dock - a new way to access your apps on the Apple iPhone

I've tried this new app called dock. It allows the user to scroll thru all of the applications on the springboard including ones added via hacks or installer.app. It's not as smooth as I would like it, but a rather neat way of accessing your apps on the iPhone. Watch the video below!

Echo Prayer - Help you remember your prayer lists

Has someone every come up to you and ask you to pray for them at a specific time on a specific date? Maybe they were taking a test at school or an important meeting at work or some other request that was a time specific request. Now, I've told people that I would do that and I'll tell you what, I'm so afraid that I will miss praying for them at that time. Now I know you can pray for them that morning, but I think it means something to the person asking that you tell them you will pray for them at that time. So how can you do that and not be afraid you might forget it?
Enter Echo Prayer, an online prayer list website, that allows you to create a prayer list and add specific prayer requests with notes. Once you have done so, you can then have Echo Prayer email you or text message a reminder at whatever time, on whatever day. This service which is free can help you not forgot to pray for that person. Since most pastors carry cellphones have a text message come to you could be an excellent way to remember to pray for them. Check out Echo Prayer's demo as it walks you thru their service. Being that it's free and they don't spam you, this is one of those services that's worth signing up for!

A new site design is coming!

The Gadget Pastor Blog will be getting a makeover hopefully in the next week. I'm putting the finishes touches on it. I am using a template from iWeb '08 with a few little mods from me. I'm really excited about it as I think it looks better than what I've got now. I've also added a few addition features as well that I hope will be a help to you as your serve in the ministry. So be on the lookout for the new theme. By the way, the new logo at the top of the page is part of the new theme.

DateBk6, V-6.1a, r4 Release Candidate #4 now Posted

One of my favorite Palm applications is Datebk 6, a calendar management program for Palm PDAs and Treos. It's an excellent program and IMO superior to other Palm calendar management programs. Well, today it's recieved another update and some issues have been fixed. Always a good thing. So if you are still a Palm user, it's time to update or time to take Datebk 6 for a spin.

"I just posted an R4 release which addresses the Palm OS redraw bug on
TX units only, whereby the refresh event is sent to the wrong window
when calling a "sub-dialog" - we've seen this bug in several places
on the TX - if you see any others just let me know (this was last
noted in the Today View's View Display Options dialog moving to the
Options Selections dialog). It's most noticeable when the status bar
is being hidden.

This release also includes a subtle preference option for sorting
items that have the same start time. The question is: if the start
time of two events is the same, which comes first? The one that ends
first? or ends last?

The traditional Palm OS Datebook application has always done the
former, so the first item listed is the one that ends first. DateBk6
previously followed that rule. Palm's proprietary Calendar app though
does the reverse - the item that ends last is listed first. Some
people think that provides a nicer view of nested time bars in the
Day View, some don't.

In any event, on a clean install, DateBk6 will now set this
preference to MATCH the built-in Datebook OR built-in calendar
application as appropriate, but anyone can now change it to suit
their taste, and at least DateBk6 now keeps to its goal of working
the same was as the built-in calendar application unless there's a
compelling reason to operate differently.

http://www.PimlicoSoftware.com/datebk6-v61a-r4.zip
is the link to this new step release....

Cheers!
CESD, Pimlico Software, Inc.

Need help waking up early? Try this tips...

Here is a great article from Life Remix about how you can work at waking up early. Let's face it, many of us would rather sleep in given the chance, but being up early makes us more productive. So here are 24 tips that can help you wake up early.


"Since I've become a full-time freelancer, I've found one of the hardest things to do is to get up early. Without the threat of being fired, there just hasn't been a whole lot of motivation to get out of bed in a timely fashion.

I've quickly learned that getting up is crucial to success as an entrepreneur. And better yet: waking up early is really just a habit. You don't need any skill to do it. You just need to wake up consistently to condition your body to the routine. Here are some tips I've picked up along the way to ease the process of developing the habit of getting up early.

The most important thing to keep in mind is that you have to be motivated to get out of bed. Motivation is the only thing keeping us homo sapiens from lying in bed all day eating twinkies.

1. Create a conducive environment to wake up to. It may sound strange, but how messy my room is greatly affects how easy it is to wake up in the morning. I've found that if I have an orderly room to wake up in, I'm more inclined to bypass the snooze and start my day..."

Read More

Book Recommendation: Trusting God: Even When Life Hurts

Here is today's book recommendation- Trusting God: Even When Life Hurts. I was first introduced to this book during an internship at a church in Florida. The man who gave it to me was a faithful man in the church, but his wife was unsaved and would have nothing to do with church or God. Still this man continued to come to church and was very active in church. He prayed for his wife at every men's prayer breakfast for his wife's salvation. As he shared his testimony with me, he gave me this book, Trusting God: Even When Life Hurts by Jerry Bridges. While it may not have impacted my life as much as it has for that man, it does help one to continue to trust God despite what is going on around you.


