The monthly computer sessions are on the move again... due to my starting a full time position as of Monday 21st Nov.
I'm suggesting moving the sessions to the First Sunday of Each Month, 10 - 1pm. In the library, as per normal
The sessions will be split into 3
The first hour - at 10am - will be for absolute computer beginners. We'll go right back to basics.
The second hour - at 11am - will be all things iphone and iPad related. Bring your devices and we'll see what we can teach each other
The third hour will be for more advanced computer issues and tasks.
Hopefully everyone will find something that works for them
Angela
Mob: 0404 05 00 57 // Email: mail@angelabrown.com.au
Friday, 18 November 2011
Monday, 17 October 2011
Online newspaper resource
As discussed this morning on ABC 612 Brisbane, there is a little known wonderful resource available through the Brisbane City Council website.
Click on or 'copy & paste' this link
http://elibcat.library.brisbane.qld.gov.au/uhtbin/cgisirsi/ABzVh0VCPo/ZZELIBCAT/0/1/1439/X/BLASTOFF
Scroll down to the Newspapers and Journals heading, and click on the Library Press Display link. You'll then be able to choose the country and the particular newspaper of your choice and be able to flick through/turn through the pages of the current newspaper edition, just as if you had it on the desk in front of you.
Scroll down to the Newspapers and Journals heading, and click on the Library Press Display link. You'll then be able to choose the country and the particular newspaper of your choice and be able to flick through/turn through the pages of the current newspaper edition, just as if you had it on the desk in front of you.
Be aware however: The site allows only a limited number of concurrent logins, and I've found that you will often NOT be able to login due to the site being busy.
Persevere though. It's well worth the effort!
Tuesday, 4 October 2011
Printing from GMail
A group member mentioned they were having trouble printing from gmail and that text was being truncated from the printout
The answer is to not just choose to 'print the page' when you're in Gmail.
Firstly, make sure that your GMail and Google Chrome software versions are up to date.
You then have two options. In the top right hand corner of your GMail, if you select the drop down menu to the right of the 'Reply' button, you'll find a print option there. THAT print option prints just the current conversation / email - not all the other associated messages. (See pic below)
If you want to print the entire conversation (all associated messages) choose the printer icon just above the Reply button.
Printing from within Google Chrome nowadays is really easy. You automatically get a print preview page, a choice of where to print to and which pages to print. And you can easily see how many pages are going to be produced.
The answer is to not just choose to 'print the page' when you're in Gmail.
Firstly, make sure that your GMail and Google Chrome software versions are up to date.
You then have two options. In the top right hand corner of your GMail, if you select the drop down menu to the right of the 'Reply' button, you'll find a print option there. THAT print option prints just the current conversation / email - not all the other associated messages. (See pic below)
If you want to print the entire conversation (all associated messages) choose the printer icon just above the Reply button.
Printing from within Google Chrome nowadays is really easy. You automatically get a print preview page, a choice of where to print to and which pages to print. And you can easily see how many pages are going to be produced.
Monday, 3 October 2011
Monday 3 October 2011
Another small group today - which allowed for one on one attention, and a free ranging flow of topics.
Things we covered today included:
- The START button. How to use it, what you can do with it, how you can change what it does
- doPDF: a nifty little PDF print program. With this utility installed, you can always print any document or picture that you create / capture or download. You 'print' to a PDF document, rather than paper, and can then send that PDF to anywhere you like - upload it, email it etc.
- PrintScreen: how to use it, what you can do with the captured image
- Desktop icons: how to create them, delete them
Topics scheduled to be covered in the next monthly session ( Monday 7th November 10am - 1pm), currently include:
Everyone welcome.
Angela Brown
Mob 0404 05 00 57
Things we covered today included:
- The START button. How to use it, what you can do with it, how you can change what it does
- doPDF: a nifty little PDF print program. With this utility installed, you can always print any document or picture that you create / capture or download. You 'print' to a PDF document, rather than paper, and can then send that PDF to anywhere you like - upload it, email it etc.
- PrintScreen: how to use it, what you can do with the captured image
- Desktop icons: how to create them, delete them
Topics scheduled to be covered in the next monthly session ( Monday 7th November 10am - 1pm), currently include:
- GMail - the good, the bad and the ugly
- Halcyon Social calendar access
- Generating a list of the programs/utilities that everyone should have on their machines to ensure easy opening of the most common email attachments
- Assisting everyone to download and install these
Everyone welcome.
