"Do you know of any free, easy-to-use blog-type websites?" my niece asked, before heading for Costa Rica. "Google Slides," I said.
That may sound like a funny choice. Google Slides is typically used for PowerPoint-type presentations. But there's no reason it can't also be used for travel blogs. The recommended blog-creation tools, even the "kid-friendly" ones, are far more complicated than they need to be. My niece agreed. "I know Google Slides," she said, "but I didn't think to use it as a travel blog. That's a good idea."
On a computer, go to slides.google.com and click on the blank presentation at the top, or on the "photo album" template. If you choose the photo album, you'll get a traditional scrapbook layout, allowing you to swap out Google's photos and texts for your own.
Whether starting from scratch or using a template, go to the "Insert" menu at the top of the screen. From there, you can insert photos, videos, music, voice recordings, text, animations, art and more. If you get confused, click "help" and type in what you want to do. Google practically does it for you. There's also a free Google Slides app for the phone, but I find it hard to manipulate tiny images and text.
When you're finished, click the word "share" to send a link by email or text to your friends. Be sure to change the link's default setting. Under "General Access," next to the word "Restricted," click the tiny arrow and change to "anyone with the link." Otherwise, your recipients will have problems opening it. Remind them to go to the "View" menu at the top of the screen and choose "Slideshow" to see it at its best.
Even after sharing your link, you can keep adding to your Google Slides scrapbook or blog. Your audience will automatically see the latest version whenever they click on it. But you can also re-send the link whenever you make an addition, to remind them it's up there. As long as your Google account is never deleted, it should last basically forever. And you can print it out.
AMAZINGLY GOOD TOOTHBRUSH
Normally I don't include electric toothbrushes in my technology coverage. But a new one, the Hanasco "Sonic Electric," for $33 on Amazon, makes my teeth feel astonishingly clean, better than the much more expensive Oral B.
A dental-hygienist friend says she has long suspected that sonic toothbrushes, the kind that vibrate rather than rotating back and forth, are superior. My local dental office says that any electric toothbrush is great. "The 7 Best Electric Toothbrushes," a recent article on NYmag.com, quoted experts who said that sonic versus rotating is just a matter of personal preference.
When Hanasco offered me two of theirs for review, I asked them to send one to a friend. He wrote: "After having used the new Sonic several days now and having compared the results to Oral B, I can definitely say my teeth feel more polished after using the Sonic. With Oral B, I feel like there's still a light film on my teeth."
The Hanasco Sonic will save you mucho money on brush head replacements. At my local CVS, a single Oral B brush head costs between $9.33 and $14. On Amazon, Hanasco sells four brushes for $13. Since you get eight of them to start with, you should be set for at least two years before you need more, if you replace them every three months. The toothbrush handle should also last longer than Oral B's because the vibrating kind gets less wear and tear than the rotating kind. A friend said his Oral B wore out after a couple of years because the part that holds the brush head deteriorated.
The Hanasco Sonic has four modes: polishing, whitening, cleaning, and sensitive gum care, all of which are amazingly gentle. A two-minute timer reminds you to move from quadrant to quadrant every 30 seconds, and it's rechargeable. The only thing lacking is the manual. Though easy to follow, it's obviously written by a non-native English speaker.
A GOOD OLD WIRED CONNECTION
If you're getting errors on your smart TV, it might be time to consider a wired connection between it and the router. I use one, but most people get so used to WiFi, they forget about wired.
I was reminded of this by an article at HowtoGeek.com. The writer's friend was getting a message on his TV: "Netflix has encountered an error." So he grabbed an Ethernet cable (remember those?) and plugged it in. Voila! Problem solved.
My TV was already connected by Ethernet cable when a very techy friend inspected my setup. He noticed that I was still using a WiFi signal for my desktop computer. A wired connection makes your internet experience faster, he pointed out. Gosh, I'd forgotten that.
ARE TECH COMPANIES PROFITABLE?
According to Approve.com, there are lots of tech companies that have yet to turn a profit. These include Epic, maker of Fortnite, founded in 1991. Also Reddit, founded in 2005. Airbnb rakes in $5.30 billion in revenue but has yet to see its first profit. Ditto for Twitter and Snapchat.
The fastest companies to turn a profit include Intel, founded in 1968, which took three years. Apple, founded in 1976, took two. Google, founded in 1998, also took two years. Amazon, founded in 1994, took nine. Tesla, founded in 2003, spent its first 17 years as an unprofitable company. More info at approve.com/time-to-profit.
Joy Schwabach can be reached by email at [email protected].