So: you don't want an iPad?

Logos 4 & Customer Service

For years I've had a number of great resources in Logos format (Libronix) - Word Biblical Commentary (60 vols); IVP Reference Library; Theological Journal Library and more. Trying to load them onto my Windows 7 PC was proving to be hard - well, impossible, truth be told.

An email to Logos Customer Services has resulted in all being sorted - and sorted very quickly - so I now have access to all those great resources once more and in the hugely-impressive format of the new Logos 4 (see below).

What can I say but: kudos, Logos!

kindle in the uk (soon)

And, equally as soon (like, end of August) in my grasp - I've pre-ordered a wi-fi only version (see here for details).

If I get cold feet over the next few weeks I can always cancel the order I guess.

Better make sure I wear some warm socks then...

is that email a tiger?

“Always on” may not be the most productive way to work. One of the reasons for this will become clearer in the chapter on staying cool under pressure; however, in summary, the brain is being forced to be on “alert” far too much. This increases what is known as your allostatic load, which is a reading of stress hormones and other factors relating to a sense of threat. The wear and tear has an impact. As Stone says, “This always on, anywhere, anytime, anyplace era has created an artificial sense of constant crisis. What happens to mammals in a state of constant crisis is the adrenalized fight-or-flight mechanism kicks in. It’s great when tigers are chasing us. How many of those five hundred emails a day is a tiger?”

(from Your Brain At Work by David Rock, quoted by Matt Perman)

social media: questions, but no answers

powerpoint is dangerous

This article is an interesting read, but for more than just its comments on powerpoint. It was commented that it is dangerous "because it can create the illusion of understanding and the illusion of control...Some problems in the world are not bullet-izable." And the problem with bullet lists is that they "take no account of interconnected political, economic and ethnic forces."

I think that's also a salient warning against bulletized theology. We want to be in control but grasping after it we fail to see the problem for what it really is, we miss the connections that would make us pastorally more helpful to others. We forget that life is too complex for neat solutions, even biblical ones.

apps that make iPad desirable

I've already mentioned the free ESV app but of course there's so much more to come in terms of Bible software (think Laridian, Olive Tree and Logos).

But here, for me, is a huge draw to the iPad: the Evernote app. Fabulous. Almost peerless.

And if the iBooks experience is one you hanker for, then this announcement of material from Zondervan will only deepen the desire.

C'mon, keep this ball rolling you guys!

a bible for your iPad

You know you want one.

Now you'll want one even more.

Free ESV Bible app for iPad.

(HT: Justin Taylor)

making the most of the free kindle app

OK, so you got the free Kindle app on your PC. Trouble is, you read something that you find helpful and want to clip it for future reference. Can you do so? No.

Except you can. If you're also using Evernote (and who wouldn't be?), you simply press the PrintScreen button on your keyboard, then highlight the Kindle text you've just fallen in love with and - voila! - you have the text sitting in Evernote (as an image).

Apparently (I haven't tried this yet), if you have the Kindle iPhone app you can highlight text natively and add your own notes, which are then saved to an Amazon page for you. Then, you'd simply clip from that page into Evernote (using the normal clipping tool, not the PrintScreen one).

Neat!

(HT: Tony Steward et al)

wired for words

When the iPad was announced, I posted some thoughts and linked to an article that postulated some possibilities. Here's a video of what things might look like in the future...



(HT: Matt Perman)

evernote: sheer class

I may have mentioned Evernote before but I want to highlight a feature I've never used but which works amazingly well.

I took a photo on my phone (a Nokia N79 for those who'd like to know the details) of my whiteboard with notes on it (essentially, the same photo that's on this blog but with a few extra scribbles). I emailed the photo from the phone into my Evernote account. It duly showed up on my PC.

Now, here's the really clever thing: when you do a search in Evernote, it scans photos, too, and if it finds the word in the image, it includes it in the results. To test it out, I searched for the word 'Spirit', since it was written fairly plainly in the whiteboard photo (albeit written as 'Spirit/Truth'). Evernote found it.

I was impressed but assumed Evernote would be hampered by my untidy writing (using a whiteboard is new to me, you understand). So I did a search on the word 'Prescience' (in the photo, it looks more like the word 'Prescence', apart from the dot which hints at an 'i' in the word). Again, Evernote found it.

Now THAT'S impressive.

the kindle app: so easy (and cheaper, too)

If you don't have a Kindle (and I, for one, don't know anyone who has) yet you do have an iPod Touch or an iPhone (and there are hordes of you out there) then the Kindle app for the iPhone is really rather good. It's so easy to get hold of a book - and sometimes (maybe often) cheaper, too. Oh yes, there's a free app for Windows PCs too. So you're not restricted to reading on the small (but entirely adequate) iPhone screen.

Take this one example. Todd Billings' book The Word of God for the People of God looks really interesting. The UK price on Amazon is £11.99. It can be had from Amazon.com for $12.99 but that's extra postage. But on Kindle it's $14.09, which is about £8.75. And delivered to my iPod in seconds.

Brilliant.

not sure what

all the BUZZ is about?

This might help.

kinda fonda kindle

Well, the app that is, not the device (I'm sure I'd be fond of the device, too, so if you were thinking to send one my way, don't delay).

As the result of some discussion on a PDA/Smartphone website, I decided to install the Kindle app that's available for the iPod Touch (and iPhone, too, of course) and see if I could buy a book for it (the discussion, for your interest, was over the non-availability of ebooks for the UK).

Well, it worked. And I got an absolute steal. For $2.35, I got the Packer/Dever collection, In My Place Condemned He Stood. Amazon UK price for the paperback is £8.99.

I think I might have to go browsing again...

padding it out?

The recent unveiling of the iPad has led to some interesting discussions about the future of publishing, especially for the news media. But it also presents huge opportunities for Christian publishers/ministries - take a look at this article and then imagine, say, the new Keller book in digital format, with audio & video clips, links to material and other resources on the web, plus the ease of the publisher updating material as & where necessary. Oh, and not forgetting the user's ability to add their own notes into the 'book'.

Great opportunities, methinks.

maybe i shoulda waited?

'tis the season

for beta testing. Hot on the heels of taking part in the Laridian beta testing of the NET Bible & Notes, I've been accepted to beta test BibleMesh over the next few weeks.

BibleMesh? Have a look (at the bottom of the page you'll see the Sneak Preview option).

We'll see how it shapes up, I guess.

Beta testing

the NET Bible & its notes for Laridian's iPhone app. It means I need to use it a lot over this weekend, reading the text and looking-up the notes and so on.

Somehow it doesn't feel like a chore.

this is astonishing

Doings

Finally through the Apple App store process and promptly bought & installed on my iPod touch.

It lacks a bit of functionality so I emailed their support line. Got a reply within minutes, explaining something of their roadmap for improving the app. Impressive.