Many of us have data plans on our phones that have Unlimited on-device data. What that means is that, as long as you are viewing online media on your phone, you can view as many hours as you want. But, if you turn on the hotspot feature for your other devices to share that data, there are definite limits and associated charges.
The problem
Let’s say you want to watch a Netflix movie. Just pull it up on your phone and watch right? Oh, but it looks SO much better to watch and listen on your TV’s big screen. And, for more than one person to watch, the TV is necessary. If you use your Smart TV’s Netflix, it will need to connect to Wi-Fi and that will cost you. Or, if you cast your phone’s screen to the TV using something like Chromecast, that is still using WiFi.
Here’s the answer
Play the movie on your phone, and connect your phone to the TV with a HDMI cable. In that case, the TV is just acting as an external monitor to your phone – no WiFi involved!
What you need
A mobile device with an unlimited data plan: All iPhone’s can mirror. My Samsung Android phone can mirror. I’m not sure about other Android phones, you’ll have to just try it or look it up in your phone’s documentation, or read the guide linked below.
Did you know that Windows 10 comes with video editing software? It’s part of the Photos app. In this video, Chris demonstrates how to use the Create a Video tool and the trim tool, to edit the beginning, ending, and middle of a video.
Geeks on Tour tutorial video #473. If your photos are in Google Photos, using the same account as the Google account you use for Blogger, then it is a very simple matter to add any of those photos to your blog. This video shows you how to add your photos from Google Photos to your blog.
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Geeks in June
For most of June, we were still in Europe: Croatia, Slovenia, Italy, and Berlin. Living out of a small suitcase, and traveling by train was quite enjoyable. Different from RVing, but I think our RV background gave us a good foundation for free-wheeling Europe travels.
The best part of travel is the first-hand education you get. We were prepared to be in awe of the ancient history of the towns, churches, and castles. What was surprising was to realize how new the actual countries are. In the US we think of ourselves as a new country. Our historic buildings are from the 1700s where castles in Italy dated from 400 B.C! But on July 4 the USA celebrates our 241st birthday. The oldest country we traveled thru is Italy, whose current republic was formed in 1946.The others are even newer: Croatia-1991, Slovenia-1991, Germany-1949. See our photo album for more pictures and our personal travel blog for more stories.
We also continue to learn about technology! And, we share it with you on our live weekly class, What Does This Button Do?
By the way, our pictures, Blogs, Web Albums, maps, and videos are all examples of what we teach. You can learn how to plan, preserve, and share your travels (or your life.) It makes the experience that much more enjoyable to get creative and share pictures, maps, stories, and movies with friends and family. Check out our Learning Library of Tutorial Videos, just go toGeeksOnTour.com and click the menu for Tutorial Videos. There are plenty of free videos in addition to our members-only content to whet your appetite for learning.
7/16 – 7/20 Tri-Chapter Rally in Richmond, IN (Military Vets, Elks, and Full-Timers)
We’ll be the Smartphone Help desk offering free 1 on 1 sessions and a seminar or two.
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Here are some of the topics that have been discussed recently. Anyone can read the forum, only members can ask questions. This is a valuable benefit of membership. Join Today!
A Canadian who is now an ex-pat in Panama, Bill McKibbon has been an “early adopter” of technology and has used it in some very interesting ways since the late 1970’s. Below is my interview with him which reveals aspects of his adventurous life, his reasons for moving to Panama, and the ways he has used technology and benefited from his membership with the Geeks on Tour.
by Chris Guld
This was written during my writing retreat in Tuscany. The prompt was: “Thru the keyhole” I wanted to write about my experience taking pictures with a smartphone and making them better.
I love my Canon, it takes great photos, but, so does my iPhone 7+ and the iPhone is a lot smaller! Besides, I’ve always believed that what makes the most difference in the quality of a photo is a few seconds spent with good editing tools after the photo is taken. I believed that back with Picasa, and I believe it now with Google Photos and Snapseed. I have no ambition to be a professional photographer, that’s a completely different story. I just want to capture my memories and make them nice to look at.
Internet while Traveling: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
We’ve been using Internet while traveling for 14 years. Most of that has been traveling by RV in the U.S., but this past month we had some new experiences while traveling in Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, and Germany.
Whether we need to find a campground in Arkansas, or rent a kayak in Venice, an Internet connection makes it possible!
Internet connectivity has improved dramatically since we started. In 2004, the only way to have connectivity while we traveled in our RV was with a $6,000 2-way satellite on the roof (Datastorm) and $115/mo service. Now, there is free Wi-Fi everywhere you go, and cellular Internet service from the likes of Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile can be carried around in your pocket. Cellular costs range from pay-as-you-go $15/mo minimal service from Tracfone, to $80 (+taxes/fees = $100+) per month for Verizon Unlimited.
