Technology | Jon Manna

Archives For Technology

Use CameraBag 2 To Smarten Up Your Blogging Workflow

May 14, 2012 — Leave a comment

As a blogger, you’ve got to learn to dabble in a few different areas to maintain a somewhat successful blog. WordPress, code, photo editors, and of course, social media sites.

Since I manage a couple of blogs and sites, I am always looking for “tools” that will help me work smarter, not harder. One that has caught my attention lately is CameraBag 2 – “desktop photo editing redefined.”

[click here is you can't see the video]

Pretty cool eh!

The desktop app is currently on sale at 25% off in the Mac App Store. I think it’s worth the $17. But if you don’t believe me, here are some of my own shots using CameraBag 2 (and they literally took a few seconds to edit):

This one's the original image.

Isn’t my wife HAWT?!!!!

Reminds me of the Japanese flag

So as you can see, it’s really easy to get completely different results. Grab it the app here.

In design, Technology, Tips and Tuts

Easily Enhance Your Visual Worship With iWorship Flexx Videos

May 12, 2012 — Leave a comment

A few weeks ago I was at a conference and during worship there were these incredible videos that accompanied a few of the songs. I thought that the video guys had pulled an all-nighter and created them.

That wasn’t the case (thanks for your honesty Matt ).

I learned that they simply used Flexx videos. Here’s the basic idea: instead of a song having 4 slides for lyrics (verse 1, chorus, verse 2, bridge), you have 4 short videos containing the lyrics that would have been the 4 slides.

In my opinion, the best way for you to understand it is to actually try it. You will see that it can quickly and easily take your visual worship experience to a whole new level. Although I wouldn’t use it for every song, Flexx videos can effectively be used to visually represent what we are singing about and highlight a specific theme in a song.

Have a look at some of these Flexx videos from Worship House Media.

Watch this tutorial to learn a little more about how Flexx videos work.

In Music, Technology, Tips and Tuts

Some New Tools I’m Learning To Use in Worship Ministry

April 2, 2012 — 4 Comments

March was an extremely busy month. Not only did I start at a new church but I renovated my office (painted it and learned how to install hardwood flooring) and had to start commuting with/into Toronto traffic.

Along with all this, I’m learning what it means to be an associate pastor and to also oversee the worship and young adult ministries.

Those who know me know that I love technology and that I like to find ways to use it to make work and life much easier. Lately I’ve been playing with a few new tools that I wanted to share with you.

1. The New iPad

When I turned the big Three-0 back in December, I received a boatload of Apple gift cards for the express purpose of purchasing my first iPad. Being the Apple geek that I am, I asked for gift cards so I could wait for the new iPad. So as you would know, I picked up the New iPad a day after its release.

This past Sunday I prepared to preach from my notes on my iPad. However, being a little cautious, I also printed my notes out. When the time came to put it to the test, out of habit, I placed the printed notes over my iPad and began to preach – never to look at my iPad again until I was done.

Did my plan fail? Yes, but I will get there one day. I am loving the possibilities that my iPad affords and I am just skimming the surface.

Here are some apps that I am loving for worship/ministry purposes: Planning Center Online, SoundCue, GarageBand, Pages and Evernote.

2. Planning Center

Because so many of my friends already have been using Planning Center for so many year, I feel like a loser revealing that I’m only starting to dig into it now, but I am so happy that I started. We are currently using the free plan (good for up to 10 volunteers and 1 plan) to explore a little and I know for a fact (when the budget gets approved) that we will be moving to a paid plan and will make this the brain of our worship/weekend planning.

3. ProPresenter 5

I am not new to ProPresenter but we just upgraded to ProPresenter 5. All I’ll say is that it’s a no-brainer! It integrates incredibly well with Planning Center and I love how I can train someone on it in less than 20 minutes.

4. ScreenFlow

I used ScreenFlow a while ago here and there, and now I am starting to use it to record tutorials/workflows for our volunteers who use Planning Center and ProPresenter. They can watch how I do it and then can use it as a reference as they learn the ropes. As a blogger, you can also use ScreenFlow to record tutorials to post on your blog. So who knows, you may see a couple pop up here. If you want you can order it here from Telestream.

So there you go. Some tools I’ve been learning to use lately.

Also, my friend Chris has a helpful blog series called Worship Leader’s Toolkit where he shares some valuable tools he’s using in worship ministry. Check it out!

What techie-tools are you using? I’d love to check some of them out!

In Blogging, Ministry, Technology, Tips and Tuts

PBS Presents – Steve Jobs: One Last Thing

November 7, 2011 — Leave a comment

On Wednesday, October 5, 2011 Steve Jobs left us with a lot to think about. Death, life, afterlife, work, making a difference. These are some of the conversations that have ensued following his passing.

Steve no doubt has changed the way the world uses technology. I haven’t read his biography yet, although it’s on my 2011 Birthday/Christmas list.

In so many of his keynotes, Steve would always say, “oh ya, there’s one more thing… .” Enjoy this one-hour documentary from PBS – Steve Jobs: One Last Thing:

Watch Steve Jobs: One Last Thing on PBS. See more from PBS Presents.

Have you, will you be reading his biography?

In design, Leadership, Life, Technology

Alesis iO Dock Turns Your iPad Into A Full-Blown Recording System

September 9, 2011 — 4 Comments

If you are a worship leader and own an iPad you’ll quickly remember when Garageband for the iPad was announced. Your mind was racing with all the new ways you could use the iPad at rehearsal, during a service or in the studio but how do you plug into your iPad? With the Alesis iO Dock of course!

In Music, Technology

My First Apple Store Grand Opening and What the Church Can Learn From It

September 5, 2011 — Leave a comment

Lineup just before the doors opened.

