Archive - Tech/Gadgets
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Stinkin’ Huge Cell Phone
Yes, I Am A Total Nerd.
So… I went ahead and moved to the dark side. After consulting a few friends and fellow iPhone users: I jailbroke my iPhone (and I will never go back). I wondered about the warranty, etc. It doesn’t void it. “Unlocking” your phone to use on another network does void the warranty, jailbreaking does not. This enables me to do a few things I’ve been wanting to do with my phone.
#1. Theme My Phone
I’ve been wanting to do something other than the simple black look and I am finally able to do just that (see photo below)
#2. Live Video Streaming from my iPhone
I’ve been wanting to have the capability to send video no matter where I am at in real time to my twitter, blog, and youtube accounts. Now with this Qik.com App I can do just that. (see photo below)
#3. Copy & Paste Function for All Programs
If I’m on a webpage and wanted to copy a section of text and paste it into a text message, I couldn’t do it before- but I can now. Clippy is my new best iPhone Friend. No matter what it is, I can copy, paste, send, etc. It rules.
#4. MMS Messaging
On the iPhone, Apple has pushed people to use email to send messages and I did not have the capability to send them like I used to- until now. Swirly MMS is a program that allows me to send all kinds of photos as I choose in the way I want to use them.
I know this is a stupid, techie, nerdy post- but I’m a nerd so you’ll have to accept that your pastor is a nerdy, geeky dude who loves gadgets. It’s true (or “it’s da troof” is how James Davis would say it).
Later Geeky Friends,
Jason *over and out*
Mobile Woes Are Over
We’ve had a great response from the website. So many of you have said how the new Forefront site has ben cool to send your friends to. but what if you have a phone with web access? Our site is in flash and most phones cannot read it. Introducing, ForefrontMobile.org
Now you can access a stripped down version of the site on your mobile phone. If you have an iPhone or iPod touch, you can add a little icon to your homepage when you bookmark it.
Enjoy.
Your Ministry with Tech #1
So, I was speaking at CCYC a few weekends ago and my wife was amazingly wonderful and allowed me to get an iPhone 3G and the world is a better place (seriously it is). I have been amazed at how I can get the information for ministry faster, connect to people, share life, and ultimately do more with this little device.
Over the next few posts we’ll be discussing how Your Ministry with Tech can benefit from using social networking, blogs, interactive web, mobile communication, email, etc. to meet the needs of your people and to make your job easier.
First, we’ll start with something that is overlooked for most people, but it makes total sense… iGoogle. If you are wondering what this is check out an overview video below:
iGoogle helps you dump outlook, calendars, mutliple pages to view, and so on and to bring everything to a web based interface and basically it’s your “landing pad” for all things you need (i.e. RSS Reader, Google Calendar, Gmail, To-do Lists, News Feeds, Facebook, Twitter, Etc.)
You can have one place to get everything you need without haveing to visit 10-15 different websites or have your outlook open, calendar open, web browser open and the list goes on.
To start off, just go to Gmail.com and sign up for an email account. Once that is set-up:
- You can make a Google Calendar (import your outlook to google calendar)
- Set up your blog feeds in Google Reader
- Store and edit documents online with Google Docs
- Store & Keep Photos online with Google Photos (Picasa)
- Then you can set-up your iGoogle Page and add all of these to the main page
- Just save iGoogle as your Homepage in your web browser and… That’s It!
Some other great add-ons/ widgets for your iGoogle page are:
- Twitter Add-on
- MySpace Add-on
- Facebook Add-on
- Enhanced Bookmarks Add-on
- Framed Photo (I keep my family photos on here wherever I go)
Once this is up and running it will set the stage for everything we’ll do from here. But having this one landing pad for all things communication is such a huge help to you as a pastor/ leader to keep communication flowing at all times. If you don’t have some of those things like MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, etc. Don’t rush out and create an account yet. We’ll talk about social networking and you can decide for yourself if it’s something for you and which one you want to dive in to.
Until next time,
J-del * over and out*
"Green" Business Cards
So I’ve been looking for a Green way to have a business card & swap information without paper. Alas, I have found it: TextMarks. It’s a great way to get people your information via text and have a business card with your info. Just text jdel to 41411 and within seconds you’ll have my number, twitter, email, blog, etc.
I included the steps below for your texting pleasure. That’s it. It’s free, simple to use, environmentally friendly, and you’ll be the envy of geeks everywhere.
- Go to the “create” page on Textmarks.com
- Pick a unique keyword for yourself (I used “jdel” my first and last name morphed, not very clever)
- Enter up to 120 characters of contact info in the “Respond to keyword with text message:” field
- Click the “Create” button
- If you haven’t already done so, create an account on Textmarks (if you skip this step, your keyword will expire in 24 hours)
- Click the “Manage” tab and then click the “Edit” button next to the keyword you created
- Click “Edit” Configuration and uncheck all the boxes under “Messaging Options” and uncheck “Subscribable Textmark” (those options are for more advanced uses of Textmarks, but not needed for your SMS business cards)
- Tell new friends and business contacts to “text your_keyword to 41411” (replace your_keyword, duh)
Simplify Media.
I am always looking for ways to get all my music (work, laptop, arts drive) all in one place. Well, now I have that freedom. It doesn’t matter if it’s PC or Mac. You don’t have to use iTunes, Winamp and others all also supported.
It’s called Simplify Media and it can be shared between 30 friends via the web.
Did I mention it’s secure and legal? It’s times like this that I enjoy technology.
Eye Candy
So Bryan Gratton asked a great questions during the Church Tech Debate series,
“I was wondering if you guys do any stuff with multiple screens and projectors? We’re looking to move to that and i was interested in what you guys use if you do that.”
Great question Bryan and the short answer is no we do not. Forefront does not use multiple screens, but this is something we aim for in the future. There are a few different ways to accomplish this:
This gives you the freedom to send your presentation (pro presenter, media shout, easy worship, etc) to as many screens as the splitter allows. All you need is the box and long enough cables to send it to your screens. If you send the signal longer than 100 ft., you need a signal booster to keep the image/signal clear.
This little piece of golden goodness let’s you take your normal image and use it stretched across multiple screens to make one HUGE image. If your content is wide screen and you’re looking for a great way to make your set design look amazing (video backdrops across the entire stage, etc), this is the way to go. but it does not give you the capability to have three separate images, just one large image.
#3. Thinking Outside the Realm of “Church“
When you go to concerts, art exhibits, sporting events, etc… they WOW you. Now don’t get me wrong, my personal preference is to keep it simple and let content reign (which is another post all together), but being creative means doing something that doesn’t “copy” what has already been done. Do something new. Be different. Allow failure in the attempt of being innovative.
That being said, here are a few examples of people who get it. Everything for video backgrounds edited to sync with the band in an amazing way to creating a video cross that just looks ridiculously cool.
Multi-screen madness at Buckhead- link here
Video cross- (photo below)
Try stuff. Be someone who inspires and who who knows… You might stumble upon the “next big thing” that everyone copies. Ha. Then you can say you did it first.
