Where the year has gone

I started this blog in March of 2012 and really enjoyed writing about all of the technology items that I was using, and I even had the opportunity to review a product that was sent to me. My last post was in June and it's hard to believe how rapidly the months have gone by.

I've been spending most of my time pursuing what I have realized is my passion: photography. It's possible that I will write more reviews again, but in the meantime, I hope you will visit my photography website: www.judygarrard.com.

If you have some ideas for anything that you'd like me to review, don't hesitate to let me know.

Thanks for visiting!

What to do with multiple phone numbers

In an earlier post, I mentioned that I still have a landline. I have had that phone number for about 20 years now, and I like it—it’s easy to remember. I have actually had my cell number for about as long, but since I originally only had the cell for “emergencies,” I didn’t give that number out as often.

And since I didn’t get the best cell reception in my house, it didn’t make much sense to have that as a first option for people to call.The cell reception has improved and/or my smartphone works better, so my next step will probably be to switch my landline to VoIP—to save more money. In the meantime, however, as more people have been given my cell number, they haven't always known which number to call first.

Smartphone gadget: Stand

Wasn't that the cutest!

For my old flip-style phone, I didn’t really need anything to hold the phone at any particular angle because other than making phone calls, there wasn’t much more it could be used for. I did have a phone-sized chair—a freebie from a vendor—that was supposed to be used on a desk to keep the phone handy. I used it as a handy place to keep the phone while it was being charged, but I had to place the phone upside down since the plug was at the bottom.

When I got my smartphone, I ordered a case, screen protector, retractable USB cable, and a USB cigarette-lighter-style charger. I also added a stand to my order. Since I no longer have a Prime membership with Amazon, I was mostly trying to get my order up to $25 so that I could get free shipping. Yep, you know it, always striving for free.

Don’t forget the app: How do I get there?

On my laptop, I use Google Maps, and when I got my smartphone, I started using Google Navigator to find my way to unknown locations. What I’ve discovered, however, is that it’s best to have more than one navigation app on your phone, just in case. Models of phones and/or where you are when you use the app can make some difference in the success of the app.

App Choices

A friend had recommended Navfree USA. One of its features is downloadable maps so that if you have no data signal, you could still use the app. This app did not work well for me. It couldn’t find my house successfully, so getting started always affected the route it gave me. Even navigating from other locations always seemed to be off a little, and it would constantly lose the GPS signal.

What to do with your phone in the car

Now that you have your wireless earbuds, you’re probably trying to figure out where to place your phone while you’re driving your car. If you’re a woman, you can leave it in your purse, but how will you see the display? You won’t be able to identify who’s calling, well, unless you have specific ringtones for those most-important callers.

And if you don't have something similar to the wireless earbuds that I wrote about in my previous post that allow you to answer the phone on the unit, you’re going to have to have the phone handy to answer the calls.

Review of Plantronics BackBeat® GO

A happy face: Bluetooth to earbuds

I have gone through a bit of a progression with my headsets for my mobile phones. Years ago, I used one of those over-the-head style headsets that was wired and plugged into the phone. I actually still have it and was surprised to see that the jack is too small for my current phone.

Introduction

For my previous phone I used a Motorola Bluetooth headset that fit over one ear. It worked fairly well with that phone and Bluetooth was the only option—there was no place to plug in anything. However, it never really fit my ear and tended to move around thus causing some background noise when the boom would touch my cheek.

Protect that device from viruses

You would probably have to be living under a rock not to have heard about Instragram now being available for Android devices. Also in the news a lot recently was how facebook bought Instagram for one billion dollars.

Obviously, so much press has made it something that people want even if they may not know why. A friend told me that there was a bogus version being downloaded by a lot of people, and as a result, one of the recommendations being suggested was to be sure you only download from the Google Market.

Come on, let’s Meetup

It seems that almost every time I mention Meetup.com, I have to explain what it is. I’ve actually only known about it for a couple of years myself, but they’ve been around since 2002.

