TV Trojan
I still think that the Apple TV as it has now been unveiled is a trojan horse for the company (not of the malicious software kind, however). If this thing sells enough units — and at the new price and design, it very well could sell that mystical figure known as “enough” — one can easily see people begging for a SDK to develop apps (especially “casual” games) for it.
And, like the original iPhone, Apple can act like its arms are being twisted and then “relent” by doing what it intended to do all along. Right now, launching with an app store might be embarrassing. The current Apple TV hasn't been that successful (by Apple's own admission) and so interest could be tepid. Just look at how hard of time Apple had getting the major networks to support its new TV rental scheme (just two did). Unlike its other devices, people aren't begging to be involved on the Apple TV. Yet.
But, this device, with its Netflix streaming support and iTunes compatibility, could easily sell well. And then, in Steve Job's lingo, “boom.”
What's Your Church Personality
For one of my classes, Ministry Leadership, we had to take a “church personality” test. It is a diagnostic rather like the Myers-Briggs, but not entirely so. In the test, which I linked to on Facebook a few days ago, apparently I came out as an ICF (“Relational Church”) personality.
If you'd like to give the diagnostic a spin, you can get to it here. Dr. Douglass hired me to write the little program that works with his formulas a few years back. Needless to say, it was rather fun to then have need of taking the very same diagnostic!
In any case, apparently, Dr. Douglass developed the test to help make people aware of differing ministry styles with the goal of minimizing the potential for church conflict. Consider me intrigued.
Cell Phone Bits
Two cell phone related pieces went up on Open for Business this week that might prove interesting to asisaid readers. First, I posted my review of the Droid X. I spent about a month using the device and I have to say I was very impressed by it — much more so than I expected to be.
Also, my friend and fellow contributor Dennis Powell writes about his odyssey through prepaid cellular plans in the sort of entertaining way only he can do. It is a fun read and an enlightening one if you are looking to save money by going prepaid.
The Summer Sets, Semester Dawns
Well, tomorrow I begin the first day of my last semester at seminary. This feels somehow profound. I am not crazy about having a mid-afternoon class to start things off, but it should be a good one. I have been looking forward to having this professor, Dr. Phil Douglass, again since my first semester.
Rationalize
From “the Moscow Rules:”
There is no limit to a human being's ability to rationalize the truth.
True.
Google's Continued Fall from Grace
Neil McAllister writes on why Oracle is right to sue Google over its modified Java platform:
“Now if Microsoft wants to use Java, they will have to use the same Java everyone else does,” Sun vice president Rich Green said at the time. Should not Google be held to the same standard? Oracle thinks so, and like Sun of old, it has chosen a legal remedy.
If anyone is looking for proof coming from places other than Cupertino that Google is not viewed as a “don't be evil” company any longer, comparisons of its actions to some of Microsoft's antitrust debacles of the past ought to do the trick.
The question, though, remains: can anyone actually do what Google does better than Google?
Get Your Kicks
I've been out of town, if any faithful asisaid readers have been wondering what happened to me after several months of daily posting. The trip, which included some time on Route 66, inspired my latest column on Open for Business.
In Seminary?
From Logos Bible Software on their $1,000 seminary scholarship:
If you refer someone to our scholarship and they indicate that you referred them, and they win the scholarship, then we'll give you a scholarship too! You could both get a $1,000.00 tuition scholarship and a copy of the Logos Scholar's Library (www.logos.com/scholars).
Interested? You can apply here. If you apply, please consider mentioning that I “sent” you.
Scrapbook
My friend Caedmon and I have been reminiscing by discussing old entries from this blog and the ensuing conversations. The interesting thing about blogging over the long term is that a blog becomes a lot more than merely a collection of words I have issued forth to attract dust in the eternal bit bucket — they form links to conversations, friendships and life in general.
As I flipped through some of my old posts the last few days, I was reminded of fascinating conversations with my blogosphere friends that helped shape my thinking. I saw comments from old friends who quit blogging and have seemingly disappeared. Some of the posts were bittersweet to recall the circumstances behind their posting. Others were just simply fascinating. Still other posts are annoying for how wrongheaded they seem to me today.
In all, though, I think they show how blogging at least has the potential to paint a fascinating picture of one's life. Not because I have anything especially profound to say, but because blog posts generally are (and should be, I think) written in community, and thus they resemble a photo album or scrapbook.
