This week on my podcast, KidminTalk, I featured two beautiful iPad Apps for kids and I’m giving some away!

I’m delighted to tell you about The Sounds of the Night and The Lonely Stable

Both are stunning story book apps for young children written by Jessica Kirkland from ChristianApps4kids.com

The first app is called The Sounds of the Night and it is a story about a boy going to bed and hearing noises outside that make him a little scared, but learning what they are. Each is explained as a creature God created with touch screen interactive options that are fun to discover as well as pop-out words for early readers.

The story can be read to you, or you can read it to your child. There is even an option for the book to advance by itself if you are just cuddling and want it easy.

And while Christmas may be in December, The Lonely Stable is a story for all year around because it is a story of understanding that we all have a special purpose for why God made us.

It also has fun interactive touch elements, shapes, sounds, words and more for young kids to enjoy and the same reading (or be read to you) options.

As you can see, these books are gorgeously illustrated. But I can’t show you on the blog, the fun interactions, you’ll have to experience that on your iPad!

While I think every reader of mine should support this effort of Jessica’s by buying these for their kids so she can quickly come out with the next book – she gave me some iTunes Store codes to give several away for FREE – just listen to my podcast to find out how you can get one of these two books for free!

What is Scottevest? It comes from the combination of his name “Scott” + “E” (electroncis) + “Vest” his original product:

CLick to View Large Image

But his company has grown to include a WIDE variety of products ranging from winter coats, trench coats (the ‘carry-on coat’) to dress shirts and sport coats to boxers and women’s apparel.

As a geek tech lover, and one who now takes an iPad with me everywhere I go – Scottevest clothes are THE SOLUTION for men who don’t want to carry a “purse” or so-called “man bag” and don’t want to haul a backpack or briefcase everywhere.

PLUS, for professionals like me who travel a lot and are frustrated with the hassle  at airport security, a Scottevest vest or jacket gives you an extra carry-on. Simply put everything in your Scottevest and you breeze right through, hassle free!

I routinely pack my iPad, iPhone, Apple headset (which I have a set wired into every Scottevest), glasses, GPS for the rental car, digital camera, spare memory cards, tripod, flipcam, magic tricks, balloons to calm crying kids on the plane, keys, mini iPad shuffle (the awesome one Apple discontinued), pens, and various car adapters, chargers, spare battery for laptop, etc. and I don’t look bulky at all.

Plus, I have several Scottevest pants and shirts and even a hat which allows me to have my Verizon Broadband card handy when I have no pockets!

Karl in SeV 2012 Catalog Fan Page in Yosemite

I just found out that my fan pic was picked to appear in the 2012 SeV Catalog that I submitted from hiking in Yosemite National Park last May. (That is Vernal Falls in the background.)

I am thankful for Scottevest because Scott Jordan took the risk to create products no one else would… they are high quality, excellent, creative, practical and downright awesome. And available nowhere else.

And if you want to get a deal, I made this page for you to check out everyday:

http://tinyurl.com/scottevestdailysale

EVERY DAY they put something on sale, and it turns out, the vest above is on sale today, why not snag one up!?

(No, I’m not in kahoots with Scott Jordan, he doesn’t even know I’m doing this! I get nothing for doing this! I’m just a nice guy.)

DAY #16: Da Cloud

I might lose some people on this one, but I am incredibly thankful for cloud technology, and while I’m enjoying watching a lot of my friends starting to use it, I’ve been using it, and dependent on it, for years.

Michael Chanley and I did a workshop together on Cloud Technology: What is It? at CPC last year and you can listen, watch and get the handout at the link above.

In a nutshell, what this means is that all my files are no longer stored on my computer. Because the days of having only one computer (or device) have been long gone for me for several years, I needed to be able to access any file at any time from any device, update it and have that updated file be on the other devices, AND (this is key) NOT be online when I needed it.

While MobileMe got a lot of flake (even from Steve Jobs) I used MobileMe to the max even puzzling Apple Genuies at the Apple Store with what I got it to do, and have been very frustrated that the iDisc is being discontinues as of June 1, 2011. Nevertheless, I have swithched to DropBox.com – and turns out I like it better, as it has an add on feature that backs up EVERY file you EVER delete, unlimited and forever

This is different that web-based file sharing, because with those, like Box.net, you have to be online, and they are slow. (Which is what iDisc is if you don’t turn on the Local Copy feature which a lot of people never discovered.) Dropbox keeps a local copy of the files and syncs them with the others local copies on the other devices, updating each copy as changes are made.

To join, use this link please and I’ll get some extra space free for the referral: http://tinyurl.com/dropbox-tryit

Because I use a MacBook Pro as my main machine, but an iMac for all my media and video production, an old Mac Mini for all my photo storage, a MacBook Air for travel and working remotely and an iPad for carrying with me everywhere in my Scottevest and of course an iPhone – it is essential to have up to date files at all times available on any machine, that are also available on ANY OTHER MACHINE simply by logging on to dropbox.com. Plus, you can share files or folders with others colaboratively.

In addition to files, “the cloud” enables you to have all your contacts, calendars, and a host of other information also synced between all your events.

It used to be that if my laptop was stolen my company and data would be at great risk, and I would lost incredible amounts of work. Now, while I certainly would NOT want that to happen, I would lose nothing. I would immediately pull out my iPhone or iPad, go to dropbox.com and unsync that laptop and all that data would be unsynced and unavailable to the thief and all my data secure and backed up and available on all my other devices.

I haven’t even gotten into what Apple’s new iCloud service will be doing, I haven’t even made that transition yet! (Looking forward to photo stream!)

It is truly an amazing era we live in, and since I run an electronic company/ministry with employees and contractors and volunteers all over the country (and actually all over the world) this cloud technology has really made my life simpler and work flow smarter.

Lastly, if you haven’t made the transition from POP e-mail to IMAP – you need to find out what that means and make the switch. IMAP is like “cloud” it means all your email is stored in the “cloud” (on the server) and synced between all devices/computers, and again safe from anything happening to one computer/devices. Instead of “POP”ing into your computer, your computer just reads what is on the server. If you “read” on one, it is marked read on all devices. But it isn’t “webbased” it is still pulled down so you can work offline. Web-based limits you to when you have Internet, I still like the flexibility of being able to work when I have no Internet, like on an airplane.

Da Cloud is why I am on Cloud 9 today!

It’s really just something I need to DO MYSELF – but I thought maybe others might want to join me, and I’d enjoy reading/seeing what others are thankful for. So you are welcome to use the Word doc, or just post in the forum what YOU are thankful for! So let me begin today, with my first post. These are NOT going to be in priority order, otherwise I’d have to go God, Family, etc. and then later on, people might judge me for putting one thing “above” or “before” another – so right out of the gate let me say, these posts will be in RANDOM ORDER of things I am THANKFUL FOR!

