There’s a good reason one of my nicknames is ‘GeekGirl’ (or Grandma Geek!) – I love my tech toys and software! Rob just sighs and rolls his eyes as he calculates the added weight of my laptop, pocket camera, backup hard drives, USB thumb drives, printer, iPad, Kindle and so on and so on…

Future DVDs will feature a new segment on “Marg’s Tech(nology) Tips” (couldn’t let Rob hog the Tech Tips, could I??? If you want to ask any questions or tell me about neat new stuff, fire away!

[Note: I’m NOT an expert in information technology or computers… I just like playing with all these things.]

Cheers
Marg

Hi Marg Can you tell me what internet system you are using while your travelling, eg: wireless broadband, satelite ect. We will be doing the same thing next year and taking 2 years to look around.
Cheers
hope to hear from you soon
cheryl

WONGA, take your email address out of the post mate, and put it in your profile
where only members can see them, you are leaving yourself open to spam mail attack put it where the whole world (literally) can see it.
Frank

Thanks

Hi Cheryl,

We switched to using the BigPond Home Gateway (NextG wireless internet) six months before we started travelling. We like it because we can use it both at home and on the road… all we have to do is unplug it from home and plug it in in the caravan!

We use the Home Gateway because we can network both my laptop and Rob’s to the internet and printer. (When we use the USB modem we can’t both access the internet at the same time.)

We also have a prepaid Telstra NextG dongle (USB modem) as a backup, so if we know we’re going to be staying in free camps or on unpowered sites we can still use the internet.

We have a printer cabinet built into the caravan with a power point behind the printer. (Since the printer is wireless, we don’t have to have a cable linking it to the computer.)

Here’s a picture of the BigPond Home Gateway:



Cheers
Marg

Hi Niva,

Well, I’m nowhere near as cluey as you are when it comes to technology… but I can see we are on the same wavelength here! I would much rather browse a Harvey Norman Computer Superstore catalogue than one from a jewellery store. I always want the next generation of hardware and software! Hopeless…

You know what I love? That I can download books from Amazon to my Kindle AND to my iPad. Then… if I read a book on my Kindle in sunlight outside, then switch to my iPad at night, it syncs the versions on both. I open my iPad… and the book opens exactly where I left off on the Kindle! Magic. (I shared this exciting info with Rob and he gave me a tolerant smile while he got that ‘tell someone who cares’ look in his eyes… then wandered off to check the tyres on the van or something. Humph.)

Meanwhile, like you, I tend to be the first port of call for my sons if they want to know something about computers (except for No. 1 son who works in IT). The other three phone up and ask me things like “How do I get the photos off my camera onto the computer? Then how do I burn them to a CD?”

My 7-year old grandson is, of course, a whiz. He plays World of Warcraft on a dedicated keyboard.

We must catch up on the road and bore our husbands stupid while we enthuse about our tech toys!

Cheers
Marg

Rob & Marg wrote:Hi Niva,

Well, I’m nowhere near as cluey as you are when it comes to technology… but I can see we are on the same wavelength here! I would much rather browse a Harvey Norman Computer Superstore catalogue than one from a jewellery store. I always want the next generation of hardware and software! Hopeless…

You know what I love? That I can download books from Amazon to my Kindle AND to my iPad. Then… if I read a book on my Kindle in sunlight outside, then switch to my iPad at night, it syncs the versions on both. I open my iPad… and the book opens exactly where I left off on the Kindle! Magic. (I shared this exciting info with Rob and he gave me a tolerant smile while he got that ‘tell someone who cares’ look in his eyes… then wandered off to check the tyres on the van or something. Humph.)

Meanwhile, like you, I tend to be the first port of call for my sons if they want to know something about computers (except for No. 1 son who works in IT). The other three phone up and ask me things like “How do I get the photos off my camera onto the computer? Then how do I burn them to a CD?”

My 7-year old grandson is, of course, a whiz. He plays World of Warcraft on a dedicated keyboard.

We must catch up on the road and bore our husbands stupid while we enthuse about our tech toys!

Cheers
Marg

Hi Marg, I’m stuck at home waiting for my new caravan . What is a kindle?

Hi Billy the Kid,

A Kindle is an e-book reader that you can buy from Amazon.com. You can download books from their website onto the Kindle and read it inside or outside (it’s not like a computer screen that is almost impossible to read in bright sunlight… it uses e-ink, which can be read easily outside.)

You don’t have to sign up for an internet account when you buy a Kindle, either… Amazon use their ‘Whispernet’ service to let you access their website, browse, and download books.

You can download a sample of any book you’re interested in to see whether you like it… very handy!

You can read more about the Kindle here:

http://www.amazon.com/Kindle-Wireless-R … B002FQJT3Q

When are you expecting your new caravan? That’s exciting!

Cheers
Marg