"It's easy to trust God when everything's going your way. But what about when things go wrong? Learn the essentials of belief necessary to trust God completely. About the Author- JERRY BRIDGES is an author and Bible teacher. His most popular title, The Pursuit of Holiness, has sold over one million copies. He has authored several other books including The Discipline of Grace (also NavPress). Jerry is currently a part of the Navigator collegiate ministry group where he is involved in staff training and serves as a resource to campus ministries."

Amazon.com Price: $11.20 plus shipping

What's next?

James Emery White, a Crosswalk writer, wrote an article entitled "The Next, Next Church." He observes a pattern in many church congregations that Christians keep looking for that next exciting event. His comments to this trend are quite thought provoking. I think sometimes we all fall into this pattern and forget the present. We live for the next event, instead of focusing on what is going on now. Take a look at this article and see what you think!

"The iPhone is so last month. Which means, writes Adam Bryant in the New York Times, that “it’s been downgraded from the next big thing to merely new.” And these days, “new can seem so yesterday. What matters is what’s next.” Bryant then notes how “next” is the go-to buzzword of our day. There is “Next” the movie, released this spring with Nicolas Cage as a man who can see two minutes into the future. Newsweek’s annual “Who’s Next” issue, intended to run against Time’s Person of the Year issue, prompted Time to start a regular “What’s Next” feature of its own. "

Read More

Landlines a thing of the past?

Most churches have their own landline, but the folks in the church have rid themselves of the landline phone for cell phones. Many of our church members have opted to do just that. My wife and I have chosen not to have a landline and solely rely on our cellphones. If we have a babysitter, we leave them my wife's phone in case of emergency, but some of the sitters say don't bother they already have their own cellphone with them. Again we are living in the age of the mobile phone. It has been a huge success and you would be hard press to find a store, mall, restaurant that doesn't have someone talking on their mobile phone. So is the landline a thing of the past? Foxnews surveyed some homes to answer that question. Here is the article about it:


"It's official: There are more homes in the U.S. with cell phones and no land lines than with land lines and no cell phones.

In a survey of 13,000 homes, Mediamark Research, a firm that has been tracking such data since the mid 1980s, found for the first time that cell-only households outnumber land line-only homes, boasting 14 percent of homes to land line-only's 12.3 percent.

The shift, study authors say, is the synthesis of two trends: the slow decline of household land line phones since 2000, and the meteoric rise of the number of households with (one or more) cell phones in that time. Of the surveyed households, 86.2 percent have at least one cell phone, compared to 84.5 percent that still have at least one land line phone.

The separation of the two groups is likely to continue and further widen as more and more households lose land lines and gain additional mobile phones. Study author Andy Arthur did point out to the New York Times though, that there is an older group, who will never give up their land lines in favor of newer technology."

Apple has a special event on September 5th.

In case you haven't heard Apple has officially announced a special event on September 5th. Most likely, they will be announcing new iPods based on the "lite" version of the Mac OS X. It is rumored that an iPhone-like touch screen iPod will also be announced at that time. To be sure many folks will want the touch screen iPod and it should be a huge seller. Can't wait to see what happens next Wednesday.

Going on radio? Read this first!

I have never been on radio in my life. However, many churches have their own radio stations and some pastors participate in debates, interviews, etc. on the radio. If you have never been on radio, it can seem like a daunting ordeal. However, I have found a good resource that can help prepare you for the radio, specifically a radio interview. Although this could easily apply for any interview you might give.

"This week, I got an email from Paul Butler, a freelance producer for Moody Radio’s Prime Time America program, asking to interview me about ministry and blogging for the program. The radio piece will be airing in the next week or so and I’ll give a link once it’s finished. He also interviewed a CCP reader and blogging pastor, Ron Dauphin, who I helped get a blog going.
Anyway, through the interview, I quickly realized, I had never done a radio interview … and that I could learn a lot from Paul’s experience.
So afterward, I emailed him a couple of questions and want to share his answers here. His answers are excellent and will help any pastor or minister prepare for a radio interview."

Read More

A well taken iPhone picture.

Some folks may have been wondering how well a picture the iPhone can take. Well, with the right lighting conditions, it can take amazing pictures. Just look at the one to the right. It is untouched save the watermark, the original picture taken with my iPhone at Blossom, NY today. Blossom, NY is a small town that you pass thru in about 5 seconds, but this one bridge and this one creek make it worth the while to stop and take a picture. Enjoy!

Does the Internet Really Increase your Productivity?

I know we would like to think that the Internet is a productivity tool, but many times it is exactly the opposite. Lifehack.org asks that question and gives some tips are making the internet productive for you. As pastors, missionaries, evangelists, youth pastors, whatever your ministry vocation, our time is precious and flies away all too quickly. We cannot let ourselves become attached to the internet so we neglect other tasks. For instance, email how many times a day do you check email? My iPhone checks for email every 30 minutes. Do I really need to now that Tigerdirect is having another sale or that Restaurant.com is having yet another gift certificate discount? Do you really need to check your email 5-10 times a day? That is the whole point of the article and I think it could be a help to managing tech in your ministry and personal life.

