PastorHacks

iPhone- mount as disk...

Air Sharing Although Avatron's Air Sharing software will eventually sell for $7, they're offering it for free for the next couple of weeks. Air Sharing allows you to mount your iPhone or iPod as a wireless drive on any Mac, Windows or Linux computer according to the Application Description writeup on iTunes.

The Value of VoiceMail

One of my favorite iPhone features is Visual Voicemail- that tool that has freed me from having to listen to a string of voicemails, just to hear the message I'm really interested in. 

But even without your very own iPhone, you should realize- as a pastor, voicemail is one of your most powerful tools and the use (or misuse) of it can greatly advance or hinder your productivity. 

 
I know it will potentially send waves of guilt through that shepherd's heart of yours, but it's absolutely necessary when your community reaches a certain size...

Do not answer calls from unrecognized phone numbers

A ringing phone is not an undeniable obligation- and I don't know why we tend to think it is. Maybe because enough f us remember pre-cell days when getting a call was a compliment? Now, with teh ubiquity of the cell, and the lowered inhibition of many to cal us on a whim, it just results in unwanted interruption after interruption... Let it go to voicemail, and check out GrandCentral (you can publish a number that's not your real cell number/listen to people leaving voicemail) or Simulscribe (receive voicemails as e-mail).

This has become a practical necessity in my life. At a certain point, the calls began to be too numerous and  though screening was the last thing I wanted to do, I had to just to stay sane. So... 

I do my best to keep my phone address book updated so I know who's calling and can decide on the fly if I want to answer them now or send to voicemail for processing later... 
When in doubt (if you don't know who's calling), send it to voicemail. 
Deal with it during a set batch-voicemail answering time.

Trust me. If it's a true emergency (injured child, etc), they'll ring you until they get you.  Otherwise, it can wait.

  (Guilty exception: I tend to answer calls from exotic area codes in the off chance it's, you know, Ed McMahon or something, but chances are if you are not in my address book, you'll go to voice mail for processing when I'm ready...)

Jay Kelly on Jott vs ReQall

"I’ve long been a big, big fan of Jott.com. Jott is a tremendous voice to text transcription service that boasts a ton of super rich features and integration with other sites. A few days ago they announced a move to a tiered pricing structure (while retaining a free service). Bravo for them since the service is WELL worth paying for.

My use of Jott is almost exclusively to leave myself messages, and then manage them in Gmail. The email part of the service will now cost $3.95/month. No big deal and more than worth it.

However, at that announcement, I took a quick look around to see if there were any decent alternatives to Jott.

I have a high degree of loyalty to Jott; so I was more than willing to pay a few bucks a month to support such a wonderful company.

But . . .

I found ReQall...."

Read the rest here

The Best Free Apps for Windows Mobile...

From LifeHacker...

Despite the flurry of attention surrounding the iPhone and other new mobile phone platforms, Windows Mobile still has a widespread distribution and capacity for customization. Approaching its ninth birthday, Windows Mobile has a large selection of old and new software that helps enhance the user experience and make getting things done (and sometimes goofing off) all the easier. If you're rockin' a Windows Mobile handheld, check out our favorite programs, add-ons, and tweaks for getting the most out of your Windows Mobile device.

Synchronize and Back Up Your Windows Mobile Device

You can use a Windows Mobile device without syncing it to a computer, but most likely you don't want to. To make sure your home or work computer has the same data your handheld does, ensure you have the newest version Microsoft Active Sync. If you're a Mac user with a Windows Mobile device check out SyncMate.

As people come to depend more and more on their mobile devices to keep them connected to the outside world and manage their contacts, tasks, and calendars it is increasingly important to have a good backup system in place. As with any kind of backup system a multi-pronged approach is best.

Free utility PIM Backup helps you back up appointments, call logs, contacts, messages, speed dials, tasks, and specified folders and files. PIM Backup is very speedy even with a large number of entries to back up. The handiest aspect of PIM Backup is its ability to back up your data to removable media. The backup on the removable flash card in my phone has saved me on many an occasion from a vacation or business trip without my contacts and customizations.

If you have Outlook on your machine, you can easily sync and back up your contacts and so forth to Outlook through Active Sync. If you're not using Outlook as your primary personal information manager there are alternatives such as syncing your Windows Mobile device to Thunderbird.

For a robust remote backup solution, Dashwire is an excellent solution. Once installed on your Windows Mobile device, Dashwire backs up your photos, videos, text messages, ringtones, bookmarks, speed dials, contacts, and call logs. Everything is accessible from the Dashwire web site and you can easily restore it to the phone.

Calendars, Contacts, and Task Lists Oh My!

