the gadget pastor

Brando releases two new products: USB power station & wireless, slim keyboard with trackpad

Mon, 1 Mar 2010 06:22:46 -0600

Opened my inbox this morning and looks like Brando, one of my favorite online gadget stores, has a couple new products. The USB power stations looks great! I’ve got it pictured on the right. The other new release is a super slim keyboard with a built-in trackpad much like what you would find on a laptop. Two cool gadgets that are definitely worth a look, especially the USB power station. I’m really interested in it.
Here are the details and links for each product:
USB Power Station (5,000mAh)
Product Code: ULIFE033200
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 Power Station (5,000mAh) won't let this situation happen anymore! You can charge your devices in a flash before battery exhausts! In addition, the huge power storage - built-in 5,000mAh rechargeable battery and dual USB power output. Now, you can charge your *iPhone, Handheld PC, Cellphone, DV, iPod, MP3 and PMP PSP and any other applicable devices.
Price: US $46.00
Rapoo 2900 Touch Slim Wireless Keyboard with Touchpad
Product Code: UKEYB004300
Rapoo 2900 Touch Slim Wireless Keyboard with Touchpad is a 88 key enhanced layout Wireless keyboard with a built-in high precision touchpad. Its weight only has 240g and built-in rechargeable Li-ion Battery. The portable and slim design can be used for travel, school, or any other working environment. Perfect for Media Center use!
Price: US $86.00

My favorite pocket tool -- Leatherman Freestyle CX

Sat, 27 Feb 2010 21:25:15 -0600

I am a big fan of multi-tools and Swiss Army Knifes (mainly because of MacGyver). As a kid, I grew up with a knife in my pocket. My first one I lost in a swamp somewhere, but my next one was a Swiss Army Knife that I had for many years.
Nowadays, I carry a Leatherman Freestyle CX in my pocket. I like its minimalist design, small weight, and the pliers. It’s easy to carry in my suit pants with its side clip. This is my fourth Leatherman that I own. No, my other ones did not break, I just have them stashed in helpful locations.
I picked up the Leatherman Freestyle CX at Amazon for a great price. Here is the specs sheet, short, but that’s the beauty of the Freestyle CX.
Tools:
154CM Stainless Steel, Clip Point Knife
Needlenose Pliers
Regular Pliers
Wire Cutters
Hard-wire Cutters
Features:
DLC-coated Stainless Steel Handles with Carbon-fiber Handle Insert
Stainless Steel Body
Outside-accessible Blade for One-handed Opening
Locking Blade
Removable Pocket Clip
DLC Coating for Scratch and Corrosion Resistance
25-year Warranty
Measurements:
3.45 in | 8.76 cm (closed)
4.5 oz | 127.57 g
2.6 in | 6.60 cm (blade length)

SermonHack: What makes a bad illustration?

Sat, 27 Feb 2010 20:53:37 -0600

Ever used a bad illustration or picked one up last minute that fell flat? Been there done that- got that “look” from your wife? Every preacher has been there and knows they don’t want to go back. So what makes a bad illustration? Read on my friend...

1. When an illustration doesn’t have a point, you served up a bad illustration. You spend all that time telling the illustration only to not have a point?! The point of an illustration is that it drives home a point in the message. Make every illustration count.
2. When an illustration leads away from the message, you’ve lost the congregation. An illustration should be clear. If you lose the sheep, you message is lost. Keep the illustration within the boundaries of your sermon.
3. When an illustration is confusing, you’ve confused your congregation-- perhaps yourself! If the illustration doesn’t fit, don’t use it. Stay away from an illustration that confuses you. It doesn’t matter who you heard it from or what book you read it in, if it is going to confuse your people, save for another time.
4. When an illustration lasts longer than the message, you’ve not been a good steward of your time. Your illustration may make people snicker, giggle, even howl with laughter, but if you spend all your time on it and very little on the message, what will the people learn. We are to illustration the Word of God, not illustrate for the sake of illustration. Our time is precious and short in the pulpit. Let’s make the best of it.
5. When an illustration pops into your head during your preaching, you better beware. To this day, I remember Winne the Pooh being told to “beware” of heffalumps and woozles. It ought to be the same for you and I as we preach, a quickly added illustration that has not been thought thru can end up causing a mess. Consider it our heffalumps and woozles. Beware, preacher, beware!
6. When you have too many illustrations, people forget your points, but remember your illustrations. It’s a delicate balance between illustrating a point in your message and losing your people to the illustration. People often remember your illustrations, but sometimes miss the point in your message. Repeat the point clearly before and after your illustration. Keep the emphasis on the point in your message.

