July 2010
2 posts
4 tags
MojoMotor : The Publishing Engine that Does Less →
EllisLab, creators of the always impressive ExpressionEngine CMS, have released a new, light weight (as in feature set) CMS called MojoMotor. My first impressions of MojoMotor is that it would be perfect for small church or business websites that need the ability to change content easily but can do without more robust features like blogs, calendars, etc.
However, perhaps the coolest thing about...
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Free and Simple One Page Church Websites →
A few weeks ago, Terrell Sanders at MinistryCOM suggested that a lot of churches would be better off with simple, one page websites with just the basics rather than not have a website at all.
I agree, so I’ve come up with a solution for small churches who wish to follow Terrell’s advice.
I call it OnePageChurch.com and, in a nut shell, it lets users create simple, one page sites...
June 2010
1 post
4 tags
Why You May Not Need a Mobile App →
May 2010
1 post
Textingly Lets Companies Manage Their Text... →
April 2010
5 posts
1 tag
More Digital Signage →
It turns out a colleague down the street created his own digital signage as well and it looks rad!
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Sugar Creek Baptist Releases Open Source iPhone... →
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The iPad, A Staggering Work of Obviousness →
Sometimes I come across a blog post that is not only informative and inspiring, but also just plain well written and entertaining to read. This is one such post.
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Keep your Mac Tip-Top with OnyX →
Have you heard of OnyX? It’s a free utility that lets you maintain and tweak your Mac to keep it healthy and squeeze every drop of processing power from it.
In their own words:
OnyX is a multifunction utility that enables you to verify the startup disk and the structure of its system files, to run miscellaneous maintenance and cleaning tasks, to configure parameters in Finder, Dock and...
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twistori: Twitter Visualization on Your Desktop →
Ever wish you could put cool looking animation of tweets about your event or organization up on the screens for everyone to see? Now you can with twistori Desktop Edition!
I saw this sweet screen saver while visiting the Element Fusion offices a few weeks ago.
For around $14 you get an app that lets you search twitter for keywords, filter out the naughty stuff or other things, and display them...
March 2010
7 posts
3 tags
Get a Facebook App for your Church!
A couple weeks ago, Henderson Hills Baptist Church, with the help of Terrell Sanders and Adam White of Main Street Enterprises launched a new feature on their Facebook Fan Page. If you visit the HHBC Facebook Fan Page and you are not yet a fan, you’ll be presented with a customized page via a custom Facebook App.
On this custom Facebook App you see items from the HHBC RSS feed, service...
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Free NAB Registration for CTD Readers
I just got an email from someone on the NAB Show Team letting me know of a couple of exhibits at this year’s show that might be of interest to some of you.
The Technologies for Worship Pavilion offers comprehensive training for house of worship staff and technical volunteers and is the focal point for all things related to worship technology at the NAB Show. In addition, you may be...
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animoto Releases API →
I love animoto like I love Apple. It just makes things easier. Now they’ve released a developer API! I’m looking forward to seeing what people do with that!
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Editing a Multicam Program Shot on Canon 5Ds →
If you’re into digital photography or videography you may have heard that shooting video on your HD capable DSLR is all the rage. This post from the ProVideo Coalition provides a great case study in how using these cameras to shoot an entire program can work. I need to get me one of these cameras!
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Joe Wikert's Publishing 2020 Blog: The End of... →
There’s been a lot talk about the publishing industry and how eBooks and other technologies will change things. This brief article from Joe Wikert, GM at O’Reilly publishing, has some interesting thoughts on what the step beyond eBooks might look like and a company you may be familiar with that has been doing it for years. Thought provoking stuff.
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Less Framework: An HTML5-powered CSS framework for... →
Looking to build a mobile website? Hoping to take advantage of huge screen sizes without leaving out the little guy? Check into Less Framework. It’s pretty cool!
February 2010
2 posts
3 tags
Facebook Launches Zero, A Text-Only Mobile Site... →
With mobile sites being all the rage, don’t forget your visitors who, like me, are still rocking their non-iPhones and non-Androids and whose mobile browsers are limited by speed, rendering and bandwidth issues. If the group of mobile browsers in this situation is big enough for Facebook to consider, I’ll bet it’s big enough for your church to consider.
Don’t have the...
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ProPresenter 4 is out for Mac (Windows version on...
I got a welcome email in my inbox this afternoon. ProPresenter 4 has been released and with it a bunch of very excellent features that, in my opinion, keeps this app firmly on the throne as King of Presentation Software.
Even more interesting is Renewed Vision’s announcement that they are working on a Windows port of ProPresenter. I know a lot of PC users who will be happy to hear that.
...
