Play-ing on a Saturday

It is another Saturday morning with the Chromebook.

I am listening to "Car Talk" on NPR.  I am in my sweatpants, and my computer is in my lap.

There is nothing on my mind this Saturday except play.  After a long week of work, I like to play on the weekend.  After a week of temperatures in the 70's with sunshine, it has cooled off and there is rain in the air, so it looks like indoor activities.

So, what can you do on the Chromebook without spending money?

Google Play.

Music

This was covered here: Sreaming Music on the Chromebook

Books

I love to read, and there are hundreds of free books that are available with a few clicks.  I discovered that a number of books that were required reading in college are available for free (seems that ancient texts are fair game to be republished).  For my clergy friends, Wesley's sermons and writings are here-free.  And if you ar into trashy novels, there s a great selection for free. (I think my parents would have loved this resource--they bought thousands of used paperbacks over the years for less than a quarter. That genre is here for free and they can easily be stacked on a tablet.)

Movies and TV

There are lots of free videos on the internet...YouTube is one of the easiest places to go.  Google Play has several hours of free videos available too.  Mostly documentaries and animation, but it is Saturday after all.  Why not a documentary about cybercrime? I just put The Most Dangerous Town on the Internet: Where Cybercrime Goes to Hide on my wishlist.

I saw a number of older TV shows that you can get episodes for free.

And though it is not free, there are lots of cheap movies and TV programs available in Google Play for less than $3 dollars.

Some of my friends would say that almost anything can be found online for free, including live sports, movies and all kinds of television and movies.  These websites tend to be riddled with pop-ups and viruses for Windows machines.  The Chromebook may be the best device to access these sites since the operating system is a browser and relatively difficult to destroy.

Newsstand

Most of what I found was for tablet readers only.  But there is an app for iPad and iPhone, and I was able to add a free magazine to my library and open it immediately on my tablet.  Even though the language in the store makes you think it is only available on Android devices, that is not the case.

I just added to my library: TIME: Nelson Mandela Commemorative Issue.

I think I will stay busy today.

Sunday Morning on Standard Time

Daylight Savings Time ended overnight.  My day just started, but it seems late already. Spring forward.

My regular pattern of getting up, showering and going to Sunday School was disrupted by a myriad of things, so I decided to drink some coffee at our local Starbucks (which amounts to a kiosk in a grocery store) and write a bit before I go to worship.

During many years as a pastor, this Sunday was always one of the worst of the year.  You lose an hour of sleep, you wake up a little jet-lagged, you show up to a congregation, and you quickly find out who didn't bother to change their clocks back (or you realize that many folks consider it a national holiday, and just don't get going).

It was on days like today that it would seem better to just phone it in.

And with the technology at our disposal, we could.

I personally don't recommend it for worship because I need to be in the presence of others when I make confession, when I pass the peace, and celebrate the sacraments.  Call me old-fashioned, but that's me.

On the other hand, I think of Christian education and formation as something that can be aided by technology. I think having a group of people in one space at a particular time is a good thing, but it is not the only way that education happens.

Over the years, I have done all kinds of things for classes and groups that I was leading when I was out of town or involved in another meeting.  Rather than postponing the class, or getting off of the lesson plan, I would create ways for the class to study the material without me being there.

Some examples:

• On numerous occasions, I videotaped (this was before digital media) me teaching or introducing the topic, and then giving directions for discussion.  My adult classes were very appreciative of this, and often said that the discussions were some of the best they had experienced at church.
• I have shared a "lesson plan" or a set of discussion questions with another member of the group who carried out a discussion during that group time.  I would make it a point to call or email the group during the week and get their feedback.
• I have called into a class or meeting and started the discussion by cell phone, and tried to participate from afar by conference call. This can be done using FaceTime, Google Hangouts, Skype or other means.
• Using Google Hangouts or Zoom, it would be easy to meet with the same small group without any of us being in the same place at the same time.  I have experienced a group Bible Study with 15 people using a paid conference call app.  It was not without its flaws, but we all met together without spending hundreds of miles on the road between us on Tuesday night.
• I have used free websites (Blogger, WordPress) as a depository of all of a class's discussions, a place to post links to articles and supplementary materials, and a discussion board. One might miss a class, but they could not say that they didn't know what was discussed at the last meeting.

This was low level technology that I have used over the last 20 years.  Imagine the possibilities if we harnessed the best of today's technology for Christian formation. (That's just what I plan to do in the coming months as a part of this experiment.)

Taking Notes with Google Keep

It's Saturday, and late afternoon is time for a little writing, and taking notes.

When I am on the Mac, I use their default program- Notes.  It works across all of my Apple devices.  Take notes on the iPhone, and they show up on the MacBook and the iPad.  It has been pretty seamless. They added the ability to add pictures and drawings with one of their updates, but for the most part the app is plain, and just works.

Google has its own app for similar functions- Keep. I tried it first on my Chromebook and then downloaded the app on my iPhone and then on the iPad.  It syncs notes quickly and on demand on all devices.  Sometimes with the Apple devices, notes have a lag time, and sometime trying to manually sync the notes doesn't get results. It was a welcome surprise to see notes on one device appearing on the others almost instantaneously in Keep, and without fail.

What does Google Keep do?  Most everything you would hope a note taking app to do.

