This is going to be a very interesting and competitive market over the next 18 to 24 months. What do you think would you try a digital wallet or would you be too concerned about privacy and theft?
[For more check out this post.]
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Virtual Wallets
Amazon First in Music Locker Race
Despite not have all of the details worked out with the music industry on licences, Amazon has beat both Google and Apple to the race to be the first major player to create a place where you can store and play your music collection online.
Since shutting down Lala about a year ago, Apple has been quite on this front and consumers have been left without a solution. There have been a few services available including, Libox, but none with the reputation and backing of the “Big 3″. Google is rumored to be close to a launch of Google Music and Apple might be in the process of enhancing its MobleMe service to include a music locker later in the fall with the new release of iOS. But Amazon has beat them both to the punch and has launched the Amazon Cloud Drive.
CNET has posted a pretty complete review of the new service. Bottom line – when it come to online music storage and playback, Amazon Cloud Drive is now the service to beat. Price is very reasonable (starting with 5 GB free) and easy integration with Amazon MP3 music store.
Intro video from Amazon explains the idea behind the service. Looks like 2011 will be a competitive year in this space which is a good thing for all of us. More than ever there will be no reason not to have your digital music collection backed up!
Picture Safety
With the rise in the number smart phones in the public there is an increasingly easy way for stalkers and predators to find you or your children. A default feature to many smart phones is that GPS tagging is automatically turned on and your location is automatically being captured and included in the photos you take. Watch this brief news video below about how this feature can easily be used maliciously and how you can turn it off.
7 Billion
An interesting and eye-opening perspective on our planet reaching the 7 billion population mark by National Geographic who is doing a 7-part series on the subject.
The project website says,
There will soon be seven billion people on the planet. By 2045 global population is projected to reach nine billion. Can the planet take the strain?
The popular questions to ask about such mind-blowing numbers are usually environmental related. Can the earth handle it? Will we deplete our natural resources?, etc. But for me, the question that comes to mind is how are we going to reach all of these people with the life saving message of love and grace that comes from Jesus? How will we address the growing issues of social injustice as the population continues to grow? How well will we harness technology help? Time is short, but Jesus told us to GO into all of the world. And it doesn’t look like it is getting any smaller!
[RSS and email readers can watch the short clip here]
New Year’s Resolution – Post a Day
I recently heard about a challenge from WordPress to get bloggers writing and posting more in 2011. Mashable & CNN even did write-ups about the challenge.
Over the New Year holiday, WordPress issued a challenge to its blogger-users: Write and publish one post a day (or a week) throughout 2011.
For non-professional and personal bloggers, writing and posting every day can be a tall order, so the good folks at WordPress have launched The Daily Post, a guide with daily tidbits of “inspiration, encouragement and advice about blogging.”
I have decided to take on that challenge and so this is the first post in what hopefully will be a string of daily posts for 2011. It won’t be easy, but I know it is something I want to more. You can expect shorter posts and a larger variety but most will still center around the themes of technology, leadership and my life.
If you read this blog I hope you’ll engage, connect and encourage me along the way! Just look for the “Comments” link under each post title.
In Case You Missed It – Jun 4
Here are a few posts and other sites I found noteworthy this week that you might want to check out.
- A good article regarding the 4 Myths About Using Technology in the Church. Do you think you know what they are?
- Google announced 2 weeks ago their concept of Google TV. Tim Stevens is asking us to ponder if that may now actually bring church to our living rooms.
- With much new coverage about the crisis in the Gulf of Mexico, you may not have heard about the bad storms in Central America or the enormous sink hole that was created in Guatemala. This think is scary!
- Need a Friday chuckle? Check out this visual Twitter Parade. Just put in your Twitter username and watch how your followers create a parade with you in the lead!
- So, AT&T has finally made plans for 4G service and true tethering (using your iPhone to give your laptop internet access), but has also taken away the unlimited data plan option for new customers. Guess that’s one way to solve your network problems!
- In an interesting move, Amazon has now gotten into the wireless phone market. No longer to you have to buy your mobile phone at carrier’s store. The prices look incredible as well!
In Case You Missed It – May 29
Here are some interesting things I have stumbled upon over the past week. Enjoy!
- Michael Hyatt answers a great leadership question – How can you keep inspiration alive in your team or organization? Clue – it doesn’t involve creating more rules or policies!
- Should Jesus be thought of as a product? The knee-jerk reaction might be worth a little more examination. CMS challenges with this question and why we need to think about it.
- Speaking of challenging conventional thinking, Tim Stevens poses a very thought provoking idea in his post on how churches have a statistical problem. The coming decade is going to require some different thinking and for some churches to take some risks to try some new methods.
