technology

1) Innovative approach to funding Pioneering Mission Efforts

As previously reported, Shane and Robby are developing a collaborative effort to generate funds for pioneering mission efforts through Solavei’s profit-sharing model. Monthly referral benefits start at $20/mo for three referrals and can grow beyond $1,000/mo as those referrals refer others. So this doesn’t have to become a second career. And one doesn’t have to subscribe to the service to earn such referral benefits, making it possible for a missionary to benefit substantially by finding just a few stateside friends who will subscribe and refer a few others. Through the end of October Solavei is offering a free SIM card for your own unlocked GSM phone ($30 value) and your first month’s service ($50 value). And those who subscribe three others by 10/31 get a second month free on top of the normal $20/mo plus $50 bonus. Those who respond to RobbyQButleratgmaildotcom from this Brigada entry will also generate support for one of our Team Expansion missionaries. And Robby can guide you in how you can ALSO generate support for your own favorite missionary. (And thanks to Robby for his support of Brigada!!!)

12) Keep an Eye Peeled for this New Technology

If you live in one of the 50 nations covered by this new international mobile hotspot, then you are one step closer to achieving a dream that many of us have been lifting up for some time! Ubiquitous internet. Let’s keep a close eye on this one and give feedback as we see it developing.

http://www.engadget.com/2012/10/03/tep-wireless-review-international-mobile-hotspot-internet/

(Thanks for the tip, Greg! Another reason I’m glad you work for the same organization that I do! You’re smart. :-) )

4) Automate Your OpenVPN Start-up –

If you’re like I am, you have grown a bit weary of typing in or copy-and-pasting in your user name and password for your OpenVPN. Granted — by automating this process, you’re giving away a slice of privacy. After all, if your laptop is active (and not password-protected in any way), and your VPN-related files are accessible, then you’ve not only given away your own private information, but also, potentially, sensitive files for your entire organization. So if you’re going to automate opening your OpenVPN, better secure your computer with an overall access password and never again leave it open on a table at your favorite coffee shop. So — having been forthright about the disclaimers, here’s an easy way to automate the opening of your configuration of OpenVPN:

 

http://www.brigada.org/automate-your-openvpn-opening

6) Mobile Ministry Forum Consultation Slated for November –

The dates are November 28-30, 2012 at Wycliffe in Orlando, Florida. It’s all about mobile phones. The Mobile Ministry Forum is a network of ministries converging around a common vision to see every unreached person given an opportunity to encounter Christ and His kingdom in a compelling, contextualized fashion through their personal mobile device by the end of 2020. This will be the 3rd Mobile Ministry Forum Consultation. It includes TED-style presentations, discussion, ministry field reports, workshop breakouts, and collaborative planning. To get more info and secure your place, go to

http://www.mobileministryforum.org/mmf-consultation-2012

3) In Search of a “Pray for our People Group” template –

Here’s a worker in sub-Saharan Africa, wondering if anyone has invented a “Please-pray-for-our-people-group” template. He writes, ” Our group of workers in sub-Saharan Africa is working with a Muslim people group and we have a number of different agencies from around the world all doing their own thing to bring the gospel to the people we have been called to. We would like to create a year-long prayer guide in which individuals and churches throughout the world can sign up to pray for various needs of the people group we work with. My question is simple. Has anyone set up a template that can be used for virtually any people group? We would need to be security-conscious, of course, so can’t reveal a lot of details in regards to those in charge.” If you know of something along these lines, please click below in “Comments” and let us know. Thanks in advance.

5) Get Equipped to Fight Pornography — for free! –

In a world where there are 68 million searches for pornography every day and where over 70 percent of Christian men report viewing porn in the last year, it’s no surprise that more and more men struggle with pornography. How can you or your organization get equipped to battle it?  Thomas Nelson Publishing is giving away (as in free…no strings attached!) 25,000 digital copies of Surfing for God, by Michael John Cusick, founder of Restoring the Soul. To download the free book just click on this link below, then share the link with someone else (first come first served so download early).

 

http://www.NelsonFree.com/surfingforgod

 

If you know someone deep in this battle, please pass along this weapon.

10) How to see a Graphical Picture of the Space on your Hard Drive –

There are several programs purporting to help you clean up your hard drive, starting with the most visible and fatso culprits first. The best program I’ve found for the Windows platform is

 

http://windirstat.info/

 

I like it because it not only shows you the picture, but also gives you options for deleting the mongo files directly within the software. Highly recommended — and free, as well.

12) The Backpage: Back Up, Sync, And/Or Share Files Securely –

I asked Greg, our I.T. guy at Team Expansion, if he had any good recommendations for sharing files securely across the miles. Without hesitation, he referred me to SpiderOak…

 

http://www.SpiderOak.com

 

After trying it out, I can see why. It’s the simplest, most secure file-sharing solution I’ve ever seen. What’s more, you can also use it like Dropbox, only it’s more secure than that as well. (Dropbox doesn’t give you https: secure sockets encryption; SpiderOak does.) When I say “use it like Dropbox,” I mean — you and your teammate can keep file “in sync” across the miles, transparently and without delay. Finally, if you’ve heard of those online backup services like Carbonite, it’ll work for that too. Amazing. Give it a try. No referral fee here. Just one beggar telling another where to find bread. This is such a great find, we’re currently studying it to see if it would work as a full-out document-sharing solution for our entire organization, too. It was such a promising find, we thought it was worth mentioning here in the Back Page. Try it. It’ll surprise you.