"Because of the power of the web, we assume the internet must be saving us time and money. It is true that if used carefully the internet can increase our productivity. However, at the same time it can create additional burdens on our time, negating any benefits we may have got. Using the internet for an hour a day, can save us considerable time in shopping, business, and social activity. However, that doesn’t mean spending 7 hours a day, is going..."

READ MORE

Palm responds to Engadget! WOW!

I cannot believe this my Mr. Ed Colligan has responded to Engadget's Open Letter to Palm via Palm's blog. It is a short response, but I must say that I am impress and am looking forward to see what Palm will have to offer down the road. Who knows maybe I will jump ship from the iPhone- well, maybe not that quick. Palm's got a lot of convincing to do...

"Thanks Engadget


Dear Peter, Ryan and Joshua:

Thank you for the very thoughtful post about Palm. I really appreciate the fact that you guys and others care enough to take the time to write such a comprehensive list of actions. I forwarded it to our entire executive staff and many others at Palm have read it. Although I can’t say I agree with every point, many are right on. We are attacking almost every challenge you noted, so stay tuned. Let’s remember that it is very early in the evolution of the smartphone and there is enormous opportunity for us to innovate. We have only just begun to fight!

Thank you for taking the time to write. I really do take your comments to heart and I know the team at Palm is totally committed to delivering the best mobile computing solutions in the world.

-Ed Colligan"

WOW! This is definitely not a typical move by a CEO of a company, but it will definitely help with Palm's PR and the public view of Palm as a company.

iPhone news roundup: More cool stuff for my iPhone!!!

My iPhone has become my do-it-all gadget. I've gotten directions, added events to iCal, researched topics, found illustrations, checked wifi networks I've installed, snapped pictures, sent email, surfed the full internet, and listened to audio and video podcasts, all on one device. I'm a true believer of a converged device, something I have denied and somewhat aggressively argued against up until my iPhone. So what cool things have I been doing with my iPhone? I'm glad you asked!

1. Installing 3rd party apps via Installer.app - OK, Installer.app is the unofficial way of adding in 3rd party apps until Apple gives the green light for iPhone developers. Still, it's quite simple to install on my iPhone and I can install the limited number of apps on my iPhone as I please. I can even uninstall them if I wish. Still, it's rather cool to see an iPhone modded and show it off at the Apple store.

2. Played BattleFleet (a BattleShip clone) on my iPhone - One of my favorite games as a kid and now I get to play it on my iPhone! Already, I have spent too much time with this little game, but it's lots of fun for me.

3. Updated my ringtones with ifuntastic - another great app for the iPhone and it works rather well when added new ringtones to your iPhone. It's also free- even better!

4. Organized my bookmarks for my iPhone - Group them together in categories to avoid lots of flicking.

5. Watched several videos on my iPhone that I downloaded from iTunes and converted via my MacBook! I never thought I'd watch so much video on a tiny screen, but it's proven to be rather convenient for me at times.

So that's pretty much it for this post!

Free software for Christians in ministry and at home

Have you been looking for software that would be useful for you as a believer? Like a program to help you memorize verses? Or maybe a way to keep track of your internet use for your family? Or organize your music ministry with ease? All these things are now possible and more for free. Christianfreeware.org has complied a myriad of Christian software and have made it available on their website via an ISO image you can download or loaded on a CD for only $1 which I would imagine covers shipping and the cost of the CD. If you want to see all the software included on the disc, you can do so here. Unfortunately most of the software is only available for Windows users, but I would imagine that is what most churches use anyways. I've spent a bit of time looking thru this software and there are a number of useful titles available.

"TechMission's Christian Freeware CD is a collection of free ware and open source software that would be of use to Christians, churches, ministries including church software, ministry software, accountability software, open source software, free Bible study software for Windows, Palm and PocketPC. This software is beyond cheap software, shareware and discounted software because it's completely free. Here is a list of all the software that we have included on this CD-ROM.

This CD-ROM also contains free software to enhance your computer using experience as well as bible study software."

Sermon of the week: Do you have a problem- Jesus is the answer

This week's sermon highlight is from my old alma mater. The message entitled "Do you have a problem- Jesus has the answer" is a great message for those who are going through troubled times. I know it was a blessing for me and it is available here as a video or audio format. If you like Dr. Jackson's preaching, you can add the sermon to iTunes and receive weekly updates. I really enjoy the video on my iPhone. I certainly wish more churches would have this available.

Another misstep for Palm

Looks like Palm's incredible, amazing, Treo accessory will be delayed. Why?! Well, apparently it has some problems syncing with certain models of the Treo line. I guess this is kinda of a problem? ;) Engadget has the full scoop!