Angela Brown
Mob 0404 05 00 57
Sunday, 4 September 2011
Computer Challenge - Monday 5th Sept
The group was presented with a task sheet today to work through and everyone did extremely well!.
The following is a link to the task sheet, if you're interested in working through it
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1NeNFY0AYzexC3T4G2TLQR42IJOAL7wfn8C8UBkeWwKY/edit?hl=en_US
If clicking on the link doesn't work for you, copy and paste (or type) the details into the address bar of any browser, hit ENTER, and you'll get to the document.
Skills we covered in working through the task sheet included:
- Using google search to find a specific image
- Downloading and saving an image from the internet
- FINDING the file we downloaded
- Editing images (adding text etc)
- Saving documents/images to shared Dropbox folder
- Creating a text document, saving the document
- Mouse skills (the snake game :) )
Change in Session Times
Computer sessions are being rescheduled. In future, they'll be held on the FIRST MONDAY of each month, in the library at Halcyon Waters, 10am - 1pm. (No longer fortnightly)
The next session will be Monday 3rd October.
We're looking to encourage beginner beginners again. Residents who really need to get back to basics with using their laptops and internet enabled devices. Please pass the word around and encourage all residents to come along. We'll split the sessions loosely into two - 10 to 11.30 for beginners and 11.30 to 1pm from more advanced users. We'll work through task sheets so that you have something to take away with you as a memory jogger. Anyone with specific queries is also of course welcome, and we'll do what we can to solve your issues.
Angela Brown
Mob: 0404 05 00 57
Email: mail@angelabrown.com.au
The following is a link to the task sheet, if you're interested in working through it
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1NeNFY0AYzexC3T4G2TLQR42IJOAL7wfn8C8UBkeWwKY/edit?hl=en_US
If clicking on the link doesn't work for you, copy and paste (or type) the details into the address bar of any browser, hit ENTER, and you'll get to the document.
Skills we covered in working through the task sheet included:
- Using google search to find a specific image
- Downloading and saving an image from the internet
- FINDING the file we downloaded
- Editing images (adding text etc)
- Saving documents/images to shared Dropbox folder
- Creating a text document, saving the document
- Mouse skills (the snake game :) )
Change in Session Times
Computer sessions are being rescheduled. In future, they'll be held on the FIRST MONDAY of each month, in the library at Halcyon Waters, 10am - 1pm. (No longer fortnightly)
The next session will be Monday 3rd October.
We're looking to encourage beginner beginners again. Residents who really need to get back to basics with using their laptops and internet enabled devices. Please pass the word around and encourage all residents to come along. We'll split the sessions loosely into two - 10 to 11.30 for beginners and 11.30 to 1pm from more advanced users. We'll work through task sheets so that you have something to take away with you as a memory jogger. Anyone with specific queries is also of course welcome, and we'll do what we can to solve your issues.
Angela Brown
Mob: 0404 05 00 57
Email: mail@angelabrown.com.au
Saturday, 20 August 2011
Firefox Add-Ons Clarification - Flashgot & iViewFox
For those of you who were at the session where we attempted to download add-ons for Firefox (internet browser) to allow automatic recording of audio and video from websites, you will remember we had mixed success.
Clarification follows (and we'll talk about it /through it on Monday 22August session 10am).
- Flashgot: Allows for general recording of audio and video from websites. So, YouTube for example. By pressing Ctrl F3 from within Firefox when you've opened the relevant website, you'll be prompted to choose the destination folder to save the file in. Choose the folder and then OK, and the files will be downloaded to your harddrive or flashstick or external drive - wherever you chose to save it. You can then replay the files when you're off line - that is, when you're not connected to the internet.
Flashgot does not download video from ABC iView.
- iViewFox however, does allow you to download from abc.net.au/iview. As with Flasfhgot, you get to choose where to save the downloaded files. Programs uploaded to iView are generally only available for viewing online for a limited period. By downloading them, you can choose to watch them at your convenience, after the viewing period on the site has expired.
Note that if you install iViewFox, you will be precluded from actually viewing iView video online. The machine will only allow you to download and view later. If you do want to stream the video and watch in real time, then you can simply disable the add-on for a while, and re enable it later. To disable an add-on, within Firefox choose Tools>Addons, navigate to iViewFox and choose to disable it. You will need to restart Firefox for the disable to take effect.
iViewFox doesn't prevent Flashgot from working correctly, as described above, on other websites
As always, be mindful of copyright restrictions as they may apply to all online media that you choose to acces.