We've covered how to sync and back up all those appointments and contacts, but what about displaying and working with them on the phone? Window Mobile's implementation of many basic features like displaying tasks leaves a bit to be desired.

If you practice the Getting Things Done personal productivity system, you might have found that Windows Mobile doesn't handle things like contexts and projects well out of the box. Smarter Tasks is a no nonsense task manager that was designed from the ground up to be Windows Mobile GTD task management system.

Read the rest here...

Pinger/Jott Combo

I've blogged before about both Pinger and Jott. Just an update on how I am using/loving both...

Right now Pinger is my go-to when I have about 10 things to get out to people, including a number of groups, and I'm on the run or sitting in traffic. I have Pinger on my "favorites" dial it up, say the name of the person or group I need to get a message to and voila'... off it goes. There are times when I want personal contact and small talk with people. There are times I just need to convey some info without getting into too many conversations and sending an email isn't the best option (like when I'm driving)... Pinger to the rescue!

And the coolness factor just went up about ten-fold. For those of you with Macs, Pinger has Apple Address Book integration for easy and syncing. Very nice- makes keeping Pinger up-to-date a snap.

Jott is my mobile Hipster (I realize if you are new to this blog, that sentence makes no sense whatsoever...).

When I'm out and about and need to capture a thought, a to-do, or even send an email to someone I know doesn't get/like Pinger, I use Jott. Dial the number, say the name (if it's a reminder for myself, I just say "self") and speak... Jott transcribes the message and sends an email, with a link to the original voice file. I don't use Jott for getting things to others quite as much, mainly because the transcription tends to be a little hit-and-miss, but for capturing a thought or to-do for myself when I'm in the car or otherwise unable to write something down in my "ubiquitous capture tool", Jott is very, very cool...

Also- I can Twitter with Jott, add to-do's to my Vitalist inbox, add events to Google Calendar (and since I subscribe to that calendar in iCal, those events almost instantly show up on my iCal). It's quickly becoming an indispensable part of my work flow. 

Jott+ Web2.0= Crazy Delicious!

I spent some time rejiggering my system yesterday- I'll tell you more about that tomorrow (I'm ditching gtd app Things in favor (again) of a web/phone app).

In the process, I dug deeper into Jott. It's been awhile since I explored other uses for the service than just sending myself (or someone else) a reminder email.

1st, Jott's transcription has improved dramatically since I first used the service. Dramatically.

2nd, they've added an amazing number of links to other Web 2.0 type services. So now, through Jott, I can Twitter. I can post to my Typepad, Wordpress or Blogger blog. I can add to do's to a whole host of online GTD apps, like Backpack, Vitalist, Remember the Milk, Sandy, etc...
I can drop something onto my Google calendar (and since I can subscribe to a Google Calendar in iCal, that means I can Jott to my iCal, doesn't it?).

If it's been awhile since you checked out Jott, give it another go. It really is a pretty amazing tool. And let me know other ways you are using Jott..

Getting things done with Jott

I love both Jott and Pinger- Pinger I use mainly to send short voice messages to people. Why not just call?  Well, when I'm in the car and have ten  calls to make, it's incredibly helpful to just be able to leave a message with folks with all the pertinent info and skip the small talk.
I know, I know... weasely. But I'm not the only one who's ever felt relief at getting someone's voicemail, right?  Pinger just guarantees it.

Jott I use mainly for myself. When I'm on the go and get an idea, need a reminder, etc... It's also great for sending emails to other people- just speak it and it's magically transcribed (I suspect elves. I think Jott uses elves) and sent.

Here's a great run down from Lifehack of how to get things done with Jott:

All it takes is a little set-up, first in your Jott account, then on your phone, and you can start Jotting things to any number of online services. Here’s how.

First things first: send yourself a message

The easiest thing to do with Jott is to send yourself a message — useful for reminders and quick collection of random thoughts while on the go.

1. Sign up for a Jott account. You’ll enter your phone’s telephone number, which acts as your username — any call from that phone number goes to your account.
2. Add a speed-dial entry to your phone for Jott. The number is 1 (866) JOTT-123 [1 866-568-8123, for those without standard phone keypads]. I have my Treo set to call Jott whenever I press and hold the “J” key.
3. Call Jott. 
4. The operator will ask who you want to send a message to. Say “Myself”. 
5. Record your message. 
6. Hang up. 
7. A few minutes later, a text message will arrive with your transcribed message. Goggle at the wonder that is today’s technology.

Send yourself a reminder

You can have Jott send you a text message 15 minutes before an event.