"According to a Barron's report published today, Deutsche Bank analyst Johnathan Goldberg has released a short note claiming that the Foleo -- Palm's much-derided quasi-laptop -- is headed for production delays. Goldberg states in the note that "In a round of checks yesterday we learned that the Palm Foleo will be delayed," and went on to say the snag is caused by "software bugs," which prevent the system from syncing properly with "most models of the Treo." Clearly not the news that Palm wants people to hear right now, with pressure already to-the-nines on the Foleo..."

Source: Engadget

Contest results have been emailed!

Our grand prize wining is Isaiah and he won the 1 year subscription to eBible! Congrats to all the rest of the winners as well. I'm still amazed at being around the web for 1 year. Looking forward to our next anniversary celebration.

CONTEST details tomorrow.

I will be finishing with the results of the contest and letting every know tomorrow. Thanks for all who entered the first contest here at TGP.

NEW: iPhone UPDATE 1.0.2

I just updated my iPhone with today's update. Unfortunately, I had to do a complete restore and all my hacks and ringtones were lost. I've already reinstall most of them now though. Nothing dramatic to the update, just bug fixes. It is nice to know that Apple is determined to have a polished OS on the iPhone. Palm and Microsoft could learn a thing or two from Apple's updating and polishing. Apple could learn a thing or two from Palm and Microsoft, too. I sure hope 3rd party apps will be coming soon as I don't mind hacking to get them on my iPhone, but the programs available are limited and I lose them at every update. Oh well, I'm just glad to have my iPhone!

Tech in the Church Part 1: Church uses iTunes gift cards to attract visitors

Well, this is certainly a odd idea. Giving first time visitors who come to your church during their "iServices" free iTunes gift card is a bit desperate and over the top. Have churches come down to marketing and the use of others advertisements to attract people to their churches? These may seem like a harmless idea, but should the church be giving away a free iTunes gift card? We all know that how you get them is how you keep them and I dare say, that most if not all of the visitors during these services will not return to the church. Yes, one may argue that is how outreach works, but IMO this is wrong and makes a church look desperate and look like a marketing business and neglects what a church really is. A house of worship, not a den of thieves.

Source: Engadget and Church By The Glade

Our contest will be extended until tonight at midnight.

For those still wanting to enter our contest, please do so by the end of Monday, August 20. We have some great prizes to be given away! Take a look at them at the top of the website.

Looking for a new church website design?

Many churches websites that I look at (and trust me I have seen plenty) tend to be a hodge-podge of themes and such. There is no rhyme or reason for the site. Many times this is do to the fact that the pastor is trying to stay with the times and appropriately maintain a website that depicts the church ministry. But most pastor's don't have the time to learn HTML coding and the how-tos of website design. If you have someone in your church, who can help that's great, but if you don't what can you do. Spend hours upon hours trying to code a site or find a generic template that sort of meets your church needs. Either option usually doesn't produce a sharp website. So for those who would rather leave the designing to someone else, I recommend Church Communications Pro's top list of website designers for churches. Just a look at their examples should be enough to convince you to invest in a sharp template.

Shredding paper on the go

Funny Gadget points to a neat little USB powered paper shredder. It's small and portable, but the paper must also be small and portable. Not sure why people create these things, but I guess there is a demand for shredding papers on the go. Wonder if it does the confetti shredding?

Source: Funny Gadget

Personal Evangelism: Writing your testimony as a tract

When it comes to evangelism, passing out tracts is one of the top methods. Tracts are easy to carry and can be a really effect way to share the Gospel with others. I think some of the best tracks that I have read have been about that person's personal testimony. I think these kind of tracts can be a huge help in improving your personal evangelism and in reaching others. Knowing the tract that I am receiving is one about this personal, I would be more likely to read it because I'm curious about this person and what has happened to them. We may not all have testimonies where God has saved us out of gross sin, but we can certainly share with them our salvation experience. I believe that this can be an effective tool to personal evangelism. 

Use Google Calendar on your church's website

Here is a really good tip that will help you effective communicate with your church congregation about upcoming events. If you already have a church website, you can easily add a Google Calendar to your church's website with some simple html code. Here are the steps:

1. Setup your Google Calendar if you do not have one. If already ha

ve a Google Calendar, add another calendar and call it Church Events making this a public calendar. Go ahead and add some events like Sunday services, midweek service, prayer breakfasts, home Bible studies, etc. Make sure these events are label with Church Events.

2. Once you have added some events to your Church Events calendar, go ahead and click on "Manage Calendars".

3. Click on your Church Events calendar or in my case, Somewhere Baptist Church. 

4.  Towards the bottom of your Church Events details page, you will see a Calendar Address section. In this section you will see a HTML button. Click on this button. 

5.  Now once you have clicked on the HTML button, another window pops up and from here you want to choose the HTML configuration tool. From there you can customize the look of your calendar to fit your website. Take a look at this church's Google Calendar implementation. 

