Maybe you are a long time iOS user and are not sure why everyone is excited about Samsung Android products. Perhaps you are new to mobile computing, and want to know more about the options that Android provides. Maybe you are a long time Android user, and want to get more out of it. In any case, I’d love to see you there tonight.
Here is the presentation that I gave for this talk.
In this quick video (video is now working, sorry for anyone who tried earlier), I give an overview of the reasons why I love Android, and invite viewers to come and see me talk about it at Princeton Public Library on Tuesday, April 9th, 2013 at 7 pm in the Technology Center.
Cancellation of Hanover bars through a chroma delay line (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
There was a time, not too long ago, when having your own television station was an expensive, unreasonable dream. With the arrival of Google Plus in 2012, there was a lot of comparisons made with Facebook, with the verdict generally being that Google was playing catchup, doing too little too late, and was out of its league. The issue is this: Google is playing the long game. They are adding Plus to your tool set simply by you using any of their other applications. If you have a Gmail account, use Google Calendar, or even just search while logged in with a Google account, Plus is there, waiting for you to use. It is, as the name implies, a sort of umbrella service to add a social layer to other Google services.
They are not following Facebook, and are in fact doing something quite different from what Facebook is, even though a lot of the features seem the same. You can make connections in both systems, add photos and videos, create groups of common interest, and have conversations. However, one set of features in particular sets Plus apart: Hangouts.
Google Hangouts are free. You need to install a plugin or app in Windows, Mac OS, Linux, iOS, or Android to take part, but aside from that there is no threshold to entry. Hangouts are a metaphor for being available for a chat, sort of like standing by the fence waiting for a neighbor or sitting on the porch waiting to chat spontaneously with passersby.
You can be more direct than that though, choosing specifically to invite people to chat with you, up to and including everyone on the system (public). The interactive chat holds up to 10 people, and people can drop in and out. You can chat by video or audio, and you can also share your screen with the screen sharing plugin. You can use addons to create titles and use other features. What is perhaps most interesting is that you can choose to put the hangout ‘on air’, meaning that you can broadcast and archive the hangout to the world via your YouTube channel.
Other systems have done and continue to do this, but not usually for free, and not usually with such a widely adopted system as Google Plus. I have used Google Plus hangouts on air to build a related series of video broadcasts with others about the juxtaposition of technology and design, art, customer service, and nutrition. I call the collection Neckbeard Networks, and you can find it, along with all of my other videos on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/user/lemasney
Tonight, Wednesday, March 20th, 2013, I’m talking to an audience at Princeton Public Library about this topic, and at 7 pm, I hope to see you there.
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Tonight, March 18th, 2013 at Princeton Public Library at 7:30 pm, I’m giving the second part of a two-part WordPress Camp, in which I show people how to get started with WordPress. There’s a rumor that we will be having a Food Blogging follow-up class in the future, to look at the specifics of using WordPress to publish content about food, but this class is about introducing pages, posts, media, and tags in WordPress. I’m excited about this follow-up class because I’ve talked individually with a lot of the participants from part one, and it’s obvious that they are having lots of success. The session is free, and we’d love to see you. No registration necessary.
Elf in a santa hat by John LeMasney via lemasney.com
She feels in italics (Henry James) CC-BY lemasney
On Tuesday, March 19th, 2013, I’ll be talking to the Special Libraries Association (Princeton-Trenton chapter) about branding in Libraries. In the session, I plan to lead a discussion on what your library says about you, what you say about your library, and how you can migrate your current brand to the brand you prefer.
On Wednesday March 20th, I’ll be talking at 7:30 pm at Princeton Public Library about Google Plus Hangouts! This is an amazing, free tool that is part of Google’s Plus suite of products that allows for videoconferencing between 10 people, public broadcast to many more, archiving to YouTube, screen sharing, lower thirds titles, and more. The session is free, and we’d love to see you. No registration necessary.
I had a lot of great engagements last week, but one that stood out was a job in which I applied what I had learned in making this waveform sketch of me saying the word ‘open’ for a client who wanted the same thing, but of him saying ‘hiphop’.
If you can think of how I can help you to use technology or design to make great things happen, contact me at lemasney@gmail.com, leave a comment below, or like my page on Facebook (see the sidebar!)
All of these sessions are offered at Princeton Public Library, Witherspoon Street, Princeton NJ. They are in the Technology lab on the second floor furthest from the main stairwell. Please come and join me to learn about these fun and useful technologies!
Tues, Feb 5 from 7:00-8:30 Discovering Google Chromebook
Wed, Feb 20 from 6:30-8:30 Tools to Create Infographics
Mon, Mar 11 from 6:30-8:30 WordPress Camp for Beginner Bloggers Part 1
Mon, Mar 18 from 6:30-8:30 WordPress Camp for Beginner Bloggers Part 2
Tues, Apr 9 from 7-8:30 Ten Things to Know About Your Android Tablet
Tues, Apr 16 from 6:30-8:30 Tools to Create Infographics
Wed, Apr 24 from 7-8:30 Discovering Google Chromebook
Tues, May 14 from 6:30-8:30 WordPress Camp for Beginner Bloggers Part 1
Tues, May 21 from 6:30-8:30 WordPress Camp for Beginner Bloggers Part 2
Wed, Jun 5 from 7-8:30 Discovering Google Chromebook
Wed, Jun 12 from 7-8:30 Ten Things to Know About Your Android Tablet
An article on technology offerings at PPL: http://www.princetonlibrary.org/blog/2013/02/latest-technology-classes-ppl
I was given a great opportunity to teach people how to create great presentations.
TIME: January, 2013
LOCATION: METRO, NYC
The presentation I used is here:
Learn how to incorporate design elements to create captivating, memorable, and effective slide presentations. In this day long session, technology instructor John LeMasney will cover a variety of design tools and techniques, including images, colors, fonts, readability, and movement. Skill Level: Intermediate.
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