My iPhone is full of pictures, can Google Photos help?
Yes! Google Photos can help, but pay attention to your iCloud Photo Library settings
iCloud Photo Library is Apple’s solution for Backup and Sync for all your photos. It works differently than Google Photos Backup and Sync. Using them both will use up more iPhone storage space, and it will get complicated because of the way they handle deletions. With one exception, I recommend using Google Photos and not iCloud Photo Library. The one exception is if it is important to you that the photos taken with your iPhone get automatically copied to your Mac’s hard drive, then you’ll want to stick with iCloud. With Google Photos, you can view your photos from your Mac (or any computer) by browsing to Photos.Google.com. They are not stored on your computer’s hard drive.
We’re updating the website all the time. There are nearly 1,000 articles, 500 videos, and 116 What Does this Button Do Episodes. How do you find what you want? Here are some tips on how to get to the best stuff!
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. You can also visit the archives of past newsletters,
Happy Computing!
The Geeks on Tour website is an online learning library for Travelers who want to learn to use their computers and mobile devices 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. A small fee makes you a ‘member‘ and you can then view any of our 450+ video tutorials on these subjects in our Learning LIbrary.
We’re updating the website all the time. There are nearly 1,000 articles, 500 videos, and 116 What Does this Button Do Episodes. How do you find what you want? Here are some tips on how to get to the best stuff!
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. You can also visit the archives of past newsletters,
Happy Computing!
The Geeks on Tour website is an online learning library for Travelers who want to learn to use their computers and mobile devices 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. A small fee makes you a ‘member‘ and you can then view any of our 450+ video tutorials on these subjects in our Learning LIbrary.
I love my Canon, it takes great photos, but, so does my iPhone 7+ and the iPhone is a lot smaller! Besides, I’ve always believed that what makes the most difference in the quality of a photo is a few seconds spent with good editing tools after the photo is taken. I believed that back with Picasa, and I believe it now with Google Photos and Snapseed. I have no ambition to be a professional photographer, that’s a completely different story. I just want to capture my memories and make them nice to look at.
We had 4 cameras with us even without the Canon! My phone, an iPhone 7+, Jim’s phone, a Pixel XL, Jim’s Samsung Camera 2, and Jim’s GoPro video camera. I enjoyed having only one camera, no decisions to make about which one to use, just learn all I could about using the iPhone. The only time I even thought about my Canon was when we were on a train or a boat. It is so much faster to grab the Canon, put it to your eye, twist the lens to zoom in and snap. That can all be accomplished in one smooth motion, 3 seconds top. With the phone, there is always a lot of fumbling to get to the right screen, squinting to see the image on the screen before snapping, and changing your grip to be able to snap the picture. I’m sure I missed a few good shots because I was too slow, but I still got plenty of nice photos. Here are a few, with notes. Many of these would not be possible with the SLR – e.g. in-camera Panoramas, selfies, animated gifs. See lots more (445 to be exact!) in our Album.
1. Duomo in Florence, Italy
iPhone 7+, Google Photos crop, auto, pop
2. Water lily in gardens at Florence, Italy
iPhone 7+, Snapseed HDR-Scape filter
3. Castiglion Fiorentino, Tuscany Italy
Pixel XL – panorama with a run-around-behind subject
4. Begonias on our terrace at El Santucce
iPhone 7+ using Portrait mode
5. Assisi
iPhone 7+ Snapseed HDR-scape, text added with Snapseed
6. St. Mark’s Square in Venice, Italy at night
iPhone 7+ – selfie (front lens) so good at night exposure. no editing other than crop
7. Venice
Samsung Camera 2 – panorama with Google Photos Pop
8. Kayaking on the Grand Canal in Venice
iPhone 7+ on a selfie stick
9. Jim at Miramare castle, Trieste Italy
iPhone 7+ using Portrait mode
10. Boat ride in Ljubljana, Slovenia
iPhone 7+ Edited in Snapseed, HDR-scape filter, Text added
11. Plitvice Lakes, Croatia
iPhone 7+ Live Photo, converted to animated gif with Motion Stills app
12. Plitvice Lakes, Croatia
Samsung Camera 2 on Waterfall setting!
Smartphone Photography Workshops
We will be teaching 2 sessions of our Smartphone Photography workshops at
the FMCA Convention in Indianapolis next week. If you’ll be there, come find
us in the Info center and sign up!
In packing for our month in Europe, I reluctantly left my Canon Digital Rebel T3i behind. See our 
