quick to adopt.  And then there’s the photos!  We like to have good cameras and take lots of photos of our travels.  Learning about the different settings on our cameras help make those pictures better, and then using Picasa afterwards can improve them even more.

December TechnoGeek Rally1

Some people came to the rally to learn how to make a blog.  Larry and Marilyn Vanstone have already been keeping a blog about their RV lifestyle – The Amazing Vanstones.

December TechnoGeek Rally2

Larry writes about the rally:

Yesterday for example we first learned about the cloud before taking our first class on Picasa photo editing. Then an hour on smartphones followed by more Picasa, then Internet on the road.  I’ve used Picasa on my blogs since 2006 but yesterday I learned more in 90 minutes then I did in 6 years on my own.

Other attendee Blog entries about the rally include:

Smartphones and Podcasts

As more and more of us get smartphones, they are becoming our primary computing device, and there is SOO much to learn about them.

Kathy and John exercise their Smartphones

John and Kathy Huggins are no strangers to technology, they have been producing a weekly Podcast about their RVing lifestyle for several years.  It’s called Living the RV Dream.  They came to the rally to learn about their smartphones and whatever else they could pick up.  Listen to their podcast about the Rally to hear about their experience as well as a few people they interviewed.

Learning Should be Fun

Even the games had a learning slant.  One evening, the group played Jeopardy, where all the questions were about topics they were learning at the rally.

Jim plays Alex Trebek for our Jeopardy game

The last evening, each dinner table played ‘Catch Phrase’ using a free App downloaded to one person’s smartphone, then just passing the phone around the table.

The next TechnoGeek Learning Rally is tentatively scheduled for March 24-29 in Bushnell, Florida.  If you’re interested, please leave a comment here.

October 2012 Newsletter: TechnoGeek Learning Rally, Windows 8, Beautiful Pictures with Picasa, Google Custom Maps

Geeks on Tour
Monthly Issue # 60 October 29, 2012 www.geeksontour.com
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Catch-Up October

Geeks on Tour Travels for October 2012After an extremely busy August and September, we had time to catch our breath, take a few naps, and do some sightseeing in October!  We stayed at some beautiful campgrounds in Tennessee, South Carolina and Florida.  We visited the U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama – something that’s been on our to-do list for quite some time.

We stayed in the Hilton Head area for a  week and presented 2 seminars on smartphones, one for the Sun City Hilton Head Computer Club, and again for the Hilton Head Island Computer Club.

Our last night on the road was spent at the gorgeous Anastasia Island State Park in Florida.  Keep reading this newsletter and you’ll see some pretty nice pictures!  Oh … and you can click on the map to see the full web page of our travel map.  Then you can click on any of the little green tents to open up a dialog box that includes links to our personal blog about those places.

Calendar: Coming up in November/December

For more details, see our website Calendar.

New Seminars

We are constantly learning new things, so we add new seminars.  Al three of these new titles will be offered at the Good Sam rally in Daytona and, of course at our own TechnoGeek Rally on Dec 2-8.

  • Geeks on Tour: Using Technology to Plan, Preserve and Share Your Travels
    If you can only fit one of our seminars into your rally schedule, we wanted you to have an overview.  This seminar touches on all the devices, software and apps we use and how our videos can teach you more.
  • Trip Planning with MS Streets and Trips, Google Maps and Websites
    We used to cover Trip Planning and GPS Navigation in one seminar and it was too much, they are really two separate topics.
  • Picasa: Organizing your Pictures – a Seminar for Intermediate Users
    Picasa can do so much with your pictures, it does you no good if you don’t know where your pictures are!  This seminar teaches you tools and techniques for organizing, moving, locating, and generally managing your photo library using Picasa.

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. New laptop with most pictures on the external hard drive
  2. Getting a picture from a Facebook Album to My Pictures
  3. Relationship between Picasa and Windows
  4. Backing Up My Blog
  5. PDANet/FoxFi Secure?
  6. Anyone US Cellular provider/using FoxFi successfully?
  7. Droid Picture albums
  8. Adding a new POI database to MS Streets & Trips

TechnoGeek Learning Rally

TechnoGeekRallyYes! We’re doing it again.  Phil and Tracey from TechnoRV and Jim and Chris from Geeks on Tour are teaming up to deliver the most learning, the best food, and the most fun of any RV rally you can imagine.  Watch the video of the first TechnoGeek Learning Rally to see what I mean!