DAY 2 – God’s Word

DAY 3 – My Mom

DAY 4 – Photography

DAY 5 – Pandora

DAY 6 – George Lucas

DAY 7 – Breckenridge

DAY 8 – Barq’s

DAY 9 – Mercy & Grace

DAY 10 – Steves

DAY 11 – Freedom

DAY 12 – Luke

DAY 13 – Sara

DAY 14 – My Bookkeeper

DAY 15 – Science

DAY 16 – Da Cloud

DAY 17 – Awana & Sunday School

DAY 18 – My Dad

DAY 19 – True Friends

DAY 20 – Scottevest

DAY 21 – My Customers

DAY 22 – Tennis Balls

DAY 23 – Flight

DAY 24 – Jesus

I left the family watching the show, exited the entrance, rode the shuttle back to the parking lot and searched the car.

No iPhone.

It was lost.

What was I to do now?

Then I remember… “Find My iPhone” is a feature of Apple iPhones and my iPad was in the car. I fired up my Verizon Broadband card on my belt and turned on my iPad and got online. I went to www.me.com and was informed there was now a “Find My iPhone” iPad App so I downloaded it. (Me.com will no longer allow you to use the website to find your iPhone with an iPad, it forced the App use.)

It took only a minute to download the app and log into the app and within seconds my iPhone was located and YES!, it was on the military base somewhere!

Just like Google Maps, I could zoom in to right where it was:

But… then it happened…

Every time I refreshed, it MOVED!

Someone had my iPhone, and they were on the move!

Was it stolen?

Were they trying to find the owner?

Were they leaving the base?

Was it on someone’s person, or in a car?

I immediately used “Find My iPhone” to lock my phone so they could not access it without a password:

And then, I sent them a message:

So they would have a way to reach me if they looked at the phone. I realized my mistake in not borrowing a phone so that IF they DID call my wife, she would have a way to reach me and tell me! (oops!) So I wouldn’t know until I got back to the family, so now I just needed to give up my search, and head back.

Their message would look like this: (recreated later, as was the message above)

I road the shuttle back to the show entrance, expecting to wait for “the call.” I kept refreshing the map and noticed that my iPhone was moving in a pattern. That was when it hit me… perhaps it wasn’t a person who had my phone, but a vehicle… AH HA! A shuttle! Maybe I had dropped it on the shuttle on my way in while carrying chairs and all our stuff and managing a five year old!

I stopped a soldier and asked him to help me interpret the map, since I didn’t know the names to the roads and I showed him the different places the iPhone had been. (He was very impressed with my GPS technology and tracking my phone!) We switched to Satellite View and Hybrid View and he helped me figure out where the shuttle stop was. I enjoyed him pointing out all the buildings around the base! Then, I simply kept refreshing “Find My iPhone” watching my iPhone go around the circuit one more time and then stop at the point where it was dropping off people for the show. When I went in to search the shuttle – I asked the driver, (ironically the same shuttle I had just ridden back on!) if anyone had found an iPhone, and she picks it up off the dashboard and says, “I hoped someone would come back for it.” I had been that close but hadn’t yet figured out that the moving iPhone meant it was on a shuttle joyride.

Find My iPhone saved the day!

While it wasn’t very fun losing my phone and walking around the parking lot and missing almost an hour of the show, it was kinda cool tracking my moving iPhone on my iPad via GPS with my broadband card and solving the mystery with modern technology.

I’d like to thank both Steve Jobs and Sergeant Nelson for their help in assisting me recover my iPhone on Saturday. I was able to get back to my family and enjoy the rest of the day without the stress of having lost a valuable tool that I use in many aspects of life and work and ministry.

Pretty Cool, huh?

So, what do you think? Are you going to get in line?

I demonstrated remote accessing my Macs back home as well as all my backup drives from my iPhone and iPad among other cloud perks and tried to answer questions on a wide variety of technology issues. I went over why Cloud Technology is so important – why it enables you to have access to all your data from anywhere from any device and never lose your data again, as well as the difference between POP and IMAP e-mail so your e-mail is all synced across all your devices. Plus we did webcasting with live chatting right from my iPhone – and showed how to do that for free and embed it on your website with live chat, also for free. (See it on my blog and Kidologytogo.org as well.)

I’ve had a ton of requests for the workshop, so here’s what I’m gonna do.

1) Here is the PDF handout: DOWNLOAD HERE (668kb)

2) Here’s an MP3 of the workshop: DOWNLOAD HERE (65.7mb)

3) Here’s a video of the workshop that was running for a little while when I was live webcasting. (Not the entire time) WATCH HERE then continued HERE

If you have questions, post them here in Comments, and I’ll answer the best I can!

In his contribution to Greg’s Baird’s series on The Future of Children’s Ministry, Todd McKeever writes about how he has allowed texting during church to give tweens a safe way to ask tough questions. Since the average American teen now texts over 3000 times a day – it’s might be better to join ‘em than to fight ‘em!

Join the discussion on Kidology and share how YOU have tapped into technology to connect with kids or engage kids in your ministry.

BUT FIRST – watch this incredible video, and consider if you need to DISCONNECT from our cell phone a little more.

I know this convicted me:

My first evaluation was that this was a consumption device rather than a creative device, more for those who don’t already own a Mac and/or iPhone, and since I already have both, I saw no need for one. I liked the look and feel of it, but thought I had no need for one personally. I was in the “its just a giant iPod Touch” camp.

But I slowly caved for a number of reasons. First, I decided to get my wife one for her birthday (which was today) because I had given her aging laptop to a new employee last fall and it died and she needed something for around the house and travel for doing e-mail/calendar/facebook and basic computer tasks and the iPad seemed perfect: easier, faster, lighter and ideal for the mother of a four year old, especially around the house. Then came the realization that if she had one, I’d be playing with it all the time and she would be annoyed at me constantly for taking her iPad and that could lead to unhealthy marital tension, something worth avoiding at any cost. But the final straw came in the last two weeks as I came to the realization of just how much REAL WORK I actually do ON MY IPHONE! Seriously, I screen, respond and manage most of my e-mail on my iPhone, as well as basecamp (Kidology’s online project management solution), as well as many other things on my iPhone – all on a very small screen. It dawned on me that doing all this on a larger screen would be a dream.

Karl with his new iPad

Having only owned it for a few days, I could already describe just how incredible it is – but it would be all the same stuff you read everywhere else. Instead, let me share with you a unique story that happened today at lunch that shows the power of an iPad. We were out for Easter lunch at Texas Roadhouse. Since it was Sara’s birthday I told her she was not allowed to cook as she usually does on Easter Sunday, but was to pick a favorite restaurant to eat out. We were out enjoying our meal when a family walked up that I have not seen since childhood! He now has a wife and kids of his own, I had not seen Eliot since we were boys! As we were catching up on decades of having not seen each other, he asked what I do. How do I explain Kidology.org in a nutshell? Toyboxtales.com (to his kids?) and the various websites? DiscipleTown which I write and Children’s Ministry Magazine which I contribute to? etc. quickly and succinctly? I pulled out my iPad, turned on my Verizon MiFi wireless access card for Internet (explained below*) and was able to SHOW HIM Kidology.org and other websites with ease instantly.

