iPhone 4 Review: To Buy or Not to Buy

Jeremy on June 29th, 2010

This past tuesday I got an email that told me I would be one of the lucky few to receive my iPhone 4 the day before it was released. I was more than a little bit pumped about that fact and waited somewhat patiently for it to arrive. Now that I’ve had it for a week, I feel fairly prepared to answer the question of whether or not you should rush out and get one.

The Basics
The phone is a substantial upgrade from the 3G, but far less of an upgrade from the 3Gs than apple would have you believe.

Topping the list of upgrades is the phone’s camera. Not only is it now 5 megapixels for stills, it added an LED flash. Video taken with the camera is now HD quality and can be illuminated by that same LED in dark situations. I will say that the camera quality is by far the best phone camera I have ever seen. It is on par with any 5 megapixel point and shoot I have used, and the video coming off is just as good, if not better, than any of the Flip models. AND, there is a smaller, lower quality camera that is front facing which will enable you to do easy self-portraits, video chat and FaceTime.

FaceTime is Apple’s video chat service that is built into the phone app, but it only works on WiFi. [...]

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New David Crowder Band EP

Chris on June 22nd, 2010

I love the David Crowder Band and was excited to see they released a new EP today.  It’s a 4 song acoustic set and it’s great.

Track List:

  1. Alleluia, Sing
  2. How He Loves
  3. Oh, Happiness
  4. Shadows

You can get it from iTunes today:
Summer Happiness (Acoustic) – EP – David Crowder Band
Summer

Great (short!) Youth Ministry Training Podcast

Jeremy on June 20th, 2010

I’ve been involved in a project to provide free Youth Ministry resources online at umyouthpastor.com for a while now.  We thought about doing a training podcast for a while, but wanted to make sure that we were adding something worthwhile rather than just creating more work for ourselves.  After consuming a lot of podcasts, I realized that what I wanted was a periodic training/idea podcast that was short and to the point.  That is where the idea for 10-minute Training (itunes link) began.

Each episode is an interview with a talented youth minister about a specific topic covering everything from having hard conversations to indoor game idea roundups.  Every episode then concludes with a resource recommendation from the guest.  All in about 10 minutes.

I love and listen to tons of long-format podcasts like the SYM podcast (iTunes link), but know very few people who are both entertaining enough to listen to for that long and experienced/talented enough to have that much quality content (Doug and the gang are some of the few in youth ministry).  The point of the podcast is to get you some usable information or idea as quickly as possible, or as the tagline suggests… we get to the point so you get the training. Check it out by going to the website or subscribing via iTunes.

Watch Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader Trailer

Chris on June 17th, 2010

I love the Chronicles of Narnia books, and I can’t wait to see what the film makers do with this book:

I’m hoping they have more on this movie at ComicCon this year.

Crazy Video: How to Pull Out a Tooth with a Rocket

Chris on June 12th, 2010

I’m not quite sure what I can add to this, but my son thought this looked like a good idea.  I think I should be afraid.

Send Your Kid to Apple Camp

Chris on June 11th, 2010

Last summer I signed my daughter up for one of the free day-camps they do at the Apple store and she learned all about photography.  She had a great time.  I was excited to get an email this morning about this summers program.  It’s all about making movies this year.  I’ve already signed her up because spaces go fast.  Did I mention it’s FREE?  I thought I’d pass it along to any of you who may have kids between 8-12 who would love a fun activity for a few days this summer. They are even having a film festival for all the films the kids make. Should be fun.

If you’re in San Diego we are doing the early session at Fashion Valley on July 19 – 20. Maybe I’ll see you there.

Find a location in your area.

Last Day to win an iPad, Get 40% off

Chris on June 10th, 2010


Today is the last day to enter to win an iPad over at Simply Youth Ministry.

Also it’s the last day to save 40% off on almost 300 resources.  It’s only good till 3 PM PST today, so hurry over.

Simply Youth Ministry 40 40 40 Sale

First Look: Apple iOS 4

Chris on June 8th, 2010

I gave into temptation tonight and downloaded and installed the gold master of the new iPhone operating system tonight. I’ve held off on the earlier betas, but after seeing the Apple keynote this week I wanted to check it out for myself. After the first few hours there are a couple of features that are a huge improvement.

1. Folders for apps. I’ve really been annoyed lately with how many apps I’ve had on my phone and how to organize them. This new feature goes a long way to fix it. I think the process of actually making the folders is a little janky though. You create or add an app to a fold by dropping an app on another. The problem with this is the apps like to jump away from each other during this process. I haven’t tried to do this in iTunes, maybe it’s easier there.

2. Background apps. This is one going that people have been asking for since day one of the iPhone. I always hated this on my old windows phones because it constantly caused crashes and battery drains. It was also always a pain to close running apps. Apple really got the implementation of this right, switching [...]

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40% off at SimplyYouthMinistry.com

Chris on June 7th, 2010

It’s time for the anual 40 40 40 sale at SimplyYouthMinistry.com.  You can get 40% off tons of great resources.  There’s also $1 off select books. It only lasts for 40 hours so hurry.

There are a couple of other bonuses:

-40 Free Backgrounds – 40 great summer backgrounds for your ministry.

-Win an Ipad – Who doesn’t want this magical device.  Just fill out the form to enter.  Good Luck!

Stats on Internet Pornography – Online MBA

Chris on June 2nd, 2010

I thought these stats on internet pornography were really interesting:

(click the image to view full size.)

Stats on Internet Pornography – Online MBA.