• Wall Street Journal: iPhone coming to CDMA networks
  In case you haven’t heard, later this year a new version of the iPhone will allow it to work on Verizon and Sprint’s network, should they choose to carry the phone. With the iPad launching soon along with a new iPhone, this could be another interesting year for Apple.

• CNNMoney: Smartphone Traffic up 193% over last year
  The age where a phone is just a phone is quickly fading.
• Ars Technica: 91% of Americans use cell phones
  We talk for about 6.1 billion minutes and send about 5 billion text messages everyday.
• CNNMoney: Facebook traffic tops Google
  If you have not been able to imagine just how large Facebook has become, it is now the most trafficked site. Churches and their pastors cannot ignore Facebook. Insert “gorilla in room” analogy here.

• Mashable: Etacts Transforms Your Gmail into a Contact Management Hub
  This software will interact with your Gmail account to help keep track of the last time you emailed someone, how often you email them, etc. It’s geared more towards customer relations… but can supplement congregational relationships?
• Collide Magazine: Church Spotlight on North Point Community Church
  North Point has been at the forefront of pushing technological innovation in church. Read a quick snapshot of how they approach their use of technology. The part near the bottom about websites can be useful for churches of all types.

• COLLIDE Magazine: Examine Your Church’s Website
  In light of a prominent political commentator warning believers of certain phrases on church websites, here are some other phrases to avoid. My favorites are “When the aliens come for us” and “Christian alternative to Twitter”.
• ZDNet: New research finds Macs in the enterprise easier, cheaper to manage than Windows PCs
  What stands out is that Windows takes much more time troubleshooting problems, dealing with Help Desk calls, training users, and managing system configurations. So, cheaper and easier to use. As the owner of 3 Macs and 1 PC, I agree.
• Gizmodo: Sticker Pockets Change Everything
  Yeah, that’s right. Sticker pockets. Amazing.

• Mashable: Facebook Co-Founder Launches Non-Profit Platform Called Jumo
  Jumo is an interesting concept that could either be co-opted or replicated for missions work.
• Mashable: Smart Meeting Rescheduler comes to Google Calendar
  More and more churches are using Google Calendar to inform members and visitors of upcoming events. Yet another neat feature added.

• Los Angeles Times: “Theology After Google”
  “It’s a whole new world out there. Churches will ignore it at their peril.” Indeed. Good read.
• TechCrunch: Mobile App Sales Will Exceed CD Sales in 2012
  Never bought a mobile app or even know how big the market is? Well, it’s big, and growing fast.
• New York Times: Wearable Computers?
  The future is now, and it’s awesome. Another NYT article explores Augmented Reality for cars… in other words, an “enhanced vision system” for cars and display units on windshields.

• Mashable: Ambition Broadband plan submitted to Congress
  The FCC hopes their plan will lead to affordable broadband access for 100 million homes. But not just regular old broadband, but 100Mbps broadband. If you have broadband, you probably have a connection under 10Mbps. 100Mbps is amazing.
• Broadband.gov
  Speaking of broadband, the FCC is interested in what your current internet speed is. Considering that we’re considerably behind the developed world in internet speed, this could be a good thing.
• PCWorld: Top 10 Android phones
  Want a cool phone but want alternatives to the iPhone? Check out this concise list of Android phones with links to full reviews.

Next week Bridge Vision will host an exhibit booth at the 186th annual Baptist General Association of Virginia meeting in Fredericksburg. I’ll be there Monday afternoon 2-6, all day Tuesday, and Wednesday morning.

There will be two conferences on churches and social media this year. Cheryl Smith will lead one and Dale Tadlock will lead the other. I’m hoping to pull away and attend them as they both provide unique views on how to leverage new technology for ministry.

See you there!

Within the last week, the good folks at Wordpress have added two automatic themes to make Wordpress sites more blog friendly. Currently the themes are designed for the Apple iPhone and Google Android platforms. The themes will be displayed automatically despite the theme of the website.

According to Wordpress, those who access Wordpress.com blogs from their iPhone or Android-based devices will be able to access the particular blog’s “posts, pages, and archives.” WPtouch will also support AJAX-based “commenting and post-loading.” Header images will be scaled to fit the device’s screen.

Those accessing blogs on other phones won’t be treated to all the bells and whistles. According to the company, those visitors will see a simple page that focuses mainly on loading blog content as quickly as possible. (source)

As a recent purchaser of the iPhone, I can attest that Wordpress sites do look much better with these themes. In fact, I’m starting to spend more time surfing the web from my iPhone versus my laptop.

Additionally, there is a Wordpress application for the iPhone that will allow you to update your website from the touchscreen. Awesome!

Thus, you can visit and update your church’s Wordpress website all from the palm of your hand.

Read more at CNET

I haven’t been able to launch two sites in one week for awhile. First is Bybee’s Road Baptist Church of Troy, Virginia. They previously had a website powered by the Joomla! Content Management System. The website was originally operated by a church member. However, after the member left, the website floundered due to lack of access and knowledge.

The picture in the header image was taken at the church. I am envious of that view!

They wanted several elements for their homepage. They wanted a picture of the church, a welcome message, and an area where the latest news could be posted.

The new website for the Danville (VA) Free Clinic was also launched. Previously they setup a free Wordpress blog, but needed extra features and a customized design. I met with them at the beginning of September and took some pictures around the clinic.

Their main goals are to simply communicate who they are and what they do. A “Donate” feature was also essential so they could accept financial gifts online.

I wanted to highlight the sun in the logo. The design includes sun rays coming from the top left plus a faint burst of light in the header image.

I really hope that these websites will serve both groups well.