Category Archives: Technology

Smartphones – the negatives

Here is what I see as unhelpful about smartphones (some of these points overlap): They can cause you to be enslaved to every latest message/txt/facebook/tweet whatever. They are addictive and hard to not glace at. Will your kids remember you … Continue reading

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Smartphones – the positives

Here is what is good about smartphones (remember I’ve got Android in mind here): they have beautiful typography (on anything with pixel density greater than 300 pixels per inch) they make it easy to process emails that require a quick … Continue reading

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I’ve changed my mind on smartphones

For many years I’ve been a cynic about whether smartphones actually aid productivity. I was proud of my cheapie “phone only” phones. I lugged a little netbook everywhere. However I’ve repented. I’ve been using using the latest and greatest Galaxy … Continue reading

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2010 Tech Tools I Can’t Live Without

Here is a dump of my most used tech or productivity tools in the last 12 months: Gmail Google Docs Ubuntu Linux OpenOffice.org Google Chrome Dropbox Book Depository Twitter Google Reader Boxee Facebook WordPress Moleskine Plain Black Cahier Notebook Fisher Space Pen … Continue reading

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Interesting Wikipedia Articles #3

I must admit, I am a fan of Wikipedia. Used wisely it is a wonderful resource. I even donated. Incidents at Six Flags parks – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aleksandr_Solzhenitsyn List of scandals with “-gate” suffix – Wikipedia, the free … Continue reading

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Hard drive speeds

Doing some yearly IT maintenance over January. Upgraded my main hard drive from 200 gig to 500 gig (it was getting full). This contains all my photos, 18 years of email (includng gmail backup), steam games, all my documents etc. … Continue reading

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Avoiding the seedy side of the web

Have been using opendns for dns content filtering for a few weeks now. I highly recommend it. All you have to do is put their dns servers on your computer or router. You can get an account to get more … Continue reading

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Official Gmail Blog: Labels: drag and drop, hiding, and more

Gmail just gets better. New improvements to labels will make those using GTD within gmail even more productive. I use GTD in Gmail labels according to this article on Davidco. It requires no extra plugins. (I only follow the task … Continue reading

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The Benefits of a Classical Education – O’Reilly Radar

A surprising intersection of two of my interests – classical education and technology…. The Benefits of a Classical Education – O’Reilly Radar.

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How Ubuntu Saved A Dell Laptop

My Mum’s Dell laptop is 3 months old. When Windows update tried to install service pack 1, it died horribly. Every time we booted there was a “blue screen of death” (I have photos). Safe mode, repair mode, nothing worked. … Continue reading

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I am new here

Does anyone actually click on “I am new here” links? I see lots of church web sites copying Mars Hill in this way.

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Charlie Brooker on why he hates Apple Macintosh computers | Comment is free | The Guardian

Charlie is right. Except what he doesn’t add is that MS Windows is also your proprietary Fisher-Price activity centre. Use an open source (free software) operating system if you really want to use your computer. My choice is Ubuntu Linux. … Continue reading

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ADSL2+ reflections

ADSL2+ is sweet. This is how the net ought to be at the end of the first decade of the new millennium. Except the latency – it makes the web feel a bit ‘sticky’. Maybe I’m just getting greedy.

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Official Gmail Blog: A small (but helpful) change to ‘mark as unread’

Google have fixed my number 3 gmail bug. If only they could fix the other two major flaws of gmail: 1. The gmail search sucks (cf normal google web search) 2. Gmail doesn’t understand attachments from Mac Mail.App (the suffixes … Continue reading

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Diary of a Christian Pastor

I’m now twittering. I’m using it as a kind of public ministry diary. I’ll probably give up soon.

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I don’t like Google Calendar

I love Gmail. It is clearly the best email client bar none. But Google Calendar is awful. Cumbersome. Slow. The event edit page is slow and ugly. I currently put reminders in it to be emailed to myself – it … Continue reading

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Whiteboards

For the past 6 months we have enjoyed a whiteboard in our house. We highly recommend the prices and service of Mr Whiteboards. We got a 1800x1200mm vitreous board. Basically I wanted to get something as good as you would … Continue reading

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Even the tedious sections

As seen on an Amazon review of an audio bible: The best and most real to life reading of the Bible I’ve ever heard. It is easy to listen even the most tedious sections of the Bible such as Leviticus … Continue reading

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Excellent new Google Image Search functionality

I’ve used Google image search for many years to look for clipart. Now you can actually search for clip-art only or line-drawings. Just in time for those Christmas newsletters.

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Compare book prices in Australia with Booko

This looks like an interesting site for sourcing best prices for books in Australia from international and local retailers. A few test examples confirms what I already knew, the cheapest place to buy books is the Book Depository. We’ve been … Continue reading

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