Conclusion:

Now you can add other events as they are scheduled and your church can quickly see what is coming down the road. All this is done free with Google Calendar. 

Gadget's that work as advertised!

You purchase a new gadget and bring it home only to find out something is not quite right with it. You get that sinking feeling and that money you spent on this shiny useless gadget is making you sick. If this has ever happened to you (it has with me, I purchased a few wifi routers and PC cards only to find out they didn't work), you will probably appreciate this article entitled "Let's See Gadgets That Actually Work". Now, you'll read some rather harsh comments on the iPhone which I wouldn't agree with, unless of course that happened to me!

"Even though I've spent a good chunk of my professional career writing about the technology business, I've never been a gadget hound myself. In fact, I consciously resist certain habit-changing technologies.

I was last person I know to get a mobile phone, and I only recently got a BlackBerry. I couldn't live — or rather make a living — without e-mail, word processing and the Internet.

But $500 for a first-generation iPhone? Never."

Source: Fox News Technology

Own a Nokia cellphone? Better read this...

It's another chapter in the exploding batteries saga. This time Nokia is reporting that some 46 million of their cellphones could be in danger of the exploding battery effect. I cannot understand how manufactors cannot correct this before shipping their devices, especially cellphones. After all, it's most likely going to explode when it is next to someone's head after they've been talking for a while. So if you do have a Nokia phone read the article below and then see if your battery has that "bonus" feature.

" Nokia said 46 million batteries used in its phones could overheat and it would replace them free to consumers while negotiating with battery maker Matsushita <6752.T> over who would bear the costs.

"Nokia has identified that in very rare cases the Nokia-branded BL-5C batteries...could potentially experience overheating initiated by a short circuit while charging, causing the battery to dislodge," it said in a statement on Tuesday.

The world's top cellphone maker said about 100 such incidents had been reported globally but no serious injuries or property damage had been reported."

Source: New York Times Technology

Review - Incase Leather and Nylon Folio for iPhone (Black)

When I bought my iPhone, I didn't have much to choose from when I saw the cases available. As a matter of fact, not much has changed at our Apple store here in Buffalo. Yes, a couple more cases have shown up, but are really impractical for day to day use. So I picked up Incase Leather and Nylon Folio for iPhone (Black) for a mere $40. Now, I have never bought a case for that much money. I'm cheap, I know it. I hesitated, but thought I better pick one up or I maybe paying for a repair for my iPhone.
Thus far I really like the case. It has worn well considering it I use it everyday. I'm a bit concerned at how well the Velcro will hold up since I'm constantly removing my iPhone from it's case.
The inside of the case has a nice soft material with a little bit of design and it makes the whole case look really sharp. The belt clip is strong and has not bent out of shape. Also the look of the black case looks great and doesn't add to much bulk when wearing a suit coat. My only dislike is my iPhone is not completely covered and while this allows the speaker and the headphone jack to be uncovered, I have picked up a few scratches from this uncovered spots.
Overall, I highly recommend this case for those looking for a horizontal belt case. It's sharp and has held out well with heavy daily use.

TGP 1 year anniversary giveaways! (UPDATED)

Here is the list of giveaways in celebration of our 1 year anniversary!

- 1 Premium Membership ($99 value) at eBible.com

- 2 Power Bible CDs

- A couple Joost Invites

- A 13 piece connector kit (USB, Firewall, headphones, etc.)

Hopefully I'll be able to add more. To enter into the contest, please put in the subject of your email CONTEST and email it to the thegadgetpastor 'at' gmail 'dot' com . Final entry date is August 19, 2007 at midnight EST. One entry only please.

Looking back.

I thought you'd all enjoy looking back at our first post here at the Gadget Pastor. Here it is!

"OK, so maye this isn't highly anticipated (except by me). However, the The Gadget Buff blog is meant to serve as a help to other pastors, assistant pastors, youth pastors, and other church leaders and workers. Gadget news will be covered from time to time, but our main thrust is to give ideas and help to those wanting to implement or are using technology in their ministry. A forum will be available soon. As for now, we haven't gone live yet, but please keep checking back in the next few weeks."

Yes, the name was different and the forum idea never took off. However, it is quite exciting to be celebrating our 1 year anniversary and through out the week we will be looking back at some our first posts.

UPDATED: My Mom pointed out that I had a misspelled word in my very first post. Can you find it? If you do and post what the word is in the comments field I will send you a Joost Invite. It's only for the first person to comment and correctly identify the misspelled word. Thanks, Mom! (P.S. My mom is going to kill me when she reads this!)

Preparing for Sunday, slow on posting.

I'm preaching tomorrow for our church's Sunday morning service and I haven't had much time to post for much of my time has been given to studying and a few other events we had over the past two days. However, tomorrow is our 1 year anniversary of the Gadget Pastor! Wow! one whole year. We've come a long way sort of and on Monday I will be doing some special things so be on the lookout! Also I will try to post a video of my message tomorrow if I can. I just purchased iLife '08 so it should be a lot easier to do so. I pray God will bless your services tomorrow!