1. Call Jott. 
2. When the operator asks who you want to send a message to, say “Reminder”. 
3. Jott says “What time?” and you reply with the time. 
4. Jott says “What day” and you give a date, or say “today” or “tomorrow”. 
5. When you hear the beep, record what you want to be reminded of. 
6. Hang up. 
7. 15 minutes before the event, you’ll get a text message with a transcription of your recorded message. 
8. Get somewhere on time, for a change.

Send text messages (SMS) with your voice

1. Login to your Jott account. 
2. Add contacts under the “Contacts” tab. You can either enter them one at a time, or import them using either Plaxo or by uploading an exported CSV file from Outlook.
3. Call Jott. 
4. When the operator asks who you want to send a message to, say the name of the person you want to send a message to. Speak clearly!
5. The operator repeats the name back to you. Since the operator is a computer, she will say it in a funny way. Don’t laugh! Instead, if it’s correct, say “yes”, or say “no” to try again.
6. Record your message. 
7. Hang up. 
8. A few minutes later, your friend will receive your message, neatly transcribed into standard English. They won’t have any idea what it means, though, since they only read Textish.

Send a text message to a bunch of people at the same time

1. Log into your Jott account. 
2. Click the “Groups” tab. 
3. Click “New Groups” and walk through the wizard. You’ll now have a group whose name functions exactly as any other contact. When you call Jott, instead of saying the name of a person, you’ll say the name of the whole group, e.g. “Family” or “Friends”.
4. Call Jott. 
5. Record your message as usual. 
6. A few minutes later, everyone in the group will receive the message at the same time. They’ll look at each other in awe, wondering how you typed so fast!

Read the rest, including how to use Jott to schedule calendar event, add to-do's to an online taskmanager
, keep track of expenses, etc... here

ExpenseView

Okay- this one is cool and may very well get added to my list of most-used tools.

The big question personally is "Where did all my money go???"

And professionally: How much did I spend on the church card???

It would be nice to know the answers to both questions at a glance, yeah?

Enter ExpenseView.com, a pretty handy little mobile-ready app that helps you keep track of what you are spending. The site allows you to track your expenses and provides you insight on how you’re spending your money. Best of all, it’s FREE. On the site, create categories that you want to track your expenses and income for. Then on the phone, whenever you make a purchase use the gadget to add these transactions towards whatever category you have setup.

Easy- no more scrambling for receipts and trying to remember if that Mochachino you bought was "personal" or "ministry." :)

Check it out

Jott and Google sittin' in a tree...

Bill Reichart (www.BigCreekChurch.com) sent this one in...

"I just got this from JOTT, and this has got me even more jacked up about using JOTT...

'We've been working hard on the official release of the Google Calendar Jott Link, and we're happy to announce it's finally here. Why is this cool? Because you can now create a Google Calendar event in a single step, from anywhere, simply using your voice. Just call Jott, say "Google Calendar", and then the time of the event and what it's about….and you're done. We'll take your voice, convert it to text, and insert it into your calendar for you. "Meet Cathy at 9 am next Thursday" is no longer a to do that needs another step, it's something that's recorded in your Calendar.

Joining in the Jott Link fun are our friends at Mosio, Xpenser, Gumiyo, and Vitalist. They offer amazing services, and now they're even more accessible to you with Jott. For more information on these Jott Links and others, please visit http://www.jott.com/jott-links/.'"

I love Jott. Do you love Jott?

Cell Sin...

Driscoll on Cell Sin:

"This past summer I enjoyed some great vacation time with my wife of fifteen years, Grace, and our five children. We went to the high desert and spent most of our time enjoying the sunshine by playing catch, swimming in pools, inner tubing down rivers, going for walks and the like. For the first time in my life, I actually did not turn on my cell phone and did not take any calls or emails while on vacation. I made it a full three weeks of fasting from digital demons such as my BlackBerry, iPod, and second cell phone. Within a few days I also stopped wearing a watch and stopped really caring about time and instead enjoyed my wife, kids, and vacation. In short, it was wonderful. Unplugging my technology and simply having nothing on my body that required a battery seemed like a new kind of spiritual discipline for our age that refreshed and renewed me more than I could have imagined."
and
"I know in years past I too have been guilty of these same digital sins against God, my family, and my own well-being. Now that I see it as a sin that destroys silence, solitude, fellowship, prayerful listening, and meaningfully and attentive friendship, I am deeply convicted that there is a new spiritual discipline of fasting from technology to be mastered. In this way, we can enjoy the life and people that God puts in front of us rather than ignoring them while we peck away with our thumbs and chat about nothing, which in the end is rarely as important as the people we are ignoring all around us."

Read the rest here