https://kippt.com/steveostudios/inspiration – Graphics Inspiration (Note: Most are secular and may contain inappropriate stuff.)

Tools to collect/organize ideas
1. http://evernote.com – Kind of like a multi-subject notebook that cloud-syncs everywhere. Wish I had on in school!
2. http://reader.google.com – RSS Reader. Makes all the news you want come to you!
3. http://getpocket.com – A way to save articles you like for later. Like a todo list for reading.
4. http://kippt.com – Social bookmarking.
5. http://dropbox.com – Sharing and cloud-syncing gigs of data for free. Super simple.
6. http://drive.google.com – Free, realtime document collaboration.
7. http://planningcenteronline.com – Organize service flow, manage volunteers, stage designs, emails and media.

Back when podcasting first started, you needed a higher-end system dedicated to recording (so you wouldn’t get a hiccup), a quality sound card, plenty hard drive space, and an internet connection. Nowadays, all of this can be handles by a used iPod Touch, a $40 device called the Tascam iXZ, and a $5 recording app called iAudition. Let me elaborate on out system.

We go out of our soundboard via a stereo aux channel. We use an aux because a) we had an extra that wasn’t being used, and b) because we can isolate inputs with it. That way we can take out the keyboard players pad during the end of the message, or what-have-you. From there, we go out 1/4″ into this Tascam iXZ (which also accepts XLR). This box is pretty cool. It takes a ‘professional’ connection like XLR or 1/4″ and isolates it into the mic-in ring on the Apple headphone port. It can also pad and add phantom power if you need it. From there, we go into the headphone port of our iPod.

iAudition is a neat find. There are probably 30 iOS audio recording apps out there (some that look WAY better) and all can record and do basic cutting of sound, but there are three reasons why we chose this one:

1. There is a GIANT record button. You should not forget to record. There is an iPod sitting on the soundboard with a big red dot.
2. It has FTP (File Transfer Protocol) built into it, meaning once it is edited, you can upload it directly to your podcast server.
3. Right before you upload the file you have the option to convert it to an mp3. Surprisingly (or not), Apple uses wav files when recording and hasn’t paid for the rights for mp3 converting on the iOS device. Somehow these guys figured it out, which is probably why the app is $5 and not cheaper.

Here is the demo video for iAudition (Sorry about the VO…)

This has been perfect. Now, instead of recording on a dedicated machine, chopping the file, compressing, opening up and FTP program, uploading, etc., this system takes care of it all. I’m not making any promises, but what would take 20 minutes of me in front of a computer on Monday morning now takes 5 minutes as I’m walking out the door (because it’s wireless after the recording!).

Did you know that LED desk lamps are pretty expensive? I mean, there are a few cheap ones with pencil and iPod holders that are $20-30, but for one that will last more than a few weeks in our youth room we’re talking $50-60 a pop. And I was looking to buy one per position in each of our tech rooms (probably 10 total)! This was totally not doable. That’s when I stumbles upon this:

Middle Atlantic Dual Gooseneck LED Single Rackmount

There are a few major wins to this light.

1. LED. Low power consumption. They won’t scar anymore children (or me!).
2. They are bright! It only takes one of the two to light a workstation.
3. They’re DUAL! Because we have two people per desk in our room, I can rack this light in-between them and cut cost in half!
4. They’re rack-mountable. No more falling off the desk and breaking lamps.
5. It’s durable. We’re talking Middle Atlantic, the company who makes road-ready, metal equipment. This is going to outlast any Target light.
6. Only $50! That’s as much or less than I would have paid for one “cheap” LED desk lamp.

So I bought a few. They are awesome. I’m going to be testing them out for a while and I’ll update this post if any of them fail, but I’m not expecting that to happen for a few years.

For me, it’s tough to not only pick out what I’m going to read everyday, but staying accountable to actually reading it. YouVersion has both of these areas figured out, and quite nicely I might add.

First, there are a ton of plans to choose from (263 in English at the time of this writing). Some only last a few days, some over a year. Some have a few topical verses, others have several chapters and a devotional everyday. Some are specific to just the New Testament. My favorite one so far is the Chronological Plan by Blue Letter Bible:

The Blue Letter Bible “Chronological” plan is compiled according to recent historical research, taking into account the order in which the recorded events actually occurred. This is a fantastic plan to follow if you wish to add historical context to your reading of the Bible. If the schedule provided is followed, the entire Bible will be read in one calendar year.

The Blue Letter helped put so many things in context of the whole for me. The Bible makes sense to me now! What a great year.

YouVersion reading plans also have great accountability. You can schedule your device to buzz at a specific time of the day to remind you to read, and even have it email you the scripture in your version of choice if you will be away from the device. If you’re part of a Bible study with others, you can put their email addresses into that plan’s profile and schedule a repeating email that will let your buddies know how you’re doing. They’ll receive weekly emails telling how many days you read an whether or not you’re caught up.

Finally, if you find yourself falling behind, you can use the ‘Catch Me Up’ feature, which will shift your start and end dates around your current reading.

I’m not saying that signing up for a reading plan will automatically make you a better Christian, but reading the Word is a great way connect with the Creator. Reading daily can realign your priorities, check your motives, and more often than not, the Bible is speaks into your life where you’re at at that specific moment. Read on, brothers and sisters.

From my understanding, Guided Access mode was developed by Apple for the autistic, locking down some UI features to make things significantly easier to manage. But, It’s perfect for letting my 11-month-old touch the iPad or setting up a kiosk in your church lobby.

To set it up, goto Settings -> General -> Accessibility -> Guided Access.
In here you will find a simple toggle switch. When you enable it, you can set a passcode (this can be completely different than your lock or your restrictions passcode). You’re done with the setup.

In any app, triple-click the Home button. This will bring up the Guided Access editor. From here, you can turn off touch and motion controls, which is pretty cool, but the power is in the preview window. Simply circle areas in the preview that you want to disable touch control (like the address bar in Safari). When you finish the circle and let go it will automagically ‘square’ the best match for the area you selected. Then hit Start. Now the user, whether it be your kid or a person standing at the kiosk, can’t exit to the home screen (thus having access to ANYTHING on the device) and can’t click in certain areas of the screen (if you blocked the addressbar in Safari, now they can only go to pages your site is linked to).

Note: I was going to have visuals with this tutorial but Apple has the buttons disabled for Guided Access mode (which makes sense) so I couldn’t take any screen grabs!

Related: My vimeo.

Here are some examples of how I’ve used them:

Download them here (78.2 mb).

Feel free to use these, but please don’t redistribute (meaning link back to here), and don’t sell them.

There are two Photoshop documents in here: Desktop and Mobile. For each there is a layer group called “Guides”. Basically, design your main content to fit in the darkest area and you’re great! Also in the .zip is an action (which must be installed) that will automatically turn off the “Guides” layer and save the following files (as JPEGs) to your desktop.

Desktop

• 800×600
• 1024×768
• 1280×720
• 1280×800
• 1280×960
• 1280×1024
• 1400×1050
• 1600×1200
• 1680×1050
• 1920×1080
• 1920×1200
• 2048×1536
• 2560×1600

Mobile

• iPad Retina – 2048×2048
• iPad – 1024×1024
• iPhone Retina – 640×960
• iPhone – 320×480
• Android – 960×854 (not sure why this is a standard…)

You can download the zip here. Let me know if this works for you, and send me something that you’ve created with it!