Computers & Fun #3 6/7 Wednesday Afternoon - Outside

[cheerfulgoth.livejournal.com]

Abby sat on the ground, twirling a black parasol as she waited for everyone to get settled. "Alright people, pull up a patch of dirt and let's get to work. Today we are going shopping! Sort of."

"Having a computer rocks, but in order to do specialized tasks you sometimes need specialized equipment." Abby held up a digital camera and snapped a group shot. "In order to let my boss back home see my class, I need to get a digital camera to hook up to my computer. Or a webcam. Or a video phone. Or maybe just a quarter inch spy cam that he could embed into a pair of really ugly glasses that would transmit a streaming video feed."

"Not that he would or anything."

Laying out a box of random accessories in front of her, Abby pointed. "In this box is pretty much everything I could find that has a cord. Cameras, joysticks, mics, flash drives, usb snowman, keyboards and tons of other stuff. I want you all to come up and choose something, research it online and report to the class about how to use it."

[ooc: Everyone should have their laptops with them or have *handwave* checked one out in the previous classes. Seriously, there could be anything in those boxes, so pick something that's a computer accessory and report on it. Thinkgeek is a fun place to look. Threads up! Yay!]

[*facepalm* Oh look! There is a tent over the computer students! It was always there! Computers are safe from pudding!]

Comments

Sign In

[cheerfulgoth.livejournal.com]

Put on your lab coat and sit on the ground. Don't worry, the coats have been scotch guarded.

Re: Sign In

[ranma-sao.livejournal.com]

Ranma looks a lot like a zombie. He has bags under his eyes as he grabs a coat and sits down.

Pick your thing

[cheerfulgoth.livejournal.com]

Pick your computer accessory, research it, chat with other students, eat snacks, play on your computer...

Re: Pick your thing

[ranma-sao.livejournal.com]

Ranma is carrying his own laptop and grabs this (http://www.thinkgeek.com/electronics/audio/6cd8/) out of the box. He looks at it for a few minutes. A few more minutes. Before he notices that he's standing in other people's way. He plops back down on the grass a few feet away. trying to play which hole on my computer fits this cord. This takes him a long time sadly. He finally plugs it in sucessfull and tries to remember how he truned on his computer when he did it that one time. He finally finds that button too. When that wooshy start up noise plays it's about 5 times louder and it makes him fully awake for just a few seconds. He's stuck now on how to use the computer but he DOES know what his accesory does.

Re: Pick your thing

[willbedone.livejournal.com]

Willow had far too much fun examining the things in the box. It took some choosing, but she finally picked something (http://www.thinkgeek.com/gadgets/security/76ed/) that appealed to her.

She then immediately started to try hacking it to see if it could be made more portable for a laptop.

Re: Pick your thing

[peter--parker.livejournal.com]

Peter looked through the box and found a USB beverage cooler (http://www.thinkgeek.com/gadgets/electronic/7f5a/) of all things. You had to love the whacked minds that would come up with that.

Re: Pick your thing

[connernotconnor.livejournal.com]

Conner went rifling through the box and was far too amused by the USB mini-aquarium (http://www.mrgadget.com.au/catalog/usb-fishtank-aquarium-p-394.html) to pass it up. The stupid thing was kind of mesmerizing -- once Conner plugged it into his laptop he ended up spending fifteen minutes just watching the plastic clownfish bob around. He made a mental note to pick up one of these things to send to Ethan as a present; the odds were about even that he'd love it, or complain that the fish and the glowing light had distracted him from getting a high score on whatever insane computer game he was playing this week.

Re: Pick your thing

[twohalvesofaphd.livejournal.com]

Frowning, Zack picked up a pair of gloves (http://www.usbgeek.com/prod_detail.php?prod_id=0356). "These look...interesting."

Re: Pick your thing

[imac-kenzie.livejournal.com]

Mac pulls this (http://www.firebox.com/index.html?dir=firebox&action=product&pid=360&src_t=sbk&src_id=speaker) out of the box. She suckers it to the back of her laptop and starts searching for music to test it with.