Waiting In Line

Having never been to an Apple Store grand opening before, besides the free T-shirts, Pris and I were clueless as to what to expect. The first thing we wondered was “what time should we show up”. Mapleview Centre opens at 9:30am on Saturdays, so we decided to show up at 8:30am. There were roughly 75 people in line and we were still fairly close to the front of the line.

This guy showed up around 5am and was first in line.

To back track a little, all I got was a simple email from Apple on Tuesday at 1pm stating the opening of the store and that they would be giving away T-shirts to the first 1,000 customers.

Back to waiting in line, Pris and I had a conversation that went something like this:

Pris: “I don’t get what’s so exciting about this. Are there any sales or deep discounts?”

Me: “Nope! They give us a free T-shirt and we’re here for the experience of it all.”

Pris: “This is LAME! Will people line up like this outside of Victoria Secret when they’re ready to launch?”

Me: “Only if they’re giving away free bras”

And that’s when this happened….

The Grand Opening

I could’ve simply described how it felt to see the actual grand opening at 9:30am – and they were right on time – but I know that these videos will be worth a million words.

Here’s my turn to walk through the line:

What the Church Can Learn

After an experience that has been unique in every sense, I couldn’t help but tie it to the church and what she can learn from the grand opening of an Apple Store.

Here are my takeaways:

Serve good coffee – they didn’t, but thankfully Starbucks was open #FTW
When you establish something meaningful and practical, people will get on board very quickly, in this case, even the first time it’s announced
People are willing to show up (really) early when they believe in a product, brand, or community (or want a free t-shirt of the brand they believe in)
Employees/volunteers are excited because they believe in what they’re doing.
Employees/volunteers will want to get involved and be there because they are a valuable part of the team.
Although not everyone gets “it”, the atmosphere can quickly influence the outsider and make them a believer
Don’t let the atmosphere/environment dictate your enthusiasm, instead let your enthusiasm dictate the atmosphere/environment
Noise/excitement will attract a crowd – passer-byers will stop and wonder what’s going on
Doing something totally cool and unexpected will jolt the momentum in your favour and make it memorable.
When you make something memorable people will talk about it and spread the word.

Based on the videos and pics, is there anything else you can think of?

How are you making your church experience memorable?

In Ministry, Technology

Giveaway: 1-year Membership to Sharefaith

July 4, 2011 — 4 Comments

I’ve blogged about Sharefaith before, and how our church has found it to be an awesome time-saver! Today I’m pleased to announce that the guys at Sharefaith have been generous and are allowing me to giveaway a 1-year membership.

What You Will Win

Boasting 38,000 Worship Templates used by 18,200 churches, the winner will have complete access to all the goodies that Sharefaith has to offer. Here are some of their offerings:

Videos

Worship Videos
Welcomes Video Loops
Sermon Videos
Holiday Videos
Countdowns
Christian Video Loops

Websites

Preview live demos of their websites.

PowerPoints: Sermon PowerPoints // Themed PowerPoints // Holiday PowerPoints

Bulletins: Church Bulletins for all occasions

Backgrounds: Church Announcements // Holiday Backgrounds // Worship Backgrounds

Flyers: Church Flyers // Ministry Flyers // Flyer Templates

Church Newsletters

So if you’re still not convinced of the value that is in here, I’m guessing the only way you will be is if you win the 1-year membership.

How to Win

We are making this super simple to enter. Leave a comment for one chance to win.

You can earn a second entry by tweeting this out (click tweet button on left) and leaving a second comment with the link to your tweet as proof.

Contest closes on Wednesday, July 6, 12pm. The winner will be selected using Random.org and will be announced here on the blog.

Help spread the word, and best of luck to all who enter!

————–

WINNER: Mike Pudlo

Congrats! I will be contacting you with more info.

In Giveaways, Ministry, Technology

Social Media Stats 2011

June 22, 2011 — Leave a comment

Says a lot about where we are!

Are you shocked about these stats?

In Life, Ministry, Technology

iCufflinks: For the Apple-loving Man in Your Life

June 20, 2011 — Leave a comment

Father’s Day was yesterday. Along with spending time with fathers, it’s also a time where we like to buy them special gifts. The iCufflinks, from Adafruit.com, are a perfect gift for any Apple-loving man.

Classy and elegant, these iCufflinks are designed for those nights when you need to dress up and with some flare! Now if you’re a pastor, I’d think twice before I wear them during a Sunday service. Why, you ask? Well, simply because these cufflinks actually light up. That’s right, just like when you power-up your Mac device, you have a steady “breathing” LED pulse from these iCufflinks – and that might be a little distracting when you are preaching.

They aren’t cheap, coming in at a price of $128 but be warned, they already sold out of their first batch.

In Technology

Display Your Twitter Stream on a Big Screen – A Simple Tutorial

May 25, 2011 — Leave a comment

This past weekend I had the privilege of serving at the CAOG Roots ’11 Youth and Young Adult Convention. I was responsible for the programming of the main sessions as well overseeing all worship and creative aspects.

Part of what I really wanted to do was to get a live twitter stream going whereby students can tweet using a simple hashtag (e.g. #Roots11) and have it show up immediately on a screen. I figured this would give everyone an opportunity to share what God was doing in their lives throughout the course of the weekend.

After searching for a little while, I found a solution that was perfect for our needs. Here’s a simple tutorial of how you can achieve a similar result:

In case you are wondering, I use “command-1″ to toggle the output screen in ProPresenter.

Be sure to check out the results of our live twitter stream.

Let me know if you have any questions.

In Ministry, Technology, Tips and Tuts

Jon Manna