Sermon of the week: Men who met God

A.W. Tozer is one of my favorite authors (Philip Keller and J. Vernon McGee are probably my tops). Here is one of his messages that you can listen to at your leisure. Click here to go to the sermon.
We could definitely use more men who have met God in our world today!

How'd I used my iPhone today!

Having a gadget that can make you more productive is an incredible joy! My iPhone does just that and as today was a busy day, it was very useful for me. Today one of my teenagers texted me about helping out at our county fair this weekend passing out tracts, I quickly responded to his text letting him know some details about it. I also had several voicemails today and with my visual voicemail on my iPhone I was able to quickly hear the ones I wanted to first. My wife also sent me some texts today about some of our bills being lower- YEAH! I also responded to some email and was able to check a church's website as well that I needed to look at. I also added events to my iPhone and change a few others that needed to be update because of some changes. Of course, I made and received many phone calls today. A few minutes ago, I went jogging and listened to my jogging playlist using my iPhone.
All of this I did with one device. For several years now, I have balked at a converged device, but now I am totally sold on the idea and the iPhone has been a huge reason for that change. Some may think an iPhone is an overpriced toy, but for me it has proven to be quite a productivity booster.

Apple updates iMacs, Mac Mini, iLife, iWork, and much more!

Every Apple fan should be quite excited after yesterday's updates. Apple has completely updated their entire product line after yesterday's press conference. The big news is of course the new Apple iMacs and the new keyboard. From the pictures that have been posted, both products look really sharp. I'm really interested in iLife '08 and iWork '08. I almost purchased iLife '08 last night, but held off until I read more about it. All in all, I think many of Apple's faithful will be quite happy with the updates. For a complete roundup, check out Mac Rumors here.


One tip for potential buyers of an Apple iMac, you ought to consider looking at the refurbished ones as you will find yourself some great deals as some folks who purchased a Mac in the past few days will be returning them for a brand new metallic Mac.

Brando's USB Mini Battery recharger for your gadgets

This looks like an extremely useful gadget especially since it can charge a myriad of gadgets. I like that it can also charge the iPhone which is a very useful and important gadget to me.

USB Mini Battery

Have you ever had experiences that devices are running out of battery while in use? It is disturbing when you are enjoying your MP3 or chatting happily with friends on the phone, etc. Now! USB Mini Battery won't let these situation happen anymore! You can charge your devices in a flash before battery exhausts! You can charge your iPhone, Handheld PC, Digital Camera, Cellphone, DV, MP3, CD Player, PMP, PSP, NDS, NDS Lite and any other applicable devices.

Features:
- Recharge eletronic devices, such iPhone, PDA, Mobile phone...
- Portable and lightweight
- Easy to carry, easy to use
- On / OFF Switch
- 3-level LED indicator
- Dimensions: 70x35x21mm
- Weight: 69g

Specifications:
- Input (Mini USB): 5VDC, 500mA Min.
- Output (USB Type A Port): 5VDC, 1000mA
- Battery Chemistry: Li-ion
- Battery Capacity: 2200mAh

Package Contents:
- USB Mini Battery
- USB Cable
- User Manual

Some Palm news...

Here are two press release highlights from Palm concerning the Foleo:

Press Release #1
"LogMeIn Adds Remote PC Access Capability to Palm Foleo Mobile Companion
Foleo Users Now Can Access Information Quickly, Easily and Securely from Home and Work Computers
SAN FRANCISCO, Aug 07, 2007 (BUSINESS WIRE) --

Palm, Inc. (Nasdaq: PALM) and LogMeIn, Inc., the world's leading provider of remote connectivity, are bringing remote PC access capability to the Palm(R) Foleo(TM) mobile companion. LogMeIn provides secure connections between remote PCs over the web - enabling easy desktop remote control, data backup and file sharing. Adding this application to the Foleo gives users the ability to quickly and securely access files and network resources on their home or work computers when away."

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Press Release #2
"Palm Selects Wind River as its Preferred Linux Platform Provider for the Palm Foleo Mobile Companion
SAN FRANCISCO, LinuxWorld, Booths #740 and #925, Aug. 7, 2007 -- Wind River Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: WIND), the global leader in Device Software Optimization (DSO), and Palm, Inc. (NASDAQ: PALM) today announced that Palm has selected Wind River® Platform for Consumer Devices, Linux Edition as its open standard Linux platform for future Palm® Foleo™ software releases. Palm selected Wind River Linux for its standard development and deployment environment that will help speed applications to market, while still meeting the requirements for a stable and robust open mobile platform. Along with the platform, Wind River is providing its Wind River Workbench development suite, professional services and customer support to help Palm and its development community attain the efficiencies needed to compete in the ever-changing mobile market. Today's announcement reaffirms Wind River's growing leadership as a mobile Linux provider."

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Wii update available today.

