This is an interesting article about why Apple is on the verge of releasing a stand-alone version of it's OS X operationg system as a plot to overthrow windows vista. Yeah, I think Apple is about to take over the home PC market. Too bad for Moneybags Gates .

[nt]

iPod
Apple
PhuseBox
retrospection[dot]net

This is a test for PhuseBox.

So, everyone should check out Matt Beard's PhuseBox. I think it is really cool that PhuseBox has a user that is blogging all the way from Kuwait. Truly amazing.



Keep up the good work, Matt.

[nt]

If you have a PhuseBox, you can now access your page by an easier URL address...

simply goto phusebox.net/user/yourusername

for example, mine would be http://phusebox.net/user/nathan

so instead of posting your link or going to http://phusebox.net/user/nathan you can goto http://phusebox.net/user/nathan.

So there you go, I am trying to make PhuseBox easier... I am still working on the new version. It is going to be awesome!

later.

[nt]

I like this quote by Steve Jobs:

"Be a yardstick of quality. Some people aren't used to an environment where excellence is expected." -Steve Jobs

photo from bonin4him

Rachael and I at Paint the Town last week... it was really awesome being able to serve along side her for a week. God is definitely faithful in our story.

[nt]

photo from nathan

I got bored.

So today, in leadership training, we had to come up with a clothing idea and create a website in 3 hours... so here is what we came up with... not bad for 3 hours.

CURRENT THREADS

[nt]

There is a PhuseBox for Paint the Town that has photos from the week. More photos will be added later!

http://phusebox.net/user/paint_the_town

[nt]

photo from nathan

So, after a full week of staying up until 5AM almost every night for Paint the Town, I was able to relax a little tonight. It was amazing.

Rachael and I were able to go on our first official date, and it was definitely a night I will never forget. The fact that Rachael just ended her year of not dating just added to this special event.

I decided to try to go all out for this date. However, I was in the Bronx all week and was not able to plan everything that I wanted to do for this date. I went ahead and got a personal car service, so at 7:00, we had a car pick us up from my building.

We went to eat at this little Italian place on West 14th Street called Primitivo Osteria. It was amazingly good. Rachael and I decided to tell our story to each other. This whole thing really seems like a script from a movie. We just sat there and talked about how God had worked in both of our lives to bring us together at this specific time and how faithful God has been through it all.

After dinner, we headed over to Cafe Lalo (the little cafe from "You've Got Mail")... We got dessert which consisted of keylime cheesecake for me and a simple chocolate chip cookie for the lady. However, we had to wait for our check for an eternity, but being with someone as great as her made it easier to wait.

Since I had only reserved the car service for two hours, we had to catch a cab back to my apartment. We then decided to walk across the Brooklyn Bridge. (Sorry Rachael for recommended that you take your high heels)... We paused to take SEVERAL photos on the bridge with the cityscape in the background (I have to document this night...)

We met up with Bethany and Matt and walked all the way to Brooklyn. After we caught the subway back, the four of us rested at my apartment before they went back up to the Bronx for the night.

All in all, it was one of the most memorable nights of my life and most definitely my favorite date of all time. I feel so blessed to be able to be with such a Godly woman. She never stops amazing me and my heart for her grows everyday.

I am thankful to God that He has been faithful to both of us as He has prepared us for this portion of our journey.

While tonight was great, my family (+ matt and rachael) are going back to Murfreesboro tomorrow afternoon. It has been great hanging out with them the past week... even though I was working most of the week.

Hopefully, I will get to spend some more time with them when I am in Murfreesboro in October.

I am going to bed... I have had 10 hours of sleep total in the past 3 days.

[FIRST DATE PHOTOS]

[nt]

I got a little break from Paint the Town (in the Bronx) today and got to come back to my apartment to work on some stuff. Anyways, just letting everyone know why I have not been posting and/or messaging back. I will try to get all this done after this weekend is over.

[nt]

I found this article interesting... it is kind of like a real true-life Minority Report/NUMB3RS event in NYC...

