Great article on the life and death of the Apple iPod in the SMH. Some really interesting comments on the iPod as the “first cultural icon of the 21st century”. Here’s a snippet:

Apple has changed the way we think about technology and design, the way we shop, the way we consume media and the way we interact with each other. Via the iPod Touch, iPhone and iPad it has opened up doors for other methods of technology to come into our lives. None of that would have happened without the iPod. “It was the first cultural icon of the 21st century,” says Dr Michael Bull, a lecturer in media and film at the University Of Sussex, south-east England, where his studies on the sociology around the MP3 player have earned him the sobriquet “Professor iPod”. “It was the first MP3 player that really worked. With the earlier ones you had to get down on your knees and pray to get a bit of music out of them. And it became symbolic of the way people like to move around in cities. It fitted the desire for a technological freedom, whereby you moved to your own soundscape. Roland Barthes argued that, in medieval society, cathedrals were the iconic form. Then by the 1950s it had become the car – the Citroen DS. I argue that 50 years later it was the iPod, this technology that let you fit your whole world in your pocket. It was representative of a key moment in the social world of the 21st century.”

Read the rest here. Some of the content reminded me of some of Stu Crawshaw’s thoughts from his Youth Ministry as Shock Absorber article.

Do you have an iPod? Do you still use it? Can you name a competitor for other 21st Century icons?

Check out this recent interview with Carlos Whittaker (from ragamuffinsoul). He discusses the power of social media and how authentic community can be created through it.

One of the things I love about Los is the way he takes opportunities to point people to Jesus. In the above video, he is able to speak about Jesus being the way, the truth and the life. That’s cool.

So. What do you think? Can Social Media Create Authentic Community?

(Watch the vid before you comment).

(h/t los)

If you answered “yes”, you must go and check out the new 8Bit Network. I’ve been a long time fan of John Saddington and his site ChurchCrunch. ChurchCrunch has now been massively beefed up into a whole network of sites aiming to “resource the church with timely, relevant, practical, and exceptionally valuable content.” It includes ChurchCrunch, ChurchIT, ChurchCreate and ChurchDrop. See below for deets…

• ChurchCrunch focuses its coverage on web apps/services/technology, blogging, strategy, business/entrepreneurship, and community development.
• ChurchIT focuses its coverage on all types of geekery, like software, hardware, networking, and other assorted technologies.
• ChurchCreate focuses its coverage on art/design, environment production and development, video/audio engineering, and assorted technologies.
• ChurchDrop focuses its coverage on mobile devices, software, web apps, services, and technology.

Go hook up with this posse now!

Steve Kryger has a big long list. Worth a read. Worth putting into practise.

1. Do one thing at a time.
2. Do important tasks first.
3. Do unpleasant tasks first.
4. Set short-term time goals.
5. Turn off your email.
6. Turn off Facebook.
7. Tidy your workspace.
8. Allocate times to exercise.
9. Plan ahead.
10. Unsubscribe or filter unnecessary email newsletters.
11. Keep lists and check them off.
12. Know thyself.
13. Automate.
14. Set longer-term goals.
15. Stop being a perfectionist.

Read the whole article for an explanation on each.

I recently started experimenting with Posterous. I use it as a way of sharing twitter pictures and videos. It’s really quick & easy to use and it’s a tidy & attractive spot to store things. Here’s my posterous account: davemiers.posterous.com

Having now used it for a couple of weeks, I think it’s much more than just a place to store pics. While I’d probably still recommend WordPress (free or self-hosted) as a more flexible and comprehensive platform for blogging, Posterous is a really good way to do quick and simple blogging. Read more below…

Continue Reading…

Microsoft have some sweet deals on software for students. They now have their new operation system, Windows 7, available as an upgrade for only $49.95. Check out www.itsnotcheating.com.au for some action. (It’s called www.theultimatesteal.com in the US and it’s $29.99US – click on the icon in the top right corner for other countries)

I’m currently using Vista, I don’t really have a problem with it – it takes a bit of time to boot, but other than that – it does the job! Anyone updated yet? Is it worth it?

Graham Stanton wrote a great post today about some of the dangers he’s found since using twitter. He paraphrases 1 Corinthians 6:12 – ‘Twitter is permissible, and may even be beneficial; but I will not be mastered by anything’ and then outlines his strategies for not being mastered by twitter. Here are his four points:

4. Missing what’s happening because I’m telling other people what’s happening
3. Being constantly occupied with thinking I should be tweeting something profound
2. Mistaking Twitter for the Bread of Life
1. Living my life for the praise of men

Go read them in full

The picture above is from Portwiture – it grabs the most frequent words from your twitter feed and matches them with a relevant (and random) picture from flickr. (h/t church crunch)