Re: Pick your thing

[bridge-carson.livejournal.com]

Bridge sorts through the box until he finds this (http://www.thinkgeek.com/computing/input/8193/).

Re: Pick your thing

[apocalypsesoon.livejournal.com]

John pulls this keyboard (http://www.thinkgeek.com/computing/input/7a67/images/) out of the box. Killtastic!

Re: Pick your thing

[likethegun]

Sam looks through the box until he finds this, and goes off, grinning.

Presentations

[cheerfulgoth.livejournal.com]

Come up to the front and tell the class what your doohickey does! Feel free to ask questions of the presenters, they should be experts on their equipment.

Re: Presentations

[ranma-sao.livejournal.com]

Ranma rises and holds up the speaker. "This... makes things louder..."

He's hoping they're not graded harshly on this presentation. Not only is he unfirmiliar with any computeer termage and knowledge of how speakers work. He's also slumped and sleepy.

Re: Presentations

[willbedone.livejournal.com]

Willow got up to do her presentation. Since she was talking about computer stuff, she did not look nervous. "This is a Stealth Switch which allows you to very quickly hide anything naughty you were working on. Like totally. So that way nobody can see what you were working on if they sneak up over your shoulder. It's a little big for laptops so I reprogrammed mine to do the same thing if you hit a couple of keys."

Re: Presentations

[twohalvesofaphd.livejournal.com]

Zack held up the gloves. Or more correctly his hands, since he was wearing them. "These gloves have heating pads in them which are powered via the cable."

Re: Presentations

[imac-kenzie.livejournal.com]

Mac taps the SoundBug stuck on the back of her screen, "this is all kinds of awesome. Stick it to... pretty much anything, and it turns it into a speaker. Geeky and useful."

Re: Presentations

[connernotconnor.livejournal.com]

Conner headed up to the front with the laptop in one hand and the aquarium in the other.

"I have no idea how useful this thing is for anything, but it's kinda cool!" he said brightly, holding the aquarium out so everyone could see the glowy lights and little bobbing plastic fish. "Oh, wait, actually I can think of a use for it. Like, if you're pulling an all-nighter working on a paper or something, it can keep you company!"

Re: Presentations

[bridge-carson.livejournal.com]

"This little guy," Bridge holds up the bluetooth device, "is useful if you're used to a full-size keyboard, but only have access to a PDA or a cellphone, or something else with a teeeeeny tiny keypad."

Re: Presentations

[apocalypsesoon.livejournal.com]

"This," John said, holding up this keyboard (http://www.thinkgeek.com/computing/input/7a67/images/) in his left hand, "is for die-hard gamers who are left-hand dominate, freeing up the right hand to use the mouse. Or, for those who just don't have use of their right hand. For whatever reason."

Re: Presentations

[likethegun]

Sam smiled and held up his gadget. "Okay, so this might just look like a Swiss Army knife, which it kind of is, because it has all of those parts. But, it's also got a USB port, so you can plug it into your computer and store and access files anywhere."

Re: Presentations

[peter--parker.livejournal.com]

Peter held up his device. "This is a USB beverage cooler. Plugging it into the USB port powers the coldplate that chills to 45 degrees, keeping your drink nice and cool wherever you are. It's also extremely portable."

Homework

[cheerfulgoth.livejournal.com]

After the presentations Abby stood up and clapped. "Great job you guys! For homework you've got to try and convince people that what you researched is a need. Let people know about your accessories! Spread the geeky love!"

[translation: Nothing big. Just mention it sometime this week.
You: Hi Friend!
Your Friend: Yo!
You: Look at this nifty lamp that hooks into your computer! It helps plants grow even if you live in your parents basement!
Your Friend: Cool.
You: Totally.]

Talk to Abby

[cheerfulgoth.livejournal.com]

Questions? Comments? Wanna know where you can buy your own black lace parasol?

OOC

[cheerfulgoth.livejournal.com]

*is sad*

My tiny USB snowman melted last week. Or rather his cord got chewed through by the cat...but melted seems more of an appropriate death.

Re: OOC

[ranma-sao.livejournal.com]

*pat pat* Poor Abby-mun. Snowmen lead short sad lifes don't they?