Why not an iPad – it is more popular and has better “apps” – no need for research? Although I admire the creative and innovative nature of Apple products I am opposed to its closed eco system – an Apple product is always tethered to other Apple products and software. What’s more the iPad is just so limited with its ports and expansion possibilities.  Interestingly Apple’s innovative and creative approach is denied to its users.  My techie background was always going to demand a more flexible device, a more open eco system and more choice generally.

So what were my criteria:

1. To “surf the net”, read and respond to emails, and create web-site posts.
2. Basic editing and resizing of photos on my camera SD card
3. Basic editing of Microsoft Word/Excel/Powerpoint documents and reading PDF files from my “memory stick” if required
4. Not to cost an “arm and a leg”

You’ll notice that “gaming” and movie watching didn’t make the list. This list seems quite clear and straightforward to me – now!  It took all my research over many weeks to arrive at this list, it isn’t always easy. During this research I found the websites of MobileTechReview, TechRadar and The Verge very useful. Importantly, you must apply your own criteria to their reviews to end up with a device best suited to your needs. I also used the power and flexibility of Google Alerts to let me know what was happening in the Tablet world.

So what did this mean?

• A 10.1″ screen – big enough to comfortably read/edit documents and allow my pudgy fingers to operate the device
• A USB port and an SD card slot – I didn’t want to be carrying extra cables and connectors
• The ability to use an external keyboard as required

Any strict application of this criteria culls the field considerably. It rules out devices from Apple, Samsung and Acer etc. Basically, it left the Asus Transformer TF101 and the Toshiba Tablet AT100. I thought the products from Lenovo were too expensive.

So was it to be the Toshiba or the Asus?  To use the Asus to the full potential I would need the keyboard attached.  Of course the keyboard  is the Asus’s greatest asset: doubling the battery life and adding the full USB and SD card slot.

In the end the answer was quite obvious to me: I wanted to use the full potential of the tablet in the most unencumbered manner.  This meant the Toshiba.I do admit that I would’ve loved the screen on the Asus but something had to give!

Addictively, there are many accessories to support the Toshiba: an external keyboard, a combined case/stand, port dock, screen protector etc, and I’m doing my best not to buy all of them. I suspect I’ll fail.

At the moment I haven’t had the opportunity to use the Toshiba to what i think is its full capacity but I have allocated an hour a day to do so and hopefully I can write about that in the future.

As I have mentioned before, I am on a journey – a transition to retirement – from full-time consultancy in international development assistance to becoming a writer about project monitoring and my increased holiday travel. I felt I had basic business-writing skills to support this new direction, but not necessarily adequate travel writing skills.  I had spent many years researching, developing, writing and submitting tenders, but were these the skills I needed? I decided I needed to do some training.

Fortunately, I discovered the Sydney Writers’  Centre. Over a period of some 10 months I completed quite a few courses which helped me figure out what skills I possessed and what I needed to learn.  The courses I completed were:

• Professional business writing (gave me confidence in my existing skills)
• Writing for the web (provided a good insight into the nature of writing for the web)
• Magazine writing stage 1 – online (very useful course that provided a broad range of skills)
• Travel memoir (really challenging course – caused me to rethink my writing future)
• Sell your eBook on Amazon (really good overview – too short)
• Travel writing (really enjoyed this course and it restored my confidence after the travel memoir course)

G’day, I’ve just uploaded my first eBook to Amazon entitled “Four Days in Barcelona“. It has been a very enjoyable and interesting experience.

In this 20 page article I discuss our four day trip to Barcelona.  The article presents a day-by-day account of the tours taken; fast facts about notable aspects of the trip; the itinerary; planning notes; and resources used.  Selected photos from our trip are also included.

The tours included: Afternoon Tapas Tour (Walking); Gourmet Tour (Walking); The Gaudí Tour (Bus); Montjuic & Panarama Tour (Bus); Picasso Tour (Walking); Trixi Tour (Pedicab); La Ramblas; and the Hop-on/Hop-off tourism bus.

Fast facts regarding Barcelona, La Ramblas, Gaudí, Tapas, Tour costs and Our accommodation are dispersed throughout the article.

The Trixi Tour (Pedicab), Gaudi Tour (Bus), Picasso Museum (Walking), and Tapas Tour (Walking) were the highlights of the trip.  The Gourmet Food Tour and the Montjuïc and Panoramic Tour were disappointments.  The article also discusses lessons learned from this type of trip.

Icons visited during the trip included: La Ramblas, La Boqueria Market, Sagrada Familia, Park Gűell, Picasso Museum, Poble Espanyol, Placa de Catalunya, Gothic Quarter, La Ribera, Placa Sant Felip Neri, La Placa del Rei, Placa Reial, and Placa Sant Jaume.

(Article:  7,420 Words)

Kate Harper’s ebook has helped me use Word to prepare my article for the Kindle.  More specifically I have been able to use a simple Table of Contents; insert pictures (with correct size and resolution); ensure no gaps appear in the text; insert page breaks; insert bulleted lists; use simple formatting such as italics, bold, and underline; and make font changes. Finally, I have been able to email the document to my free kindle email address to confirm the layout of the article. The article is about 7,500 words and this simple approach works well.

Kate Harper’s background as an adult educator is evident in the way material is presented. The instructions are easy to read and understand, and the graphics are clear.  The topics include: articles, kindle formatting, covers, pricing, pictures,  links, resource lists, the first 10%, Amazon store description, Author information, and ways to sell.  At 99 cents this ebook is excellent value for money.

I purchased the Nokia D3100 for three main reasons: (i) the camera was an entry level DSLR; (ii) the camera has a guide feature to help beginners like myself; and the clincher (iii) the camera had the facility to take a GPS unit.  John Harrison (owner, instructor) recommended the Tamron lens.  I wanted a GPS feature so I knew where each photo was taken.  Previously, I have looked back over photos taken several years ago and struggled to remember exactly where they were taken. This is especially the case with countryside and canal photos.

On our recent holiday to Barcelona, London, Scotland, Cotswold and narrowboating on the Trent and Mersey canal, my new photography equipment worked really well.  I must practice around home so I can move the controls off automatic next time! I found the Jobo GPS unit very easy to use. The battery unit in the Nokia seems to last a very long time – most impressed.

So far I am very happy with the purchase and I am looking forward to learning more about the equipment.

So I turned to WordPress.  At first I installed WordPress using Fantastico on my host server’s cPanel. This installed version 3.1 and I had a lot of trouble with memory errors. In the end I manually upgraded to version 3.2.1 which wasn’t that difficult – I just followed their guidelines. I initially used the Twenty Eleven 1.2 Theme but found it quite restrictive after having the flexibility of Joomla!.  So I searched the WordPress themes and settled on the Clear Line 1.0.7 theme.

This theme has a lot of options hence flexibility. So I am working with this theme for the moment. I’ll see how it goes.