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I’ve started using this service a little while ago to organize the different trips that I take, and with summer coming up travel season will be in full swing.  The service is call Tripit, and it’s an easy way to keep different trip information in one place, and mobile.  

It’s a great tool for organizing your itineraries, details, and updates to your trips.  I’ve used it for both road trips and trips that required me to fly.  A great bonus is if you have made your reservations online (air, hotel, rental cars), you can forward your email confirmations to the service and they will even build your itineraries for you.  For road trips I used it to map out stops along the route and addresses of where I was going for my GPS in the car.  There’s also a place for notes where you can keep other information you’ll need.  When you build an itinerary it adds in helpful information about your destination, including weather and maps.

My favorite part is that they have a great free iPhone app (iTunes link) that allows you to access all the details of your trip directly from your phone.  So if you are flying somewhere you can get your a link to your flight status right in the app.  It’s been a huge times savings for me to keep all my details in one place.  It would be a great place to keep those mission trip or summer camp details in one place.

I found this video ironic and funny.  Ironic because I had a few friends that gave up on social media altogether this week.  One very publicly. That’s the ironic part, they pushed the button.  Funny because it’s very true.

Are you ready to push the button?

MacUpdate Spring Bundle

admin —  May 28, 2009 — Leave a comment

Mac friends, I know what you are thinking, not another software bundle, I was thinking the same thing, until I saw what’s in this one.

One of my favorite all time techy tools kits has been the amazing Tech Tools Pro. I’ve used it a number of times to diagnose problems on my computers and on friends machines. I’ve been meaning to upgrade my copy, and now I can get it, plus more. In addition to Tech Tools, the bundle includes: Parallels, Notebook (another piece of software I use everyday), RipIt, and NetBarrier just to name a few. At only $49.99 it’s well worth the cost.


Earlier, I wrote a review of the Amazon app for the iPhone.  That app has been made obsolete with Snap Tell.  This app starts with the same concept of using a picture of a product to show you places to purchase online, and then takes it to the next level.  With the Amazon app, it takes a couple of minutes to return the search results, but Snap Tell does it in about five seconds.  On top of that, it gives you prices from a ton of sites allowing you to click on the price to go to the site and purchase the item.  And that’s not all, if you allow it access to the GPS, it will give you the prices at stores close by.

The app is free which makes it a must download for anyone interested in purchasing anything.

Free Summer Apple Camp

admin —  May 21, 2009 — Leave a comment

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Do you have young kids in your ministry or at home that are into video, photos or putting presentations?  Apple offers free day camps for kids 8 – 12 to teach them the basics.  Here’s how they describe them:

This summer, your kid could make a movie, create a photo slideshow, write and record a song, put on a show for everyone, and have a blast doing it all. At Apple Camp, kids learn how to do cool stuff on a Mac and discover their hidden talents along the way. Apple Camp occurs at every Apple Retail Store, and each free workshop lasts three hours. Sign up your kid today and get ready for an adventure.

All the camps are at their retails stores, and sure they are probably workshop / product promotion, but your kids could still learn some cool skills and it may encourage a budding artist.  It could be a great way to start training some jr higher’s to lead your media ministry.  My daughter is excited to take the photo class.

Check them out at the Apple’s Camp Website.

Teens Without Tech

admin —  May 19, 2009 — Leave a comment

I found this video from the Today show about teens having their technology taken away for ten days was interesting.  Do you have some students that are addicted to their technology?  I think this going to be more and more an issue for this generation, finding a balance of time with technology and time “unplugged”.  I’m sure the feelings of the mother that was interview would be echoed by many of the parents in your group.  I think as we work with families they will be looking to us to help tackle this issue.  I know it’s becoming an issue even for me, I find myself being drawn into spending time on my phone, laptop, or ipod.  I think the exercise of shutting everything for a segment of time everyday is important. Just like the student in the video, I’ve found it’s not as hard as I thought it would be.

What advice would you have for familes that may stuggling with this issue?

Mission Trips and Media

admin —  May 19, 2009 — Leave a comment

Over at Simply Youth Ministry.com, there’s a great new resource for helping make the most out of your mission trips this summer.  Prepare, Go, Live. Here’s a little from it’s description:

Few things will bring the gospel to life for your students like heading out onto the mission field. Spending a day, weekend, or longer in service to God, for his love, and with people in need brings the calling of Christ vividly into focus. With this easy to implement 3-part missions trip curriculum, you’ll get everything you need to get your students ready (Prepare), devotions for the trip (Go), and follow-up materials (Live) to make their experience part of an ongoing, godly lifestyle. And what good would we be if we didn’t include helpful stuff for leaders to make the whole trip more fun for everyone? No good at all, so we’ve given you plenty.

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Also in honor of this new resource, over on SimplyInsider.com there’s a contest for the best mission trip stories, and 3 winners will get Flip cams.  One of the funnest little cameras to come along in quite awhile.

Also I wanted to let you there’s still a 50% media sale going on.  Here are some of my favorites:

Also, use the promo code: PLUGGEDIN to get free shipping on orders over $99.

Sorry for another Star Wars / Star Trek post, but I saw this and thought it was funny.  Happy Friday!

Have you ever needed a quick way to see what all the fonts on your computer look like?  And even better see what a specific phrase would look like in every font?  Enter Flippingtypical.com, it’s a website that looks at your fonts and gives a sample of each, you can also type in a phrase at the top to see it in each font.  When you click a specific font you get to see it large at the top of the page.  I did a little vanity check and here’s what my name looks like in my fonts:

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This is a great tool to help isolate fonts for designs you’re working on.  I can see it being a huge time saver.

I saw this video and it made me laugh.  Many of my favorite internet personalities.

I love their t-shirts, visit the site to find out more about their charity efforts: GeekAdvancement.com.