3) Want to Support Brigada while Protecting Your Computer?

a) If you and the computer you want to protect reside in the US, UK, Canada, Australia or New Zealand, and, b) You’d like to protect up your files for a very reasonable monthly fee, and, c) You’d like to know that in the process you’re supporting Brigada with a $10 donation in the process, then visit this link:

http://soulfriend.org/to/helpout.html

The organizers wrote, “All transactions coded by that link will help pay for our church’s missions trip and let us donate $10 to your favorite email newsletter! (Brigada of course!)” [blush] :-)

8) Need a Digital Signage Appliance? Try This one

Got access to one of those 42″ flat-screen video monitors? Let me guess: You’d love to use it for a digital sign, but you can’t stand the thought of sacrificing a full-on laptop to run it. What’s more, you’re thinking that Powerpoint would look a bit simplistic flashing on it. Right? Fret no more. Check out this unit:

http://www.mvixdigitalsignage.com/products/networkable-digital-signage-playe r/

(Note: This last link will “wrap.” If you have trouble copying it and pasting it into your browser, just log on to Brigada today online and find this same item posted there. We’ll make sure the link works on our site. Thanks.)

It’s affordable ($359), compact, and easily customized over the web. Try it: You just might decide there’s hope for your digital billboard after all.

9) Yammer: We’re lovin’ it –

If you haven’t already given it a try, you might be surprised how much you and your team will like it. Just browse to…

 

http://www.yammer.com

 

Fill out the brief form so that your domain is recognized, then start inviting people on board. Believe it or not, the entire service is free and encrypted. It’s kind of like Facebook for an individual work group or company, except there are no ads and none of those annoying “apps.” In fact, there isn’t anyone else permitted in your group — except for those who have your same domain. Recently, Microsoft bought it, claiming they wanted it as an alternative to Bridges. They COULD build the technology info something like Office or SharePoint, then shut down Yammer, but it seems unlikely they would do so until we try it. :-)

We’ll leave the light on for you. Oh — it accommodates Apple products too… iPhones, iPads, and more. Anything with a browser will work. Try it. Your team might like it.

10) Out with Powerpoint and Keynote; In with Prezi –

My son is working on a Ph.D. program at Harvard. He says Powerpoint is “soooo nineties” now. :-) “Everybody is moving to Prezi.com,” he says. Now first of all, please remember: He’s like 25 or so. Your mileage might vary. But the truth is, it IS a compelling solution for doing a presentation. Allow some time though. It’ll take you a while to understand how much cooler it is than your favorite presenter software.

 

http://www.prezi.com

 

The price? It’s free. You can pay a small fee to get some premium features. But you don’t have to.

7) Try Using Signup Genius for Your Online Signups –

See an example at…

 

http://www.signupgenius.com/go/30E0E49A4A62AAB9-light

 

This is a sample online sign-up form for a prayer initiative we’re staging in August at the church in which I serve as Missions Committee Chairman. SignUp Genius made it relatively easy to prepare an online location for collecting all the names and data we needed to stage the event. It’s free (well, ad-supported), but I was able to “buy out” the ad for a very small sum.

 

 

9) Do You Still Use the World Christian Database? Tell Why –

If you’re still using the World Christian Database at…

 

http://worldchristiandatabase.org/wcd/

 

please tell us why. With all the free information throughout the web, can you tell us what’s special at this site? (I’m usually scared away by sites that won’t tell me how much they’re going to ask. Would you mind telling how much you pay for your subscription? Thanks in advance.)

 

 

9) Phrase Express Will Almost Write Your Emails for You —

I’m a long-term ClipMate user. Find Clipmate at…

 

http://www.thornsoft.com/

 

It’s basically a clipboard extender. You can easily see the last few versions of your clipboard (actually, you can see dozens and dozens past versions). You can also drag-and-drop those versions into other folders or “safer” holding tanks. You can also automate the paste process so that it pastes these versions, one at a time, or as a group. It’s like nothing I’ve ever seen for making a clipboard truly useful. Microsoft’s built-in clipboard manager (in some versions of Office) attempted to mimic it but fell way short. I always immediately disconnect Microsoft’s version in favor of Clipmate — every time.

 

But recently, I’ve added yet another, similar-yet-different utility called Phrase Express:

 

http://www.phraseexpress.com/

 

You can use PhraseExpress for free if you use it for home or personal use only. (If you use it in a job for which you are paid, even if you work primarily for a non-profit or church, it’s still priced at a reasonable $49. See the definition at:

 

http://www.phraseexpress.com/freeware.htm#def

 

so my conscience prompted me to fork over the $49. I use it all the time in the job for which I’m paid — and also for Brigada.)

 

You can always try before you buy. Phrase Express helps you, in its simplest form, to create snippets or templates. These could be blocks of text you always paste into emails or letters, or URL’s to which you commonly refer your contacts. They could be phone numbers or addresses. Phrase Express can try to automate this process, by watching your natural language. (That method didn’t seem foolproof enough for me to use.) Alternatively, you can use a quick applet in the system tray with branching quick-draw-mcGraw-type folders to rapidly pump out the text snippets. Either way, it’s well-worth the $49. (On my current laptop, Phrase Express has already reportedly already saved me $70. That figure is calculated by Phrase Express automatically, by the way, based on your usage patterns.)

 

So try it. You’ll likely never look back… except to gloat over the time you’ve saved. Maybe you’ll finally be so happy, you’ll take a break now and then! :-)

10) Need to Keep Track of Numbers for Your Group? Try this –

The URL is…

 

http://www.smartsheet.com

 

It’s like a spreadsheet, but smarter. You can manage projects, collaborate, help each other compile reports, and much more — and it’s all quite affordable and quick. There’s a bit of a learning curve, but only if you want to use the bells and whistles. If you just want to contribute and track numbers together, Bam — it’s easy. For $16/month, you get one creator, unlimited users, and 10 different spreadsheets. The price goes up as you add spreadsheets or creators.

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