#91 Fun with Photos- part 3 of 3- You ought to be in pictures

1.FotoFlexer, mentioned in the first post, has effects similar to BeFunky and BigHugeLabs. Choose a photo to edit in FotoFlexer and either BeFunky or BigHugeLabs (Cartoonizer, Warholizer, etc). Compare the two. Were the results the same? Do you have a preference?
I took a photo of the Dome and played with different effects. I liked this image the best. It was done using Stencil which gives sort of a grainy old fashioned photo look. I took the same picture and played with FotoFlexer until I found a blueprint effect. I like both of them.

2.Use one of the image generators to spiff up a profile picture. You can search Pho.to or FaceInHole for different scenarios - be creative with your search! Share your newly generated image on your blog.

Okay, so I tried all these and played with putting my head in the FaceInHole's Monet. It didn't look very good. I tried some cartoon characters like Santa and an Elf. Pho.to was not as easy to use and I never could get the zombie one to load my photo. But I did go back to BeFunky and had fun re-imaging myself. Here I am.

#90 You ought to be in pictures- Sharing Photos

Exercises

1.Watch the video for an overview of photo sharing. I watched the video on photo sharing. I watched it twice because she spoke so fast I couldn't understand what she was saying the first round through.

2.If you aren't familiar with any of these sites, browse through the public areas and their features or tours.
Flickr: I went through the guided tour on Flickr.
Photobucket:I toured Photobucket's "about us" section. The photos on the home page didn't look like anything I would want. I clicked on Happy Birthday to found more drawings and cartoons than photos. I couldn't see the slide show information without registering.
Picasa: I watched the video about how the Picasa web album works explaining tagging photos and how it can recognize similar faces-just plan weird. Picasa is part of Google so they had my email already listed.
Facebook: I restarted my Facebook account in order to complete this assignment.

3.What features are important to you when sharing your photos? Are privacy or copyright/creative commons options important to you? Which site do you prefer?
Privacy of my photographs is important. The information connected to the photograph concerns me more. Copyright is only important if I were going to publish the photo or use it for a presentation. Acknowledging the photographer or source is important to remember.

#89 You ought to be in pictures-basic photo editing

1.Upload a photo to Picnik, Photoshop or Fotoflexer. Use at least one editing feature (red-eye fix, cropping, sharpening, resizing, etc.) and one creating feature (framing, adding text, touching up, captions, etc.). Post the edited photo on your blog.
I tried to use red-eye on one of my photo's and ended up with a very dark face- looked more like a burglar. Then I never could get it moved from Picnik to my blog. I did play with the editing techniques , just was not able to figure out how to move it to my blog. Using Fotoflex I was able to edit the photo of woman telling a story at Garner State Park. I sort of erased or colored over their styrophone cups using the color marking and then added the window with text.

2.Which photo editing features are important for your use? Which of the listed sites would best meet your photographic needs? Post your answer in your blog.

The photo editing features important would be the red eye and maybe sizing. It would take more playing time for me to become proficient in this and see which site is the most helpful. It was a major operation just loading them on the blog.

#88 The Web according to Google: Wave, Buzz and Mobile

1.How do you think you could use Google Wave or Buzz for collaboration?
Yes when I am trying to get a time and place to have dinner with my friends. This would streamline the results immediately instead of calling each or even emailing each and then waiting for them to respond.
Do you currently use any online collaboration tools? No

2.Read a little about one or two of the Google Mobile apps available for mobile phones. Which ones do you think you would use the most and how? I would use google earth. It is great for finding out what a building looks like if you are traveling. I signed up for the calendar which might be helpful also.

3.Make a post in your blog with your answers.
I have chosen to copy the question and just type in my answers. It seems easier and faster than chatting about my experience.

#87 Google Cont.- Google Reader

1.Take the tour or sign-up and try the service out. Do you currently use a feed reader? If so which one do you use? Yes, Bloglines. Would you switch to Google Reader if you don't already use it? Why or why not? Yes, it looks like it would be easier to search through and delete without opening up each entry.

2.Take a look at some of your favorite sites. Do they have feeds? If they do, subscribe to one of the feeds. Hint: Our website has feeds.
I usually use the web to find information and have not felt a need to know about web site updates. I didn't see a link on either Texas Parks and Wildlife site or Houston Audubon. Both have a place to sign up for email alerts.

#86 Google Cont. Calendar and Documents

1.Create a calendar in Google Calendar and try adding some events or tasks to it.
I created a calendar for my work email and entered my ihcpl training time. I also gave myself a reminder to not forget to watch Lost on Tuesday night at 8pm.
How do you think you would use Google Calendar in the workplace or at home? I don't see how this could replace my calendar I keep in my purse because I don't have Internet access on my phone or a mobile device and I do not have text on my cell phone. At home I could use it if I want to access the Internet at home, which is really not very practical for me. Unless I bought a laptop, my PC is not very fast or accessible.
Do you think you would find it helpful to share calendars with coworkers, friends, or family? Yes, sharing a calendar might be helpful. At work we already share calendar. This takes a certain amount of discipline to fill in all upcoming events which right now may not be important enough to go to the trouble of logging on and filling out.

2.Try creating a file Google Docs and uploading one from your computer. I uploaded two files, one made it the other didn't. I never received a "save" message but the last one is still there. Not sure what I did wrong. I uploaded one of my Continuation spreadsheets which are quite large.
Can you see yourself using Google Docs in addition to or instead of a desktop office application? Why or why not? This might be helpful for seeing files to view at home or sending to others who may not have excel. I don't have excel at home but it looks like I could still be able to view this file at home through my Google account.

#85-Web according to Google: Resistance is futile

1.What Google products do you use on a regular basis?
Google earth and the search engine.Why do you use them and what makes them better than a competing product? I use google earth because it is easy to use and very fast. Unlike some maps it doesn't require a number of layers that confuse me and are hard to figure out. By just putting in an address you can see an aerial shot and then by clicking on the little man you can see the street view.

2.Check out Google Labs. Did you see any new products that you want to try? Yes, I would like to try the Google Chrome as a web browser. The google books product I had seen before but it has added many more books and magazines.

3.Search or browse Google Books. Do they have the book or magazine you looked for? Yes, I first looked for crib notes for the Scarlet Letter. It was easy to find. Did you find any gems? I did a search for Waldon by Henry David Thoreau. I was surprised to see magazines with the same title . They had the 1854 edition of Waldon from the Stanford Library. The reproduction even included the binding cover in color. How can this be used in the library? I specifically looked up Scarlet Letter because we often had students searching for cliff notes at the last minute and our two copies were not on the shelf. This is an easy alternative.