Tech Talks: Holiday Tech Tips

Hello again from Neighborhood Nerds HQ!

This is Tyler bringing you a special tech talk holiday edition. This week, I’ll be sharing some holiday tech tips we think will make your life a little easier.

Your Devices

I LOVE Christmas, but one of my saddest Christmas memories was opening a new toy, only to find that my parents had forgotten to buy batteries. In fact, I’m feeling sad just thinking about that again.

By this point most of you have already learned your “battery lesson”, but have you applied the same lesson to your new tech devices?

Many devices, phones, tablets, or computers can have a decent amount of setup required before you (or a loved one) can enjoy them. Back-ups, updates, setup, and even charging can put a quick damper on Christmas morning excitement.

If you’re giving a tech gift this holiday season, consider letting us Nerds make sure it’s ready to rock and roll!

Video Chat

If you’re like me, you probably have family in all different places, and in case you won’t get to see everyone you love over the holidays, never fear, video chat is here.

Whether it’s through your computer, tablet, or phone, you probably have some kind of device that allows you to video chat. Apps like FaceTime and Skype allow you to have a video call with someone who has the same program or application.

Depending on what kind of device you are working with, setting up (and getting comfortable) with video chat can be a little tricky but totally achievable. Don’t wait until Christmas morning to try and figure it out!

You may be used to a normal phone call, but nothing can replace getting to see your smiling kids or grandkids in their santa pajamas. Setup a one-to-one with our Nerds, so you can get confident making video calls whenever you want!

Travel Smart

Some of you may be traveling to see your family and friends this holiday. As you probably know by now, there are thousands of travel apps and tools to make your experience easier – the only problem is choosing which ones to use!

Before you book a flight, hotel, or car be sure you go deal hunting! One of the best travel sites (and apps), is Kayak.com. It uses tons of other sites and tools to scour the web and find the best deals and options. It will even give you a side by side comparison of competitors prices (like Expedia and Priceline).

Now if you’re visiting somewhere, but you aren’t a big fan of hotels, there’s a new trend of house renting that may be perfect for you! Websites like AirBnb or VRBO allow people to rent out rooms or whole houses.

Often cheaper and more homey than a hotel room, staying this way could be a great new option for your travels. Renting a whole house is perfect if you’re traveling with multiple people, you get the privacy and space to gather together and not worry about all the details and nuisance of hotels!

Photo Apps

With the holidays, comes the inevitable holiday pictures, and unless you happen to have a professional photographer in the house, you’ll probably be taking those photos with your smartphone.

These days, you can get a smartphone picture to look pretty dang good. Photo editing apps like VSCO Cam allow you to make changes to color, saturation, contrast, and more. Although it does require a little finesse, most photo editing apps have built in “filters” that automatically apply certain actions to your photos to make them look better.

And where do these great photos go when you’re done with them? Well first, they’ll obviously be saved on your phone, but you’ll probably want to share them with your family and friends. We at Neighborhoods Nerds love Google Photos for this very reason.

When you download the Google Photos app on your phone, every photo you take is automatically uploaded to the internet (privately), so you can easily share the photos you’ve taken with whoever you choose! With Google Photos, you don’t have to worry about running out of photo storage space. How great is that?

Unplug

You don’t always here us Nerds say “unplug”, but when it comes to holiday family time, nothing is more important than being together! We promise your gadgets and gizmos will be right where you left them.

And we’ll be here too, happy to help you before and after the holidays with setting up, understanding, and utilizing new tech and old.

From all of us at Neighborhood Nerds, Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays.

See you next year!