Storehouse for photo stories

Recently I've been experimenting with some new ipad apps suitable for visual storytelling. This one is Storehouse. After downloading the free app, sign up via email, Facebook or Twitter.

Photos and video clips are added through a simple interface and can be rearranged with drag and drop. They can be sourced from the ipad or iphone photo library, Dropbox, Flickr, Instagram or Creative Cloud accounts. It is simple to move, scale and crop pictures with your fingers and create interesting patterns with layout. Text adds detail to a photo story. It can be converted to headings or quotes where emphasis is sought.

If you have multiple photos from an event or from your travels, this app provides a quick and easy way to share a collection through Twitter, Facebook, Instagram or email. Once the story is published it can be embedded on a blog or website. Click or tap on any one photo to see it in full, then scroll left or right. Return to the story by with another click or tap on any photo in that section.

I love to revisit my photo collection from the Chelsea Flower show, so here are some favourites via Storehouse. Enjoy!


UPDATE - September 2016 I obviously missed the announcement that Storehouse was closing in July 2016 and so failed to save my story! Another service that had a great idea but could not make it commercially viable.

This post first appeared on http://librarycurrants.blogspot.com/2015/04/storehouse-for-photos-and-stories.html

Android phones 101

Made with http://www.classtools.net/SMS/

Getting the best from your phone

The slides and links are intended to provide a guide for those participating in the Android phone classes provided for Noosa Library Service at:

Noosaville Library 

Wednesdays 10 am - 12 noon

April 8th, 15th, 22nd.

Cooroy Library 

Wednesdays 10 am -12 noon

May 6th, 13th, 20th.

The lessons are intended to cover basic operations and provide a venue for individual help. 

It is advisable that you get a free Google account if you have do not have one. This will allow you to download apps from the Play Store as well as provide access to a wide range of other free Google services.

Slides

Use the arrow key to advance the slides to review content. Click/tap the Expand icon to have them fill your screen.

Online lessons

How to Geek- Basic Android guide

Lesson 1 - How to use Android effectively

Lesson 2 - Managing your installed applications

Lesson 3 - Extending your Android device's battery life

Manuals and guides

I recommend that you locate the appropriate guide for your phone to help you along the way.

Android Quick Start guide available from Google Play books
Telstra mobile support Choose your phone and be guided through excellent help pages

Example of the Telstra help pages

Optus also provide excellent help pages for a wide variety of phones.

Support manuals and guides for other phones and providers are listed here.

This post first appeared on http://librarycurrants.blogspot.com/2015/04/android-phones-101.html

Congress on Slate

Here's an elegant new way to share your stories from your ipad. Just add text, photos and links to the app Adobe Slate.  Professionally designed layout features add another dimension to your content. This easy to use tool may appeal to family historians who would like to present their information in a visually attractive manner. Your story can include headings, text, quotes, images and buttons to link to websites.

Slate pages can be public or private, can be embedded on your blog or website as below, or shared via email and various other social platforms. There are 11 different themes to choose from so with a simple click the page or post can be modified to your preferred style. I've used the 'Tereza' theme. I've added only small snippets of text but longer blocks of text can be written.

If you have an ipad why not try it? Photos can be added from your own collections whether stored on your device or in Dropbox. There is a Creative Commons search if you do not have suitable visuals and the sources are credited at the end of your page. This is a free app, you will need to use your free Adobe ID as the pages are stored on Adobe's servers.

Here's an overview of last weekend's Congress made in Slate on my ipad. Click or tap on the picture below then scroll to view. The back button will return you to this post.




This post first appeared on http://librarycurrants.blogspot.com/2015/04/congress-on-slate.html