Smart phone, Smart uses

Phone of the times

While planning for a recent trip overseas I looked for the best and cheapest solutions for staying connected while away as well as having access to all my travel documents. An in depth look at functions on my phone had me thinking about all the possibilities some of which I had not used. This post does not address the multiple uses of calendars, email and messaging but concentrates on using the camera.

If you use your phone to store personal information make sure you have set PINs for your phone and for your SIM card, should your phone be misplaced this provides a modicum of protection.
Use an online service like Dropbox, Box, Sugarsync or any other reliable online storage to back up all your information. In some places you may not have access to data services so think about the usefulness of having some of the information listed below at your fingertips, stored on your phone.

Travel

Before a trip, update apps and use the camera to record passports, visas, card details and contents of suitcase. Annotate where needed and arrange the pictures in a folder in order to avoid scrolling through all pictures in your gallery.
Store all travel documents as PDFs in case you lose any paper copies, e.g. boarding passes, visas, car hire and accommodation bookings.

General use
Medicare/health cards, loyalty cards and emergency health information.

Loans - each time you loan a friend a book or tool, take a snapshot of them holding the item, helps you remember easily who has that item and solves any cases of forgotten items. If your friend is camera shy, take a shot of the item and annotate in an app such as PicSay or Skitch  then forward the picture to your friend when you need the item returned.

Before a family outing, take photos of children in clothes of the day

Pre shopping lists and notes
Recipe ingredients

List of intended purchases, models, size

Children's' / partner's shoe and clothing sizes

Photos of needed DIY items e.g. door handles, architraves, nuts and bolts

Shopping

Parking location
Price tag comparisons, dimensions of items on shopping tags

Post shopping
Receipts for tax

Return labels

Care labels on fabrics and clothing

Gardening

Snap a photo of a plant for identification at the nursery or for dragging into Google image search for identification

Moving

Cable configurations at back of computers, TVs, home theatre systems and other equipment, photograph equipment before taking apart for quick reassembling.

Before rental photos - take photos of any damage that exists: carpets, walls, doors, fly-screens, appliances and other fittings. If a place has not been adequately cleaned before you move in get a visual record of that too.

Before move photos - valuable household items along with any identification labels.
Any scratches and dents on white goods and furniture can be quickly identified post move if you have photographed goods in their previous condition.

What are your favourite uses for the camera in your phone?

Power Searching: course reflections

The course

This week I completed the Power Searching course with Google. After a pre class assessment there were six video classes supported with follow up activities, a mid class and post class assessment. Each class had up to six individual lessons. There were also 3 class hangouts on Google+ The classes were available over a 3 week period so plenty of time was allowed for completion.

The clear explanations and demonstrations of techniques via short succinct video lessons followed by an activity to reinforce learning, worked well for me. I did not make use of the forum but could see many students asking for assistance or additional explanation. Much of the material was not new but Dan's easy presentation style kept me following even the most basic lessons. The class hangouts were very useful as questions were answered with demonstration of possible pathways to search for even the trickiest queries.

What did I learn?

• After years of teaching Google searches in schools, I can still learn more as Google introduces new features and tools.
• An effective way to rid results of already known materials; use -site operator. Previously I had only used the site operator in a positive sense but had not thought to use it to exclude results.
• Date limiters are particularly useful when looking for differences in opinions before and after any particular event.
• The Search ReSearch blog challenges will help me to hone my newly refreshed skills as I take on Dan Russell's Wednesday search challenges.
• I will probably undertake any new search courses as Google offers them. To this end I'm now following the online courses page on Google+
• Retirement provides time to indulge in online learning!

I recommend this course to all. No matter your skill level one can always learn more by looking at search from a different viewpoint, take the time to visit the Search tips and tricks page to see if you can spot something you've not previously used.

Searching everywhere

Tip of the day - 7

Add-ons for quick searching

Google is a useful search engine but there are times when an alternate search tool would serve you better.
Add a range of other Search Providers in IE and now you are one click away from searching the tool you need without having to go to that site first.

1. IE 8 - Select the down arrow on the far right side of the top tool bar. (IE9 Select the gear icon and choose Tools)
2. Choose Find More Providers Add your choices and select whether you want to have search suggestions turned on or off. 
3. Choose Manage Search Providers to put them in your preferred display order.

Now when you click in the search bar, select the tool of your choice before entering your search term.

Inspiration for this post came from Chris Betcher, who tweeted a link to his excellent Searching Everywhere tutorial for Chrome. Thanks again Chris.