I noticed that "refurbished" iPads were cheap, like $144, so I ordered one. That turned out to be a complete mistake. The Amazon rep that I called to complain was courtesy itself and he immediately had a replacement sent. Which also didn't work, but in a different way than the first one. It merely had "touchscreenitis" which is a condition where the touchscreen just fires off randomly. The first one would hang up during the bootup. So neither was useable. Plus I had spent several hours on the phone with tech support. At that point I simply gave up. There is no saving if you have to spend hours and hours on the phone.
But I had had just enough exposure to the tablet format to be really intrigued so finally I decided to look at non-Apple tablets since there are a million out there and they are reasonably priced. I am typing this post on a new Lenovo Tab 4 10, which is a 10.6 inch tablet with pretty good reviews. Miracle of miracles it worked right out of the box. I just now got a keyboard and case for it and, after seven or eight tries, actually managed to pair the keyboard. So I guess I am good to go.
What proved to be the most challenging was trying to figure out how a non-Apple tablet works. It is completely enslaved to Google, of course, and the Android operating system, which seems to mean that everything is really, really non-intuitive. With no explanations anywhere. I have been to "settings" twice now and I have no idea how to find it again! But hey, this seemingly quite useable tablet (once I figure it out) only cost $119. So that's a plus.
Now I want to add a nice musical clip as an envoi and I cannot see how to add a new tab so I can go to YouTube while still keeping this tab open. Ok, well I got to YouTube and found the video. Here is Grigory Sokolov playing Les Cyclopes by Rameau (largely because it was too frustrating to find something else--plus it is really lovely).
UPDATE: Here is that commercial with Salonen.
Don't you use the 'upload from YoutTube' feature that's there on the Blogger dashboard? you must not because otherwise you'd have no need to go to a new tab (if I understood the issue coprrectly). But if you had been using an Apple machine to blog with it's possible I suppose that Blogger-on-Apple doesn't provide the same functionalities as Blogger-on-PC (and on-Android or whatever Kindle uses). I'd never use the Kindle to write with simply because I don't have an external keyboard for it, not needing one for reading.
ReplyDeleteHi Marc, I am slowly figuring out the tablet. It is neither Apple nor WIndows, but an Android operating system, which is Google's system for smartphones (and tablets). I have used a couple of Chromebooks and been quite happy with them, so I am sure I will figure it out. I just need to get used to the touchscreen.
ReplyDeleteI don't upload anything on most of my posts, I just embed a video from YouTube. The only clips that are actually uploaded are of my performances and compositions because they are not on YouTube.
The Kindle I have, a PaperWhite, is just for reading. You can't write with it and there is just an on screen keyboard for doing searches.
Is there a reason to embed the YouTube videos rather than use the function in Blogger that uplaods them? The one that I've found is that the Blogger upload function doesn't discover everything in its search that there is be discovred if one approaches from YouTube itself (and then embeds in Blogger using HTML).
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure what you mean? In the new post window of Blogger there are three buttons that are relevant. One adds a link, one adds an image and the other adds a video. If you have the file you can upload to Blogger (which can take a while) which is what I do with my own clips. But most of the time I am simply inserting a YouTube video which usually you can embed. Sometimes Blogger won't turn up the clip I want so I have to just post the link.
ReplyDeleteI haven't tried to embed using HTML as that doesn't seem to be one of my skills! What is the process?
Ha; as is so often the case when Technology is at issue I'm probably not being clear.
ReplyDeleteThe new post window that I see here has a series of buttons, beginning at the left with Undo, Font, Text, and continuing, to the right, to Link, Insert Image, Insert Video, and so on.
(Above the Undo, Font, and Text buttons are those to choose Compose or HTML.)
When the Insert Video image is selected, one is presented with another window (Add a Video) where one has three choices: Upload, From YouTube, My YouTube videos. The last presumably uploads from the My Videos page at YouTube; never used it. Upload is for when one wants to upload from one's own computer, thumb-drive, whatever. From YouTube takes one to a search window for YouTube; search, choose from the list of videos, select and that video pops up in your new post window.
If the video wanted doesn't appear via that search, then at YouTube, presuming what's wanted is in fact there, one can click to get the embed code which one then pastes into the new post window having first changed from Compose to HTML: you can't add the embed code directly into the Compose window, it has to go into the HTML window, being code.
At least, that's how it works here. Maybe I'm missing something, maybe Blogger in Mexico is arranged differently.