You will learn about cameras, computers, smartphones and more at this week-long event in Bushnell, Florida December 2-8.  See the Rally Page for all the details.

The rally registration fee includes 9 meals!  All homemade by Tracey and Phil – feast your eyes on this menu for the week.  We are limiting registrations to 35 RVs – Register Today!

learning

“Going There?” or “Being There?”

Which do you like best about traveling?  The journey or the destination?  Read Chuck Woodbury’s thoughts on the subject and get a little insight why we think that RVing gives you the best of both!

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Our Take on Windows 8

You’ll be hearing a lot about Windows 8 since it was launched on October 25.  We don’t want to deluge you with even more, but thought you might want our take on the topic.  When someone asks us “What do you think of Windows 8, should I get it?”  We have 4 points we think you should know:

Read the Article …


Pictures of Anastasia Island State Park in Florida

2012101It’s places like this that give me joy in using my good digital SLR camera, and then viewing and editing the pictures later in Picasa.  The picture of the two of us is of particular interest since we were all alone on this beach, and we didn’t have a tripod.  How did we get that picture?  The answer is at the bottom of this post. Anastasia Island is a Florida State park on the beach at St. Augustine.  We only stayed there one night, but we made our way to the beach at those all-important photography times of sunset and sunrise.  I can’t stop looking at these pictures and just feeling love for the world of beauty that we live in.  I took over 250 pictures!  With help from Picasa’s Side-by-Side editing feature, I chose the 49 best and then edited them so they look even better.

Read the Article …

Google Maps from the Web to Your Smartphone

Use your computer to mark places using Google Maps, and you’ll see them on your smartphone!  I love this feature of Google Maps – this is the appeal of ‘cloud computing.’  Use whatever device is most practical and see the results on any other device.

Let’s say I’m researching where to stay as we travel from Fort Lauderdale to Bowling Green, Kentucky.  I will use lots of different resources to do this: Streets and Trips with the POI Megafile is my first choice, then I’ll supplement that with websites for RV Park Reviews, Georgia State Parks, Passport America etc.  Google Maps may or may not be part of the tools we use to find places to stay, but it’s definitely a good idea to mark the places once we’ve made our decisions.

Read the Article …

 

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Facebook, Picasa, Photo Story 3, Smartphones, Streets & Trips, Google Earth/Maps, Blogging, Boot Camp Class, Vista/Windows 7, Internet on the Road, Safe Computing
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Click here to Join

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 https://geeksontour.com/category/newsletter/.

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..

Preparing for our Computer Learning Rally

It’s still 10 days away, but, since we are in the general area, we decided to stop by the RV park where our Techno-Geek Learning Rally will be held.

The park is Paradise Oaks in Bushnell, Florida.  We’ve stayed here once before and were impressed with the facilities.  That’s why we chose it.  But we weren’t sure of the details like the kitchen facilities, the Wi-Fi etc.  We can still take more registrations, if you’re interested you can learn more here.

It’s a pretty new park, so the sites have good 50amp hookups and large paved pads.  And they just completed an upgrade of their Wi-Fi system.

One of my requirements is a nice hot tub – so that was my first stop!

It's important to check out the facilities before a rally!

See that big white screen in the background?  We didn’t remember that.  It’s a movie screen!  Oh Boy!  We can have an outdoor movie night during our rally and show our favorite RV movie – Long, Long Trailer with Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz.

Our main questions were about the kitchen.  This is the first rally we’ve ever done, it’s small enough (about 30 people) that, between the TechnoRV folks and us, we should be able to handle the food preparation if the kitchen has everything we need.

It does … and then some!

4 ovens!  2 stovetops and a microwave.  A full size refrigerator and a full size freezer side by side.

and plenty of equipment like coffee urns, chafing dishes, roasters and other food warmers.

There’s even a Kitchen Aid mixer available!  Not that I’d have any idea what to do with it Smile but maybe Tracey, Phil, Ally, or Josh do?!