In a point: I WOULD NOT DO THAT WITH A LAPTOP. Not even my awesome MacBook Air could have done that so quickly. I would have had to get it out, plug in my broadband card, open a browser, and it would have been clumsy and awkward compared to how it was with the iPad. Especially when you click on videos and they can instantly go full screen, and rotate the iPad horizonal and they rotate and go full screen to show full screen horizontally with beautiful sound. In a crowded restaurant, where I had only a few minutes, I was able to introduce an old friend to the my ministry on a super thin beautiful crystal clear and sharp bright screen they could pass around. That is powerful!

All the rest – the countless apps, the productivity on the go, the amount of potential I can carry with me is mind boggling. When I went to church, I had my Bible and notepad with me, inside the iPad. The Bible I bought in the iBooks store is incredible, the pages turn like a real book! No more paper notebooks! No more pen or paper! With my iPhone and iPad, its all I need to take with me around town or to meetings. On trips, I’ll still take my MacBook Air, as the iPad is NOT a laptop – but it can do a LOT.

WHICH BRINGS UP THE COMPLAINTS…

Everyone is talking about all the stuff it can’t do. I have two responses. First of all, it is fine to wait. Of course, later models may do more. I’m sure I’ll be upgrading later, and selling mine, or giving to an employee as a “hand me down.” But I don’t recommend waiting. Why? Every month you wait, is a month you didn’t get to use one. You might pay more getting the first model, but you are getting to use one more, and that’s worth paying a little more. Personally, I don’t think the price is going to drop significantly more. Don’t count on it. The features will increase, so I predict the price will stay steady.

The other response I have, is that this ISN’T A LAPTOP. All the so-called “missing” things would make it not what it is. If you want all that other stuff – buy a Mac. That’s why I have a MacBook Air. THAT is your thin dream machine that has everything – and I LOVE mine! Plus, if an iPad had all these “missing” things everyone is whining about, it would cost a lot more. I think it has everything it needs.

NO CAMERA? The issue with the camera is what side to put it on? If they put it on the back to take pictures of things, like many would want, using the screen for preview, it would be just like an iPhone. That’s what an iPhone is for. However, others would argue, they should have the camera facing the user, like on a Mac, for video conferencing or photo booth – which would make taking pictures of other things, other than the user, very difficult to preview the subject, so you would have people upset and frustrated. So Apple would have to put in two cameras, or install a rotating camera, which would drive up both the cost, and the risk of damage and repairs and apple care cost. Or they’d have to offer a “Camera Model” which opens another whole can of worms. Bottom line: you don’t need a camera – that’s what an iPhone is for. I PREDICT: an external camera is coming that plugs into the port, you turn your iPad upside down, screen rotates, and wa-la! A camera. Probably not even made by Apple.

That is the beauty and power of the iPad, Apple doesn’t have to do everything – they designed something others can improve and add on to.

MULTI-TASKING MYTH: “It doesn’t multi-task!!!” This complaint I find kind of silly when you understand the purpose of this device and after having used it. Let me repeat, this isn’t a laptop – you don’t need to be running multiple applications at the same time, and besides, as a human being, you CAN’T TRULY MULTI-TASK ANYWAY! You can only DO one thing at a time, and you can only LOOK at one thing at a time, and on the iPad, the experience feels like multi-tasking since when you open something, for most applications they open where you left them last. So what’s the big deal? Why do you need something actually running in the background using up valuable resources? You aren’t rending video on this thing! Seriously! You are reading e-mail, managing documents, looking at pictures, reading websites, etc.

AND (good news) if this whole “IT DOESN’T MULTI-TASK!!!” cry is simply because you are worried you can’t open the iPod section, start music and close it and do something else, relax, YOU CAN. Just as you can on an iPhone. “No multi-tasking” has never meant that the native applications couldn’t run in the background – it means you can’t run secondary applications simultaneously, which for me is a “DUH” you have to launch them. Apple’s apps DO run at the same time in the background constantly. (depending on your settings, watch your battery life based on those settings!)

MISSING PORTS: Folks, haven’t you learned by now? Ports come and go, but one thing remains – third party products. Nuf said.

BOTTOM LINE: All the nay sayers were wrong about the iPhone and continue to be wrong about the iPhone. And they are all wrong about the iPad too.

Setting up my iPad

WHY I BUY MAC: I didn’t buy an iPad because I’m a Mac Fan. For the record, I didn’t buy a Mac because I’m an Apple Fan. People forget I was once a Mac user who converted back to PC when Macs ceased to be the best solution for my ministry. (When Windows 95 came out, it was better than my OS Classic Mac) I converted back to Mac again when OS X came out. I am a Children’s Ministry Fan and Productivity Fan and Efficiency Fan and a Don’t Waste My Time With Viruses and Stupid Errors and Pop Ups and Spyware and Stuff That Just Plain Doesn’t Work Fan.

The reality is, Apple is the company that knows what they are doing and the iPad is just the lastest in a long line proving it. This thing is a beautiful piece of engineering genius. It is simply a dream to work on.

DO YOU NEED ONE?

That is a question only you can answer. For me, I run an IT company with employees and volunteers all over the country. Our main form of communication is e-mail. I manage multiple web-based databases and I am responsible for over a dozen websites plus social networking is a major part of my daily networking both personally and professionally. I do over half of this Mobily on my iPhone, and now can do it on my iPad instead of my cell phone. The iPad makes it much easier on the eyes as well as makes access quicker than a laptop. You will need to assess how much you access e-mail, the web, social networking, and the other apps available on the iPad and if instant access would be helpful to you.

*DO YOU NEED THE iPAD 3G? (AT&T vs. VERIZON)

I do NOT recommend you get the iPad 3G when it comes out. BAD IDEA!!! As someone who loves his iPhone let me warn you. AT&T service is TERRIBLE. It is the only thing I HATE about my iPhone. I usually hesitate to use the word hate, but not in this case. I don’t know what AT&T is doing with the millions of dollars they are making off iPhone users, but they aren’t spending it on cell towers. Coverage is terrible. I get dropped calls everywhere, even in highly populated places like airports and shopping malls! I will say, it is still worth getting an iPhone, unfortunately, because the iPhone IS that much more superior to ANY other phone, despite what other may say. The droid and other wannabees do NOT come close despite their claims. But I get dropped calls every single day no matter where I go.

So why oh why would I want to PAY to have an iPad by online with AT&T? NO WAY!

But there is another reason not to! It is foolishness to pay for ONE IPAD to be online with AT&T when with Verizon (who is has a GREAT NETWORK) you can have ANY FIVE DEVICES online regardless of whether they are iPads, or laptops or what!

That is what I have! I have a pocket MiFi card that allows my MacBook Air, iPad, and up to THREE MORE devices to ALL be online AT THE SAME TIME to be online! In fact, I can be walking in the mall, with my MiFi card in my pocket, with my iPad WiFi online, and I’m a Walking Walking Internet Hub! If I’m out, my wife’s iPad can be online too! If you are near me, I can give you the password and your iPad or laptop can be online too!

