Bookmark magic

I read this article last week and it has transfomed my web browsing. It really makes things move a lot faster. I would highly recomment you take a read and see how you like this new way of setting up bookmarks. I have found this method great for sites that I visit everyday or at least once a week. Del.icio.us is still great for for research or sites that you just want to file for safe keeping.

A fantastic read

Universal AutoCorrect

I stumbled accross this yesterday and found it extemely helpful.  I have all of these codes set up for me in Word autocorrect.  Now I can use them on the web.

Windows only: Blogger Jim Biancolo has put together an excellent AutoHotKey script that will automatically correct a predefined list of misspellings, à la Microsoft Word’s AutoCorrect feature.We’ve seen all of your most common typos, but Jim went a step further to create his AutoCorrect, using Wikipedia’s huge list of common misspellings. So not only does the AutoCorrect handle your everyday “teh’s” – it will also handle a much larger set of probelmed words (<– unfortunately it’s not savvy to pluralization or tense changes).Since AHK apps are always running in the background, what you end up with is a “cross-application AutoCorrect.”For whatever reason, Jim didn’t compile the script as an executable, so I went ahead and did so (you can download it at the second link below). If you want to look at the source script and possibly add or remove a few words, maybe add pluralization support, or just get a look at a great AHK program, Jim makes the script available for download at his site. — Adam PashUniversal AutoCorrect with AutoHotKey and Wikipedia [biancolo.com]Download Universal Autocorrect.exe

Download of the Day: Universal AutoCorrect – Lifehacker

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Skype Web Toolbar

I have found Skype really useful in ministry, especially since they have made calls to US phone numbers free. This toolbar really makes calls really quick.

Windows only: make your Skype experience even sweeter with the Skype Web Toolbar.

Once you’ve gone through the quick download and install process, the
Skype Web Toolbar magically recognizes phone numbers and Skype
usernames whenever you come across them on the web. See someone you
want to call? With the Skype Web Toolbar, you’re able to gab with one
convenient click. The Skype Web Toolbar is a free download, Windows
only, available for both Firefox and Internet Explorer. — Wendy Boswell

Skype Web Toolbar [via Digital Inspiration]

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Google Talk new features

For most people I know, AIM is the main chat client. For email, gmail really seems to be gaining ground. Therefore, a few new features from Google Talk may serve useful to gmail users. This article is worth a read. I especially like the voicemail feature. It may really serve useful for those who want to leave a message without taking the time to type an email.

Voicemails can now be left for friends who do not answer calls through
Google Talk. Unlike File Transfers above, this feature does not require
that the friend use the Google Talk client. In that case, they’ll
receive an email with the message attached as an audio file. Voicemails
can be up to 10 minutes long, and messages can be left for people
online without calling them directly by clicking the down arrrow from
any profile card or chat window. Voicemail will also automatically kick
in after 4 rings.

You might find some of these features useful.

http://www.techcrunch.com/2006/07/28/google-talk-swings-back/trackback/

technorati tags:gmail, google, chat

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Box.net

I have been playing around with various ways of storing my documents online. This week I came across a free service called Box.net. Box.net is an online storage site that will give you up to 1 GB of storage for free. I have found it very helpful. They say about themselves:

Box.net is a virtual storage space for your computer files. With packages starting at just $4.99 per month for 5GB, you will have enough space to hold thousands of Documents, Photos, Music Files, and Video Clips. Try us out for as long as you’d like by signing up for our 1GB free account. Whether you want to move files among multiple computers, backup important data in the event of a computer crash, or share documents and photos with friends and colleagues, Box.net is for you. Here are just some of the recommended uses:
Box.net’s browse screen
Save backup copies of important files
Always have a backup plan to prevent data loss in case of computer failure
Move documents between your computers
Use your Box to transfer files so that you can work on them in any location
Setup sub-accounts for multiple user access
A perfect solution for small businesses and workgroups requiring collaboration
Store photos and other important memories
Relax! Your priceless files and photos are always safe
Share files or create online photo galleries
Hassle-free sharing; show off your vacation photos or send a file to a friend!

Box.net – Free Online File Storage, Internet File Sharing, RSS Sharing, Access Documents & Files Anywhere, Backup Data, Share Files

If you have been looking for a great way to either share your stuff or just be able to access it from anywhere, give this a shot. It looks like they are going to be adding some really cool features like syncing.

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gmail and google calendar

Calendaring and email is one of the most crucial areas of efficiency in our world today. Organizing life with a schedule is key to success and reliability. Communication in our digital world is no longer just for those tech savvy ministers. However, finding the right tools to make this happen can be a challenge. Many churches make this easy for ministers with tools like Microsoft Outlook and Microsoft Exchange. But many ministers are just left to find their own way in this realm. My wife continues to keep her calendar on paper and refuses to go the digital route. Nevertheless for those looking for the right solution, there are some new tools that can really make life simple. And best of all, they are free.