And the meeting room is very nice.  The only problem is it may be difficult to get it darkened for the projector.

We were also happy to see that there is a second, smaller room.  So we can break the group into two.  A couple of our hands-on segments were aimed at beginners and our survey of attendees indicates that most people are more advanced than that.  So we’ve revised the rally schedule and I’ll take the folks wanting basic Windows 7 training in the small room, while Jim and Phil show off mobile Internet devices and explain how best to use antennas and routers.

Most everyone is interested in photo editing with Picasa, so we’ll do that hands-on class in the big room.  But, the little room will still be available if a small group wants to work on something else.

I am most looking forward to the every morning panel discussion where we’re asking for questions from the audience on anything!  This is where we’ll all get to learn something.  I love questions that bring new topics to our attention. And I know we’ll learn some things from our audience as well.  There is so much cool, new technology coming out every day, no one can possibly know it all.  We will also have that most knowledgeable of all computer resources … teenagers!  Phil and Tracey’s kids, Ally and Josh, will be with us during this rally.  Ally makes great videos, and Josh is our Macintosh expert!  They are home-schooled using online curriculum while traveling the country with their parents.  See our video about Phil, Tracey, Josh, and Ally for more info.

Hopefully, this will be the first of many Techno-Geek Learning Rallies.  We’re already looking at dates in November, after the Good Sam rally in Daytona.

Techno-Geek Learning Rally 'staff'
The image above was created using Picasa.  I was showing off Picasa’s ability to combine the faces feature with Collage and the Text feature.  As it turned out, I really like it as a promotional picture for our rally!

Newsletter March 2012: Wi-Fi Security part 2, Facebook Timeline Cover Photo, Cloud Computing

Geeks on Tour
Monthly Issue # 53 March 31, 2012 www.geeksontour.com
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Kayak Diving in Fort Lauderdale

2012031Although we’ve had a mild and beautiful winter here in Fort Lauderdale, it has also been quite breezy and that’s not conducive to paddling your kayak in the ocean.  We’re getting ready to hit the road the first week of April, so we were thrilled when the weather – and the wind – cooperated to let us take advantage of the last day of lobster season.  We got both our kayaks, dusted off the scuba gear, and met our Kayuba dive club at the beach last Sunday morning. 

It felt so good to get wet!  There’s just nothing like paddling on the ocean and going scuba diving.  Check out this video we made a few years back to see.  Jim caught enough lobster for us to invite a few friends and have a nice surf and turf dinner. 

Techno-Geek Learning Rally

techno-geek
It’s not too late to register for our week-long immersion training in all things technology for Travelers!  It’s going to be a small group with plenty of individual attention as you learn to use your computer, tablet, smartphones, cameras, and more.

Highways Magazine
Chris’ article on Social Networking for RVers is published in the April/May issue of Highways Magazine.  ‘Get Away, Stay Connected: Why Computers, the Internet, and Social Networks are Perfect Companions for RVers’

Geeks on Tour published in Highways Magazine

Picasa Book on Kindle

Updated to version 3.9, this book will step you thru the entire process.  Import pictures from your camera to the computer, organize pictures into folders and albums using tags. 

The book explains all the different editing tools, including 3.9’s new side-by-side editing.  Ever wonder whether or not you should save a picture after you edit it?  All that is explained in simple language. 

Kindle price is $9.95 – instant download.

 

Public Wi-Fi is Unsecure – You Secure Your Computer

iStock_000015926728XSmallLast month we wrote an article about Public Wi-Fi being unsecure and focused on the security of your data that is being sent out from your computer.  The other issue in using Public Wi-Fi is unwanted guests coming INTO your computer.

This article reviews ways to keep your computer safe from intruders.

  Read the Article …

Facebook: Adding a Cover Photo to your Timeline

fb-menu2First of all – What is the Timeline?  It’s the new layout on your Facebook Profile.  Realize that your Profile is not your home page.  The Home Page is your News Feed – the place where all the news from your friends shows up.  Your profile is just about you. 