- Do you realize that your office chair may be killing you? This could explain a lot!
- Facebook has been under a great deal of heat and pressure about their privacy controls. This week they made another change to try to simplify it for everyone. What do you think? Any better? [Here is the complete update from Facebook]
- You can now measure how much your Facebook Page is worth with the Social Page Evaluator. Looks like a great idea, but lacking in some specifics.
- One of the great challenges with new technology and gadgets is what do we do with all of the old stuff? Apple has an excellent marketing and environmental idea – ship them your old stuff for free and they will give you credit to the Apple Store or Gift Card. Even if there is no monetary value to your old computer (mac or pc) or other devices (ipods, mobile phones, etc) they will still dispose of it in an environmentally responsible manner.
- iPhone users – you can now access your desktop Firefox bookmarks right from your phone.
- This post by Ron Edmondson about the differences between leading people vs controlling them wasn’t new, but I just saw it for the first time this past week. If you are responsible for a group of people in any way, do yourself a favor and read this!
Have a great Memorial Day weekend!
In Case You Missed It – May 23
Here are some noteworthy things from this past week.
- New look for Google Calendar – Nothing radical but some good improvements for sure.
- Looks like the tablet wars will be getting hot very soon. With the success of the iPad, everyone wants in the game. The most interesting could be the Google / Verizon version.
- You will also be able to read your Amazon e-books on your Android phone as Kindle app will be available this summer.
- Google Wave is now broadly available to everyone – no special invite required.
- How has technology innovations effected the church workplace? Here are 5 radical concepts that should be considered.
- Continuos improvement can be hard concept to get your arms around. Here is how Dan Cathy is getting practical with it.
- Church Creatives is a new fresh (free) resource to help you brainstorm as well has find new material.
- Mozy 2.0 has been released with faster back-up power and the ability to also back-up locally.
- Look for Google to possible start competing with Skype in video conferencing as they recently made some strategic purchases.
Do any of these catch your attention or interest?
Google TV
Google announced today their latest innovation – Google TV. The idea and concept is hard to deny. I wonder if the term “television” will even have any unique meaning in another 10-15 years. The convergence of the web and traditional technologies continues to blur the distinct boundaries that used to give identity to each.
What do you think? Is this a good idea? [RSS or email readers click here]
In Case You Missed It – May 14
Here are some things I found interesting from the past week or so that you might want to check out. I would love to hear any thoughts or comments about any of them. Enjoy!
- Ever wish you had a personal assistant to run down things you just don’t seem to have time for? Check out Fancy Hands – your personal assistants in the cloud. Send them an email with what you need and they’ll get it done! I think this is going to catch on and could be very helpful for some individuals and start-ups. Here is a review by a someone who tried it and loved it.
- E-books are getting more and more popular. Look for the battle to get even more intense as Google prepares to jump in with their own digital bookstore – Google Editions later this summer.
- Ever find a tweet you liked and wanted to quote it on your blog or website? Now you can embed tweets directly and preserve any links in them.
- Did you know you can “tweet” via email? Might be a good idea for those that are really wed to email and reluctant to try separate apps to engage in the Twitterverse.
- Facebook check-in appears to be in the works. The location-based services seem to be of high interest as of late but really haven’t become mainstream. If Facebook jumps in that could change.
- Craigslist has been in the news recently and taking some heat for allowing very questionable content in their ‘adult services’ ads. It caught the attention of the Christian community and surprise, surprise generated new petitions to boycott Craigslist. However, not everyone agrees with this approach – here’s why.
- The battle between Google and Apple in the mobile phone market is getting serious as Android-based phones are now outselling the iPhone.
- It looks like the Apple / Google battlefield will also be extended to the tablet market as well as Google announces plans to partner with Verizon on a new device. Verizon CEO even confirmed it.
- Looks like these rumored 4G iPhones keep showing up in strange places.
- Speaking of the iPhone… the rumors of being able to get one on Verizon are really heating up. I think we will see this happen later this summer and AT&T will really suffer.
- Folks who go on mission and volunteer trips could benefit from this cool idea – the Volunteer Card.
- Gmail users can now drag and drop images directly into the body of the message.
- Looks like you’ll be able to use your Android 2.2 phone to connect your laptop to the internet.
- So many people are upset about the recent changes in Facebook’s privacy settings – there is a new movement to create a new alternative - and it’s not MySpace. They have already raised $115K!
- Apple announced las month that it is shutting down the popular Lala.com streaming service at the end of May. There are strong rumors that Apple is getting ready to announce a cloud-based iTunes in early June.
