While I have done a piece before on the tablet, I thought that maybe with the Christmas season being over now, it might be appropriate to revisit the venerable tablet. Maybe some folks got a tablet for Christmas, and are still figuring out what they can do with it.
I have a tablet, and so does Joan, and they get a lot of use. Ours are about 18 m0nths old now, and are still going strong. They get used to play games, and read books for the most part, but I can check email and go on the web, but with my desktop nearby, I find that the desktop is easier.
Depending on where you live and what make of tablet you have, you can get library books delivered to your computer, the only requirement is that you possess a valid library card. In some jurisdictions this may be free, but in Calgary it is $12.00 or $9.00 if you are a senior. Once you have a card, all you need to do for a book is to go on line, and get connected to your library. There is one more step to do, and that is you will need to download the free reader (Overdrive) from the library. This app, and it will show up as an app on your tablet, will facilitate the download of books, keep them on your bookshelf, and help with the delete process or return should you decide to. The process is simple really.
If you fail to have a tablet and would like to read a library book on your desktop or laptop, you can follow the same steps. All books are described as EPub, and can be taken out for 21 days at which time they are automatically returned to the library. Hey look, no more late fees! The Calgary library limits you to having a maximum of 50 books at any one time. Incidentally they also offer something called an Audio Book, and they are quite plentiful often outnumbering the regular EPub books. Plug in your ear buds and listen to the book!
Authors and titles are being added daily, so there is always something for everyone. Remember that you need Overdrive to do all this.
When I first got my tablet, it took me a while but I refused to buy books, and I downloaded the freebies. The tablet providers want to sell you books however, and they do not make it easy to find free ones from your library. Even the library didn’t have one of my favourite writers, Louis L ‘Amour for the longest time, now they have a lot of titles, Same thing for Tony Hillerman
The font size can be changed if you need that, the screen can be altered very easily to let you read in bed at night so that the brightness is reduced and you partner will not be disturbed. The night screen can also be set to white on black for even less glare.
It is pretty easy to synchronise your computer with the tablet so that the same calendar is used on both, and if data is changed on one, it changes on both of them. A free app called Drop Box works very well and is easy to use. It also operates across all platforms! Evernote is another useful app, that will work across all platforms. These will synchronise your tablet, desk top and your laptop. All your devices will have the same information! Pretty cool really, and all you need to do is download the free app to one device and it will appear on all of them!
I found the first one thing by accident when I had uploaded a number of photos to Picasa on Google, a few days later I wondered what some of the icons on the screen would do, so I touched Gallery and there were all the photos I had uploaded to Google!
I am not as well versed in the Mac I Pad, and if you have one of these, while I suspect it will work similarly, you might have to do a bit of finagling to get it to work.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
I do not fear computers. I fear the lack of them.
Isaac Asimov
EXIT LAUGHING
A young ventriloquist is touring Norway and puts on a show in a small fishing town: With his dummy on his knee, he starts going through his usual dumb blonde jokes.
Suddenly, a blonde woman in the fourth row stands on her chair and starts shouting, "I’ve heard enough of your stupid blonde jokes. What makes you think you can stereotype Norwegian blonde women that way? What does the colour of a woman’s hair have to do with her worth as a human being? It’s men like you who keep women like me from being respected at work and in the community, and from reaching our full potential as people.
Its people like you that make others think that all blondes are dumb! You and your kind continue to perpetuate discrimination against not only blondes, but women in general, pathetically all in the name of humour!"
The embarrassed ventriloquist begins to apologize, and the blonde yells: "You stay out of this! …… I’m talking to that little shit on your lap."
Have a Great Day, and be nice to one another
Ross 
Gmman5585's Blog 