On the Chromebook desktop, it does not have the same capabilities as it does on an iPhone or Android, but it has these basics:

• You can take typed notes as easily as you can create a document, but it does not have any formatting options that I can tell. (Using keyboard combinations, I can add bold, italics and underlines on the MacBook)
• You can give any note a title, or leave it without a title.
• You can give the note a color using one of the seven pastel colors available.  You can filter notes by color in a search.  This can be a very useful feature if you organize and color code as a habit.
• You can give the note a label and you can filter your notes by a label.
• You can add an image to the note.
• You can add a reminder to the note and you will get a notification on all of your devices at the scheduled time.  I like this feature, because on the iPhone, the Notes app and the Reminders app are separate functions.
• You can also add a checklist to a note that you can use for keeping track of finished tasks, or a shopping list. I can see this as a cool feature if a team is sharing a note with a checklist. (see below)
• Also, you can share a note directly with another person in the Google system (it may work outside the system, but I have not been able to confirm yet).  It will show up in their email and in their own Keep app.  Seems very useful if you have a team sharing notes and checklists.
• You can also copy a note to Google Docs and can begin a new document from that note.  It will also copy over images from the note.

It has a few more features on iOS and Android devices.

• On a phone you have the ability to use voice to dictate notes (and you can share that audio file between phones, but the audio file does not get shared on the laptop).  The dictation feature is very accurate and I think it will be useful in the future.  I can imagine dictating notes in Keep and adding them easily to an article or blog.
• On a phone you can take a photo and add it to a note which is immediately available on other devices using Keep.
• On an Android, you can share a drawing on the phone with other devices.  It is not an option with the iPhone/iPad at this time.

So, this app is a keeper.

Streaming Music with the Chromebook

A must in my work space is a way to stream music.  It is the compliment to much writing and website management.

Over the years, I have used a little bit of everything with my Mac--iTunes, Spotify, Pandora, Rdio, TuneIn, and Amazon--I have been using the Chrome browser on y Mac since its beginning.

I can truthfully say that I never used Google Play that much. After all, how many streaming sites do you need through the day?

With the new Chromebook, I made a decision to give it a full test.

First step, I uploaded some of my music from iTunes to Google play using the Music Manager program.  It was a simple download and an easy process that works behind the scenes.

I discovered just how much music I have in the Cloud, so I downloaded a dozen albums to my Mac, activated Music Manager and uploaded those albums to Google Play.

I got what I wanted transferred easily, and began playing my own music without a glitch.

Google Play also has streaming radio channels that are quite eclectic, and much like Pandora, will play a mixture of music similar to the artist that you choose.

The app figured out quickly what I listen to based on my own music, and gave me a dozen choices to choose from (James Taylor Radio, Lyle Lovett Radio, Jackson Brown Radio, etc.)

I can easily find another genre if I choose. So far, I like the selections of Google Play better than Pandora, but sometimes I wish I had the choice to listen to whole albums like I do on Spotify.

Best of all, I have access to the other apps that I use regularly- Pandora and Spotify.

With my Chromebook docked with the external monitor and a cheap sound system plugged into the audio out n the monitor, I am getting excellent audio that rivals anything that came out of the Mac.

Summary- The Chromebook does an excellent job of streaming music, Google Play is an excellent and inexpensive option for listening to music. I can use all of the other music apps just as easily. I am at work and surrounded by music that I love. Enough said.

Sunday Morning with Chromebook

I make no secret of my history and background.  You can see my whole job history here.

I have worked in the church for much of the last 38 years.  I've had other jobs too, but the church keeps calling me back. Currently, I am not a pastor, but I make my living doing Web & Communications work for the church.

The Bible has been a big part of my life.  I read it, study it, refer to it on a regular basis.  In older days, I carried it in book form.  I wore out any number of copies through the years.

Now I carry numerous copies on my phone, and use the You Version app.  The Chrome Web Store has a browser version of the app.

It has a few more capabilities than the mobile version, it is easier to read, and fairly easy to use all of its tools.  The app is quite portable and user friendly.  More and more of my friends in ministry choose to use apps like this as they lead their congregations.

I could see using the Chromebook as a regular part of a Sunday School/Christian Education program in a local church or community. The possibilities are huge for people of all ages to use technology for regular learning.  I can imagine some customized apps that could be tailored to a congregation/class and as easy as the Chromebook is to use and manipulate, it wouldn't be just the 18 and under crowd that would find it helpful. (I had a complimentary idea a few years back that might be worth exploring)

This Sunday, I am going to read the Bible on my Chromebook.

Saturday Morning with Chromebook

It is Saturday morning and the Chromebook is on my lap.

Most Saturday mornings are fairly lazy, when there isn't a work event to attend to.

My preferred Saturday morning is to spend time listening to NPR from 9 am to noon.  Weekend Edition, followed by Car Talk, and then Wait, Wait Don't Tell Me.

Sometimes I play it through my smart TV app- Tune In, sometime it is on the NPR iPad app, this morning was a day for the Chromebook.

There is an app in the Chrome Web Store called NPR Infinite Player.  It takes you to the website- NPR One, which also is an iPhone app.  It is easy to sign on as a user, and have access to news features and your local NPR station stream.

So I have tried listening to my three hours of radio in a number of ways on the Chromebook...with the speakers on the laptop, with headphones plugged in, and through my Bluetooth sound system.

The speakers are a little tinny and not as high quality as my MacBook speakers.  They will do in a pinch, but they are not a true multi-media experience.

The headphone quality was good.  Richer than the speakers, but then I can't get more that a foot or so from the laptop.  I am not carrying my laptop to the bathroom.

My favorite by far is using Bluetooth.  Rich, stereo sound with excellent connection.  I would guess that this will cut down on battery life, but it is effective.

So, here's to the Chromebook and a little leisure.