Last year, on the ten-year anniversary of 9/11, anyone that was a member of a group on Meetup received an email from Scott Heiferman, Co-Founder & CEO, explaining how Meetup came about.

Going to put that in my Pocket

As I wrote about in one of my earliest posts, I have not been a smart phone user for very long—less than four months now. I have, however, been surprised at some of the things I now prefer to do on the phone versus my laptop.

I like the convenience of sitting on the sofa and doing a little light reading on my phone. I have several websites that I like to scan through, and I really wasn’t doing that when I had to sit in front of the laptop.

Don’t forget the app: What’s that song?

When I hear a new song on the radio that I like, I want to know the title and artist. More often than not, the D.J. does not tell me this, and I have to try to find out this information on my own.

I used to try to rely on the radio station’s website by looking through their list of last songs played, but more often than not, that was not up to date. So I got in the habit of writing down a main lyric or two—when I was safely stopped at the next traffic light—so that when I got home, I could search online.

Don’t forget the app: Dictionary

Have you ever been snuggled in your bed reading a book—you know, the traditional kind made out of paper—and all of a sudden there was a word you didn’t know? And your dictionary is in another room and you’re just too comfortable to get up?

If you’re like me, you try to guess what the word must mean based on the context of the sentence, but still you’re not sure. And unless you have a piece of paper handy to write it down, you don’t remember it later so that you can look it up.

Don’t forget the app: Compass

Recently, I went to Oakland Cemetery for some photo-ops. I’ve been there several times, and each time I’ve focused on something different. This time was flowers.

I bet you’re wondering why I’d go to a cemetery to take photos of flowers. You’re probably asking, “Aren’t there better places to do that?” There are certainly different places to do that, but not necessarily better.

Loropetalum: The best plant ever

Each of my posts so far has been a recommendation for something I’ve used and enjoyed, but mostly in the technology category. Today’s post may seem very different, but techie people like to garden too, and I promise you I will tie in some technology.

USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map

If you want to pick some new plants for your yard, there are several things you will need to consider first such as light conditions and space, but you definitely want something that is rated to grow in your zone. Check the USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map to get started.

How to create a pdf of virtually anything

Have you ever visited a website and enjoyed the information you found so much that you wanted to keep a copy of it on your computer? But you didn’t know how to do this so instead you printed it out or maybe you bookmarked the page so that you’d have to revisit the page online?

What happens if you lose your internet connection and you really need this information, but you don’t want to kill additional trees by printing? Well, today I’m going to teach you how to create your own free pdf document.

Useful applications for LinkedIn

Please note that some of the information in this post is no longer applicable in LinkedIn.com

LinkedIn logo

This post is primarily for LinkedIn users. I don’t see many users actually taking advantage of some of the extras that can be incorporated into their profiles. I’m referring to the addition of applications. I’ll admit that I am only currently using one application, but I have viewed several of them to see whether they would be something I may want to add.

The portfolio option seems like a good app, but since I already have a portfolio website and the link is on my profile, I decided not to use that one. Maybe you’ve put together an awesome presentation that highlights your expertise; well, there are a couple of applications to choose from for that. In fact, the one I’m going to tell you about will allow you to attach that as well.

Another option for sending large files

The links in this post should redirect, but please note that YouSendIt.com is now HighTail.com

Today’s post isn’t going to be very long, but I want to tell you about an option for when you need to send a large file to someone, and it is only going to be a one-time occurrence or maybe only once in a while. In my previous post, I told you all about Dropbox, but what I’m going to tell you about today does not require the other person to use the same program.

When I was editor of my university newspaper, I learned about yousendit.com. The files that I needed to send to our printing company were too large for our school email—sometimes as large as 20MB. Yousendit is great for just this scenario.

Storing, sharing, and transferring files with Dropbox

Dropbox is something I first became familiar with at my university. It is a tool that students often use to share files when working on group projects. I promised you in an earlier post that I’d tell you more about this very useful program.

