Tag Archives: Technology
Soapbox: My technology pet peeve
Posted on 20. Dec, 2011 by Kenny.
There’s probably no way I can write this post without coming across as a little bit of a jerk… so I apologize and the front end. This isn’t directed to any particular person… but just multiple encounters I seem to have on a weekly basis.
It seems that almost everyone has a smart phone today. That’s probably thanks to the iPhone where a very friendly mobile internet is available to all. With our phones, we have access to almost anything and everything. It’s an amazing time in which we live.
My pet peeve comes from when people with these amazing tools to access almost infinite knowledge ask me questions that no longer seem necessary any more. Obviously, if its something I should know that you don’t know, then ask me. But if it’s one of those things that very few people would know… then for goodness sake, look it up. Google it. Map it.
I know some people with a smart phone that rarely if ever have opened up google maps on their phone. Sometimes they ask me for directions and my response is almost always the same. Don’t you have google maps on that phone of yours? I get asked how to spell stuff all the time. I’m a horrible speller. I think people don’t realize how easy it is to look up a word, even on google. You could probably get the correct spelling faster than asking me, even if I was a good speller. Nine times out of ten, when someone asks me a question like this, I end up looking it up on google. Why? Because I have a smart phone with access to the internet.
Oh, so do you. You’re paying $30-40 a month to have google in your pocket… look it up.
Actually, my wife has gotten very good at this. We talk about all kinds of random topics every day. There was a time when the answer to 6 out of 10 questions she would ask me was “Google it.”
Now we’ll be talking about something random, like who won the oscar in 2003 for best actor and we’ll both reach for our phones at the same time and I’ll say, “Am I looking it up or are you?”
Sorry for being a jerk. If we’re going to talk, let’s talk. But if you just need answers to simple little questions, go talk to Google. 
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Site/App of the week: Church Boost
Posted on 21. Jun, 2010 by Kenny.
For the last several weeks, I’ve not been current with my app of the week post. My site of the week post as been even worse. So, here’s a two in one shot.
A few days ago I came across this new ministry site called churchboost.com. Sounds fun, right? It’s currently a blog with plans to become a full-featured site. The idea behind it is to harness technology to boost the quality of ministry we have for kids. I love it.
I probably wouldn’t normally endorse a site that has not track record. I don’t know the people behind it, although I do know some of the people they know and I have a lot of respect for them. However, I just love the idea of this site and I really hope that it takes off and that there is more content than I have time to devour. I love technology and ministry to kids, so I’m a fan of anyone writing about both.
So, this site only has two posts and one of them is for an App called team viewer. I haven’t personally tried it out yet (although I will this week), but Church Boost did. Read it here.
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Google Wave revisited
Posted on 14. Jan, 2010 by Kenny.
Several months ago I went on and on about Google Wave. However, I jumped on Wave last night and it was my first time on in about a month.
Oops.
So, I figured I’d take a look back and see what I think now that the newness has worn off.
Positives:
- I still think it’s pretty incredible. There are some great conversations happening on the wave right now. There are some things I’m thinking about right now that were initially inspired by a resource list on a wave.
- I’m hearing voices I don’t always hear… and it’s refreshing. There are some people who are very active on the waves that either don’t blog or don’t blog very much. Certainly a blog is a great way to get into someone’s brain, but not everyone is game for blogging. On wave I’ve been able to learn from those people.
- It’s a big win for collaboration. I’m seeing so many people helping each other and it’s never been easier.
Negatives:
- Not everyone’s on. It’s a walled garden. I may write a blog post and a few hundred people read it (although I’ll probably only get 2 comments) becasue it’s indexed well and people are coming from all over. With Wave I probably have a higher level of participation, but the only people who can view my thoughts are the people I invited. Not the bigger crowd I can get from a blog post.
- It’s buggy. This is a preview version, so I’m not going to give them a hard time, I’m just grateful I’ve been able to benefit for so long from a program that isn’t officially released.
- It didn’t replace email. One of the ideas behind Wave was that it would reinvent the way we email and even replace email. At this current point, I just don’t see that happening.
- Out of site, out of mind. Google Wave is not connected to my gmail account so I don’t get any notifications of new waves or responses. Literally, I forgot and a month went by where I didn’t check my waves. Maybe they’ll integrate this later, but this isn’t good.
Overall, I’m still a big fan. I jumped on the wave tonight and caught up on all the conversations. I think I have a way to be a little more involved in the future though. I found this last week. It’s a addon for Firefox, a Google Wave notifier. So now I have a little Wave icon in the bottom right corner of my screen and when new waves come, I can quickly click on the link. I haven’t had much time to try it, but I’m betting this will help me stay connected even better.
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Best of CES 2010
Posted on 10. Jan, 2010 by Kenny.
In case you didn’t know, last week was CES (Consumer Electronics Show) in Las Vegas. This annual event is the Mecca of gadgets and gizmos. It’s where the latest and greatest gadgets of the future are revealed. For the past several years, CNET has done an award show recognizing the best of CES. Seriously, there are thousands upon thousands of products on display at CES, but CNET has narrowed the best and brightest for us to see. Click here to watch the 20 minute video and see the winning products.
