Tech Tips for Catholics

Merry Christmas everyone!  Enjoy this video by one of my all-time favorite Christian bands, Jars of Clay.

Here is a live version of the song as well!  May Christ’s peace be with all of you this Christmas season and beyond.

Let the peace of our Lord enter your heart this Christmas!  I invite you to attend Midnight Mass near you!  If you are not Catholic, perhaps you have fallen away from the faith, or maybe you just want to celebrate the Birth of Christ in a very special way this year, I personally invite you to join in our joyful celebration.

Some churches begin earlier than 12:00 a.m. so check with your local parish.  Ours’ is at midnight (which is awesome!)

BUS SHELTER NATIVITY

Download a free, hi-res version of this poster for your church’s Christmas publicity. Since the 15th of December, this specially commissioned painting of the nativity, set in a bus shelter, was displayed at over 1,000 bus shelters across the UK.

The painting is by Royal Academy Gold medal winner, Andrew Gadd. The oil painting is on canvas and depicts the holy family, with halos, in a dark bus shelter. The shepherds and wise men are replaced with fellow passengers waiting for a bus. Some are watching the nativity intently; others appear oblivious and are checking the bus timetable and flagging down a bus.

Francis Goodwin, the Chair of CAN, says: “We are very used to the Renaissance image of the Nativity. But what would it look like if it happened today? Where would it take place? We want to challenge people to make them reassess what the birth of Jesus means to them. By using a powerful and contemporary piece of art, from a world renowned painter, we can create an enduring image for our own times.”

See you at Mass : )

CateQUIZ’em! is an interactive DVD-based video curriculum for middle and high school catechesis.

The content of each annual volume is put into the context of the four pillars of the Church - Creed, Sacraments, Morality, and Prayer.  Users interact with the content through the DVD’s four main sections - LEARN IT!, PLAY IT!, LIVE IT!, and PRAY IT!

Volume One - Holy Spirit: Lord & Giver of Life (great for Confirmation prep) will be available in March 2009.  Future topics include: The Trinity, The Father, Jesus - Son of Man, Jesus - Son of God, Mary & the Communion of Saints, The One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church, The End Things, Chastity, and The Beauty of Life.

For more info about this series visit: www.catequizem.com

“Silent Night is the most sung Christmas song around the world. This beautiful rendition contains a musical bridge that is pure Matt Maher. In the middle of all the busyness, and craziness of the physical preparation for the season, this song is intended to help you invite God into it, to have a moment where our hearts are prepared to really celebrate what God did for us, when the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.”

• Matt Maher - Story Behind Silent Night (Emmanuel)
• Matt Maher - Silent Night (Emmanuel)

Merry Christmas!

I’m having fun playing around with all of the new applications offered on my iPhone through the App Store. Even though I haven’t upgraded, my phone still feels like a new toy/tool for productivity. I thought I’d investigate a few of the apps in the Productivity category of the App Store and share my thoughts with you. I will only be reviewing the free apps, but if anyone wants to give me access to their tools with fees, I would love to check those out as well and share my thoughts here.

Since Productivity @ Home is a Typepad blog, it made sense to me that one of the first apps I should check out is the new Typepad application. The app downloaded quickly (despite my lack of 3G) and was immediately installed. Upon entering the app after installation and verification of my blog info, I now have three options for quickly posting on my blog from the iPhone. I can either create a post, take a photo, or add a photo - all are fairly self explanatory. Under “create a post”, one cool option is the ability to immediately twitter the post. Since my posts tend to be fairly long, I likely will have limited use of this feature but it’s nice to have the option of blogging on the go. I think the best feature of the Typepad app for me will be the ability to take a photo and then immediately blog it - I can determine the category, decide whether or not to “tweet” the photo, and include text all from one easy screen. Other components of the Typepad iPhone app include the ability to review and work with pending and draft posts and some basic settings for my account.

All in all, I would say that the Typepad iPhone app is one I will definitely implement immediately and one that will certainly enhance my productity. So be on the lookout for more mobile blogging soon from Productivity @ Home!

This post is courtesy of the Productivity @ Home Blog.

Every Friday I post the top 5 favorite blogposts that I’ve come across throughout the week.  You have all weekend now to check them out : )

1. Chesterton on Father Christmas
2. Philip Hoffman vs. Mark Shea
3. Midwife at Auschwitz
4. Talking Twilight
5. Material Girl

If you have a blogpost that you would like to share with me feel free to contact Catholic Tech Tips and I will get it.