There are hundreds of calendar and email options on the web (many of them free), but allow me to suggest google’s new suite of applications. Gmail and Google calendar are superb! There are several advantages to using this system that might make the shift.

Gmail

In my opinion, Gmail is the best free web based email solution out there. It is easy to use and offers all the features that you could want. It even allows you to set it up to send from any email address that you own. So, if you have a web site and therefore have a domain name, you can set Gmail up to send from yourname@yourwebsite.com . It also gives you plenty of storage (2GB).

Being web based, you can work on email anywhere that you have a web browser. There is no software needed and your emails are always accessible, as long as you have an internet connection. Gmail also works great on cell phones.

Gmail is Google's free webmail service. It comes with built-in Google search technology and over 2,600 megabytes of storage (and growing every day). You can keep all your important messages, files and pictures forever, use search to quickly and easily find anything you're looking for, and make sense of it all with a new way of viewing messages as part of conversations.

There are no pop-ups or untargeted banner ads in Gmail, only small text ads. Ads and related information are relevant to your messages, so instead of being obtrusive, they may even be useful for once.

Gmail also integrates instant messaging right into the email experience, so you can stay in even better touch with your friends when you're online. Easy, efficient and maybe even fun to use. It's a whole new way to think about email. It's Google's approach to email.

Read more about Gmail at http://mail.google.com/mail/help/about.html

Google Calendar

Google calendar has only been out a few weeks, but is rating very high for most people. If you do not have a good digital calendar system and are looking for something easy and efficient, I would recommend Google calendar. You can even set it up to remind you via text message or email about important stuff.

Calendar Sharing: Set up a calendar for your company softball team, and share it with the whole roster. (Your shortstop will never forget about practice again.) Or share with friends and family so you can view each other's schedules side by side.

Invitations: Create event invitations, send them to friends, and keep track of people's responses and comments, all in one place. Your friends can receive your invitation and post responses even if they don't use Google Calendar themselves.

Quick Add: Click anywhere on your calendar where an event belongs (or use the Quick Add link), and start typing. Google Calendar understands whole phrases like "Brunch with mom at Java Cafe 11am on Saturday," and will pop new events right into your agenda.

Gmail Integration: Add your friend's Super Bowl party to your calendar without ever leaving your Gmail inbox. Gmail now recognizes events mentioned in emails.

Search: Find the date of the Baxter family BBQ (you knew it was sometime this summer). Or, search public calendars to discover new events you're interested in and add them to your own calendar.

Mobile Access: Receive event reminders and notifications on your mobile phone.

Event Publishing: Share your organization's events with the world. Learn more with our Event Publisher Guide.

Read more about Google calendar at http://www.google.com/googlecalendar/overview.html

Looking for efficiency in ministry, try these free tools.

basecamp

In ministry, one of the key tasks is working with teams. If you are not working with teams, you are probably not as effective as you should be. Team ministry is rewarding, efficient, and essential. However, the challenge many times is collaboration. Email and phone calls have become the way to share information, but are certainly not the most effective. Email gets piled up and disorganized faster than most would like. And unless you are taking notes, phone calls provide very little reference material.
There is a host of collaboration software on the market for businesses, but most of it is very complex. About 3 months ago, I came across a web based collaboration tool called Basecamp.

What is Basecamp?

Basecamp is a unique project collaboration tool. Projects don't fail from a lack of charts, graphs, or reports, they fail from a lack of communication and collaboration. Basecamp makes it simple to communicate and collaborate on projects.

It's elegant, easy, and web-based. You don't need to download, install, or configure anything (no IT department required!). All you need is a web browser and an internet connection. And don't worry, your data is safe with us.
How can Basecamp help us?

Basecamp makes it easy to centralize group communication with co-workers and clients.

Assign to-dos and tasks
Post messages and gather feedback
Simple scheduling and permissions
Share files internally or with clients
Track people's time
Who uses Basecamp?

Over 250,000 people and small businesses. Freelancers, designers, lawyers, publishers, teachers, students, non-profits, and more.

We have been using basecamp in our ministry to track contacts, assign tasks, post messages, and share files. It has been invaluable for us. I would highly recommend you give it a try. The base package is FREE and gives you a chance to play around with it. You can upgrade for more features for a monthly fee. 37 signals also has a few other products that are worth testing out. I especially like the ease of use and simplicity of their products.

http://www.37signals.com/

http://www.basecamphq.com/

writely

I few months ago, I was introduced to this cool website called Writely, an online word processor.