Update: GoodReader adds .txt editing

Sat, 27 Feb 2010 19:55:34 -0600

Since my review of GoodReader, the folks at Goodiware have added a great new feature-- text editing. You can know edit small and medium sized texts. This can be handy for those who use .txt files for notes, sermon brainstorms, and the like.

If you haven’t had a chance to look at GoodReader start with my review and then go download GoodReader Lite.

2.6 update brings...
• Text Edit - edit small and medium TXT files
• Page Slider for PDF files - whisk across big files with a single gesture
• importing/exporting pictures from device Photo Album
• added Encoding option to FTP servers, now FTP servers with non-ASCII file names can be accessed
• support for .ai files saved with PDF Compatible option
• fixed the issue with incorrect downloading of spreadsheets from Google Docs and MobileMe iDisk
• various bug fixes for e-mail attachments downloading

Review of File Magic (iPhone app)

Wed, 24 Feb 2010 21:35:04 -0600

Having a computer at work and at home is a mixed blessing. You can work on your documents, projects, and whatever else at either place. The problem is when you forget to bring your file to your other location!
Sure you could load it on a USB drive (who has forgotten one of those at work or home!) or you could upload it to one of those cloud services, but if it is a sensitive document, you may not want to do that. Since I have my iPhone with me practically all the time, it makes a great candidate for holding my files. If you’re like me, transferring files to my iPhone needs to be a simple, no-nonsense process. Nothing complicated. There must be an app for that and there is-- it’s called File Magic from Splash Data.
File Magic provides you with a simple, no-nonsense method of transferring your files to your iPod touch or iPhone. In order to transfer files from a computer to your iPhone or iPod touch, you will need to download the free desktop companion software (available for both Windows and Mac OS X) and a local WiFi network.
How’s it work?
Once you have installed the desktop software and purchased File Magic (only $2.99), you can transfer files with ease. Open both programs and be sure your computer and iPhone is connected to the same WiFi network. Then simply drag and drop the file to the desktop software, and you can watch it move it’s way to your iPhone. To move them back, all you need to do is click on the download icon. You can also delete items from the desktop software, especially helpful after you downloaded a file that you don’t need on your iPhone anymore.
You may notice your battery does drains fast if left connected or after transferring a lot of files (may be because I am still sporting the original iPhone with the original battery). It is to be expected as you are using WiFi which is a batterymonger. File Magic will prompt you to disconnect if left idle for a spell.
That’s the sum of transferring a file. Now, you can transfer just about any file type, but only certain files are able to be viewed with File Magic. While the Pages format was not listed among the supported types, a Pages document would show in the Documents section as a folder. I could then navigate to the Quicklook folder and view the PDF version. Thought this could be handy sometime down the road.
What files are supported?
Supported files that you dragged and dropped onto the desktop software are automagically organized for you into their respective folders (pictures sent to Images folder and so on). Non-supported files are sent to the Others folder. Here are the supported formats:
Documents -- .doc and .docx (Microsoft Word); .htm and .html (web pages); .pdf (Preview and Adobe Acrobat); .ppt and .pptx (Microsoft PowerPoint); .txt and .rtf (text & rich text); .xls and .xlsx (Microsoft Excel)
Music -- Non-DRM files only (no copy protection): .mp3; .aac; and .wav
Video -- .m4v - Open a video in QuickTime (7.5 or later); Go to File > Export > Movie to iPhone. Then drag the resulting m4v file into File Magic.
Images -- .jpg and .jpeg; .gif; .png; .tiff
Some other standout features are device-to-device transfers on the same WiFi network, sending files as attachments via email, password protection, exporting your iPhone or iPod touch’s contacts to .csv format (a great way to backup your contacts), and creating emails with File Magic and then send them to your iPhone to be emailed (very helpful when your laptop is offline).
A few needed improvements.
I did see a couple areas File Magic could improve in and maybe I am nitpicking. When sending a file via email, you have to type the From email, To email, Subject, and in the email body, a terribly small font is used which could be difficult for those who are sight challenged. I would really like to see the font size change.
Another quibble with emailing, the From email field is listed at the top of the screen instead of the To email field like the Mail app where the To field is listed at the top. For the sake of uniformity, the fields should match the Mail app UI. It would also be great for File Magic to link to your contacts email addresses, so you don’t have to type or copy and paste them in and be able to designate a default From email rather than typing it in.
One last area would be the large font on the main screen of File Magic. It does not fit well the overall UI of the app. Looks really out of place and needs to be smaller. I know I sound like I cannot be pleased- larger... smaller...smaller...larger!
Conclusion:
In the end, File Magic makes transferring files a cinch. You can finally eliminate that extra gadget, USB drive, or having to remember your login information to upload your file to the cloud. With File Magic moving your files to your iPhone really is magic!

