Phil Gons

Bible & Tech

You are here: Home / Archives for Technology

Technology

Proclaim: New Church Presentation Software

by

Logos Bible Software, the company I work for, is getting ready to enter into the church presentation software market with a product called Proclaim.

What Sets Proclaim Apart?

Proclaim takes a new approach to presentation software by pushing the data to the cloud and allowing multiple people to collaborate on the same project without needing to email files or pass around CDs or USB thumb drives. Being cloud based and multi-platform makes it possible to deliver a consistent look on everyone’s computer—removing last minute surprises.

Proclaim also breaks new ground by integrating with mobile devices in some really cool ways, allowing for real-time interaction between the presenter and the congregation and allowing you to control your presentation remotely. Finally, it will work well with Logos Bible Software 4, making the transition from preparation to presentation easier than ever.

[Read more…] about Proclaim: New Church Presentation Software

Doug Wilson on the Morality of Technology

by

Doug Wilson has some good, balanced reflections on technology in a post entitled “Calvinism, Eschatology, and the New Media.”

He opens this way:

Jesus is the Lord of history, and this is why we don’t need to be afraid of Twitter. Or Facebook. Or teenagers typing with their thumbs. Jesus is the Lord of history, which is why we don’t need to worry about Google making us stupid.

Here’s a key paragraph:

And so here is my central thesis: technology in all its forms is a type of wealth. The Bible contains no warnings about technology as such, but is crammed with warnings about the bias of wealth. Which way does wealth set us up? The Bible says that the wealthy are tempted to hubris, self-sufficiency, lack of concern for the poor, oppression, and the rest of that sorry lot. Wealth is a good thing, but it brings temptations. A lot of wealth is a lot of a good thing, but it brings with it a lot of temptations.

Here’s his concluding paragraph:

The constant and ever present temptation in the Church is the gnostic temptation of locating sin in the stuff, sin in the matter, sin in the wealth, sin in the technology . . . instead of locating it where it belongs, in the heart of man.

Read the whole post.

HT: Andy Naselli via Google Reader

Works of Michael Barrett Coming to Logos

by

Michael Barrett CollectionI’m very excited at the prospect of having the works of one of the most influential Bible teachers in my life, Dr. Michael P. V. Barrett, available digitally for Logos Bible Software in the four-volume Michael Barrett Collection. I’m also happy that many who don’t know anything about him might soon have the chance to be enriched by his excellent teaching.

The collection includes his four books published by Ambassador International:

It doesn’t include his Love Divine and Unfailing: The Gospel according to Hosea, which was published by P&R.

I’ve mentioned Barrett’s works before. His chapter “Union with Christ: The Security of the Gospel” in Complete in Him (93–118) is one of the top picks in my list of resources on union with Christ. Sadly, it was out of print recently. But thanks in part to Chris Anderson’s efforts, it’s back in print for the time being. The others are in limited supply.

[Read more…] about Works of Michael Barrett Coming to Logos

My Church Is Better Than Your Church

by

Rick Warren, one of America’s most popular pastors, tweeted earlier today to his 130,296 Twitter followers, “I challenge any church in America to match the spiritual maturity, godliness & commitment of any 500 members of Saddleback.” This tweet came on the heels of two earlier tweets:

RickWarren: Mary, it’s true. Over 10,000 Saddleback members have now served in missions overseas through our network & P.E.A.C.E. plan.

RickWarren: For 30 yrs our plan was to turn spectators into participators, consumers to contributors, an audience into an army. It worked!

The final tweet was later deleted, but managed to get quite a few responses from the Christian twittersphere. Here are a few:

[Read more…] about My Church Is Better Than Your Church

Writing Standards for the Web

by

The Yahoo! Style GuideIs it e-mail or email, Internet or internet, Web site, Website, or website? In a new book that deals with standards for writing online, Yahoo addresses these questions and many more. Coming in at 528 pages, The Yahoo! Style Guide: The Ultimate Sourcebook for Writing, Editing, and Creating Content for the Digital World is available for pre-order from Amazon for $14.84 and is scheduled to ship on July 6. Some of the content is also available online, as well as supplementary content not available in the book.

Standard guides like The Associated Press Stylebook1 and The Chicago Manual of Style will remain useful and worth consulting. But there’s a lot these tried and true guides don’t cover, and I find them to be a tad dated when it comes to keeping up with the fast-paced world of the Facebook, Twitter, blogging, etc. For example, AP just recently switched from Web site to website.

[Read more…] about Writing Standards for the Web

  1. The new 2010 edition isn’t available at Amazon yet. [↩]

More Than One Third of the Internet Is Porn

by

A recent study by Optenet finds that more than one in three pages on the web is pornographic, and it’s growing at a faster rate than last year.

Predominant content on the Internet is pornography, which makes up 37% of the total number of Web pages online, according to a new study published by Optenet, a pioneer and global leader of enabling SaaS offerings  and delivering “on-premise” security solutions.

The report, which includes a representative sample of approximately 4 million extracted URLs, shows that adult content on the Internet as well as illegal content such as child pornography and illegal drug purchase has undergone a significant increase of 17% in the first quarter of 2010, as compared to the same period in 2009.
. . .

Ana Luisa Rotta, director of child protection projects at Optenet, said that, “When you consider that more than one third of the Internet’s content is pornographic, combined with the overwhelming increase in young people now curiously visiting web sites with such ease of access, it is becoming increasingly imperative that adults take responsibility for the management of home PC security.”

[Read more…] about More Than One Third of the Internet Is Porn

Logitech Webcam Pro 9000 for $55

by

Logitech Webcam Pro 9000Living thousands of miles away from where we grew up (Ohio and Minnesota), we’ve been incredibly thankful for modern technology that allows us to have face-to-face conversations with our families. We almost exclusively use Skype now instead of our mobile phones to communicate with our parents and siblings. A really cool new feature coming in Skype 5 (currently in beta) is the ability to have video conversations between three and five computers at the same time. It looks really cool, but unfortunately it sounds like it may not be free.1

Along with Skype, we use the Logitech Webcam Pro 9000 (formerly called the Quickcam Pro 9000) and love it. It’s an HD webcam that outputs video at 720p, so you get a really nice quality picture. If you’re wondering whether it’s worth the extra money, I can assure you that it is if you plan on using it regularly. Your family will thank you, especially when you have a little one come along like we did six-and-a-half months ago.

The Logitech Webcam Pro 9000 usually runs somewhere between $75–100, but Amazon currently has it on sale for only $55 with free shipping. That’s a really good deal for this webcam. If you’re in the market for one or want to get one for someone in your family as a gift, I’d strongly encourage you to pick this one up while it’s on sale.

  1. The Skype 5 page says, “This beta version comes with a free trial of group video calling.” [↩]

Save $60 a Year on Your Internet

by

Linksys Cable ModemIf your internet service provides a cable modem for you to use to get your internet from the wall to your computer, they’re probably also charging you $5 a month for the modem rental (like Comcast has been doing to us for the last two-and-a-half years). Save yourself the $60 a year by buying this Linksys Cable Modem. It’s on sale today only for $19.99 with free shipping. It’ll pay for itself in four months. I picked one up a month or two ago, and it’s worked perfectly. Getting Comcast to switch us over to the new modem took only 5–10 minutes. If you’re looking for ways to save a few bucks a month, I encourage you to take advantage of this offer.