This article steps you thru adding or changing the big ‘banner’ Cover photo on your timeline.    Read the Article …

Why Travelers should be Excited by Cloud Computing

iStock_000016827851XSmallAbout a year ago, someone in our audience asked us to explain the TV ads for Microsoft where the people kept murmuring something about ‘To the Cloud.’  We explained that ‘The Cloud’ was just a new marketing term for the Internet – that’s true, but it has come to mean something more personal than that. 

This article takes you thru a little bit of history then identifies the major players in Cloud Computing today and how it benefits you. 
Read the Article …

More Tips this Month

  • A Different Kind of RV Rally: Learning Computers, Cameras, and Smartphones:If you are a typical RVer, you use a lot of technology.  How would you like to spend a week, with other RVers learning how to really use all those toys?  Read the full article …
  • Picasa Tip: Carbonite and Picasa
    f you use Carbonite to do backups online, and you use Picasa to manage the pictures on your computer, then there is a Carbonite feature you need to understand. Read the Full Article …
  • Picasa Tip: Adding Text to a Collage
    Question: As historian for a club of mine I just love Picasa’s Collage feature to put together the pictures I take of all the activities.  But, I need to identify the activities in the picture. Is it possible to add Text to the collage pictures that I have made? Yes!  Read the Full Article …
  • Picasa Tip: Framing Photos 
    Doesn’t a frame make a normal photo look like a work of art?  Picasa 3.9 has several options for framing your photos, and you won’t believe how easy they are.  Click for the Rest …

Geeks on Tour Members learn with tutorial videosBecome a Geeks on Tour Member!
And learn from our online library of Tutorial Videos
Facebook, Picasa, Photo Story 3, Streets & Trips, Google Earth/Maps, Blogging, Boot Camp Class, Vista/Windows 7, Internet on the Road, Safe Computing
only $7/mo= access to ALL videos plus the Forums.
Click here to Join

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 https://geeksontour.com/category/newsletter/.

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..

Facebook vs Google+

facebookI use Facebook a lot.  I frequently post pictures and little snippets about my life on Facebook.  My Droid smartphone has a Facebook app that allows me to upload the pictures I take with my phone with just a couple of taps.  I love the new timeline feature where I can see my life laid out by year and month.  Most of my friends are on Facebook.  I like being able to keep up with their lives all at once when I open Facebook and see my newsfeed.  I’ve been using Facebook since 2008, I’ve studied it in depth so I can teach it. I understand Facebook

Can Google+ Beat Facebook?

Google+ is a Social Network like Facebook.  Google+ was just launched in 2011.  We don’t know how many people are on it, but it has a long way to go to catch up with Facebook.  I’m trying to get to know Google+ and I’m not having an easy time of it.  Not because it’s more difficult than Facebook but just because it is different, and I already know Facebook.  Understanding Facebook does not directly translate to Google+.  With 850 million people on Facebook, I view it as a directory – the white pages – for the people of the world.  I don’t think there’s a place for two such directories.

Google That said, Google+ does have some cool features. 

  • Google Hangout gives you an instant, easy way to video chat with a group of people.  You can also share your screen, or watch a YouTube video together. 
  • Since Picasa is also owned by Google, you can expect more and more of Picasa’s features to be showing up in Google+.  They’ve already taken what used to be Picnik and put the basic editing features right in with the online pictures.  Google+ accounts allow you to upload an unlimited number of pictures.  With Picasa Web Albums, you were limited to 1GB.
  • I have installed the Google+ app on my Smartphone and now, any picture I take with my phone gets uploaded automatically.  They start out as private, but you can then share them with whoever you want.  Nothing to think about … I took a picture with my phone – I can look at it on my computer.
  • When I write a Blog post with Blogger (owned by Google) I can automatically share that to my Google+ profile

The biggest problem with Google+ as a social network is that all my friends are on Facebook!  Some have migrated to Google+ but, just like me, they keep going back to Facebook because that’s where their friends are!  That’s a big obstacle for Google+ to overcome. 

We had a question in our Forum this month from a member who was unhappy that her Picasa Upload button had turned into a ‘Share with Google+’ button.  She didn’t want to share with Google+ because she likes the specific features in Picasa Web Albums.  In the forum thread we discussed the procedure to remove Google+ so she could continue with Picasa Web Albums as before.  Check out the forum question and answer if you’re wondering the same. 