January 2010
7 posts
4 tags
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MediaCore: An Open Source Media Publishing... →
MediaCore is a free open source video, audio, and podcast publishing platform. It is built for organizations who wish to distribute media in a variety of formats on their website while maintaining the ability to control the user experience.
The purpose behind MediaCore was to make a central media library that could pull media from any source, track statistics, enable commenting, and provide a...
5 tags
Roll Your Own Digital Signage 2.0
A while back, I wrote a series of posts detailing how I created a digital signage solution of Henderson Hills Baptist Church using modified AppleTV.
While the hacked AppleTV worked well enough, it was not quite as robust as I wanted, could not play video well, and would not auto-scale for different display sizes. So I’ve been working on a new solution.
Now I have something ready to show....
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Introducing Stage Time (or How to Reign in Those...
Tired of the announcements dragging on at church? Need to give the guest speaker a subtle hint that his turn at the mic is over? If you’re looking to manage your stage better, check into Stage Time from the same mind that brought you Countdown Maker!
Stage Time is an app for Macs that let’s you create a “show” consisting of a list of elements that will be happening on...
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Vimeo to get 1080p and Mobile Support →
It’s been discussed before that Vimeo is a fantastic deal for churches looking to offer video online on the cheap. Now, if you’re a paying customer ($60/yr.) you can expect support for 1080p and mobile playback (as in, your Vimeo content on an iPhone). That’s a pretty sweet deal!
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Church Community Builder Introduces Twexting!
Oh tight! One of my favorite ChMS companies and the one I use at my home church has released a rad new feature that smashes together Twitter ans SMS text messages into one, rad communications tool! Here’s the release from their website:
CCB’s Twext™ feature combines the convenience of Text Messaging with the reach of Twitter™ COLORADO SPRINGS, CO, JANUARY 4, 2010—Church Community Builder...
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What The Church Can Learn From Canabalt
If you’ve been following me on Twitter, you might have noticed me tumbling to my death or being blown into a fine mist every now and then. The source of my destruction is a very simple game called Canabalt. In a nut shell, Canabalt is a game where the goal is to jump from roof top to roof top for as long as possible before dying. Only one button is used to jump. That’s it.
...
November 2009
4 posts
3 tags
VideoLobby.com: Custom Webcasts →
This could be cool. VideoLobby.com lets you bring your own streaming video provider and helps you smash together a slick looking website that delivers your video content and integrates Twitter and Facebook and facilitates moderated comments. Awesome! It’s also free.
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TruthCasting: Free Online Sermon Broadcasting →
I’m not sure how all this is free, but it’s worth looking into. TruthCasting is a:
sermon broadcasting service that is free to the church and free to the viewer. We specialize in automated delivery of sermon video, audio, and written resources.
That sounds like a good deal! They can also create an iPhone app for your church for a one time fee (not sure how much) that lets users...
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The Ultimate Man on the Street Rig →
This is so tight! The Pro Video Coalition has a wicked cool review of a custom cable that lets you hook a pro XLR microphone up to your iPhone.
Imagine how easy this will make grabbing quick, man on the street videos! No heft rig. Just your iPhone and a solid mic.
Read about hooking up an XLR mic to your iPhone here.
October 2009
7 posts
2 tags
Dropzone and Dropbox: Two things I Love →
I’d been meaning to write about how awesome Dropzone and Dropbox are but TUAW has a good writeup on Dropzone at the above link. You’ve likely heard about Dropbox already. It’s the wicked easy, multi-platform cloud storage and backup tool that gets you 2GB of storage for free. It also makes sharing files a snap.
But what is Dropzone? Dropzone is a simple Mac app that resides in...
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OneBody: Open Source Social Network and Directory...
OneBody has released an open source version of their social network and directory software for churches and I’m wicked excited about it!
<rant>
Churches spend a lot of money on church management systems (ChMS). Over the last year, I’ve had several discussions with those in the church tech sphere about the lack of a viable, open source ChMS. It seems to me that the thousands of...
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New Idea: Prayer Bounceback Text Messages « MEDIA... →
The guys at Media Salt are wicked clever. Check out how they are using text messages to facilitate a prayer initiative at chapel.org!
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Your Church is Getting a (Flash) iPhone App!
Yesterday Adobe announced that Flash CS5 will allow developers to export their Flash projects as iPhone apps. I think that’s really cool and the announcement produced the following thoughts in me:
Oh tight! Now I can develop some of my own apps instead of outsourcing to developers (which I don’t mind doing, for the record)! :-D
Oh man. I wonder if this will increase all the garbage...