Create an Account at Dropbox.com

To get started, you’ll need to sign up to use Dropbox. The basic program is free with 2GB of storage, however, you can purchase pro versions with more storage. There are also ways to earn more storage such as through email referrals. If you’re a student—with a dot edu email address—you will receive double the credit for referrals. I recently participated in the Android app Camera Upload beta version which gave me the opportunity to earn more storage just for helping test it. (See 4-3 update at end of article.)

Hard to believe that Picasa is free

In an earlier post, I promised you I would tell you more about Picasa—a Google program that you can download for free. I can’t take credit for discovering Picasa on my own—a friend told me about it—but I like it so much that I want to encourage you to use it, too.

So what exactly does it do? It gives you an easy way to share, search, and edit your photos. I actually don’t use it for sharing, but it basically allows you to create on-line web albums. You can make the albums private and share only with friends and family or you can make them public for everyone to view.

What you can do with a smart phone and some apps

Before I acquired my smart phone, I knew that I wanted it for a couple of main features other than making phone calls. One of these was to receive emails and the other was to have access to the internet so that I could Google an address or pull up a map. I promised you in an earlier post that I would tell you about other things you can do with a smart phone.

Even if email and Google is all you use it for, you’ll thoroughly enjoy those conveniences. But I bet you’ve heard the expression: “There’s an app for that.” And there definitely is.

Preserving photos and paperwork for an eternity

I recently saw a posting on craigslist for someone looking for help creating photo albums. It sounded like she felt she really needed help because of the quantity of albums that would need to be created. This reminded me of a project I undertook for myself over this past year.

First a little background. I am an extremely organized person, so I have all of my paperwork filed in a couple of file cabinets—one larger one for most things and a small one just for school stuff. When I was a young girl I asked my mother if I could create scrap book photo albums of the boxes of photos that she had and she said yes. So basically, everything is very organized.

Upgrading a cell phone the free way

A few weeks ago, I finally joined the twenty-first century and acquired my first smart phone. No, I’m not a Luddite, I just thought I couldn’t afford to do this just yet. You see, for the past couple of years, I’ve been going to school full time and my budget has been tight, tight, tight.

And before you stop reading to get out your dictionary to find out what a Luddite is, that’s someone that doesn’t embrace technology—that has never been me. In fact, if you were physically reaching for a dictionary, you may be a Luddite. Just kidding, if you’ve been in school like me, you have probably been encouraged to own a real dictionary. But I will also tell you, there’s an app for that.

Website creation the free way

In order to separate myself from the competition in my search for new opportunities, and because I don’t feel that my “paper” resume truly shows everything I have to offer a potential employer, I recently designed my very own portfolio website. In the technical communications program at my university, this is something that would happen in one of the last semesters, but I didn’t want to wait until then.

Basically, you can do this in at least a couple of ways, but what I chose to do to get started was to build a free website on wix.com. They also offer a paid version that will remove their ads and give you a domain, but since my budget is tight, I’m keeping it free for now. Besides, their ads are hardly noticeable, and I did decide to visit bitly.com and create a shortened version of my web address—this is a pretty sweet option.

Let's get started

For the past couple of years, I've done all of my writing in a classroom or for my university newspaper. I've been told I'm a good writer, and I do enjoy writing but have not been sure if I have enough to say to keep up with a blog. On more than one occasion, one of my friends has pointed out some items that I should blog about so maybe I'll make those some of my first posts.

First, I need to work a bit on getting the layout the way I want and to decide about any additional information that I wish to include, so if you tune in before I'm done, be sure and check back soon. To get started I had to name my blog, and since I don't think I will limit the subjects that I write about, I wanted something that would be fun and all encompassing. I know, it's a rather current expression, but I've found myself saying it a few times so it seemed like a good one to use. I debated about using sayin' versus saying since it's the same length, but since sayin' is what I am saying, well you get the picture.

So I'll try to write something at least once per week, and please don't hesitate to let me know if you're enjoying what you're reading.