So, why would you pay to have ONLY your iPad be online with terrible AT&T, when instead you can have ANY 5 devices (or your choosing) be online with reliable Verizon at any time anywhere? It’s awesome!!

Even Luke loves the iPad!

I’m still getting to know my iPad and exploring all its potential – but so far – I’m impressed!

COOL TIP: Go into settings and under Accessibility go to Triple-click Home. Choose White on Black. Then, any time you click the home button three times quickly, it will turn the screen into negative resolution. (Repeat to go back to normal) It is designed for night reading, but it just looks cool. (Its also a good prank to play on someone who has an iPad if you can get your hands on their iPad and do this to them! FYI: Control-Option-Command-8 will do the same thing on your Mac! Go ahead, try it!) Have fun!

HOW HAS MY LIFE ONLINE CHANGED?

#1 My iPhone has changed online life for me! Dramatically. I do Facebook and Twitter almost exclusively from my iPhone. Seriously, when I’m at my computer, I have WORK to do! I can even do WordPress blogging from my iPhone, but haven’t found the practical need to do som, maybe I should try that more – for personal outings. I really want to blog more – I need to figure out how to do this, whichout it becoming a duty or obligation.

First, some thoughts on FACEBOOK and TWITTER and WHY I BROKE THE LINK BETWEEN THE TWO. I probably just lost half my audience! But the rest, have been asking.

FACEBOOK

Since I started on Facebook, I had my “Tweets” (Twitter status updates) automatically update my Facebook status. Why? Because I was first and foremost a Twitter user and Facebook was an afterthought – it was something for college kids, right? But I had an account because underneath this aging  body, I’m still that young Moody student, right? Times are changing, Facebook is now made up of MORE OVER 35 PEOPLE than college kids (much to their frustration!) and becoming the #1 networking site in the world. (could ultimately be a blog killer) I ended up slowing down my Twitter use because I didn’t want to be overwhelming my Facebook status with every little Twitter update – which tend to me more trivial and more links; news feeds, marketing, and twitter conversation. Now, thanks to Selective Twitter Status (a Facebook Ap) by ending my Tweets in #fb I can selectively decide which Tweets end up as my Facebook status and only change my FB status 1-3 times a day, where as I may tweet 10-20 times a day.

I AVOID FACEBOOK on the computer because I rather hate it. Please don’t invite me to groups and causes I ignore them all, and please don’t take it personally. If you invite me to be a Fan of starving children on the moon and I ignore it, it isn’t because I don’t care about starving children on the moon, it is that being a fan of them won’t feed them, it will give me more email and things to click every day. They get fed by people feeding them, and if you are feeding them, GOD BLESS YOU, I too am devoting to giving to and supporting charities and have founded one myself.

Facebook is for networking with people – and I use it exclusively for that – and I LOVE THE iPHONE APP because that is ALL IT DOES. No groups, no causes, no games, no snowballs, no pokes, none of the stupid Facebook stuff, just Friends, Status, and Messages. Ahhhh, the good stuff. I love my friends and family, all of them! (Even the ones I have no idea who they are!)

Be my friend at: www.facebook.com/karl.bastian

TWITTER

Now that I have freed my Twitter from the question, “Do I really want this on my Facebook page too?” I feel liberated again! I can tweet anything at any time, and the fun has returned! When I see something that makes me laugh, snap a pic, and tweet it. When I’m irritated, rant to the world. If a company gives bad services, finally there is  consequence, with instant feedback to the world, interaction with friends and family, checking in on others, twitter is just fun and fills idle moments. Yes, there are times to just turn off the iPhone and enjoy your family or a quiet moment, and I do, no worries. But when you are fueling the car, or stuck by the train, the only option you had in the past was the radio. Twitter puts my in charge of my loose time. (I don’t like calling it ‘free’ time, because often it isn’t ‘free’ it’s costly, but it I’m not able to spend it the way I’d prefer to!) Follow me at www.twitter.com/kidologist

KIDOLOGY.org

And in case you are the last to finally hear about it, we finally got the ALL NEW Kidology.org launched, and besides the personal excitement over it, I am loving the new dynamically loaded home page so I am CONSTANTLY checking the home page for what is the latest discussions in the forum and jumping to chime in. My personal interaction in the forum has probably soared – which is probably a good thing since I’m the creator of the website!

I also have a new “From the Kidologist” spot on the home page (also posts and archives here on my blog) that I’ve enjoyed updating) that gives me an opportunity to talk directly to the visitors to Kidology.org, granted, IF they scroll down on the home page. I put my spot “below the fold” intentionally as I’m not the most important thing, but I am glad to have a place on the home page so that it’s a little more prominent.

You know, we DO have a free membership now! Join at: www.kidology.org/join

Shopping?

I leave shopping online to my wife! She is the expert there. But I do find Froogle.com to be a huge time saver! When I do need to find something fast and still want to save!

That me online!

So that’s how I spend my time online now – (not counting e-mail) – networking on Facebook and Twitter and contributing to Kidology.org. How do you spend your time online?

The full story is here if you missed all the updates on Twitter and Facebook!

Yes, I was twittering (which updated facebook) during the whole thing, and live blogged to give more detail than you can in status updates. It was really quite amazing that due to today’s technology I literally had more people praying for me probably than your average church prayer line – for those scratching their heads that I would twitter while having a heart attack, let me first say,

A) I didn’t technically have a heart attack (explained in blog post)

B) I was never in great pain, just enough pain in my chest to know something was wrong and decided the smart thing was to go straight to ER and

C) I really truly believe in the power of prayer and wanted to get the word out so that I’d have prayer for myself and family during the critical hours when it mattered most. I never really felt dread or fear, though I had a sober understanding that this was indeed serious – and yet really felt peace that I was in God’s hands and that He was walking me through the steps to address this.

Did you know if you hold your breath the
white line on the monitor will go flat?

If I were to add a D) it is that a big part of me is wired to want to encourage others and remind others that God is in control – thats easy to say when everything is going hunky dorey – (good) – but I wanted to show that even when our life is in danger (literally) there is always reason to laugh, enjoy life and savor the moments – even if our time to say so could be soon over. My twitter updates were intended to show that there can be moments of joy and reasons to smile even in the midst of hard times. You can’t say it if you don’t live it!

I asked not to be “put under” during the procedure because this is my LIFE and as long as I am alive – i want to LIVE every moment of it, even those moments that should be scary. I gotta tell you, its very sobering when they have you remove everything you own and you watch them put it all in plastic bags. (I hid my iPhone under my leg, I wanted to take it in with me – my link to all my friends and family!)

It was amazing to watch on a screen what the surgeon was doing inside my heart! The funny thing was later, even though I was never “out” or asleep, I couldn’t remember the journey from the surgery room to ICU. I finally asked my nurse if I had indeed been out because there were some details of the day I couldn’t remember and she said that they did give me a drug that caused short term memory loss! Wow! I asked if I can get that at Walgreens, that could come in handy in life! In fact, that might come in handy in pastoral counseling too! “Just take this, and soon you’ll forget all about it.” I’ll have to look into that. (My wife probably thinks I already take that it on a daily basis!)

