Heartland Techie: 2011

Less work is always better . . . so to take a completed video and rip it to a MP3 format first download this:

http://ffmpegmac.net/ - For Snow Leopard / Lion - 64 bit editions

Then do this:

./ffmpeg -i sermon_9-11-2011.mov -f mp3 2011-09-11_1045am_pc.mp3

Lots of other great combos and examples here:

http://www.catswhocode.com/blog/19-ffmpeg-commands-for-all-needs

Wednesday, August 31, 2011

25+ Must-have Chrome extensions for web designers and developers | Webdesigner Depot

25+ Must-have Chrome extensions for web designers and developers | Webdesigner Depot:

'via Blog this'

Monday, August 22, 2011

New SoulSearch iMac Transport Case

Over the weekend we came up with a better solution for transporting the new 22" iMac that we have for our new church plant - SoulSearch. We scoured the local thrift shops and found a nice big suit case that would fit the dimensions of the system. Then we went to Jo-Ann's Fabric and Crafts store and got the foam for the padding. My wife Peggy was great in picking and choosing the sizes and envisioning how everything would all go together. The suit case is essentially a vinyl case with an internal steel frame that is more than capable of handling the weight of the iMac. I have a few more things to finalize for holding the mouse/keyboard and other peripherals. I'm very excited for this - but someday we'd love to have a permanent home for tech!

Friday, August 19, 2011

12 in. W x 1 in. D x 58 in. H Wasp Wand-WW001 at The Home Depot

A great idea . . . but instead of killing insects why not use this to reach up and use compressed air on a projector to clean it?

Where's my NIV on YouVersion?

Limited Time: NIV Available Offline…Free on YouVersion! | YouVersion

I was totally into this when it became available because sometimes when I'm in the woods or beyond cell coverage, I want to just jump into my NIV edition and read. I downloaded the edition to my Samsung Moment and was happy until I finally decided to ditch the horrific 1st generation Android device. I moved into an HTC Evo but couldn't get my NIV download because it was no longer available. I emailed YouVersion and they said it was due to the publisher's limitations I couldn't simply re-download the version. I did some Googling though and found some people in the same situation with their phones/devices. I decided to snoop around on my old Samsung Moment and I found the hidden .youversion directory. Inside there I found the niv.1.sqlite3 file and I copied it to the same directory on my new Evo phone. I fired up the YouVersion Bible app and voila! My NIV edition was available.

NOTE: YouVersion emailed me (when I asked if this was possible) and said they do not support this . . . so if you try this and it doesn't work, don't go whining to them. I saw some posts where people were trying to take iPad versions and put on Android devices and that was a definite no-go. I'm just putting the version onto my current phone and ditching my old phone so I don't see any legalities in that . . . but I am not a lawyer nor do I play one on TV. Your mileage may vary! If the NIV publishers come hunting you (or I) down, then I suppose we'll have to deal with that one then. :-)

Thursday, August 11, 2011

OS X Lion: Auto Save and Versions to the rescue | TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog

OS X Lion: Auto Save and Versions to the rescue | TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog - Very cool feature . . . anxious to transition over but still making sure my critical apps are ready to roll on Lion before committing.

Monday, August 8, 2011

EVO

Just a little test from the new EVO phone. This might be pretty cool. Getting used to no slide out keyboard... Odd but it works.

Thursday, July 28, 2011

Handy Things For The Future

http://about.esvbible.org/toolbox/

http://www.phpmyfaq.de/features.php

Sideload to the cloud - using DropBox remotely

http://faithandtech.nccumc.net/sidecloudload-make-dropbox-even-easier/

It's coming . . . . sometime!

Very excited that Google is now doing the site surveys and engineering walk-thru's now. http://googlefiberblog.blogspot.com/2011/07/boots-on-ground-in-kansas-city.html

This could be a big boon to small businesses as well as churches in the area. In using DSL connections to upload sermon and ministry videos, the change in bandwidth availability (hopefully with attractive pricing) is going to be a welcome change. Can't wait to see where this will continue to lead!

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Google Contacts

I have multiple addresses for some people (my pastors for example) so I wanted to be sure to send to the right email address . . . but alas the Google Contacts would always seem to send to the wrong email address. Then I discovered this info:

http://mail.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=30970

Basically in the drop down beside a contact persons group, it will allow you to select which email address to use. It's actually very easy and pretty slick - just be sure to click "Apply" when you have made your selection.

TV Studio Anyone?

It's getting closer . . . I've found some software like Boinx TV but instead of $499 ($49 for the home editon with one camera and a few layers) this software is free and runs on the platforms we already have. Now to experiment with capturing the video as a stream to record and upload to Vimeo. The software is Camtwist Studio. Here's an example of how it works:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9sJnUHhiSM

Thursday, April 21, 2011

Framing and Composition on Vimeo Video School

http://vimeo.com/videoschool/lesson/8/framing-and-composition

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Photo Frame Idea

A little example from the slides used on the Heartland Church web page being used on a 7" photo frame.