Watching TV and Movies with your computer

Do you remember when you got your first TV?  Remember how you had to get up every time you wanted to change the channel because no one had invented the remote yet? There weren't that many channels to choose from. Now we have remotes and too many channels, but I find that often when I want to watch there is nothing "good" on.

Things are changing! Now it is easy to watch what you want, when you want to watch it. If you have DVR you can record your favorite shows and watch them at a convenient time.

So, why I am I writing about TV and DVR when this blog is about technology tips? It is because I never have gotten a DVR and I am even thinking of getting rid of cable. I have learned that I can easily watch shows from my computer on my TV. The following gives you a step by step guide of how to do it and then several places you can go online to find free or paid shows. 

HDMI PORT

Hooking your computer up to your TV

Do not be afraid of this!  It involves cables that you may not have seen  before, but you can get them at a Radio Shack or Best Buy with the help of the sales person. This is easiest to do if you have a laptop or even an iPad or other tablet, but it can be done with a desktop computer. The computer will need to be near the TV or have really long cords.

VGA PORT

1.  Check on the back of your TV to see what ports you have on it. You will need to plug in BOTH the sound and the picture.

SOUND CABLE

2. The sound will be going out of your computer and then needs to be plugged into some sort of speaker. For mine I just use speakers that I use for my computer to play music.

SPEAKER

VGA CABLE

HDMI CA

3. The picture can come through either VGA or HDMI cords. Check to see what you have on the back of your computer. Newer TVs will have both choices. HDMI is high definition, so it should be your first choice. VGA will also work well.

ONE TYPE OF VGA ADAPTOR FOR MAC

So, you will need two cords and maybe an adapter depending on your computer. For a Mac either VGA or HDMI will require an extra piece of connector to go between the HDMI or VGA cord an the Mac. Newer PCs will have both an HDMI port and a VGA port. There are different adapters for iPads and other devices. Look at the ports on your computer to see which ones you have

ADAPTER FOR MAC CONNECTED TO VGA CABLE

Now your TV is hooked up to your computer. You will need to let your TV know which input you want it to look for. I have to change mine to PC. It then looks for the PC and displays the screen that is on my computer.

The next thing is to find shows that you want to watch. The following links will take you to lots of possible places to find TV shows. You can skip the TV and watch them on your computer or tablet. It is much more fun though to run them through your TV and watch them on the big screen.

MEMBERSHIPS

Netflix and Hulu are two of the most popular sites for subscribing to TV shows or Movies. With both of them you pay a certain amount each month and then you can watch as much as you want from their sites. When you set it up you get a login and a password that you must enter in order to access your account.

Netflix has two different plans. One is streaming video. All of the shows and movies that are available can be used right away. The other plan is borrowing CDs. I will not go into that since it is not the subject of the blog post.


OTHER PLACES TO FIND SHOWS

Crackle
Crackle by Sony is limited. There may not be full seasons for some shows, but there are many that are free. You will have to watch some ads and it does not seem to be something you can avoid.

TV.com
Reviews, discussion forums leads to full episodes that reside other places like Hulu or Netflix

FreeTVHub.com
International channels, less popular programming

Hitbliss.com
This sounds like an interesting new idea. It is sort of a pay as you go system where you pay by watching ads. 

Television networks (FOX, NBC, ABC, PBS)

Amazon Prime

WHAT ABOUT THE REMOTE?

If your have an iPhone you are in luck.  There is an app called Mobile Mouse which allows you to manipulate your computer using your iPhone. It also works with an iPad or iPod. You download the app to your iPhone and then another app onto your computer that makes it into a server for the app. Your iPhone uses WiFi and works just like a mouse with your computer!

There are other options for the Android. I have not tried them, so I cannot speak to them though.

Cyberwise-No Parent Left Behind

This post is for parents, grandparents, guardians, teachers and anyone else who deals with children and use of the computer.

Many adults feel poorly prepared for dealing with many of the things in the Cyberworld. There are programs like Twitter which you see everywhere, but may know nothing about. Some people are worried about privacy issues.  Technology changes so fast that it is difficult to keep up especially if you are not comfortable with it to begin with.

If this sounds like how you feel check out Cyberwise. http://www.cyberwise.org/

Cyberwise is a new website that provides some free training on current topics that can be really fun and helpful. Topics covered are New Media, Media Literacy, Digital Citizenship, Prezi, Glogster, Twitter, Ethical Use, Privacy, Reputation and many others. Each "learning center" has a short (under 5 minute) video on the topic and often something to read online or print out. There are also many links leading to other information on each topic.

