When the iPhones first came out I have to admit I wasn’t very interested in it. I was curious about it and thought it was pretty cool but really had no use for it.

At that time I was getting emails from family and friends but never really interacted that much on the interwebs.

About 5 years ago my awesome wife bought me the new Samsung Blackjack but I ended up taking it back for a nice flip phone and save the money.

A lot has changed since those days. Now about everything I do is online. It is where I find myself earning a small income, learning everyday, and shareing my life.

So for about three years now I have seen how the iPhone could be a huge help to my productivity but it was still not a necessity. Diapers were always more important when upgrading came around. Until now.

When ATT announced the $49 price for the iPhone 3GS I began making plans to get one when we could upgrade in March. That day finally arrived.

So I now have my iPhone who has been named Lil’ Doug. (Doug is my iPad) I could not be happier about how this will increase my productivity while at home raising my three boys.

Alright, now I could use your help! What essential productivity apps, besides WordPress, would you suggest for a new iPhone user? I have Doug so I am familiar with most of the iPad apps but many of the iPhone apps are really different.

See what I mean?

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Olive Tree’s BibleReader 5.0 is out!  When I turned on my iPad and brought up my Bible from Olive Tree during Church I was surprised.  It just wasn’t the same.  I finally upgraded all of my apps and therefore got the newly released BibleReader 5.0.

There are few Bible apps out there that can compare to the elegance and practicality of Olive Tree’s app.

[I've compared the best Bible apps for the iPad before so if you're looking for some options you might want to check that out.]

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Evernote is a personal bookmarking application. It allows you to save information from webpages, photos, receipts, or anything digital to an onine directory that you organize and manage. The desktop and mobile applications work seamlessly together with the online database. (View the intro video at the end of the article)

Evernote has become one of the most crucial apps I am using on a daily basis. It has proven itself to be a very flexible and stable application that can mold to almost any model.  The thing I like most about it is that it just works.

If you have used Evernote then you probably know that it has some incredible features in it.  I think the best feature is it’s versatility in organizing content. If you haven’t had the chance to check it out yet you really should give it a try.

My intention for this article is not to give a list of features Evernote has but to show you some practical applications to several different job types. Here is a list of four I have had experience in.

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I know that one of the first frustrations I came across with Doug (my iPad) was the inability to mirror the screen to a monitor.  As with any relationship, working through the conflict resolution process only strengthened our bond to each other.

Little did I know that this was possible all along.

I always knew you could connect to a monitor or projector in some of the apps but they were few and far between.  I used Keynote for my lessons in youth group for a while.  This proved to be very helpful for my lessons but only seemed to enhance the frustration between Doug and I.  I just couldn’t understand why he was holding out on me with the rest of his apps.  Friends aren’t suppose to do that!

Well, here’s the fix: (more…)

My in-laws came down yesterday with some late Christmas presents. Among the packages was a little box that held one of the greatest accessaries known to man…THE WIRELESS KEYBOARD! (insert echo)

So it’s everything that I thought and more. I had no idea that it would be as easy as it was to sync it up with the iPad, it literraly is a two clicks on the iPad, five keys on the keyboard and DONE.

The keys are incredibly responsive and are much easier to find than my bulky pc keyboard. This is my first time using an apple keyboard for any length of time so you will have to forgive me on my wonders of simplicity here. (more…)

Since I am the worst when it comes to having a regular time of Bible study I .  I am always looking for new ways to keep me focused.  That is why one of the first apps I looked for was a bible for my iPad.  I found three Bible apps that have been very effective in helping me maintain an effective devotional life due to their features and options.  Each one has been a big help to me in their own unique way.

Here is what I found to be some of the advantages of the big three Bible iPad apps I currently use.

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I wrote and article the other week for ChurchDrop about these wodden iPad covers.  My brother in Portland recently started working part time for a small wood working company called Substrata.   I was skeptical of the practicality of having a hand made wood cover for my iPad but the novelty of it intrigued me.  Check these photos out and then head on over to Churchdrop for more information and leave a comment.

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I’ve talked several people recently that have asked the same question: “How do you get followers on twitter?”  I don’t have a huge following on Twitter but I’ve built a very specific community in it that has been a huge help to me over the last year.  “So how did I build that community?”  thanks for asking. 

Here are three simple things to keep in mind as you begin building your community online.

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I’ve had the opportunity to monitor the analytics for my church website for a little over two years now. Like most churches Burgess Road does not have a big budget for web development so I used Google Analytics as my main monitoring device. There are many advantages of using Google analytics but ultimately it is a program that is designed to give feedback to the business world and not the unique online property of a church or a non profit.  As our church’s online presence has grown and social media interactions have increased so did the need for a robust monitoring device geared towards the unique needs of our church.

(Enter Church Analytics)

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