Category: techno

Throw your cellphone away

Wired offers 10 reasons to throw your cellphone away.

  • It makes your life more complicated
  • It’s horribly expensive
  • It enslaves you to a one-sided contract
  • It makes you perpetually available
  • It is boring
  • It must constantly be recharged
  • It knows where you are
  • It encourages stupid people to become a public menace
  • Ubiquitous pleather accessory shops
  • It turns you into a public annoyance – Hell is other people’s ringtones.

I’ve gotten to where I’m using the actual phone part of my cellphone less and less. I often leave it in the car or at home whenever I don’t think I’ll need it. It’s still a security blanket in some regards. But I do love the convenience of sending prayer requests or other text messages to a number of people all at once without having to pick up the phone over and over again to pass along a message.
What about you? Could you drop your cellphone and move back “into the stone age?”
What if we just all went to two way pagers? Could you live with that?

Thanks to Lifehacker for the tip.

A reasonable question…

Karl Fisch, a high school technology director has put together a presentation on our shifting culture – towards technology. The presentation is now available on YouTube…

It’s an interesting look at technology and our shifting culture.
For instance, did you know…

  • Today’s 21 year olds have spent 20,000 hours watching television, 10,000 hours playing video games, 10,000 hours talking on the phone, and have sent and received 250,000 emails or instant messages.
  • More than 70% of U.S. 4 year olds have used a computer.
  • 1 out of every 8 couples married in the U.S. in 2005 met online.
  • The amount of technical information is doubling every two years. By 2010, it is predicted to double every 72 hours.
  • If Myspace was a country, it would be the 8th largest country in the world.

So here’s the question: How is your church handling the change?

Hat tip to Churchrelevance for the heads up.

Just a little background


casual look
Originally uploaded by laurie416.

If you’re looking on the left hand side of the page and thinking – hey, Laurie and Jonathan have been married for three months today – why are they taking wedding pictures today?! Let me take a second and explain. We had a great photographer on our wedding day who took a lot of good photos and captured the event on that day. But looking back, we didn’t get tons of photos we loved from our wedding day and we also didn’t get the rights to our photos to do as we pleased with them. We also just wanted some “artsy photos” or as we’ve now described them, “fun photos.” So we figured, “We have a good camera. We still have your dress. You probably won’t wear it again. Let’s get some good use out of it and our camera and go rent my tux again and take some photos we really want.”
We took our friend Jen along (maid of honor) and she snapped away in Las Colinas (Irving), Texas.
We had a great day and by the end of the day we had nearly 150 photos we were really happy with – and can get copied, blown up and printed wherever we want. Awesome!
So just a few thoughts for those of you thinking about marriage and getting a photographer:

  • Find someone who’s work you really enjoy

  • Talk with your photographer and show her examples of what you’re looking for

  • Make a list of specific photos you want and/or don’t care about

  • Get the rights to your photos – after all you’re paying for the work to be done. A plumber doesn’t come back to your house and say, “I know you paid me to install your toilet – but I own it and will do what i please with it and you’ll have to pay me again if you want to use it.” (am I being to picky on this point?)

Or – if you want get a tripod and remote for your digital camera or a friend you can trust and go out and snap your own. Here are some things we found helpful:

  • Be willing to take your own if necessary (we lucked out and didn’t have to)

  • Be willing to have fun

  • Find what you like, print it out, talk about it and compare. You can find loads of good ideas on Flickrby just searching for wedding or other wedding related terms

  • Find a great location where you’re not having to do loads of walking or lots of getting in and out of your car

  • Snap LOTS of photos. Especially if you have a digital camera – you can delete what you want or just don’t print the ones you dislike. Some of our favorite photos were candid shots in between the “posed” ones.

  • Read some online hints on what makes a good photo

  • Spend a little time with iPhoto or Photoshop to edit lighting or to crop photos before sending them to the printer

  • Have fun!

Merger of Sirius and XM may increase package options

From CNet: If the proposed merger of XM Satellite Radio and Sirius Satellite Radio goes through, the combined company plans to offer packages of channels at reduced rates, including a 50-channel offering that’s almost half the price of today’s lowest-price option.
Read an official press release
CNet says that while the FCC is debating the merger of Sirius and XM, the companies have said they will offer several packages that give consumers a variety of listening options from both of the satellite radio providers, including an all inclusive package that would give programming from both companies for less than $17 a month.