Picasa 3: The best gets better

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Picasa is the best software you can have on your computer for managing all those digital photos you take as you travel! I say that because it does everything you need to do:

1. Transfer photos from camera to computer
2. Organize your photos on your computer
3. Make them look better with simple editing tools
4. Single-click easy to email, print, or make a free website
5. Backs up all your photos to CD/DVD

It does all this fast, easy, *and* it’s free. What more could you ask for?

Well, people have been asking for the ability to print text on top of a photo, they’ve been asking for a way to print multiple photos on one page and manually place them on the page wherever you want. Or how about better slide shows?, or editing out blemishes on peoples faces?, or tighter integration with your web album?

All these things and more are now included in the new release of Picasa called Picasa 3. It’s in Beta, which means they’re at the end of the development stage but not quite finished. When you use Beta software, it’s always recommend to make a backup of your system first. Picasa 3 is only available for Windows. The Linux version is 2.7 and there is no Macintosh version … yet.

I’ll write more about Picasa 3 once I’ve worked with it some more. Meanwhile, watch this video about the greatly improved Collage feature. I’d love to hear from any of you that do scrapbooking. How does this compare to what you’re using now?

If you have any problem viewing that high resolution one, below is the Youtube version:

Chris Guld
www.GeeksOnTour.com
Computer Education for Travelers

Okay, Tire Experts: Were You Right?

In a recent RV.net blog post (Okay, Tire Experts: What’s Wrong With Our Tire?) we discussed our mysterious tire wear. One of our tires has been rapidly wearing out on the inside, in a pattern suspiciously reminiscent of crop circles. What was causing this strange phenomenon?

A number of theories were offered, including bad tires, bent rims, warped axles, and space aliens. Well, we’ve hauled our RV across the desert to a group of trailer axle experts, and today we report on what we found. Read more

Locked Out of Our RV! (And Loving It)

Airstream RV Blog #79 - Locked Out … And Lovin’ It! from Sean Michael on Vimeo.

Okay, so it finally happened to us. We managed to lock ourselves out of our RV.

“How on earth did this happen,” you ask? (And yes, I can hear you snickering.)

Read more

Camping on Route 66

America is replete with family owned RV campgrounds. Some of these parks have been in operation for decades. The best deliver not only a pleasant camping environment, but also a sense of history. You get more than a good night’s rest. You get a cultural experience. Read more

Confessions of a Wal-Mart Camper

Airstream RV Blog #76 - Wal-Mart Camping from Sean Michael on TheLongLongHoneymoon.com.

Q: How many times have you camped in a Wal-Mart parking lot?
A: I’m not sure exactly. Maybe a dozen.

Q: Is it safe?
A: Yes, as far as I can tell. I’ve never felt threatened in a Wal-Mart parking lot. At times, I’ve even seen private security making their rounds, and thus felt an extra layer of protection. Most Wal-Marts have security cameras running at all times.

On the other hand, Read more

RV Marvels - I Madonnari Street Painting Festival

Prepare to be amazed as you tag along with me as I spend the day at the I Madonnari Street Painting Festival in Santa Barbara.

Happy Travels!

Okay, Tire Experts: What’s Wrong With Our Tire?

Airstream RV Blog #73 - Tire Issues from Sean Michael on Vimeo.

In a little over a year of ownership, we’ve had three flat tires on our RV.

The first occurred in Myers Flat, California. We were camping in one of the prettiest private campgrounds in California’s redwood forests. Our tire died in the middle of the night. We woke up the next morning, and it was just…gone. It didn’t even leave a note. Thankfully, one nice feature of a towable trailer like an Airstream is that you can safely tow short distances even with one flat tire. There was a tire shop right outside our campground, and we were soon up and running.
Read more

Is your RV Properly Insured?

As everybody is aware, any time you purchase something like an RV it is a major investment. Like any other major investment i.e., your home or automobiles, you need to protect your investment. The most logical way to protect these major investments is to insure them against unforeseen events or accidents.

Many years ago, when I was an RV sales manager, I was surprised at the lack of information available to assist in educating the RV consumer on properly insuring their RV. Most people who purchased an RV would simply add their new RV to their current automobile insurance policy. If you purchased a motorized RV there are many elements of your automobile insurance that relate to your RV, but there are many other insurance related matters that won’t be covered by an auto policy.

This is why it is extremely important that you understand the specific insurance needs that your new RV purchase requires to be properly protected and insured. As a sales manager I would attempt to educate each individual on these unique insurance coverage requirements, but this didn’t help all of the other RV consumers who weren’t educated on RV insurance.

In an effort to help educate RV consumers everywhere we teamed up with our partners at National Interstate Insurance Company and Explorer RV Insurance Agency to produce some free video clips on RV insurance related matters. RV insurance is not the most exciting or entertaining topic, especially for video, but if you own an RV it should be required viewing, just to make sure you are properly protected. We buy RV’s to get away from everything and explore this beautiful country we live in and nothing can ruin that experience quicker than finding out you don’t have the right coverage when you need it.

We currently have three RV insurance video clips covering all kinds of RV insurance information and coverage. This video clip is titled, International Traveler’s RVing in North America 

All three of the RV insurance clips are available for viewing at the RV Insurance Corner of our web site at www.rveducation101.com

Happy Camping,

Mark Polk

RV Education 101

 

Reducing Fuel Usage: Option or Necessity?

By Bob Difley
“This year’s record-shredding spike in gasoline prices has finally ended,” says the San Francisco Chronicle in an article last Tuesday (July 29), “with prices falling by more than a penny per day.” Data from the US Energy Information Administration showed that American drivers used 3.2% less gasoline in the last four weeks than during the same period last year. The AAA Auto Club found that 1.3 fewer Americans traveled during the 4th of July weekend than a year ago, the first time travel has dropped in a decade on major holiday weekends. “Consumers have definitely sent a message,” said an AAA spokesperson.

Could it be that the lesson of supply and demand we learned in Economics 101 really works? Don’t rush out to buy that 40-foot diesel pusher just yet, however. Oil prices, being an international commodity, will rise and fall on rumors, fluctuating demand, threats of disruption to oil fields from terrorists, severe weather, interpretations of new events, statements by the political candidates, and the whims of oil futures speculators to name a few. An economics professor at Carnegie Mellon University says that oil could swing anywhere from $50 a barrel during a global recession to $250 if we end up at war with Iran. But the underlying force that will ultimately drive oil prices is the rising consumption of energy and oil of the emerging nations of India and China, whose billion plus populations want the quality of life that we have, including an automobile in every garage.

Read more

Niagara Falls and Photo Story 3

You can’t visit Niagara Falls without taking lots of pictures! It is just so magnificent. We were just there and did just that! So, how best to show all those photos? I choose Photo Story 3. It’s a free program from Microsoft and I’ve written about it in this previous article. After making the movie, I then uploaded it to Google Video so it can be shared with the world. You can do it too! This video took me less than 15 minutes.

Chris Guld
www.GeeksonTour.com

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