Record your messages with your iPhone

Sat, 13 Feb 2010 20:54:33 -0600

Recording your messages can be a real help to your congregation. They may wish to pass it along to some relative or listen to it again. That’s why having a digital recording is helpful. The main problem for a lot of pastors and churches is it takes time and can be complicated. TUAW takes a look at Blue Microphones, Blue Mikey. It’s a device that attaches to your iPhone and provides you with your own portable recording studio. A add-on like this could provide you with simple recording and minimal effort.
Well, as long as you don’t forget to tap the record button! Enjoy the read.
“Blue Microphones are on the show floor here at Macworld, and they invited us by their booth to take a look (and a listen) at the newest version of the Blue Mikey iPhone microphone. And with most of Blue's products (I have a Snowball that I use for podcasting, and it works and sounds great), it's quite impressive, producing excellent sound in a well-designed and easy-to-use form.
Earlier this year, Blue announced the second revision of the Mikey, with enhanced features for $20 more than the first $79 version. That's the one we used, and it looked and worked great. They've added a line input (for recording guitars), and a USB passthrough, as well as put the entire body on a swivel (so it can even swing all the way around and point forward while shooting video on the 3G.”
Continue reading...

GoodReader giveaway. [UPDATED]

Fri, 12 Feb 2010 07:29:28 -0600

Contest is over. Congrats to our winner, Colin!
I recently reviewed GoodReader (here’s the link in case you missed it) and I have kindly been given a free copy to giveaway at the Gadget Pastor. You have three ways that you can enter this contest:
1) Email me using the link at the top right corner of this page with the word CONTEST in the subject line telling me what you like best about GoodReader.
2) Follow me on Twitter, sending the following tweet and posting your twitter name in the comments below: RT: Win a free copy of GoodReader for iPhone. Full review and details @thegadgetpastor -- http://j.mp/8XPvkQ
3) Post a comment in the comments section below with your email address and how you would use GoodReader.
All entries must be submitted between now and Tuesday 02/16/2010 9:00PM CST. Only one entry per person please. If you do not follow the rules, your entry will be disqualified.
Prizes:
1 copy of GoodReader - (a $.99 value)
Rules:
1. Only one entry per person.
1. Contest is open to US folks only.

A big thanks to the Good.iWare team for giving me a free copy to give away! I will use www.random.org to choose the winner and the winner will be notified by email. If the winner does not respond within 48 hours, then another entry will be selected.

On the verge of snow? How prepared are you for a disaster?

Fri, 12 Feb 2010 07:20:20 -0600

It’s hard to believe that we may see snow here in the Florida panhandle. It’s got to get a little colder in order for it to snow- perhaps some flurries. Being prepared is essential whether it is a snow storm or a hurricane. Over at FrugalDad, he details important items to have in a bug out bag, a popular term for a survival kit/emergency bag. I am working on one for our family just in case a hurricane comes this year. It never hurts to be prepared.
“Imagine the following scenario. You are awakened in the middle of the night by the jolt of a powerful earthquake. Your house is leveled, but thankfully you and your family are uninjured. However, the roads are impassable, your utilities have been cut off, and many of your neighbors were injured or killed in the earthquake. The only thing you have to survive is what you have on hand, and because you are a Frugal Dad reader, your bug out bag.”
Continue reading...

