The best alternative to Google Reader that I've found is definitely Feedly.
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Technology
1. Don't be antagonistic. Some people just enjoy stirring up controversy, don't be that person. People love to get fired up especially on the internet, don't play into that by posting something that you know is going to bring people out of the woodworks wanting to debate.
Every morning, first thing after i get up and bring our little man into bed for some morning cuddling, a couple things always take place. First, I inevitably grab my iPhone to check the new blog posts for the day and shortly after I start reading blogs on my iPhone, Elijah usually starts climbing on me and pointing for the iPad which is charging on the nightstand next to us. Since Daddy is on the iPhone, he should obviously get to watch Mickey Mouse on the iPad.
Technology does some incredible things. We are more connected in our world than ever before. Something can happen on the other side of the world and I almost immediately can hear about it. I found out about the recent election of the new pope without ever once checking a news source. My son will have technology at his finger tips that I cannot even begin to imagine. People walk around with bibles in their pockets on their phones; hundreds of years ago you couldn’t own your own bible let alone read one while you were in the bathroom. Technology changes the way we function.
But this isn’t always a good thing.
I’m okay with my morning routine of checking my blogs on the iPhone; it’s the modern day equivalent to reading the newspaper in the morning. But what about the times where I’m hanging out in the bedroom with my son and my phone vibrates, do I have the discipline to simply be present with my son and ignore the looming notification. I’m far from having this figured out, but I’m working on it. I’ve tried to make sure that at certain times I don’t have my phone out and just be with my family. We don’t usually just leave the tv on as background noise when we are playing in the living room. When we are reading the bible as a family, texting isn’t okay.
The New York Times had an article describing the love we as americans have for our technology and it was a bit revealing:
“But most striking of all was the flurry of activation in the insular cortex of the brain [when presented with an iPhone], which is associated with feelings of love and compassion. The subjects’ brains responded to the sound of their phones as they would respond to the presence or proximity of a girlfriend, boyfriend or family member.”
I don’t want this to be me.
When I’m with my family, I want to actually be with my family. If I love my phone the way I love my wife and my son, that’s a problem. I’m not getting rid of technology and I’ll still probably use it more than the average person, but I’m also working to be cautious. And that starts at my house.
How are you trying to be cautious with your consumption of technology?
Photo Credit: NBC News Facebook
One of the most effective ways to communicate with teenagers is through text messages. Most of our teenagers have cell phones and are constantly on them sending and receiving text messages.
You may have noticed without warning I stopped blogging for the past month or so. It wasn't something that I initially planned, but I decided to go with it once I realized I stopped for several weeks in a row.
I check my blog's traffic way too often; I too easily get sucked into checking my website statistics far too frequently.
Standard has been optimized for SEO, has more tools in the publisher's toolbox, and has a responsive theme.
Pixar continually releases hit movies year after year. Not only do they make hit films, but they have transformed the animation industry.
Both Vimeo and YouTube offer unique benefits, and depending on your needs, one might work better than the other.
This video is testimony to the fact that it is not difficult for us to find devices that can record high quality video in our ministries.
If you are looking for free textured patterns to use in Photoshop as you design graphics for your ministry, this site has some incredible textures.
[This post is a part of the series Technology in Youth Ministry]
Handbrake. There is not a better tool around if you are trying to get something off of a DVD into a file that is playable directly from your computer's hard drive.
iBooks Author. iBooks 2 and iBooks Author greatly expands the potential of what can be created in the world of digital books. iBooks Author makes it very easy to create a very attractive and high quality eBook for the iPad or iPhone. The potential of youth ministry curriculum that could be created with a resource like this is huge.
MarsEdit. The best way to blog. I use this app to connect to my blog and it does everything that I could want it to do. I keep a running list of post ideas, write first drafts and store them locally, and then proofread, edit, and add media to my final posts before pushing them to my self-hosted wordpress site.
Spotify. Spotify on the computer is completely free and allows you to listen to nearly limitless library of music. If you want to make your music portable, you'll have to pay a fee, but if you are okay with it being only on the computer and putting up with a few ads, the free version will work just fine.
Reeder. If you follow way too many blogs like myself, you likely need some sort of RSS reader program. I use Reeder for the iPhone, iPad, and Mac which all are connected to my Google Reader account.
ProPresenter. This is the best presentation software that is available right now. I've had a bit of trouble getting in working on a network with several machines (probably a user error), but in all my experiences using it on our retreats and weekly programs it works great.
Things. I cannot start my work week without updating my to-do list and looking at the items that need to be carried over from previous weeks. Things allows me to have my tasks scheduled, have recurring agenda items, and divide my tasks into projects.
Logos. Logos provides an incredible Bible study resource. It costs quite a bit of money, but once you have the work of searching for verses, the original greek or hebrew, and finding commentaries is incredibly simple.
What apps to use for your mac?
If you work in youth ministry, you have no surprise hearing that teenagers like text messaging. How do you use texting and what boundaries should you set?
If you utilize the web to share your ideas, creations, or products, the value of the web presence that you create for yourself or your organization is critical to your success. It is not difficult for anybody, regardless of technological knowledge, to build a website. While anybody can have a presence online, it takes some work to have a positive, growing web web presence.
If you are leading a youth ministry, you are likely also utilizing some form of web technologies as a way to communicate with parents and students about your ministry. Oftentimes student ministries choose to have their own websites apart from the main church website, which allows for some extra flexibility and freedom when it comes to posting new information, sharing media, and making it "youth friendly." Building a website can be a daunting task; from working with FTP servers, writing html code, and all kinds of other tasks that will hurt your brain. There are countless services and options that are available to make this easier for you; the following describes one option that we use when we build our websites.