My first slide presentation using the Chromebook and Google Slides

Finally, I was able to use my Chromebook and Google Slides to do a long slide presentation.

I presented a journal article in a joint lab meeting. It's with a friendly crowd so I didn't feel pressured if there are technical difficulties that come up (there wasn't, by the way). However, it was detailed and lengthy enough that it's a good stand-in for the more formal seminar setting.

First, Google Slides had all the features that I usually use. It really shone when laying out and aligning blocks of text and images. I would say, in this area, it performed better than Powerpoint. It defaults to a widescreen aspect ratio for the slides. For people with older VGA projectors, remember to set the slides to regular 4:3 format before doing much work. I don't use a lot of animations or fonts. Whatever was available was sufficient for me. Other people might find it a bit limiting.

Since my Chromebook only has HDMI out, I had to buy an HDMI-to-VGA adapter, like this one. Connecting the Chromebook to the VGA projector was smooth. I didn't have to power anything down prior to connecting, as some people suggest. However, the HDMI-to-VGA adapter can't draw enough power from the HDMI port alone. Initially, the projected image had a pinkish/reddish tint to it and some colors were not as bright. Thankfully, the port comes with a short USB cable that connects to adapter itself to draw additional power. This solved the issue completely but is another piece of cable to remember to bring.

I was even brave enough to not plug in the Chromebook. It was nothing to worry about, though, as I didn't even see a noticeable reduction on the battery meter.

All in all, it was a success and I'm definitely going to use the Chromebook again for presenting.

San Diego Fly Meeting

This year's annual Drosophila conference will be in San Diego from March 26-30, 2014.

I am particularly looking forward to it because: 1) I have not been to San Diego, and 2) I have money from my fellowship to support my travel.

Due to the shifting demographics in our lab (i.e., no other male lab members) and non-committal responses from other area male Drosophilists, I am ending up having to split the lodging cost with ... a stranger.

This might turn out great, or it can be a disaster. Whatever it turns out to be, it will be an interesting story.

Here's my roommate ad posting, if anyone's interested.