A Couple of Weeks With Britekite

OK, it's been a couple of weeks playing with Brightkite. I thinks its a pretty cool and app and from what I can tell it seems to have a strong devo group working on it. If social-networking is in it infancy, then location-based social-network is still in the zygotic stage. Loopt seems to have made big inroads with the iPhone crowd, that they are a selling point in the Apple's new commericials shows which basket they are putting their eggs. Back to Brightkite: a cool app and lots of potential. I like the idea of being able to see not only who is near me at any given time, but also what is happening around me, events and other stuff. The challenge that I see with BK, like all such apps, is the user base. The user base with all such apps will always have resistence from "Digital Immigrants" but will grow exponentially with "digital natives". Right now, BK simply doesn't have a great user base here is Los Angeles. Perahps it will grow, and I'll continue to work with it for a while, but right now I'm not getting too much out of it. In fact, the only comments I've gotten so far is from by Facebook community asking "Dude why are you always telling us where you are?!?!?" For the mean time, I'll take updates off from Twitter and FB.
Note to BK develpment team: keep it up and get the G1 port completed!

BrightKite

I've been playing with the website for a week or so now. I'll write a full review next week. They've ported it the iPhone with plans to port to Android (G1) soon. It has a lot of potential, but like all social networking sites it all depends on the # of users to be useful.

Brightkite for the iPhone from Brightkite on Vimeo.

Google's New Phone

T-Mobile G1 Android Walkthrough from Gizmodo on Vimeo.I'm thinking about making the switch.

Spam, Bac'n, and email Oh My!

We've all started to get it. Now it has a name. Every day I get a facebook or myspace friend request. Linkedin does it too. These are the notification that you get that you want to read, but not any time soon. They are call Bac'n. When they came once in while, it was not problem, just like a piece of real bacon. Once in a while is not bad, but 4-5 slices a day will soon clog your arteries. The same is true for Bac'n on line. Looks like its time to start another email filter. Here's a related story.

Billy Graham at TED

I watched this today. It was Billy Graham speaking at TED in 1998. All I can say is that I love Billy Graham. Now I must say that I am not found, nor have I ever been, of the giant-event-driven concept of evangelism. It's never been my thing, even though my kids participated in the last Billy Graham Crusade at the Rose Bowl a few years ago.

What I loved about this video was the way in which this elder statesman can enter into a realm that he has very little contact with and talk to a potentially hostile crowd just like he was talking with them over tea sitting on his porch in North Carolina. Simply amazing the way he is able to adapt and speak the gospel in so many places.

I'm In Geek Heaven!

My friend Shawna just sent this to me. There is going to be a nationwide one-day re-release of the 1983 classic movie War Games. I can't begin to tell you how excited this makes me. I was in high school when this came, it was the beginning of the personal computer revolution and Apple still had the lead. I must have seen this movie a dozen times when it first came out. I used to have much of the dialog memorized (I've forgotten most of it by now). I love this moved. I knew a lot of guys who where like the two main geeks in the movie and all of my geek friends lusted after and Imsai computer. But I digress. War Games came out during the height of the Cold War and scared the carp out of a lot of us: it might be that our own wost enemy was us (thanks Pogo). But that is not what I loved about the movie. Sure it is a bit cheesey, but the "geek-kid beats the government system by calling the jaded old-guy to action" was a powerful message to my adolescent mind...and still is today. So, if you have a chance go and see this movie (and try not to laugh too hard at me for loving it!).

Let's play Global Thermonuclear War.
Wouldn't you like a nice game of chess?

The Internet and the Computers

The other day I was working on my computer and my internet connection went down. Periodically I have to reset my DSL modem. I don't know if my provider has a time restriction or something, but this happens, only this time it took a while to reconnect. What I found was that my computer was pretty useless. Sure, I could still defrag my hard drive or play solitare, but without my connection to the internet there wasn't a lot I could do with my computer. This is due, in part, to the fact that I blog, I Twitter, I'm on Facebook, and more, not to mention email, online videos, etc. etc. etc. Being disconnected from the internet was an unsettling experience.

In John chapter 15 Jesus gives part of this farewell address to his disciples. Jesus is the master story teller. He consistently framed the truths of God in a fashion that his listeners would understand. He consistently contextualized the message of God for his hearers. That is what he did with the parables. That is what he did with his scripture quotations. That is what he did when he spoke personally to various people. When we spoke to the first disciples he told them he would make them fishers of men, but he did not say that to everyone. He did not tell Zacheous the tax collector that he was going to make him a collector of men. Instead, Jesus' message to him was that he needed to stay with Zacheous and eat at his house.