Review of GoodReader for iPhone

Tue, 9 Feb 2010 21:59:17 -0600

I deal with a number of PDF documents at work and home. For the most part, they are purely for reference (I do receive some monthly newsletters in PDF I read), but I may refer to them while on the go, meeting with prospective students and their families, studying for my Sunday school lessons, and so forth. Since my wife and I share one laptop having access to these PDFs is important to me. The solution that I found is using GoodReader [iTunes Link] on my iPhone.
Top features:
The main feature to GoodReader is its claim to handling large PDF documents. I have done my best to throw large PDF documents at the app and it has handled them all just fine. My largest PDF document was about 50 MB which is the largest I would likely use. On their website, users have reported “flawless performance with files over 1 gig in size.” You can also search a PDF document, add bookmarks, or go to a specific page.
GoodReader can read other file formats like MS Office .doc, .ppt, .xls, iWork'08/'09, HTML and Safari webarchives, images, audio, and video. This makes the app rather versatile and not just a one trick pony.
Files are organized via a folder hierarchy. You can create folders, move files or folders, cut, copy, paste, zip, email, rename, protect, star items, paste links to files, create new files from your iPhone’s clipboard, and even integrates with Appigo’s Todo app. One nice touch is when selecting a downloaded file from the Web Downloads folder (yes, you can download files to GoodReader more on this later), GoodReader doesn’t just open the file, but shows you where the file is located screen by screen. I really liked that!
Downloading/Transferring Files
I mentioned the ability to download files earlier. Thru additional add-ons, GoodReader can access your POP3/IMAP email accounts, google Docs, MobileMe, FTP servers, and more. Just the other day, I used GoodReader to access my Gmail account and download a password protected PDF that I needed. GoodReader downloaded it and allowed me to enter my password and read the PDF. Worked perfectly!
There is a web browser built-in so you can navigate to a web page to download a file you need. I have tried it out, but found it to be a bit clunky to use. Each time you tap on a link, it asks you if you want to follow the link, download the file, or cancel. It does show the link for you to help you determine whether to follow or download, but not very smooth when surfing to your download. I also couldn’t access my Safari bookmarks either which would help with downloading some files. You can paste a URL and GoodReader will download the file.
You can also transfer files via WIFI using your internet browser or using your iPhone as a network folder (WebDAV).
For those who don’t like pinching to zoom and sliding documents around to view the text, you can use GoodReader’s PDF reflow. The reflow takes your PDF down to just the text and formats it to fit your screen (how does it know the size of your screen, it’s just that good!). Seriously, it’s a handy feature when you are reading thru a lengthy newsletter.
Conclusion
GoodReader is the best iPhone app for reading PDFs, MS Office files, iWork files, text, audio, and video files. I have found it to be robust and fast even on my 1st generation iPhone. The Help topics give you all the info you need to learn to use GoodReader and its features.
GoodReader currently sells for $.99 in the App Store and the additional add-ons are $.99 each. The add-ons are Accessing E-mail servers via IMAP or POP3 protocol, Server-style access to Google Docs, and Accessing FTP servers. I bought GoodReader when it sold for $4.99 and I still feel like I got a good deal. Featured packed with a clean UI, GoodReader provides the best PDF viewing experience on my iPhone. Try out all the features of GoodReader with the lite version.

GOODREADER GALLERY: View my screenshots of GoodReader

Some great tips to better listening at church

Sat, 30 Jan 2010 11:15:23 -0600

We’ve all been there. The pastor is preaching and we’re falling asleep. That pew never felt more comfortable and you have never felt more ready for a nap than right now. You begin to resemble that bobble head on your desk at work. And... next thing you know people are beginning to move around you. The service is over! Been there and done that?
There are many reasons we fall asleep, but we should certainly do our best not to. God has given us so much, the very least we could do is pay attention at His house. Here are some great tips from the folks at Answers in Genesis on staying awake at church.
“Let’s face it—sometimes your family doesn’t get much out of the Sunday sermon. But with a little work, dads can greatly improve the family’s listening experience.
Try these hearing aids:
Get more sleep. The Sunday service is not for sleeping; the night before is. This requires planning, especially for young people, who like to use Saturday night as an opportunity to stay up as late as possible.
Sit closer. Almost without exception, the best listeners are in front. There are some valid reasons to be in the back, but it will usually impede your listening.”
Continue reading...