Have a great weekend!

Joshua

In a World where Laptops outsell Desktop Computers and Wireless phones overtake LAN lines, it isn’t unusual that the ‘basic’ phone is going away. Enter the smart phone.

These devices are designed to integrate communication of all types: phone, text message, picture message, video message, instant Message (IM), Email, and Calendar (PIM).

Windows 6.1 device sales have grown, but one of the most popular PDA/Smart Phones out today is the BlackBerry. Designed as the original “Push” Email device, they have come a long way from the right side only thumb wheel bricks.

Playful competition has always helped technology grow.  With iPhone’s and G1’s showing off their mad features, I wanted to take some time to show off just some of the applications out for the BlackBerry.

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Vlingo is voice activated software that allows you to use audible (spoken) commands to:

• Send and reply to emails and text messages
• Search the Web
• Dial the phone
• Look up contacts
• Send a “note to self”
• Voice updates to Facebook & Twitter status updates
• Tell A Friend
• Read-back of the full text or email message that was spoken
• The ability to launch built in programs:
• Address Book
• Alarm
• BrickBreaker
• Calculator
• Calendar
• Camera
• Maps
• Media
• MemoPad
• Messages
• Options
• Tasks
• Web browser
• The ability to launch third party programs
• Facebook
• Google Maps
• Opera
• Viigo

Vlingo is the most accurate voice recognition software out there!  And the best part is… It’s FREE!

Get the latest version of vlingo at www.vlingo.com.

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Viigo is a great way to keep track of your favorite information. It lets you put links to your favorite breaking news, weather, sports in real-time, stocks and finance, audio and podcasts, entertainment, and blogs in one simple, freely downloadable application.

Personally this has been used to keep up with the ever growing Catholic Tech Tips.

Viigo can be downloaded at www.viigo.com.
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Opera Mini is a free Enhanced HTML Web Browser. This compact browser supports Java and can be a great asset to any Blackberry. The Blackberry Browser can sometimes seem slow. With Opera optimizing page images to desired quality, it helps to load pages quicker and with fewer errors. This browser also allows for quick scrolling and has a zoom in and our feature for pages rendered in Internet Explorer or Firefox mode.

Yet another free download at www.operamini.com.
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Here are 5 other useful apps for your BlackBerry Smartphone:

• Google Mobile Apps for BlackBerry
• MySpace Mobile App for BlackBerry
• Facebook for BlackBerry
• TinyTwitter - Tweet from your BlackBerry without getting dinged for updates!
• Didiom – Stream Music Files and Playlists from a Home PC to BlackBerry (Free Sign Up)

And for even more BlackBerry App ideas Click Here.

This post is courtesy of  Brandon Lee.

According to Papal Encyclicals Online, “The Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith has just released a new doctrinal document titled “Instruction Dignitas Personae on Certain Bioethical Questions” which deals with a number of questions and provides a moral analysis of a number of relatively new bioethical issues relating to procreation and genetic treatment.”

Among the questions in this document are:

1. Techniques for Assisting Fertility
2. In Vitro Fertilization and the Deliberate Destruction of Embryos
3. Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection (ICSI)
4. Freezing Embryos
5. The Freezing of Oocytes
6. The Reduction of Embryos
7. Preimplantation Diagnosis
8. New Forms of Interception and Contragestation

Be sure to check out this document, as it discusses some of the issues we face as individual and as a society.

Every Friday I post the top 5 favorite blogposts that I’ve come across throughout the week.  You have all weekend now to check them out : )

1. Understanding HP Lab’s Twitter Research
2. Do your plants post to Twitter when they need to be watered?
3. Virtual HD Fireplace
4. Create your own Pollock (This is pretty cool!)
5. Lisa Hendey’s 10 Most Fascinating Catholics of 2008

If you have a blogpost that you would like to share with me feel free to contact Catholic Tech Tips and I will get it.

Have a great weekend!

Joshua

Holding the “Home” button + pressing the “Sleep/wake” button will take a picture of your display.  The screen will flash and your captured screenshot will be placed into the “Camera Roll” folder.

* You must have iPhone 2.0 software or higher installed on your device. This also works with the iPod Touch.

Below are some related links to the iPod Touch & iPhone:

• Catholicize your Apple iPhone or iPod Touch!
• Advent App for the iPod Touch & Apple iPhone
• Typepad for iPhone Application Continue Reading »