This morning I just downloaded the latest Wii firmware update. I noticed that my Wii's blue light was lit up and knew it wasn't a "Blue light special". The update includes changes to the Forecast channel, News Channel, Wii Shop Channel, among other things. Some folks have warned this might brick you Wii if you modded it. Most folks should have no problems.

Apple updated their iMac line and possibly releasing new upates to iLife, iWork, & the Mac Mini

Lots of excitement in the Mac community as Steve Jobs will be announcing updates for their iMac line of computers. Rumors are also floating around that iLife, iWork, and the Mac Mini could also see updates today. I'm quite excited about all of these and I'm planning on watching some of the sites like Engadget that will provide live updates at the meeting.

The master list of iPhone Widgets

OK, you just bought your shiny iPhone and you know want to know what you can do with it. Well, look no further the Gadget Pastor has the answer for you! Check out iPhone Widget List as these folks have collected much of the iPhone web apps that have been created so far. It's quite extensive and I've already added a few of the sites to my iPhone. My favorite so far is iPhone Sports. Check them out and you will be able to add more fun and productivity to your iPhone!

The Value of a Parent Staying Home with Kids, and Tips on How to Do It

This is a really good article from zenhabits and a must read. Having the mother stay home with their kids is not as popular as it use to be. For many reasons, the mother will go to work and the kids will go to daycare, school, etc. While I'm not saying it is wrong for a mother to work, I just believe that a mother at home can be very valuable to the family and especially the kids. It does mean sacrifice, but it is entirely possible for a mother to stay at home.

"Last week, I dropped my 3-year-old son Seth Isaiah and my 1-year-old daughter Noelle Cayce to daycare for the first time ever.

It broke my heart to leave them there.

Despite my fears and broken heart, both babies did very well their first day, didn’t cry, and actually seemed to enjoy the daycare.

But after 3+ years of my wife staying home with the babies, it is a strange phenomenon to leave them with people I barely know. My wife Eva just returned to work as a teacher, allowing her to finally get out of the house and back to her career, but also breaking her heart as well, as she is so used to being with the babies all day.

When my wife became pregnant with Seth, almost four years ago, we decided that it would be great for the baby if she could stay home and take care of him. It was something we both really wanted, so we looked at how we could accomplish it (more on that below). It wasn’t easy, as our finances were already tight, with four kids already in school, but we managed it.

Do you like this idea?

Is an ATM machine appropriate in the local church? Time has a piece entitled "The ATM in the Church Lobby." I personally do not like this idea. I have seen donut shops, fast food restaurants, and the like in churches, mostly mega churches. I think these things make the church less of a church and more an entertainment place. While we know that a moneyless society is the future, I do not want to bring a feature like this into my church, there are other ways to track some cash gifts. It is one thing if you have a school or daycare and take credit card or debit payments, but it is entirely strange to have this as a means of giving your tithe and offerings. Wouldn't this encourage people to charge on their credit card their tithe and offering? Going into debt to give to the church, this seems to be promoting a wrong idea. Write a check, pull the cash out. I may love tech, but to me this is too much. What do you think?

"Is that an ATM in the church lobby? Credit and debit card swipe machines in churches may startle some of the pious, but such kiosks, already present in some houses of worship, might become even more commonplace now that a new IRS regulation is in effect. Beginning with gifts given in 2007, the IRS will demand documentation for charitable contributions under $250. Once, all one needed was a diary entry to vouch for such donations. Specially designed ATMs at church will help document such spur-of-the-moment cash gifts, as well as planned giving. Also as a result of the new IRS rule, credit card donations and tithing are likely to increase too because such electronic fund transfers leave a paper trail."

Special deals at Iambic Software- makers of Agendus

Iambic has a special deal of the week promotion that for every new purchase of Agendus you will receive to free gifts. The two gifts are a sticky pad, the kind that holds your PDA in a car, and the iambic CD-to-Go which gives you a hard copy of Agendus titles. Now if you are looking for a full-featured calendar, contact, and email suite, Agendus is that suite. This program covers so much and offers so much that you will be hard pressed to find a comparable suite of programs. Agendus is available for Palm, Windows,

Another great Bible study widget for iPhone users

This widget called iBiblespace allows an iPhone user to have several Bible study helps conveniently located in one site. Read on for the description!

"iBibleSpace.org offers five useful tools for regular Bible readers: 1) The iPhone Bible includes the entire English Standard Version Bible, Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary, and your own personal notebook! Using the notebook you can highlight or attach notes to any verse of the Bible. 2) A verse of the day gives a short verse each day to mediate on. 3) Bible search allows you to search the entire Bible by keyword. 4) Spurgeon’s Morning and Evening is a daily devotional by Charles Spurgeon. 5) Today’s podcasts presents quick links to today’s radio messages offered by nationally recognized ministries."

My At&t phone bill was 23 pages long.