Better yet, register for our Techno-Geek Learning Rally April 22-28 in Bushnell, Florida.  We’ll be having lots of seminars as well as hands-on classes with Picasa.  We’ll be able to compare notes on Google+, Facebook, and Picasa Web Albums. Our co-hosts from TechnoRV use Macintosh and iPhoto.  This will be a valuable assembly of computer knowledge for travelers – and don’t worry, we’re known for being best with beginners!

Newsletter: Jan 2012

Geeks on Tour
Monthly Issue # 51 Jan 31, 2012 www.geeksontour.com
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facugTechnology at Sea

What a beautiful week it was!  We were on the Norwegian Sky cruise ship with 400 other people from the Florida Assn. of Computer User Groups: FACUG, as well as the Assn. of Personal Computer User Groups: APCUG.  We watched presentations on Windows 8 and Cloud Computing, and we gave presentations on Picasa and Smartphones.

See the article below to learn how we got online while we were on the cruise and the price we paid!

 

imageGeeks on Tour Interviewed

Another participant in the conference cruise was Dave Graveline of the Into Tomorrow technology radio show.  They’re celebrating 17 years of their radio show covering the latest in consumer electronics and technology.

Click here to listen to the show they recorded from the cruise ship – it’s the red box in the right sidebar labeled ‘Listen to Our Show’.  You’ll find our interview in the second hour starting at 11:43.

We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves!  We think Dave did a great job with the Interview.  Thanks Dave!

 

Register Now for the Techno-Geek Learning Rally

t-g

Come to the Techno-Geek Learning Rally and learn about Computer Maps, Digital Photography and Staying Connected as you Travel. Small groups, Windows, Macs,  and Smartphones. 6 days of relaxed learning, hands-on assignments and lots of food and fun!  April 22-28 2012 in Bushnell, Florida.

Rally registration is $165 for Geeks on Tour Members, $199 for non-members.  You can come in your RV and stay onsite, or you can drive in for the day if you’re not in an RV.  A 12 hour hands-on Computer Boot Camp will be held after the rally for an extra $45 fee or $120 if you’re not attending the rally.  Campsites are $25/day.

Read more, and register here.

Upcoming Appearances

jim-chris

  • 2/16, 7PM:ValenciaLakesComputer & Technology Club,Boynton Beach
  • 2/20, 10AM:CascadeLakesComputer & Technology Club ,Boynton Beach
  • 2/20, 7PM:  ValenciaFallsComputer & Technology Club,Delray Beach
  • 2/22, 7PM:Boca RatonComputer Society, Delray Beach
  • 3/19, 7PM: Bellaggio Computer & Technology Club,Lake Worth
  • 4/22Techno-Geek Learning Rally

Visit our Upcoming Events page for the most current listing

fblikeKeep up with us in between newsletters by following our Facebook page.  You’ll have fun and learn by answering our Geeks On Tour Jeopardy questions!  If you go to www.facebook.com/geeksontour you will be able to see everything we post there.  It is a completely public page, you do not need to be a member of Facebook, but if you are on Facebook, you can click the ‘Like’ button, then our posts will show up on your Facebook home page Newsfeed.

Ask the Geeks

Screen Captures3

Our Q&A Forums are a good place to ask questions, here are some examples from the past month.  Anyone can read the Q&A, but you must be a member to post.

Do you have questions like this?  If you are a paid member of Geeks on Tour, you can ask anything you want in the forum.  Mr. or Mrs. Geek promise to respond, and we have several other knowledgeable members who will add to the conversation. If you’re not a member, Join Now.

Internet on a Cruise Ship, Beware of Roaming

On our recent cruise to the Bahamas, we knew we weren’t going to have much Internet access, but we needed to check email at least twice, just to see if we had any customer support issues to answer. So, we splurged the $24 for one hour of online access at the ship’s Internet café. It was slower than dial-up. By the time we established the connection, Jim opened his Gmail and answered one or two messages, I opened my Gmail and did the same, our hour was up.