Cyberwise also offers a course called Be Cyberwise Certified. It goes through many of the "learning center" lessons with a quiz at the end of each one. If you pass the quiz you get a badge and if you do all of the lessons they mail you a certificate saying that you are Cyberwise Certified. So far I think that the course is free.

Add caption

Another course was created in collaboration with "I Keep Safe, Verizon Foundation, and the California School Library Association. It is called BE a PRO which stands for Balancing Ethical Use Privacy, Reputation and Relationships, Online Security. Each of these topics are covered and there are links on each one to other resources.

Finding a Job Using Online Resources

It can be daunting it to look for a job if you are not comfortable with technology. Many of the places to look for jobs are online.  If you go to many places to apply they have a computer right there that you can use.  You may even feel that your outdated computer skills will make it hard to get any job, even if you successfully apply.




Here are some things that might help with your job hunt.  I assume that if you are reading this blog you can use a mouse and know how to get onto the Internet.

1. Linked In is a network similar to Facebook, but rather than connecting to friends and family the goal of Linkedin is to help you connect with people professionally. It can provide you with job possibilities while also helping you to connect to people who can write you a recommendation. You can also follow a company so that you are notified when there are changes on their profile.

2.  Workplace Reviews:  Looking online to find out what employees of places you may apply are saying might be helpful. I just typed "employment 'name of company' reviews and got many helpful websites. The two most common are listed below. The Glass Door allows you to see all sorts of things about the company that you are considering including Salary, Who is Interviewing, and a list of Job Openings. You can create a notification so that it sends you email whenever a new job you are interested in is posted. On Indeed you can post your resume and employers can post a job

Glass Door
Indeed

3. Filling out an Online Application: Some online applications require that all of your documents (resume, cover letter, etc...) need to be uploaded in .pdf format. If you have typed your resume using word it probably has a .doc ending. To make it a .pdf often you have to go to FILE>PRINT and then choose PDF (usually at the bottom of the window). The computer will ask you where you want to put it (the same as saving) and will change it into a .pdf. Unlike saving as, a .pdf makes a picture of your document, so it cannot be edited or changed.

4. Writing a Resume  In your word processor (Word, Open Office, Pages, etc) there are often templates built in. These are pages that are already formatted like a resume. All you need to do is to type and replace words that have been put in the right spaces. To find out if your program has templates for this go to FILE>OPEN>TEMPLATES and look through what is there to see if there is a template you like. If not, you can go online to look for a template. Here are some links to free templates online. 

http://www.resume-now.com/rna.aspx  Build your resume online with several choices of format. You must log in and create a password.

http://www.primermagazine.com/2011/earn/7-free-resume-templates  This has an article about things you should include in a good resume.

http://resumecompanion.com/resume/resume-templates This has 1500 templates that are all sorted by job type.

There are lots of other sites that provide templates. There are also courses that teach you how to make a resume. Below is a link to one example. Search Google for resume writing course and you will see 15,000,000,000 results. There are also courses at your local Junior College and through Employment Centers at your city government.

http://www.universalclass.com/i/course/resume-writing-tutorial.htm This is an online class. It costs $35 and will give you 1.2 CEUs.

Another possibility that is a bit more expensive is to have someone write your resume for you. If you have trouble putting your experience into words this might be for you. This is an example of a list of services in Austin, TX. 

http://localresumeservices.com/Austin-Resume-Services-Writers.php

5.  Job Search Websites

http://www.Monster.com - There is lots of information and job hunting advice as well as a searchable list of jobs on this site.

http://www.careerbuilder.com/ - This site has other resources as well. You sign up and create a password so that you can get back into your account.

http://www.simplyhired.com/ - Simply Hired allows you to search for a job by category.

http://www.pcmag.com/slideshow/story/294523/the-10-best-job-search-websites - This site reviews the links above as well as many others.

Finally, remember that EVERYTHING you have done online is easy for any employer to find and lasts forever. It is important that you do a search on your name to see what comes up. 

If nothing shows up when you type in your name it is not always good. It means that you have no digital footprint and depending on the job you are looking for that might be bad. 


It is always possible that something surprisingly bad might come up. A friend of mine did a search and several years ago she was arrested for a minor issue. Some company takes mug shots and posts them for anyone to see. In order to have them to take your picture down you have to send them money. At least if you know that something like that is out there you can explain it in an interview or a cover letter. 

http://mugshots.com

One last thing!  You can call I'm not a Geek.com at (512)560-2609 and spend 1 hour brushing up on your skills or getting help with writing that resume or searching for jobs!