Yes, it is another feature for all us iPhone users- cellphone bills that are 23+ pages long. Well, that is how many pages my bill was. Apparently, other iPhone users have reported this already and I had forgotten about it until my wife said, "Did you know that your cellphone bill is 23 pages long?!" I then remembered and chuckled. Surely, At&t won't be able to do this much longer as folks will undoubtedly be complaining above how many trees have been "slaughter" for iPhone users. Yippeee!

GooSync adds another great feature!

One of my favorite programs for my late Lifedrive was GooSync. It would allow me to sync my Google Calendar with my Lifedrive. Worked quite well and I truly love this service (especially since it is free!). If you are a Google Calendar pastor, you really ought to check out GooSync as it is a great way to use your cellphone as your calendar.

"There have been some exciting developments here at the GooSync offices, please see the following for details:

**********************************************
Contact Support On The Way: Beta Testers Required
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The most requested feature is now well and truly on its way! GooSync contact support has been in development for some time, we are now looking for volunteers to test our beta release due later this month. Anyone interested please e-mail beta@goosync.com with your details. Only 100 testers will then be randomly selected from all those who apply.

GooSync Contacts will be fully released sometime during September and will only be available in the advanced GooSync account.

To view details of the current status of contacts support please visit http://www.goosync-forum.com/showthread.php?t=45

Full feature support and release date will be available soon.

*****************************************
NEW GooSync Forum Available NOW!
*****************************************
Many of you have been taking advantage of the GooSync Google Group for latest news, updates and support. We are pleased to announce that you can now get all this and more from our new dedicated forum. So to keep up to date with all the latest GooSync gossip and to receive any help or answers to your questions please visit www.goosync-forum.com

Do not hesitate to contact us if you require any further information or assistance.

Thank you,

Kindest Regards,

The GooSync Team."

Free shipping from the Sword of the Lord Bookstore

For the month of August, the Sword of the Lord online bookstore is offering free shipping on all purchases made. All you need to do is enter the promo code HR0731 at checkout. The offer is only good in the United States.

How one pastor uses his Palm PDA.

I read this article over at Palm Addicts and this pastor shares his uses of his Palm TX. Technology can really be helpful in the ministry and this pastor has implemented it quite well.

"I've been a Palm Pastor since 1997 when I purchased a Palm Personal off the discount table at my local office supply store. Probably the best $99 I ever spent. Since then I have owned the IIIx, IIIc, Tungsten, T3, Lifedrive and now my TX. I still own all the palms. How could I possibly let them go? All still function, though the Personal had a mishap with a concrete gym floor and now sports a cracked screen, but in spite of a severe handicap the little fighter still turns on and begs to be used.
From the beginning I've used my Palm for everything. Early on I had no money for a laptop and then once I began discovering the "Power of Palm" I never saw the need of one. Everything I've ever needed to do on the road I've done with the Palm in my pocket rather than than the computer on my lap. I remember feeling so superior to those poor "lappies" struggling to take notes on a huge laptop during a seminar while I deftly lifted in my pocket (moving slowly and deliberately so that others less technologically advanced would be sure to see) and pulled out my Palm, slid the stencil out of the silo and began to take notes. The snugness of the Palm definitely led to the smugness of my attitude..."

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Brando releases new iPhone accessories

Brando, a popular site for accessories and gadgets, is now offering iPhone accessories even a replacement battery. Quite amazing that Brando only charges $20 for the DIY battery kit while Apple will charge $86. Be sure to check out Brando whole lineup of cool stuff. You'll really have a hard time not buying something!

Some iPhone accessories :

BW iPhone Silicone Case
http://shop.brando.com.hk/prod_detail.php?prod_id=01982

iPhone Crystal Case
http://shop.brando.com.hk/prod_detail.php?prod_id=02069

iPhone Battery
http://shop.brando.com.hk/prod_detail.php?prod_id=02068

BW UltraClear Cellphone S/P (iPhone)
http://shop.brando.com.hk/prod_detail.php?prod_id=02039

Thank you!

Brando

iGoogle Gadget: Verse-a-week Memorization

I'm a big fan of iGoogle. I've tried Google Reader, but I seem to always come back to iGoogle. One Google gadget that I have added recently is called Verse-a-week Memorization. It helps you memorize one verse for the entire week by covering up some of the words each day. The goal is by the end of the week you will know the verse by memory. For those of you who rely on iGoogle this could be a huge help for you to be more productive in memorizing Scripture

"Learn a new verse every week, words are hidden on a scheduled time so that by the end of the week, the entire verse is hidden. Verses rotate every week or you can pick your own verse."

I've updated my iPhone!

Well, I bit the bullet and downloaded and installed the Apple iPhone Update 1.0.1. It's really a nothing to see update and focuses on security issues and the like. I did have to reinstall all my ringtones and logos via iFuntastic as I had to do a complete restore. Reinstalling everything only took about 20 minutes or so. While I had hoped that the first update would have more to it, it's still nice to now that my iPhone is all that more secure.