One of the cool things was getting to meet a fellow Twittering in person, @scotthodge who I was hoping to meet today anyway, since I was doing the children’s services at this church at 3,5 and 7pm after the massive egg hunt this morning. Well, I did get to meet him, but not as I planned; he visited me in the hospital! It meant a lot since I was too far away for most friends/family to come visit, and I know he’s in the midst of Easter weekend! Even a pastor enjoys a pastoral visit! (Our pastor from our previous church did call too and offer to come, but we told him it was too far from Easter-eve, but that was very nice too!) Of course, my wife DID come while my awesome sister took Luke for the entire day!

I am now staying over night but it looks like I’ll get to go home tomorrow. Please pray for my sweet wife, I know this is harder on her than me!

I was able to get my friend, Jonny Magic, to take the shows I had the rest of today as he was in town to perform with me tomorrow, but pray for the church I was supposed to be at tomorrow – they’ve got a lot of entertainers, so they should be fine, but I was doing their preschool program so they’ve got to make adjustments. I have a pretty good excuse, but I still feel bad!

Going to sleep now – just wanted to let some friends and prayer partners know the scoop.

Brian Dollar at a Dollar Store!

Everything he creates is totally awesome – from cool game music to countdowns and transitions to PowerPoint games to Kids Church curriculum. This picture made my day, so I just had to share it, and while I’m at it, encourage you to check out the cool stuff Brian cranks out that will be a great asset to your ministry to kids!

I love the way the Internet, Twitter and cell phones can connect friends all over the country, in real time. THAT is the power of Twitter and connecting electronically. Just another reason why I Twitter.

(hope it works!)

Thanks to the folks at iwphone.contentrobot.com, my blog is now iPhone (or iPod Touch) friendly! I love my current theme (created by PowerServe.net) but on the iPhone it was a bit much to navigate. Now you can enjoy my blog on your iPhone, those of you lucky (or smart) enough to have one. ENJOY!

DARTH VADER GETS AN UPGRADE: 

and one more:

Now we know where we gets some of his evil ideas.

They even let me stay 30 minutes past closing to help me. Their current window display is a bunch of cut-out Apple employees looking eager to help. On my way out I tried to stand there and blend in so I could stay overnight and play with all the Apple stuff – but in my red jacket I was quickly discovered and showed the door. But not before one of the employees agreed to pose for the picture below, since they DID blend right in!

(Click for Larger Image)

So, can you spot the REAL EMPLOYEE? If you need help, you can view the image larger. If you really can’t figure it out. Here the same picture without the real employee (but only look as a last resort!)

Yes, it’s true. I waited in line for an operating system. But then again, this was not just any operating system… it is an Apple Operating System, something truly worth looking forward to, every time. Originally, I wasn’t going to wait in line for Leopard like I did for my iPhone, but as it turned out, I was doing training our youngest Kidology Team Member and decided it would be fun to do with him, so we went and got in line!

Chad and Karl – Mac Nerds, and Proud of it!

We got in line with several hundred other Mac fanatics… many busy on their iPhones, and were happy to see we were close enough to get the free t-shirt!

Me with my free Apple Mac T-Shirt!

The Apple Store employees are a hoot. Literally! They cheered for each group of 10 that were allowed in forming two lines that you passed through to enter. You kinda felt like Moses walking through the Red Sea. The enthusiasm was a little silly – but it made it a fun event. Come, on! Who would cheer for the lastest version of Windows… that’s more like, “Well, OK, I guess I should upgrade, the version I have stinks and is riddled with problems, maybe the new one will be better, at least for a little while. How much is it gonna cost me? Sigh. Ho Hum. A new Windows operating system.” But with a Mac, you just know it will be loaded with cool practical stuff that actually does what it claims.

Happy Mac Fanatics!

Soon we were back at Chad’s installing our beautiful new operating system. Chad’s installed in just under 1.5 hours. I did a full erase and install to get a clean start with the new OS and mine installed in under an hour. But of course, then I had to re-install my software, and restore Mail, Calendar, Address Book, Bookmarks, Preferences, Music, Pictures, data, etc. But after all the stuff I install and uninstall, I like to use an OS upgrade as an opportunity to start with a clean “out of the box” machine.

Mentoring sometimes means sharing Mac tips!

By the way, I gotta tell ya, I was meeting with Chad to train him on some projects, but I love young people because I left learning a ton too… (like try this: apple-option 8 and then use apple-option + or – to zoom in or out on your screen, and move the mouse around! Just do apple-option-8 again to go back to normal!)

If you don’t have a Mac, you know I recommend it… and I won’t even go there now. If you do have a Mac, Leopard is sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet!

UP-DATE: (sent to me by Chad)

If Microsoft had designed the iPod packaging. (This is too funny and too true)

240/34

We’ve done the same date every September 7th, ever since, and this year was the 18th time we’ve done it. While we usually go on the Spirit of Chicago or the Odyssey Cruise ships, this year we tried one we’ve seen there for years called the Anita Dee II.

But as we headed downtown, things were looking bad for a cruise!

It was POURING RAIN our whole drive downtown!

We’ve only had bad weather once in the past 17th years, so we figured that the odds had caught up to us. The one time before the weather was bad the ship never left the dock because the waves were too sever, and at one point the boat was rocking so much that the giant roast that a chef was cutting meat from ended up on the floor! Other than the time our ship crushed a small boat into the dock, most years have been uneventful from disasters, so we figured we were due for a rainy cruise after 17 years of clear sailing.

But, by the time we got downtown the rain let up, and things began to dry up. We saw a wedding party taking photos in a soaked park across from Navy Pier. But we should have known the weather would be bad, after all, “Steve Said It Would Be Like This.”

We cracked up when we saw this advertisement while walking the wet pier hoping for a dry cruise. When I stopped to take a picture of this ad, Sara said, “Oh, I know what you are going to do with that!” I said, “Put it on my blog when I write about the rain?” and she said, “Oh, no, I thought you were going to……………..” So I did:

It wouldn’t be the first time Steve Tanner was right about something relating to disasters.

We had fun at the Pier before docking time. (Don’t tell Sara I posted this pic, she is out and I didn’t have time for my usual “pre-blog wife photo approval process!”)

I often include pictures of the local wildlife – sorry, this is the best I could do.

The reflections on the water are always beautiful

Probably the first disappointment with the City Lights Cruises is that they don’t do a nice photo as you board, but the next guy in line was nice enough to take a picture of us while we held up the line. Their marketing is a little sneaky, I bought some advance tickets that said they were the full cost except for a docking fee and two drinks – ha – a surprise extra $60 after you think you’ve paid for the whole dinner and think all you have to do is buy two drinks, and since we drink Coke and not booze, we thought it wouldn’t be too bad. Oops, they charge your for two alcoholic drinks even if all you want is a Coke. It also didn’t have assigned tables like the others and the food was about as cheap as possible.