Prezi

If you have to make a presentation and you are tired of Powerpoint there is a different way to do one and it has some real advantages for certain types of presentations. You can find the program at http://prezi.com.

Powerpoint has been around for a long time and some people are tired of the same templates and the fact that it is linear. If you are working with content that is best presented in a linear way you might want to use Powerpoint, but Prezi encourages you to be creative and show your information in a new way.



To begin you need to sign up for a Prezi account. You can sign up for free to try it out and upgrade later if you need more space or features.

Next choose a username and password. The account you create is nice because it allows you to work on them and show them from any computer. You can make them private or public. You have control over how they are used. So, create a username and password that you will remember (not the same one you use for your bank account and other important places you log into) and write it down on a piece of paper or booklet and keep it somewhere you can find it.

After you have signed in the best thing to do is to take a look at some of the Prezis that other people have created and made public. That way you can see how they work and start to imagine the way you might use Prezi. There are lots of great examples to look at to get ideas.

You start by choosing a template. There are many templates to choose from Then you can import pictures, video and of course use text. You can even import already finished Powerpoint Presentations. First put all of the content you want to use onto the page. It does not matter exactly where each thing is placed because in the end you will create a path to show what order you want to show it in.

Once everything is in place you choose to create a path and a line shows up with each item (text, picture, video) numbered.  Then you can play it to see what it looks like. You can make it go automatically or have it move from each number to the other with clicks.

See the one that I created while writing this blog post.
http://bit.ly/YDRVxR

Detour from Facebook-Video, YouTube, Vimeo and others

Last week I was in California helping out my Mom and so I didn't write all of the posts I was planning to about Facebook, so we will have to come back to that.

Today's post is about video. I was motivated to write it because a professor I know asked me about posting his lectures on the web. Since I had to look up and try things I thought it would be a good topic to share about. I hope I will be able to do more writing about issues people ask about as time goes on. This is especially for my teacher friends who might want to do something, but have no time to figure it out.


SHARING VIDEO ON THE INTERNET
First of all video files are HUGE. The size depends on what resolution the video was taken at. High resolution videos are the best to watch on your big screen TV or to submit to festivals like Sundance, but if you just want to put your video on the web so that someone can see it there are lots of options. Each of these sites resizes your video automatically to make it perfect for viewing on a computer screen.  They also provide embed code (We will have to talk about that tomorrow) so that you can put your video onto your blog or website.

http://www.youtube.com
The best known and most used video site is YouTube. There are videos up on YouTube on every topic you can imagine (and some that you can't even imagine). If you want to post a video to YouTube first you need to sign up for a free account.

Next set up your own channel. You can use your channel as a place to collect videos that you like as well as a place to get to all of your own videos easily.

When you first get to your channel page you will have lots of choices. You can make it look the way you want it to look.

At the very top of the screen you will see the word UPLOAD. When you have a video that you want to put onto your channel click "UPLOAD" and you will be walked through all of the steps.

Be sure to set the privacy settings that you want. YouTube offers three settings:
Public-Anyone can see your videos and searches can find them.
Private-You can share your video with ONLY 50 or fewer people who already have accounts with YouTube.
Unlisted-Only people who have the link to the video can view it. The number of people is only limited by your sharing. People who you share the link with DO NOT have to have YouTube accounts to watch the video.

There are many other video sharing sites and they all work in about the same way. There are a few differences and I will list the ones I know about and their differences here. It is not meant to be a comprehensive list, so if you have one to add it will be welcome.

Vimeo emphasizes quality and creativity. It was made by film makers and can work with HD video. There are Video classes on the site if you want to learn more.
Privacy: Public, Only Moderators can view (you need to enter their emails), Password Protected-people do not need an account, but need the password to view the video.
http://vimeo.com


YouTube created for schools. This has different settings for students and teachers allowing teachers to do more.
http://www.schooltube.com/

http://www.teachertube.com/
Similar to SchoolTube, but created with teachers in mind. Today when I looked at it the site was extremely slow, so I don't have privacy information.

Surprisingly I could not find a site for professors to upload their lectures. There are LOTS of sites where you can go and watch the top professors in the world lecture and there are online classes, but not an upload site! One other thing I learned is that you can actually watch MOVIES on YouTube. They cost $1.99

I am sure there are other sites out there, but these are the ones that I know about and that are FREE
I hope people will add comments if they know about other places.