You find yourself needing to touch up that sermon or youth talk when you discover that you left it at the office. You can drive back to the church, remote in (if you are able to do that), or just wait until the next day to do the work.

Another solution would be to store all your documents online. Writely provides a way for you to do that. I have not made the total transition at this point, but I have found uses for Writely. Whenever I want input on a letter or schedule, I stick it on Writely. The potential for this solution is great. You have do what works for you.

I do like the fact that a spell check is included and you can save your files in all kinds of formats including MS word and pdf. You can tag your files for better organization and invite people to edit your files.

Writely says:
Share documents instantly & collaborate real-time – Pick exactly who can access your documents.
Edit your documents from anywhere.
Nothing to download — your browser is all you need.
Store your documents securely online – Offsite storage plus data backup every 10 seconds.
Easy to use – Clean, uncluttered screens with a familiar, desktop feel.

Right now, writely is in closed beta, but I have some invites and would be willing to set you up if you like.

If you are interested in playing with Writely, go to http://www.writely.com to check it out and read up on it.

If you want an account, go to http://efficientministry.com/?page_id=29 and let me know.

 

flickr

Placing pictures online is a great way to share memories of youth trips. It also keeps everyone from coming up to you and asking for copies of the recent youth trip pictures. For the past few years, we have been posting pictures online during our youth trips. A couple of years ago, one mom emailed and asked me to tell her daughter to wear more sunscreen . Needless to say, pictures help parents feel more connected to their kids while they are on youth trips. Pictures also serve as a great tool for promoted upcoming trips.

However, finding a good way to share pictures online can be daunting, and who has time to design picture pages on a website during a youth trip. A great solution for churches is a website called Flickr. Flickr was an independent company that was recently purchased by Yahoo. They are hands down the best picture sharing site out there.
Here are a few advantages to Flickr:

First of all, it is free! There is a 20MB upload limit on free accounts, but purchasing a pro account is only $25/year. The pro account also allows you to create sets of pictures which come in handy for trips. We purchased a pro account and have found the features to be worthwhile.

Secondly, it is very easy to set up and upload pictures! There is a picture upload tool that you can download and simply drag and drop pictures into the tool.

Thirdly, you can make a Flickr webpage and set it up so that it can be linked from your webpage. Once you set it up, kids can go to http://www.flickr.com/photos/yourchurchname and see your pictures. If you don’t do your website, you can simply give this url to your web person and you are set. You can also pass out this address to your parent prior to a trip and they can go right to your pictures. There are also ways to make badges for your website that look really cool.

Fourthly, if you really want to get the most advantage from Flickr, you can tag your photos. Here is a great description of tags from the Flickr site

Tags are like keywords or labels that you can add to a photo to make it easier to find later. You can tag a photo with tags like "catherine yosemite hiking mountain trail" and then later on if you are looking for pictures of Catherine you can just click on that tag and get all photos that have been tagged that way.

Fifthly, Flickr allow you to have buddies (or I guess they call it “contacts”). So any youth or families that use Flickr, can be added as contacts and therefore linked to the account. It is a really nice feature to connect everyone together.

If you have thought about putting pictures online, but have held back because you think it might be really complicated, look no further. Give Flickr a try!

http://flickr.com

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google alerts

We have a bulletin board in our church lobby with pictures and quotes cut out from our local paper. Whenever someone in our church gets in the paper, the church secretary cuts it out and posts it. The only problem is that someone has to catch this in the paper and notify the church office.
I saw this article today and thought it was interesting. I could see value in something like this for a church office or a youth pastor trying to keep up with when the kids in the group when they make the paper or news.

Google Alerts lets you set up Google searches. When new “hits” to those searches are posted on the Internet somewhere, Google Alerts sends you an e-mail with a link.

It's a very simple tool. But I'm going to tell you how to use it to constantly stay in touch with the people, places and topics you care about.

Why would you want to do such a thing? Well, it can make you a better person — by that I mean a better professional, a better friend, a better family member.

Let's say you have a friend who lives on the other side of the country. Let's call her "Janet Birkenstock." You can set up a Google Alert using quotation marks around her name that searches both news stories and web sites. Then you can just forget about it. From then on, whenever Janet runs a marathon, gets promoted, is quoted in the local newspaper, or does anything that someone mentions in the news or on the web, you get an e-mail with a link to that page. You can always be the first to congratulate her, or whatever. The point is that you're staying in touch with and remain aware of your friend without any effort at all.

Maybe worth a shot to see how it works. Try it out at http://www.google.com/alerts
How To Get Total Information Awareness (Without Really Trying) [Personal Tech Pipeline]