Wired Parish Blog

iTunes and iPods Break Up

Well, sort of. Turns out you no longer need an iPod to use iTunes.

LifeHacker.com points to a free download that syncs iTunes with any MP3 player that shows up as a letter drive in Windows Explorer (virtually all do).

Have fun!

Private Version of Digg for Your Team

You definitely need to check out CoRank.com. It's like your own personal Digg.com.

For the uninitiated, Digg is what's called a social news site. You find articles, links, etc. you like and you post them to Digg. Other readers can 'look over your shoulder' at what you 'Dugg' and vote on what they like (and vote against what they don't).

The voting mechanism is important because it pushes the most popular content to the front of the line so that readers can quickly find the most popular submissions without sifting through the site for hours.

CoRank functions exactly the same way, but YOU get to create your own social news site.

So suppose you wanted your ministry team to have a site where they could dump pertinent links for the rest of the team to view. CoRank makes that possible.

Or maybe you want a central hub where members of your church can submit content they find interesting. Set up a CoRank site for your church.

Heck, what if you're working on a project with a specific time frame that involves a fair amount of research? Set up a CoRank site that's project specific, and the appropriate team members can compile their web research in one location, voting the most helpful material to the front of the line.

You create the categories. You determine how open or how private the site is to other viewers and posters. You control the look and feel. The whole deal. Takes 3 or 4 minutes. Super fast.

Oh, and did I mention CoRank is free? Very cool.

Subscribe to Wired Parish. Your kids will think you're hip.

HiTask - Backpack Killer?

Bob Hyatt at PastorHacks.net points us to HiTask. It's a BackPack-esque app that's about 1/4 the cost of the already inexpensive BackPack.

I'll start experimenting with this in the next couple of days, but after watching the tutorial videos on the site, I must say I'm WAY impressed so far.

One thing I hope it has (and I'm sure it's coming if it's not already available): Txt and email alerts of upcoming calendar events. LOVE this feature of BackPack. If that's a feature of HiTask, I'm sold.

Not So Del.icio.us

For the last few days, I've gotten an error trying to access del.icio.us. This is a traveshamockery of epic proportions since I thoroughly dig using del.icio.us.

If you don't know, the site allows users to bookmark sites or pages they find interesting and share them with others. If you are subscribed to the Wired Parish blog through RSS or email, you get daily updates pointing to links that are highly interesting but that I don't take the time to specifically blog about.

After several attempts to fix the problem, I finally discovered a crafty piece of malware residing on my computer. It's gone, and del.icio.us is back.

If you want to celebrate with me in my moment of joy, slide on over the right side of the blog to subscribe via RSS or email. You'll be glad you did . . . If for no other reason that getting a chance to see a RIDICULOUS etch-a-sketch video. :)

Blog Comments for Dummies (Or at Least Busy People . . .)

Bobby Gruenwald at the Life Church Blog pointed out ClickComments which is a free plugin that lets blog readers comment on a blog with a single click.

I promptly ripped off his idea and now give to you ClickComments on the Wired Parish blog. Click your little hearts out.

Subscribe to Wired Parish. Your mom will be proud.

Why the New iPod Will Fail

Found this on Digg. It's a forum going back to late 2001 when Apple announced the release of the original 5GB iPod.

A few great comments:

"All that hype for an MP3 player? Break-thru digital device? The Reality Distiortion Field™ is starting to warp Steve's mind if he thinks for one second that this thing is gonna take off."

"It is far from revolutionary. I for one am disappointed and think that apple is making a mistake by trying to get into this market."

"Without a future. This Christmas you will see mp3 players be commoditized. Meaning that the players from Korea will be way less expensive tha iPod. The real money is in DRM and distribution (ala Real Musicnet). If Apple were smart they would be focusing on high gross revenue from services rather than a playback device."

"are they going to make it accessible to PC along with Itunes 2 ?
This would be a sweet revenge from apple:
PC people bying apple products ......
Then it would be a Breakthrough in the digital era.....
I hope so ...."

The interesting thing about the iPod (looking back) is that it wasn't the first on the scene for MP3 players. But it was the first device that made 'normal' people want to get in on the act.

That's the trick in technology, isn't it? Not just making technology accessible to the masses, but making the masses want to be a part.

Subscribe to Wired Parish. You'll feel better about yourself.

Reactee.com: T-Shirts That Text You

This is my cool pick of the day: Reactee.com allows you to create custom messages on t-shirts with a 5 digit number people can text to respond.

The design options are somewhat limited, but seriously . . . How cool is this? When users text to the number on the shirt, a predetermined (and editable) text goes back out to the user.

Top 3 Predicted Uses:

1. Fraternity Guys: 'Do You Think I'm Hot? Txt 11111 to Let Me Know.'
2. Bands: 'Dig My Band? Txt 11111 for Concert Info.'
3. Churches: 'Are You Going to Heaven? Txt 11111 to Find Out.'

None of these three fit me, but I gotta find a reason to buy one of these . . .

Outlook on iGoogle

Dig this: You can now add Outlook to iGoogle (your Google homepage).

I'm still playing around with it to see if it actually improves productivity, but at the very least, it's amazingly cool.

(If you're a Firefox user, you'll need to install the IE Tab add-on to use it. Boo!)

Incidentally, if you're not using iGoogle, you should. It's free, and if you had the Art of the Day module installed, you could see 'The Garden of Earthly Delights' on your homepage today.

Bosch's bizarre painting was a catalyst for my Pentecostal friend Ginger dropping Art History in high school.

Notetaking Apps

WebWorkerDaily.com has a list of 7 web-based notetaking apps.

I've never really gotten into notetaking apps, although I've experimented with Google Notebook and Stikkit. I'm not sure what my hesitation has been--other than I'd just rather keep using Word rather than integrate a new app into my world.

Of course, the tagging features of most of the apps listed are helpful, I'm sure.

Anyone have any thoughts on advantages of these kinds of programs that I'm just missing vs. using Word or Google Docs?

Traineo.com, P90X and a Training Update

Traineo.com is a wonderful, free web app for working out and losing weight. It helps you track your diet, workouts and weight loss. There's also a social component that allows others to 'look over your shoulder' at your progress, encourage or kick you, etc.

Traineo is most definitely worth checking out if you're inclined to start working out (or keep working out with more consistency). It's been a great help to me.

The first part of April, I started working out with 3 other friends using DVDs we found on a late-night infomercial. P90X is the workout and diet program.

Absolutely brutal. Barbaric. Nigh unto violent. I've thrown up twice and nearly thrown up two other times. That's fantastic.

We've turned the 13 week program into 15 weeks due to travel and schedules; so we'll be done Friday, July 13th.

So far the results have been absolutely amazing for all of us.

I've dropped a net of 11.5 pounds (197.5 to 186), lost 3.5-4% body fat (from 24% to 20%) and actually have muscle again. Heck, I even have resurrected my abs, although they're still partially hidden underneath 3 or 4 pounds of fat around the middle that HAS to go.

5 weeks to go and another 6 pounds to lose. Given my inherent narcissism, I'll be sending the 'after' pictures to my friends in hopes of inspiring envy.

Short version: If you're looking for a workout program that will brutalize you for 3+ months and give you tremendous results, P90X is a winner. Highly recommended.