Clarification follows (and we'll talk about it /through it on Monday 22August session 10am).
- Flashgot: Allows for general recording of audio and video from websites. So, YouTube for example. By pressing Ctrl F3 from within Firefox when you've opened the relevant website, you'll be prompted to choose the destination folder to save the file in. Choose the folder and then OK, and the files will be downloaded to your harddrive or flashstick or external drive - wherever you chose to save it. You can then replay the files when you're off line - that is, when you're not connected to the internet.
Flashgot does not download video from ABC iView.
- iViewFox however, does allow you to download from abc.net.au/iview. As with Flasfhgot, you get to choose where to save the downloaded files. Programs uploaded to iView are generally only available for viewing online for a limited period. By downloading them, you can choose to watch them at your convenience, after the viewing period on the site has expired.
Note that if you install iViewFox, you will be precluded from actually viewing iView video online. The machine will only allow you to download and view later. If you do want to stream the video and watch in real time, then you can simply disable the add-on for a while, and re enable it later. To disable an add-on, within Firefox choose Tools>Addons, navigate to iViewFox and choose to disable it. You will need to restart Firefox for the disable to take effect.
iViewFox doesn't prevent Flashgot from working correctly, as described above, on other websites
As always, be mindful of copyright restrictions as they may apply to all online media that you choose to acces.
Monday, 8 August 2011
Monday 8th August
We had a very intimate little group today - only 3 of us. But we had fun!
Due to popular demand, we concentrated on iPad uses and apps.
The following is a list of those we discussed
PrintCentral - allows remote printing to ANY printer that is connected to a network or wifi (I've installed this app and it works brilliantly :) )
iMovie - apparently allows editing of movies on your iPad... I've installed it and it does work - but I think there's more to it than I've discovered so far
Readdle Docs - allows you to easily transfer docs from your computer to your iPad (via iTunes). Supports Word, Excel, PDF etc
Spreadsheet - a fully functioning spreadsheet program. Saves to excel format and opens excel spreadsheets and allows editing of them.
Bamboo Paper & MeritumPaint - 2 free little finger painting/sketching programs
Photogene - allows editing of photos on your ipad
vTuner for Panasonic - gives you wifi access to all sorts of weird and wonderful internet radio
iSwifter - an alternate browser for your iPad that lets you enjoy webpages that use "flash" . Not the best browser in the world, but does get around an otherwise annoying restriction of your iPad. (check out the following site - firstly with your usual Safari browser and THEN with iswifter.. http://www.psy.uq.edu.au/activity/demonstation.html?did=14
Teamviewer - allows remote control and access between ipads/iphone and computers (both pc's and macs). Install the software on your computer(s) [www.teamviewer.exe] and then install the app on your ipad/iphone.. and follow the instructions. Be sure to say you're a non-commercial user. It's free
Happy computing everyone
Next meeting 10am to 1pm - Monday, 22 August 2011 - in the library. Everyone welcome.
Angela Brown
Mob 0404 05 00 57
Due to popular demand, we concentrated on iPad uses and apps.
The following is a list of those we discussed
PrintCentral - allows remote printing to ANY printer that is connected to a network or wifi (I've installed this app and it works brilliantly :) )
iMovie - apparently allows editing of movies on your iPad... I've installed it and it does work - but I think there's more to it than I've discovered so far
Readdle Docs - allows you to easily transfer docs from your computer to your iPad (via iTunes). Supports Word, Excel, PDF etc
Spreadsheet - a fully functioning spreadsheet program. Saves to excel format and opens excel spreadsheets and allows editing of them.
Bamboo Paper & MeritumPaint - 2 free little finger painting/sketching programs
Photogene - allows editing of photos on your ipad
vTuner for Panasonic - gives you wifi access to all sorts of weird and wonderful internet radio
iSwifter - an alternate browser for your iPad that lets you enjoy webpages that use "flash" . Not the best browser in the world, but does get around an otherwise annoying restriction of your iPad. (check out the following site - firstly with your usual Safari browser and THEN with iswifter.. http://www.psy.uq.edu.au/activity/demonstation.html?did=14
Teamviewer - allows remote control and access between ipads/iphone and computers (both pc's and macs). Install the software on your computer(s) [www.teamviewer.exe] and then install the app on your ipad/iphone.. and follow the instructions. Be sure to say you're a non-commercial user. It's free
Happy computing everyone
Next meeting 10am to 1pm - Monday, 22 August 2011 - in the library. Everyone welcome.
Angela Brown
Mob 0404 05 00 57
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