Hence, my thinking about computers, the internet, and John 15. In this chapter Jesus tells his disciples (his closest friends) that if they(the branches) are not connected to him (the vine) they cannot bear fruit(do anything eternal). In our context it would be safe to say that if we(computers) are connected to Jesus(the internet) then we cannot doing anything beyond the walls of the room we are in. Jesus goes on to say that if we abide in him, stay connected, then we he will abide in us. Furthermore if we are connected to him we are connected to each other. I've really come to love Twitter and other social networking sites. Through Twitter, blogging, and more I have made friends, learned, and grown in ways that I never could have if I was not connected to the internet. Being connected to the internet has allowed me to be connected to others and to learn from them, build friendships with them, be challenged and encouraged by them. The same is true as I have been connected to Jesus. In being connected with Jesus I am also connected with others who are connected to him and that has made all the difference in my life.
I don't want to push this metaphor too far or it will break down. My point here is that being a follower a Jesus, a Christian, member of a church, or whatever descriptor you would like to use, opens us up to a reality greater than we could ever imagine. Being connected to Jesus means, well, being connected to Jesus. But it means more than that. It also means being connected to each other.

Been Living Under a Rock?

Just in case you have been, there is a great little service called tinyurl.com. It's great if you want to IM or send someone a link that is way too long to type or might get cut up by your email program. Just go to tinyurl.com and paste in the long url and you'll get a tiny one back in return. I've even added a converter on my page here.

Maybe it's lust, maybe it's more

Maybe I'm just jones'n for a new piece of tech, but the more I read about the iPhone the more I really want one. I've been a Treo guy for years. I love the crude nature of the Palm OS, but the truth is that it's no longer working for me. As with everyone else, the longer I've had a mobile phone the more I seem to need it to do. As my life has become more mobile, I need a phone that can do more. The trouble: the price. I've never spent much for a phone. Even my current Treo 680 only cost me $75 after rebates (still waiting for that rebate card Costco!). Plus, I always been a PC guy. Sure I ruled on the early


Apple II and II+, but that was Jr. High School. (Heck I even played with a LISA for a while.) I've alway been a bit of a Mac hater because I think that Stephen Jobs is a arrogant SOB, but he does have the chops to back up what he says. He has earned my respect over the years, so the idea of buy in the Apple lifestyle doesn't make me cringe like it used to. I have to see. I don't have $400 burning a whole in pocket at the moment, but maybe soon...

Twitter

follow petec999 at http://twitter.com

Swimming in Technology

I've been ruminating since the shootings at Virginia Tech about technology. For my parents' generation technology is a tool, especially electronic technology. For my grandparents this was even greater. Talking on the phone with my wife's grandmother (when she was still alive) was always a conversation oddity. She was around when all phone calls were charged by the minute and long distance calls were very expensive. So, she would only talk on the phone in short conversations and then hang up. For me (40 years old) technology is both a tool and a life shaping reality. I recently looked at my wireless phone (Treo 650) and thought that I could keep it for the next 10 years as it does everything that I need it to right now. At the same time I realize that having a wireless phone has helped to shape the way that I live and that changes in that technology will continue to do so. My 9 year-old son is very fond of gadgets, phones especially. Back to the shootings: I read that within 24 hours of the shootings that there were over 17,000 posts on facebook by students from VT. facebook has become the way in which the students at VT and around the country are processing their grief over the experience. The students of today are swimming in technology. It is simply the reality in which they exist.

I recently created a twitter account. If you don't know about twitter, it is a new form of a social networking site where you can post updates to what you are doing at any time during the day. It is a way to keep intimately connected to the activities of others and to share your own. I don't think that twitter will be a life-shaping experience for me like it will for many others: the idea of wanting to know the minute by minutes activities of friends is a bit exhausting, but for those who grow up with the technology at their finger tips it will be a life shaping reality.

How will this affect community? How will this affect relationships? How will this affected the church? Only time will tell, but it is worth knowing about and being connected to.

I listened to a rage by Doug Pagitt today that connected to this. He was going off about how a pastor that he read an article about did not have any publicly listed email address. He conclusion was to point out the irony that during the Easter week that Jesus was accessible, even to his enemies, and that many of us that are 40 over try to keep our distance from others. Perhaps those 20 and younger will understand that aspect of following Jesus in a way that many of us never will.

Unintended Consequences

I wear many hats: assistant pastor, adjunct professor, property manager, husband, father, etc, etc, etc. I have a hard time multi-tasking. I do it well for a while, but then my life gets too busy and complicated and it all seems to fall apart. Eventually I am able to pick up the pieces and take care of my core priorities. One of the tools that I use to keep all of this in motion is my cell phone. I've been an early adopter in many kinds of technology, but the cell phone has been one that I put off for a long time. I am coming up on the end of my first 2-year contract. One thing that has become apparent to me is the way that the convenience of being able to call anyone, from anywhere, at any time has changed the nature of the way that I related with others, especially on the phone. I've gotten into the habit of having short quippy conversations with people on the phone. They tend to be very practical. After one recent call I realized that I had called a friend, pumped him for the information that I needed and then hung up! I felt horrible afterwards and have made a commitment to no longer use my phone in that manner, but rather to connect with others and build them up. Sure, I will always need my cell phone to get information, but if that becomes the primary function of my call, then who will want to answer when they see me on Caller ID?