The grand winner of the show was the Panasonic VT25 3D Plasma TV. Yes, it’s one of the first 3D TV’s to go to market. In addition it does all the other cool stuff you’d expect like connect to Pandora, Netflix and twitter. Also, it should have the capability to attach to a webcam and use Skype to turn the TV into a video conference machine. If money were no option, I’d be a lot more excited… but it is, so I’ll wait a few years until this is something I’ll spend money on.
The other winners that got my attention were as follows:
Intel’s Wireless Display
Intel’s WiDi essentially lets you send whatever is on your computer to your big screen TV, wirelessly. Yes, it’s an answer to one of my prayers.Eye-Fi’s Pro X2
Didn’t I just write about Eye-Fi last week? Yes, I did. I love where they’re headed. They’re upgrading their service to all cards. No longer will it just be an online app, but an adobe air app that will allow me to access pictures uploaded while offline along with other new and unique features. The Pro X2 card has a feature I want so much. It’s called endless memory. As my card beings to fill up, it will begin deleting the older pictures that have already uploaded to the Eye-Fi servers. Eye-Fi, I love you.
LG BD590 Blu-ray player
I wrote about this the other day as well. I don’t really need a Blu-ray player, but all the accessories are going to be what sells me. This Blu-ray has a 250 GB hardrive. It will connect to online services like Pandora, Netflix, Picasa and others. It will also stream music for other computers on the network. Pretty cool combination of features.
So, have I geeked out enough yet? I think after seeing all of the videos and pictures, I’ve decided that at some point in the next 10 years, I’d like to attend CES.
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More social media factoids
Posted on 15. Nov, 2009 by Kenny.
A few months ago I posted this video about the power of social media. Then a few weeks ago I found the video below from David Wakerly’s blog. I’m probably just preaching to the choir here, but this social media thing is a pretty big deal. Are you utilizing all it has to offer for your ministry?
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Blogging dead? Say it aint so.
Posted on 28. Oct, 2008 by Kenny.
This has been bugging me for a many days now. The fact that I haven’t just let it go or forgotten about it is the part of what bugs me. Steven Dilla, the Preschool Pastor at Fellowship Church, Grapvine (and an incredibly great guy, he gave me a fantastic tour a few months ago… thanks Matt for introducing me to Steven) deleted his blog. He read this article and then deleted it.
Now I’m a big fan of Wired magazine and really appreciate the insight on technology and culture. After reading the article myself I would have to say that I agree. Blogging is so 2004.
However, the true question is, “am I ready for change?”
I don’t know that I am… yet. I think Steven is absolutely right. The Christian bubble is always 10 steps behind what is happening in the rest of the world. Since I entered the blogosphere about 18 months ago, I’ve been incredibly blessed. What an amazing community, and it is growing (but it doesn’t seem to be growing as fast as I would have expected it to).
Other than a select few, I don’t read magazines anymore. They’re almost dead to me. I get my information mostly from blogs. Rather than read an article from certain church leaders whenever a magazine has them write, I can hear their thoughts without the buffer of a publisher.
I’m just not convinced we’ve totally seen what’s next… but maybe I need it a little more spelled out. I twitter and find it to be an amazing tool for connection. But it’s not exactly replacing blogging. Neither is Facebook. So, I’m still looking. I think I’m willing to make a change, but maybe not until the next platform is a little more established… or visible. But that’s just me. I’m an early adopter, just maybe not the pioneer.
Anyone else have any thoughts on this?
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Valuable lesson: I’m no good at managing multiple blogs
Posted on 27. Oct, 2008 by Kenny.
I’m just not very good at it. I have three blogs right now. This blog, a personal family blog and a church blog that we use to communicate to parents. Probably in the next few weeks, I’ll be launching another blog for volunteers. It’s less about regular updates and more about a place where they can get lesson plans, documents and view training resources. Man do we need that soon.
But, I’ve found that I’m just no good at doing all of these… at the same time. I’ve not written a word in two weeks on this blog, but in the mean time I’ve been making many updates to my other blogs. Sorry to neglect, I’ve got some things to discuss this week, so I should be regular week again.
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Intro to Tech Week
Posted on 16. Mar, 2008 by Kenny.
I’ve been saving up. I’ve come across several great technology resources that I want to share. So, welcome to tech week. Just about every post this week will concern technology that can enhance ministry. Maybe there will be one or two that are more for the sake of fun. Enjoy the posts. Be sure to comment if you have insight in any of the items I introduce or products like these.
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I heart my new web apps (part 2)
Posted on 16. Sep, 2007 by Kenny.
Okay, here is my favorite web app of all time right now. It it literally changing the way I prepare for church and even has some great application for personally use. The program is called Folder Share and it free. I think it used to be called file taxi or something, but Microsoft bought them out and they seem to be running the show (don’t let that scare you off yet, the application is really cool).
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I heart my new web apps (part 1)
Posted on 06. Sep, 2007 by Kenny.
I’ve recently come across two killer apps that I absolutely LOVE. I’ll share the first one with you today and the other one tomorrow. [...]
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