What’s on my iPhone?

by | | General, Technology, Time Management

I love my iPhone. Not because it’s cool looking. Or the most revolutionary device since the home PC. I like it because I can be more productive with it. Now that’s a good toy.

Actual screen shot of my iPhone

Actual screen-shot of my iPhone

Here’s a look at some of my favorite apps:

MailChimp – I use mailchimp for our ministry newsletters, and this app lets me see up to the minute stats on how our email campaigns are doing.

FlightTrack – helps me keep track of all the flights we are taking, and if any are delayed.

Skype – I pay the $5.95 monthly fee, and I can cal l from anywhere in the world that I can get a wi-fi signal. Used my cell to call my mom from Outback in Manila one time. Sweet.

Dropbox – I use dropbox all the time to share files with people. This little app lets me see those files, and edit them, right on my phone.

Carbonite – If you don’t have Carbonite online backup, you should. Their app is even cooler than their protection service. I can see any file that’s on my PC right on my iPhone. They should charge for this app, but they don’t.

YouVersion Bible – I use this all the time to reference verses, bookmark verses, etc. I even use it to keep track of my weekly Bible memory verse. The only downside is that people think you are playing Pacman on your phone if you decide to use it in church.

There you have it. Some of my favorite apps.

Dropbox

by | | Technology

dropbox_logo_home

Tired of emailing stuff to yourself? Me too. That’s why I was extremely excited to learn about DropBox. I’m trying to avoid this blog post sounding like an informercial, but this service is really cool. If you have more than one PC (office, iPhone, etc) and find yourself emailing stuff to yourself all the time – this is the solution. It also eliminates the flash drive taking up room in your pocket (or purse….or….man purse….). The best part?  It updates in real time. Drop something into the desktop application, and it is instantly available on your other PC, your phone, the web, and your dog’s microchip implant. Okay, so the implant thing is coming I hear, but the point is – you should get this software.

Try it out for a bit, then post your thoughts on it. I see alot of uses for business, school, ministry….

What does your technology say?

by | | Technology

1090907_95064686I spent yesterday on the phone with my bank trying to order checks for our ministry account. I ended up ordering from an online check printing service instead. Why? I was bounced to three different departments (all of them very nice, by the way), only to receive a message that said something along the lines of “we cannot process that request, please hang up and try your call again”. This was after 10 minutes of routing and re-routing through their system, explaining what I needed over and over. I’m not writing this to blow off steam – I wasn’t that upset. I’m not writing it to tell you I’m switching banks – I love my bank. But I am tired of not being able to contact people when I need too. I love technology – but not when it replaces people (side note: THAT is the issue with SOME online churches). Seth Godin (see blogroll) has an interesting article today about a similar thing – not being able to contact a company directly by email. That is ultimately frustrating as well. I have even encountered church websites that have forms going to office@thischurch.org instead of straight to the Pastor or whomever. If that doesn’t say “disconnected” and “leave us alone” I don’t know what does. The point: if you are going to use technology in your business (email, voice automated systems), then make it personable. What does your technology say to people?

Any thoughts on this?  Am I the only one?