But in the end you are there for time together and to enjoy the view, so it wasn’t too bad overall – but definitely a step down from the other dinner cruises. (but also less expensive – as they say, you get what you pay for)

Ironically, when we arrived we were first in line, so we decided we didn’t need to be first, and went for a walk. When we got back the line was looooooooooong! We were wondering if this many people could actually FIT on the ship – and then learned that it is first come, first serve to seats, and feared we would be standing all night, but once we got on board, I ventured out of the line (which was heading for the bar) and found that the front of the ship was empty, and got to have it to ourselves for quite awhile, and later only a few couples came up there. So we ended up having a really nice time despite the fact that there were definitely NOT enough life boats for all the people on board!

Photography on these cruises is always hard, you have to really over expose to get a picture, but they still look nice if you don’t enlarge too much. It was a wonderful break from work and the usual pace of life, but I confess, I did check my e-mail at one moment when I was alone, and the funniest thing happened:

Yes, my iPhone said that I had 2 billion, 147 million, 483 thousand and 646 unread messages. Now, it definitely FEELS that way at times, but this was too funny. I grabbed my digital camera and took a picture of the iPhone screen. Since the odds of reading over two billion e-mails on a date was slim, I put the phone away – having learned my lesson – and after the cruise I peeked again and the number was back its usual high number, but in perspective, I get almost no e-mail now. I still haven’t figured it out – could that have been the total number of unread e-mails of everyone on earth at the moment?

The other surprise – not sure whether it was good or not – was the discovery after boarding that the cruise was THREE hours, not two as we expected. (Like the others) After a call to the babysitter to make sure she knew, we settled in for a long relaxing time afloat, but it was long. Toward the end we managed a spot on the couches on one level and slumped back to relax and enjoy the last hour or so, when we saw an equally bored looking Filipino family next to us. As I returned from getting my drink and was squeezing by I dropped a little Tagalog (language of the Philippines) as I often like to do to see their surprise when a white boy speaks a language most Americans don’t know. I’m not fluent, but I can say enough for the beginning of a friendly conversation, such as Iki Nagagalok akong makilala kayo. (my spelling of ‘Nice to meet you’) Though I started with just a ‘thank you’ as I passed by to my seat. (Salamat Po) Adding “Po” at the end is a sign of respect, which they always appreciate.

The next thing I know we were having a very enjoyable conversation and the last hour flew by.

Hindi ko alam kung papaano ko po kayo mapapasalamatan sa inyong kabutihan.

Here is a ‘very dramatic’ girl holding the bundle of seedlings. (taken with my iPhone by the way, and edited in iPhoto) As I had fun do doing some effects to this picture, I couldn’t help thinking how much the dandy lion and my little friend have in common. Both are full of tons of potential that won’t truly be discovered until they are set free to go wherever the Lord blows them.

Once blown way, this beautiful puff of seeds will soon give life to many others once it finds its place and begins to grow, though right now, there is no way to know where those plants will be.

Likewise, this beautiful girl will also someday produce fruit in ways and places that only God knows right now. I know mom and dad aren’t eager for the day she is ‘grown up’ (neither am I!) but it is comforting to know that when that time comes, wherever God may take her, she will blossom as well.

Train a child in the way she should go,
and when she is old she will not turn from it.
Proverbs 22:6

As you may know, I waited in line for about four hours on June 29th to get one of the first generation iPhones. (Links: eager to go, in line, ten minutes to go, first review)

Reviewing the iPhone will be an ongoing process, so rather than post multiple posts, I will just keep updating this post when I have new information, feedback, or gripes. So far, I am so incredibly impressed, I know that some will ignore my review as being too positively biased… but I will try hard to find bad things to keep the skeptics and Mac haters happy, as much as I can. As I have often said to my Mac-attack friends, I am a big Mac fan, but I am an honest one. I have ripped on my Mac online, so I don’t only say the positive – it’s just that there just is so much more positive than negative. And that is the truth.

REVIEW OF FEATURES: (will update)

TEXT MESSAGING: Not only does it look sweeeeet, and typing easy with the intelligent keyboard, looking people up is a snap, but there is a COOL feature. If you get a Text Message, and the phone is off. Not only will it notify you that you have a message, but it will simply give you the message and the sender in a pop-up so that you can see the message even without unlocking the phone and going to the SMS area to read it. If someone is sending you a quick answer, with a glance you can see the message and you are done.

CALENDAR: Scrolling through events is easy and visually wonderful. Day and month views are great too. Setting reminders and alarms is nice, especially the secondary alarm. For an appointment to meet a friend this week at a movie at 4:45pm, I set a reminder for 3:45 and a secondary at 4:00pm – the first I was in the middle of a conversation and hit ‘ignore’ – but on the second one, dismissed myself to make the appointment. That was cool.

PHOTOS: Man, this is amazing. The images seems a clear as a monitor. You can flip through with a flick of a finger, and the image rotates ALL FOUR ways if you turn your iPhone this way or that. Zoom in, or e-mail the picture you just took in seconds. I sync my favorite albums on my laptop, as well as “Last Roll” so I always have the last roll I imported with me.

CAMERA: Obviously, with no flash, it is best outdoors or in a well lit room, but it takes nice pictures at 2 mega-pixels. The shutter is slow, so blurs are easy to get:

HERE ARE SOME PICS TAKEN WITH THE iPHONE WITH COMMENTS: (click images for larger view)

Takes nice outdoor pictures.

Shutter is slow, so fast moving objects can get distorted.

The button to take the picture is visual on screen, not a “real” physical button, so it is very touchy (pun intended) and accidental pictures are common, and if you aren’t very careful, you push the iPhone when you push the button, and get a blurry picture, so you really have to concentrate on lightly touching, not pushing the button, keeping your finger close the button so you won’t tap, but not so close it senses your finger and takes a picture. Not dificult, but takes more concentration than a camera with a physical button. The location of the button so low on the screen makes it a little uncomfortable to hold and click, but that’s minor.

Lighting can be a bear, even in the sunshine, without a flash to fill in, but easily fixed in iPhoto – here is a picture as the iPhone took it (above) and here it is after iPhoto lightened it in one easy click:

YouTube: Wow, this is a time waster. Fun, but you could quickly lose a lot of time watching videos, but hey, if you are stuck somewhere, its like having a TV you can turn on and search for something fun.

Positive: you can easily and quickly find and watch YouTube videos on your iPhone and bookmark the ones you really like.

Negative: the audio doesn’t seem to always match the video, but I’m not sure if that is an iPhone issue, or YouTube issues, as I don’t use YouTube much even on a computer. The search also seems limited, I searched for “Conan Late Night ILM” on the iPhone (after a friend recommended it) and it said no results on the iPhone, but on YouTube it comes right up.

It also makes me nervous having so many kids with iPhones, as the content is often a concern – but then, I know kids are online viewing YouTube, it is a fact of culture, but now kids can watch stuff on their phone when no one is around to filter or supervise.

YOUTUBE UPDATE: (from Apple article) To achieve higher video quality and longer battery life on mobile devices, YouTube has begun encoding their videos in the advanced H.264 format, and iPhone will be the first mobile device to use the H.264-encoded videos. Over 10,000 videos will be available on June 29, and YouTube will be adding more each week until their full catalog of videos is available in the H.264 format this fall.

