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iMessage is Not a BlackBerry Killer

Jun 10th, 2011
by Dan.
1 comment

CNet columnist Marguerite Reardon has declared, “The new iMessage feature in iOS 5 from Apple will certainly be a BlackBerry killer.” I would certainly temper that expectation.

iMessage, from what I’ve been able to see from the YouTube videos, does the same thing as other apps already in the marketplace: WhatsApp, LiveProfile, and PingChat. Those apps also have cross-platform clients, something iMessage won’t be. The iPhone users who were already looking for a way to get around SMS charges probably already have one of these apps.

BlackBerry’s own messaging system, BlackBerry Messenger, also benefits from encryption, whether going through RIM’s BlackBerry Internet Service servers or a company’s BlackBerry Enterprise Server environment.

That’s not to say that Apple can’t make a better iMessage app than what’s already out there.  Our experience with the cross-platform applications is mixed. All three systems have dropped messages, and only PingChat has told me that a message hasn’t made it and let me retry.

If RIM’s BBM were cross-platform, the game would be over. :)

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So, What’s Next?

May 7th, 2011
by Dan.
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The feedback I’ve been getting from the Time Out hymn video has been overwhelmingly positive.  I cannot thank enough those who have shared the video with their friends and have given their “thumbs up” on the YouTube video itself.

One of the nicest things I have heard has been, “So, what hymn are you doing next?”

Next?

Seriously?

I suppose there could be a next.  I enjoyed planning, shooting, and editing the video. Working with Anna, Mark, Pr. Kudart, and the Altar Guild made it quite enjoyable.

In order for there to be a next, though, I’d like some help.

(more…)

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Time Out Hymn Video Project Released

Apr 28th, 2011
by Dan.
1 comment

It has been a month in the planning and making, but Time Out’s first Hymn Video has been released, coinciding with Episode 115 of the podcast. We took LSB 460, “Christians, to the Paschal Victim,” and shot a music video for it:

http://lutherantimeout.org/460video

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Update on the Hymn Video Project

Apr 14th, 2011
by Dan.
2 comments

The video project is now in its third draft.  I wasn’t feeling very good after the second draft, but the third draft has my hopes up. Things are coming together and looking good.

There is shooting to do on three more dates: one shot on Good Friday, a couple of shots on Holy Saturday, and some shots of Zion’s Easter Divine Service. I can’t move up the shooting schedule since I’m not a member of the Altar Guild. :)

I have been using the trial version of CyberLink’s PowerDirector 9. Overall I am quite impressed with what it can do. The learning curve is a little steep; it took me forever to figure out how to zoom pictures in and out and how to make still images move across the screen. I still have yet to figure out how to roll credits.

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A Hymn Video Project for Time Out

Mar 27th, 2011
by Dan.
1 comment

I got a note in the talkback mailbox of Time Out:

Hi Dan.

I gave LTO a plug once on Christian Forums.  Your programs keep getting better and better.
Have you ever considered doing LTO as a video blog, similar (in substance, not necessarily in style) to Jonathan Fisk’s YouTube offerings?

Nathan and I cringed. The work, the time involved, the equipment, the software, the editing…none of which are free but have costs of different sorts.

Still, being an engineer I suppose, I kept mulling it over.  How could we make this work, and how do we do it in the spirit of Time Out, letting the hymn do the telling?

And probably just as important, why? Which, I have to hand it to my well-grounded better half, is a very good question.

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Confession App On the Right Track

Feb 12th, 2011
by Dan.
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Title screen for Confession - A Roman Catholic AppRecently the Roman Catholic Bishop of Fort Wayne and South Bend, IN, put his blessing on an iOS app that helps people recognize sins that have been committed, so that they can go to confession and confess them.

Complaints have arisen. Some non-catholics have complained that the 10 Commandments have been wrongly numbered. The Guardian reports complaints from gay rights groups. The Vatican itself warns that it doesn’t replace the confessional.

While not as inherently customizable as an iPod app, aids to confessing sins are nothing new, even in the Lutheran tradition. A beichtspiegel, or “confessional mirror,” is available in Emmanuel Press’s The Brotherhood Prayer Book, the same one Time Out got its chant tones for the O Antiphons.

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