So am I actually producing anything? I wouldn't want you to think I was cheating by not being my usual productive self.
Right now, I am typing up my day 5 & 6 Chrome browsing activities from a brand new Chromebook - sponsored very kindly by the Chrome OS team at Google! I have not touched my MacBook Pro since I received it, so there must be something to this Chrome business right?
Turns out working with Chrome is pretty convenient. During day 5 & 6, I had a presentation to prepare for. Given the presentation was for work, I would be within my rules to simply use Microsoft Power point to produce this. But I thought it would be a good time to practice working with other Google Drive applications.
Enter Google Presentation:
If you are used to Microsoft's Powerpoint (I'm talking the older, non-confusing Office version of Powerpoint), then the layout will look familiar to you. I lose nothing by using this online tool to construct my presentation - but I certainly gain something!
If you look to the right, there is a "Research" tab. Given Google's forte is in search, it only makes sense that they include a nice non-intrusive search tool to help in your research for your presentation. How convenient is that? Also, any images that I might want to use on my presentation can be sought from that same tab. Other advantages include the ability to share your presentation with others - controlling whether they can read or edit it. When starting the presentation, the web page goes into full screen. I missed nothing from my desktop applications.
What else did I need to do? My Android app, the Cyman System needed updating (non-developers can skip this paragraph). Not the actual Android part, which I normally do at home anyway on my Mac Mini, but the "Cyman brain" which resides on a service I maintain in the cloud. For this, I used the PythonAnywhere Web application which I mentioned on Day 3. I cannot do this and test it offline, but I found that there was no time I was offline anyway (this was a recurring theme throughout the challenge). I was either using my home wireless, or tethering through my Google Nexus 4 smartphone. I liked my experience so much I even upgraded to a paid version ($5 per month) of PythonAnywhere to enable me to access any url from my linux develepment box, and to have ssh access to it too.
Just for the fun of it, I decided to look at WeVideo. Video editing is something I do every now and then for fun. I am genuinely surprised at the power of this application given it is a Web app. Web development really has come a long way! The app starts by giving you a choice of how to edit your video depending on your video editing experience.
Next, you are able to import videos from various sources:
Drive, Facebook, Instagram, Flickr, Dropbox and more! (For your Google+ photos, choose Picasa). I tried using my Facebook videos, but unfortunately the app was only able to view everything but videos. Well, at least I know that of Google Drive, Picasa (Google+) and Dropbox work ok. Of course it is possible to upload videos from your local file system, but I am increasingly keen on working in the cloud. The more apps that connect to cloud sources like Google Drive, Dropbox et al, the better.
I can't say there weren't a few hiccups along the way, mostly to do with my session randomly ending and having to log in again. But I didn't lose any work along the way. As a bonus, your final video product is stored in Google Drive. Normally, when using iMovie, I have to wait for the final video to be produced... and wait... and wait. After which I can upload it to YouTube for example. But in the case of WeVideo through Chrome, I can start the process of video publishing and then leave to go somewhere else. I get sent an email when the publishing is complete - which is published privately to Google Drive if you wish. I can then upload it to YouTube or any other video sharing site from anywhere in the world!
So my experience for days 5 & 6 have shown me that the future envisioned for Chrome, and indeed HTML 5, means thinking differently. It means I lean towards storing my content privately online instead of locally on my desktop. The return? The ability to access and edit my content from virtually anywhere in the world with an internet connection. I carry around a connection to the internet 90% of the time. It's called my Nexus 4. Lucky me!
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