STOCKS: Looks cool. Google is selling at 530.38 (up 7.68) and Apple at 121.26 (down .78!) but that’s all I can tell you, not a feature I’ll be using unless I have stock someday! I only have time to invest in my family and the Kingdom.

MAPS: Simply incredible – and screaming fast! Put in your address and see your house from space, and zoom back to the whole earth. Then zoom into the middle a Africa and look for some huts if you want. I showed my gramma the Great Wall of China this evening. When I showed her how I could zoom into her house she said she will have nightmares tonight! Downside is, it only saves the places you typed in, you can’t navigate to somewhere and then bookmark that location. That is a little frustrating. But basically, it is Google Earth on your phone, and no slower than on the computer. This is the best thing to show kids. My nephew wanted to wave and see himself from space!

WEATHER: easy, simple, sharp and updates within seconds of going to view it. Six day forcast at your fingertips any time. not bad.

CLOCK: World time with the ability to have multiple times, I have Chicago, Manila and Melbourne on mine. If that wasn’t cool enough, it adds Alarms, Stop Watch, and even a count down timer and of course, choose your alarm sound from the ring tones. (too bad you can’t pick a song in your iPod music!)

CALCULATOR: simple, so surprises or perks… M+,M- and MR/MC is as fancy as it gets. Oh, well.

NOTES: These note pads look neat, yellow lined pads. (Text doesn’t line up with the lines) The font is friendly and casual. But no formatting at all, and your notes are displayed most recent (or recently edited) at the top. I wish I could rearrange the order of the notes. If all you need to do is write a note, this works. The only real “feature” is a nice one though, click and it will open as an email ready to send to yourself or someone, so you don’t have to copy and paste into an email. (which is good, since you can’t copy and paste anything – see CONS)

SETTINGS: You simply have to poke around in here, lots of features and settings, I’m still experimenting!

NOW, THE BIG FOUR:

PHONE: I heard lots of negative about AT&T, but other than having to change my cell phone number after eight years, I find nothing to complain about. My calls are clearer, my signal stronger, and merging two calls is a snap. I can stay on the phone and still use all the other features. (I was on Verizon)

My bluetooth works perfectly, and connects instantly. (My family and friends hated my bluetooth – my wife says my greeting was, “hi, this is karl, hang on, I’m trying to get my bluetooth to connect) Now if I have the headset on, it pops up three choices: HEADSET, iPHONE, SPEAKER, and if I choose headset, it is just there, instantly in my ear!

The EDGE network, while slower than the G3, is SCREAMING FASTER than what I had on Verizon on my Treo, so I feel like it is light years ahead of what I had before. If G3 is faster, I’ll be impressed, because this is fast! I got no signal in an elevator in the center of a building, but other than that, I’ve had to signal issues, and since it dropped AT&T and automatically connected to any trusted WI-HI networks, at home and work and many other places, it is on the wireless Internet anyway.

MAIL: This is my favorite! View, read, delete, respond as quickly and as easily as on the laptop. Typing is a little slower, but I expect it to get faster as I get used to it. And I set my settings to delete from server if I delete from Inbox on iPhone, meaning it will never end up on my laptop, so I can do email when I am out, and won’t have to delete twice. If it is something I need to do on laptop, just leave it alone on iPhone and it will come into laptop. And you can limit your mail to 25, 50, 75, 100 or 200 messages so they will disappear as time goes on with the ‘real’ messages being on your computer. But nice to have that reference with you. I won’t have to take my 17″ laptop with me so much now.

SAFARI: FINALLY the actual real Internet on your phone. Zoom, rotate, and surf easily. Have multiple windows open, and keep them open all day if you want. There is no flash player so Kidology.org header doesn’t appear or the welcome screen to my novel site, or other flash sites, but that is minor, and usually not needed. I can blog, and log into admin sites as well. Still need to see if I can blog a picture using the iPhone. If I can do that, I will really be excited for the reporting I’ll be able to do on the road.

iPOD: This just rocks. For one thing, finally an iPod with built in speakers! And if you have an iPod, you just have a cooler one now. I have 984 songs and 23 videos (two are full length movies, and a few TV shows).

==================
CONS (what I don’t like)

NO TASKS. My biggest disappointment with the iPhone is that they completely left out any tasks, or to-do lists. I LOVED that on my Palm and it is a part of iCal, so I don’t get why that was left off. My guess is because it has to work PC and Mac, and I know my Mac and Palm struggled with syncing tasks. I am really hoping a widgit or third party solution comes soon. In the meantime, I am using the web-based TaskAnyone.com and finding it very helpful, and easy enough to do on the iPhone.

NO COPY / PASTE This is a huge oversight in my opinion, many tasks take longer because you can’t copy and paste. Palm had shortcuts which were awesome and you could make them anything you wanted. They need to find a creative way to allow users to have their own keyboard short cuts and copy/paste is really needed!

NOTES: They need to beef this up. I’d like to be able to change the order of the Notes just like you can the order of your Favorites in Phone.

TWO / THREE CLICKS TO DO A PERIOD - I wish period and comma were on the main keyboard, but you have to hit symbol key, then period/comma, and then symbol key to get back to typing, so a period is three clicks. UPDATE: if you hit space after a period/comma it goes back to ABC automatically, but it is still a paid do to puncuation. They should just make the space bar smaller and put period and comma on the main screen.

DOESN’T WORK WITH ALL iPOD SPEAKER SYSTEMS. The iPhone does not work on my car iPod player (that goes through the radio), at all, even though it will dock and charge, just won’t play above a marely audible level. Also, it gets a “this isn’t supposed to work with this” message in the one in my bathroom, but works fine after I put it in airplane mode. (at it’s suggestion)

RESOLVED ISSUES: (will update)

NO CAPS LOCK – found a way to enable it in Settings.

Oh, and let me end with this. Someone posted a picture of a smashed iPhone on Kidology (with the screen still working, fyi) – but I must tell you this, at a picnic this week, I took my iPhone off and put it on the blanket with my keys, etc. to protect it, and later an upper elementary boy stepped on it hard, and it didn’t hurt it a bit. (the boy, therefore, was allowed to live) So, it is a pretty durable device! Not that I want to test that, but I was impressed!

PS: Wow, me and my iPhone got blogged about Down Under!