MTN-DomeSatellite Internet

The picture at right is of the dome which covers the satellite dish on board the Norwegian Sky. When you get over the disappointment about how slow and expensive it is, you really must marvel at how magic it is that it works at all. I remember when we had the Datastorm Internet Satellite dish on the roof of our RV. It made our RV lifestyle possible back then. Making a satellite connection for Internet is a much greater feat than those for TV because, for TV, all you need is to Receive the signal. For Internet, you also must be able to Send. It’s a 2-way signal. Getting the dish on our RV to hit the correct satellite, 22,000 miles away, took some serious fine-tuning, and a stiff wind could knock it off signal. How the heck they get that technology to work on a ship at sea is beyond me!

Companies who provide Internet for cruise ships and large yachts are MTN, KVH, and Inmarsat. But even people on small sailboats, African safaris, and Himalayan treks can get Internet using Satellite phones and service from Iridium. The phones will set you back at least $1,000, and you can also rent them by the week for $50 – $100. It’s the service that is the expensive part.

How long do you think it will take until we all have inexpensive ‘communicators’ (a la Star Trek) which work from anywhere?

Understand Verizon Data Roaming

While we were docked in Freeport, I thought I’d try getting email on my Droid smartphone. There was no Verizon 3G service, understandably, but I decided to see if there was a Roaming service available, surely they have cell towers in the Bahamas? My setting for Data Roaming is usually off. This is very important if you are in border areas. People in the US, but close to the Canadian border, for example, may find that their phone is connecting to a cell tower on the Canadian side of the border, and they don’t even know it. I’ve heard of cell phone bills in the thousands of dollars due to roaming fees.

Part of our job is to experiment with all the ways to stay connected while you travel, so I held my breath, turned on Data Roaming (settings, Wireless and Networks, Mobile Networks, Data Roaming), downloaded my email, and turned it off again. If the fees were based on time, it was less than a minute! But they’re not. The fees are based on the amount of data transmitted. My bill says that I used 1.4 Megabytes of data and the fee is $29. I don’t think I’ll do that again.

image_thumb[2]

What about you? Have you ever had a substantial bill from your cellphone provider for data roaming?
Please leave us a comment.

Other Articles Published this Month

  • How to Block Apps and Game Requests in Facebook
    There are some fun games that people play on Facebook.  But what if you don’t want to play?  How do you stop all those game notices and invitations without unfriending the person?  Read the Full Article …
  • A Map of Visited States
    Would you like to have your very own map of visited states or countries?  Many travelers include this as part of their email signature, or in their blog posts or on Facebook.  It’s easy and free Read the Full Article …
  • Fun with Picasa 3.9 Effects
    Make a simple picture look like a professional painting with just a few clicks of the new Picasa 3.9 effects. Read the Full Article …
  • Picasa 3.9 Side by Side Editing
    If you’re using Picasa 3.9, you can easily see the results of applying different editing effects by using the new Side by Side Editing. Read the Full Article …

Geeks on Tour Members learn with tutorial videosBecome a Geeks on Tour Member!
And learn from our online library of Tutorial Videos
Facebook, Picasa, Photo Story 3, Streets & Trips, Google Earth/Maps, Blogging, Boot Camp Class, Vista/Windows 7, Internet on the Road, Safe Computing
only $7/mo= access to ALL videos plus the Forums.
Click here to Join

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..

Geeks on Tour Newsletter, August 2011: Rally, GPS, Swype on Droid, Block Apps on Facebook

Geeks on Tour
Monthly Issue # 47 Aug 31, 2011 www.geeksontour.com
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RalliesAugust 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.

Gabbing with the Geeks #13

gabbingIn 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.

 

Jim and Chris are interviewed

John and Kathy Huggins of LivingTheRVDream.com have a weekly audio podcast.  Last week we were their interview subjects.  You can listen at Living The RV Dream Podcast #122

 

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Geeks on Tour Members’ Forum

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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.

Techno-Geek Learning Rally

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.

GPS Coordinates with Google Earth and Streets and Trips

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.

Read the full article …

Droid: From Email to GPS Navigation

droidYou 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!

Watch the Video …

Hate Typing on your Droid?  Try Swype Instead

swypeSwype 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.

Read Complete Article …

How to Block Annoying Apps in Facebook

Fullscreen capture 932011 105351 AMWhen 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.

Read the Complete Article …
 

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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..