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Free animoto accounts for non-profits! →
Just a quick note to say that if you’re church does not already have an animoto account or if you are paying for a business account to get all the rad benefits, you should sign up your non-profit for a FREE account. You get all the features of the business account…for free. http://animoto.com/cause
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WatchMore evidence that I should have been a programmer. Seriously, while this tech may not yet replace the professional graphic designer, imagine how useful it would be to come up with composites like these during a brain storm meeting!
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ScreenScape: Use the Web to Create Digital Display... →
Oh snap! I’ve been looking for a service like this to come out. My hopes were up when I discovered Your Screen a while back, but they seem to be dead in the water.
At first glance ScreenScape seems to do what I created a while back with a hacked AppleTV (which we hope to deploy soon). Take a look and let us know what you think in the comments!
UPDATE: ScreenScape is rad and if you’re...
September 2009
5 posts
3 tags
“It’s better for a church to be a “branded house” than a...”
– Evan McBroom on Extending the Church Brand into Children’s Ministry
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When a ‘Microsite’ is Right « MEDIA SALT →
I recently wrote about how easy SkyCMS makes creating microsites. If you are thinking about creating one, you might read this post from Eric Murrell at Media Salt. Mr. Murrell gives some sage advice on how to determine if you really need a microsite or if it would be a poor use of time. Good stuff!
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Freebie: Christian Symbols Photoshop Shapes →
In 2002 I vectorized some symbols found in Christianity for my own use and released them on to the Adobe Exchange. Every now and then I remember that they exist. Today that happened. So while it is fresh in my memory, here’s the link to download them. Enjoy.
P.S. Sorry for the hideous preview image. I must have been going through a phase. Oh! And for the record, yeah, I know the triquetra...
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Quick and Free Microsites With SkyCMS
Every now and then there comes an event at your church that deserves more than just a web page on the church website. You want to give this event special attention. It can’t look like every other page on your website! Besides, you want to do some cool stuff like add e-vites, an event blog, a photo gallery with pics from last year. Maybe even a registration form! But all that takes time,...
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YouVersion Goes Live! - ChurchCrunch →
Back in February I threw out a few ideas for the only iPhone app I could see my church making use of. It seems that LifeChurch.tv was already hot on the trail, and they’re sharing the love with their upcoming YouVersion Live app.
The new version of the site and it’s accompanying app will allow interaction with the pastor via live polls, message outlines, notes, questions for response...
August 2009
7 posts
5 tags
How InDesign and GREP Help Me Blast Through the...
Each week I am responsible for laying out the weekend bulletin at Henderson Hills. Once I get all of the copy laid out in InDesign CS3, I print a few proofs off for the communications team to proof read. Then I collect the revised copies and make the changes. One of the most frustrating things about editing the copy of the bulletin is that I seem to make the same corrections each week. We...
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Animoto’s Custom Movie Montages Can Now Include... →
We new it was coming. Now it is here. I should have been a programmer so that I could be the one to push professional video editors towards extinction, instead of being the one slowly approaching the edge.
Seriously though. Animoto is rad and a great value.
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Save your ministry (and yourself) money with... →
I make no secret of the fact that I am kind of a cheapskate. The economy is junk and stakes is high, so in order to keep my babies fed I find mad deals for everything I purchase online.
I do this at work, too. How? Before I check out I visit RetailMeNot.com to find a promo code for the website that I am shopping at. I just saved $500 on an order of postcards. A 20% discount! Last week I saved...
Put Twitter on Your Facebook Page...Officially →
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Picok: Build your own iGoogle. →
Here’s a cool looking piece of open source software that lets you create your own iGoogle. They say it would be great for intranets, but a customized installation could make for a cool, personalized start page for members of your church.
2 tags
ProVideo Coalition.com: Web Video & Beyond by PVC... →
An interesting overview of how video will be distributed on the “fourth screen”, your mobile phone.
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Revamping Your Video Strategy for $60 « MEDIA SALT →
What did Mr. Murrell get for $60? You’ll have to read to find out, but if your church recognizes the importance of video on the web but has a smallish budget, it will be time and money well spent.
July 2009
6 posts
2 tags
Get Ready For Animoto Video…(or, how video... →
Animoto, the rad tool that lets me smash together DVD quality, animated slide shows for the youth group (like a boss!) is bringing video into the mix up. This demo looks promising.
It’s also a little disturbing that many of the video production and photo manipulation techniques that I use to make my bread and butter are becoming automated or so easy that any amature can do. Maybe we should...
6 tags
RSS to PDF Newspaper | fivefilters.org →
This is rad. Put your feed URL in the box and you get a slick, easy to read, newspaper style PDF of the articles in the feed. Instant newsletter. Perfect for parents to keep hip to the student ministry or anybody who prefers to read things on paper.
There’s a handy bookmarklet (that’s cool!). AND you can install it on your own servers. It’s also open source. That means this is...