Technology

If you’ve ever wrestled with Microsoft Word for an hour trying to line up a few blocks of text and a couple of pictures to just create a one-page document, I feel your pain. At some point, everyone needs to make a PDF with pictures, lots of different text boxes and other vital information. We do this every month for our newsletter we send out to our ministry partners. It looks like this. Our monthly letters contain only two rounded rectangles (one at the top and bottom with our information), three main text boxes (for our main story, a box for prayer requests, and a caption for our photos) and two to three photos. It’s really that easy. Here’s how you can make a slick 1-page PDF in 20 minutes flat. ...

I can’t pay full-price for anything. It’s some type of genetic mutation that definitely came from my mom’s side of the family. My grandma was a yard-sale warrior and would buy things for a nickel on the dollar. My mom hasn’t bought a non-sale item since 1976. We’re freaks. I like finding deals. I’m not much for yard sales because I can’t stand sifting through piles of garbage to find a rare gem, but I’ll gladly sift through the interwebs to find a good deal (yes, I see the irony). Here’s my precursor to what I won’t do to save a buck: Sign up for a ton of services where I get a penny back for every thousand dollars I spend. I know that works for some people, but it’s just not worth my time. Buy crap I don’t need. This defeats the purpose of saving money buying things online. If I wasn’t going to buy something in the first place, I’m not going to buy it just because it’s on sale. You didn’t save any money if you bought something you didn’t need. So if you were hoping for a post with pictures of me holding a coupon purse with an online shopping cart full of 300 packages of toilet paper and 10 cases of Heinz ketchup, I’m sorry to disappoint you. < p style=”text-align: center;”> With those disclaimers out of the way, here’s where I turn and how I work when it comes to finding a good deal. ...

With hundreds of thousands of apps in the Apple App Store, it’s easy to give up finding quality apps that turn your iPhone into a robot more powerful than Optimus Prime. Finding new, useful apps is definitely a side hobby, and this curated list below is a dozen of my favorite apps. Please share your favorite apps in the comments so we can all have awesomer iPhones. $5 will get you the whole collection of apps below. [To check out volume one of my favorite apps, click here.] Mailbox This app makes me want to read my email. It’s all about getting through your inbox so nothing remains when you finish. It has slick gesture controls and I love the overall feel of the app. My favorite feature is the ability to delay email until later. Then, emails don’t sit in your inbox, staring you in the face, waiting for you to move. You can have emails reappear in your inbox when you need them like a perfectly timed ribbon-around-your-finger reminder. I use the delay feature to remind me of appointments or tasks I need to complete, but don’t need to do today. You also get to see a new jaw-dropping photo hand-chosen from Instagram each day when you get to #InboxZero, which is at least half of my motivation for getting through my inbox. A few downers: you must use Gmail or Google Apps and there’s no way to access labels from within the app. I understand, since it’s all about processing email, so I keep Sparrow around for when I need to search through labels. Also, you’ll have to get into a waiting line for access to the app, but download it today so you can start the timer. ...

We all receive more email than we know what to do with. I receive a lot of email from other missionaries sharing their update letters. I love reading those letters and hearing about how the Lord is using my friends around the world. Unfortunately, my friends who send a massive BCC email have no clue how many people are actually opening their emails. Knowing who is reading about your ministry (or group, company or organization) is incredibly valuable. My favorite service for large group e-mailing is MailChimp. It simply blows normal emailing out of the water, and it’s incredibly easy to use.  Here’s why: ...

I like making my ears happy. You may enjoy making your ears happy too. Here’s my (eclectic) mix of what’s on my digital turntable, bringing sweet joy to all who listen. Click the album images for a link to Amazon MP3s. Zion – Hillsong United I’ve always preferred Hillsong United’s studio albums (like _Aftermath) _to their live albums. My current go-to worship album. A more electronic sound than usual (even for them), but enjoyable nonetheless. Four word review: Christocenteric electronic extended worship. Favorite tracks: Stay and Wait and Oceans (Where Feet May Fail) ...

Everyone has their own idea of the the best way to use Twitter. I’ve been using it for over three years, and I’ve applied what I’ve learned to aggregate the 14 tips below. You don’t need to follow all of these tips, but if you want to gain followers, be helpful, and use this tool for maximum impact, I highly suggest taking this advice to heart. There’s no condemnation if you decide to eschew the rules of Twitter engagement below, but consider yourself warned: it will be really hard for me (or anyone else) to follow you if you’re tweeting all crazy. ...

I’m a freak for data. I love knowing how I spend my time, tracking fitness, donations to our ministry, books I’ve read–practically anything that is measurable I want to measure. One thing I hadn’t ever done a good job of was tracking my fitness. I kept a journal of my workouts for a few months. I tried a pedometer for all of three days. Then, I heard about the FitBit One and received it as a Christmas gift. The FitBit One is the fanciest pedometer you’ll ever meet. It’s far more than a step counter–it’s a fitness data machine. It tracks your steps per day, flights of stairs you’ve climbed, calories burned, sleep efficiency and more. Here’s my review after two months of daily use. ...

I still prefer physical books to eBooks, but one thing I love about eBooks is having all of my notes and highlights already digitally documented. Unfortunately, Amazon and Apple don’t make saving your notes in a clean format simple. Since I’m a fanatic when it comes to organization and digital hygiene, this is not acceptable (more on how to fix that later). If you are just looking to get all of your notes and save them in a document, PDF or paper copy (because you hate trees and have filing cabinets from the 1980s) here’s the quick and dirty process. ...

I recently gave an update on a charity: water project I started in 2010 that raised over $5,000 to help build three wells in Africa. Some of you may wonder how it happened. Outside of a lot of prayer and generosity, it was a simply telling a compelling story (over and over again) that people wanted to be a part of. Below are the 12 steps I took to create a successful online fundraising campaign. Some of these steps may be out of your control, some may need tweaked for your campaign, and some may need thrown out all together. Nonetheless, best of luck on your exciting adventure. ...

Unless you’re a caveman, you probably put your money in some type of bank. You may stash your money with a mega-corporate bank (aka The Man). In that case you likely pay fees for your bank to hold onto and _use_your money or you jump through hoops to make sure you avoid stupid fees from said institution. I consider myself a bit of a bank connoisseur. Currently, we have five financial institutions at our disposal, and yes, that is too many. If it wasn’t for my rational wife, we’d have even more because I’m a bank addict (further confirming I’m an absolute nerd). From purely anecdotal evidence, lots of people have banks they are moderately happy or even unhappy with, but they don’t know what their other options are or don’t have time to research new options. Friends, your banking problem is about to get solved. Things I commonly hear from people with subpar banking experiences or from those rationalizing paying fees to bank: “My faceless, gimmicky, corporate, bloodsucking bank is everywhere, so I can always find an ATM.” “I’ve always had an account there, so it’s easier to stick with them.” “They have good technology.” “I have a credit card with them, so I might as well have my bank with them.” ...