==============================================

BUGS/CRASHES/ETC.
Here I will log actual problems that I experience with my iPhone:

# = number of times this has happened.

3 / Google Maps “Crash” – not sure if it is a crash, interuption in wireless service, or what, but sometimes when you are in the middle of map surfing the iPhone just suddenly returns to the main menu. The first time I thought I must have bumped something, but the next few times I could tell I didn’t. And it doesn’t ‘remember’ where you were, so if you want to return to that place, you have to start over. Rating: annoying

1 / Safari Crashing /Freeze – one occurance, but happens 3 times. I was loading my blog to show my wife my iPhone review, and ironically, the page would get 80% loaded and then go to home screen. On my fourth attempt, it froze, but restarting the iPhone fixed it. (hold down both buttons for 6-7 seconds, like resetting an iPod) Then the page loaded quickly. My Wi-Fi was on one bar at home, so it might have been a slow connection?
Rating: concerning

1 / Freeze and Scorch! - This was new. I plugged it into the syncing/charging cable and attached to the computer to sync and charge, and then set it down and forgot about it. After blogging (the one above this one!) I picked up the phone and about burned my hand! It had frozen, screen still on, and was HOT. A reset did the trick, but ouch, it was overheated big time. Possible causes, it was playing music when I plugged it in, I was curious if the music would stop, it didn’t at first, but then I got distracted, so I’m not sure how long the music played. (Actually, I stepped away for a bit.) After the reset, there was a 20% battery warning pop-up. Maybe that popped up when I plugged in with music playing? Anywy, just reported when things go weird.  Rating: Ouch

So far, these are not alarming – it is a computer, and they are prone to need a reboot occasionally. It seems “go to home screen” is it’s default, which beats a freeze or error message. Kinda funny, because it makes you first assume human error.

Well, I am finally home, and my iPhone is all set up! My new cell phone number is…. ha! (yeah right!) But if you know my old one, call and I’ll give ya the new one.

At 6pm they took down the black window coverings so you could see giant iPhones hanging in the windows with a countdown. After 6pm they were full screen demos. I want to know how to get one of these for a desk monitor when the promotion is done. Maybe I need to get a job at an Apple Store just long enough to get one of these for home!

Luke even got in line with me for awhile, but not for long. As a new walker, he wanted to roam the mall with mom chasing behind.

There were security guys everywhere! I don’t know if they thought there would be mob action or what, but they were on patrol. I think this was a big deal for mall security. But they did a good job of keepin’ the peace!

This dude took his job very seriously. Many people tried to get a smile out of him, but he was stone cold serious with this “Just try and jump that line buddy and I will Rodney King you!” This guy is on his way to being a state trooper, but I hope he never pulls me over! But eventually, I got through the intimidating line of storm troopers and got inside…

Here is Greg presenting me with my iPhone!

GREG! If you do actually come to my blog and read this, leave a comment, you are famous now!

When I caught up to Luke and mom I saw Luke window shopping (pacing) so I surprised him by sneaking into the store. See his delight when he spotted Daddy’s iPhone!?

REVIEW PART ONE: I plan to do a review soon, but I want to actually experience the phone a bit first, but I will start by saying the activation process is easier than promised, and took under one minute. Syncing was a cinch too – and I already have all my addresses, contacts, 4GB of music, both volumes of Clone Wars (for Luke), tons of pictures (like last import automatically), Podcasts I’ve not yet listened to or watched, and one movie.

I called Sara for my maiden call and easily called my sister at the same time, and merged the calls for a crystal clear conference call and listened to them talk to each other on the speaker phone.

I went to the web and it spotted my home Wi-Fi and was on in seconds, and after entering my POP e-mail infomation, I am not exaggerating to say that in SECONDS all of the messages in my inbox on my laptop appeared in my inbox on the phone. I set weather to Wauconda and got a five day forcast in seconds, and then google mapped my address in Maps and in seconds was looking at my house from space. Almost creepy fast!
So far, NO iGLITCHES… just an amazing phone! I will review in more detail after I use it for some ‘real life’ work (and play).

you cab see inside now!

under ten minutes to go!

OK, I am now in line at the Apple Store…. I went to Northbrook Court, a smaller mall hoping for better luck after a friend TMed me from Woodfield (Chicago areas biggest mall, in fact the largest in the country where i usually go) and told me the line is over 50. I’m guessing I am near 100th though I haven’t counted. I am in the third section. Sara and Luke are coming to hang out and shop, and more importantly, to feed me. Sara was also bringing me a chair but the mall won’t allw you to sit in a chair! The woman in front of me has a chair but can’t sit in it! she has to sit on the floor (in a dress) with her chair folded up next to her. What’s with that? Maybe it could be a weapon! But wait, it makes a better weapon folded up and is more likely to be used by an enraged woman against a stupid mall guard. So wouldn’t it be safer just to let her sit in it?

Anyway… so here I am, sitting on the floor with two and a half hours to kill until the store opens, and then who knows how long to buy the phone. I’ll keep ya posted, this is my last day posting from my Treo. (which I was never able to do on blogger, but on this new wordpress blog I finally can)

send me a TM at karlonthego@kidologist.com to encourage me if you want. or leave a comment.

UPDATE: Sara has arrived and I asked her to count the people in front of me….. (drum role)…. ok, here it is, I am number 97 in line! So my guess was pretty close! She also took the picture above.

iPlanning on it! iWill post a review soon!

iHere!

As I mentioned I already mentioned here, (see Why Wait?) I’ll be getting an iPhone the day they come out – THIS FRIDAY! I’ve been looking forward to the iPhone since before I knew it existed. A dedicated Palm user since 1998, I have even taught workshops on how a PDA can enhance your ministry. I loved my Palms and have owned nearly every one as they came out, but as the company was sold and bought back and sold and split and merged it lost it’s vision, diluted its brand, and failed to stay cutting edge. While no other phone or PDA really passed Palm in the PDA race, many joined it in the lead, most notably the Blackberry.

See the iPhone TV commercials

Since switching to Mac in February of 2004, I have marveled at how easily and seemlessly everything Apple is – the slogan “it just works” is not just a slogan, it is reality, with few exceptions. Most of those exceptions being when trying to use a Mac with non-Apple technology, and nothing has been more painful for me than getting my Palm devices to work well with my Mac. My treo 650, one of the best “smart phones” on the market today, has not been able to live up to its potential on a Mac. Not only do I miss the functionality of Palms, but I miss how integrated technology was with my life and how organized and on top of details I was when I was relying on my Palm for personal organization. Now my Palm Treo is just my phone, address book, and a copy of my calendar, far less from the time when I managed tasks, edited document, and wrote my entire novel on my Palm Pilot.

See it in 360 degrees!

Since being on a Mac, I’ve asked many times when Apple would create a PDA and the answer was always, “never because of the Newton.” (I own one that a friend gave me. It may have failed, and was huge, but is an amazing device that was then too far ahead of its time!)

But soon my wait is over. On Friday, Apple is finally selling the iPhone, and it is far more than a PDA or a Phone. The best review I have read that is both positive and honest is here.

Simply Beautiful

My plan was to go Friday AM before the mall opened and wait in line all day, but an important appointment came up that I just can’t say, “Sorry, but I need to be in line all day for an iPhone” to, so I will be in line by 3pm for a phone that goes on sale at 6pm. But the Apple Store has said that they will stay open as late as necessary to serve everyone who is in line when the store closes! So it seems I will be going home with an iPhone on Friday, and will certainly post a review soon. The activation video shows how the entire process of setting up a phone has been revolutionized, so you can just buy the phone and go home! No more being in the cell phone store for hours. (unless you are waiting in line to buy one!)

Then my Treo 650 will go into the Kidology Garage Sale…. CHEAP!