Computer helps predict time, place of Yonkers robbery

[nt]

Seriously, if you know what "1337" means, then you have to check this out! You will laugh. I guess this is Microsoft's version of "How to talk to your hacker son/daughter..."

anyways... now for the link. w00t!

A parent's primer to computer slang

This is why I never wear flip-flops.

So you want to know the truth about MySpace.com? Well shortly after FOX bought out MySpace.com yesterday, this article came out about MySpace.com's privacy policy.

Basically, if you do not want to read the full article, MySpace's privacy policy claims all information, photos, blog posts, etc. as assets to MySpace, meaning that yesterday, when FOX bought MySpace, they also bought the right to use whatever information you have placed on MySpace.com for whatever reason they see fit. Technically, they could sell your information, photos, etc. to anyone they want and they would be fully protected under the agreement. The privacy policy gives them the right to do whatever they want.

Also, it has been found that MySpace has many ties with companies that supply pop-up ads and spyware/adware that is automatically installed on user's systems without permission. Adware and spyware is one of the biggest problems facing internet users today, and MySpace is one of the largest websites on the internet.

If you ware interested in this and the story about how MySpace quieted a college student who researched the background of this company, visit this page to read the full article.

[nt]

Apple is coming in the backdoor for a multimedia monopoly built on the popularity of iTunes and its equally qualified white box companion. Many questioned Apple’s innovative spirit as they introduced the first iPod several years ago. After all, who would pay over $400 just to have a digital music player? Whatever Apple and head CEO, Steve Jobs did, it worked. Now, the iPod has become a cultural icon. Just step out on the sidewalks of any college campus or catch a ride on any major subway system in America and you can see the symbolic white headphones everywhere.

Now, with iTunes 4.9, podcasting has been thrust into the mainstream. Think of podcasting as radio for the iPod (or any MP3 player). Once subscribed to a podcast feed through iTunes, the software will automatically check for new episodes and then push them to your iPod whenever it is synced. Podcasting, a technology that has only existed for a couple years, was underground until now, characterized by almost college-raido-esque shows encoded in an MP3 format.

Now that Apple has realized the significance of this technology, Podcasting is here to stay. Companies like ABC, Disney, and CNN are jumping on board with their own podcasts available through the iTunes podcast directory, along with 4, 500 other podcast feeds. In the next few months, more traditional broadcast companies will jump on board with podcasting, delivering content in yet another form. Imagine waking up in the morning, grabbing your iPod, and listening to all the top news stories of the day on the way to work. Don’t like a story, just skip it and go right to the next segment.

So what is next? Now that Apple has conquered digital music distribution, digital music hardware, and now podcasting, what is next on their media domination list? Video. Apple is already bundling music videos with special featured albums, playable right in iTunes. Just this week, it is reported that Apple has been discussing the possibility of offering music videos for sale in the music store. Video is coming.

The backdoor that Apple is creating to the multimedia monopoly lies between podcasting and the recent addition of video support to iTunes. Apple is about to nail the coffin lid on all other digital media distributors, and possibly other digital media device manufacturers. The feeds that power the podcasting technology in iTunes not only support audio formats such as .MP3 and .ACC, but they also support .MOV, Apple’s Quicktime video format.

Once Apple releases the rumored video iPod, the clients that they have built through offering podcasting, such as ABC and CNN, will begin to start offering video segments pushed to the iPod with the same technology as podcasts. What does this mean? Within a few years, Apple will have an even greater market share by increasing the content and capabilities of the iPod. Apple’s online store will not only offer music, but also music videos and perhaps television shows. CNN headline news segments, sports highlights, and other short video content can be pushed to the iPod the same way podcasts are designed now, not to mention the possibility of eventually offering full feature-length movies.

This new video content perfectly explains Apple’s newly introduce H.264 video codec: highly compressible, yet extremely scalable. These videos need to be able to be compressed in size to minimize bandwidth and space issues. They also need to be scalable to allow for external connection to a larger display. Imagine taking your iPod to a friend’s house, connecting it to the television, and watching your favorite episode of Family Guy.

While other companies are trying to manufacture video devices without sufficient content and cell phone companies are trying to stream low quality video to tiny cell phones, Apple is coming in the backdoor, building a stable structure before expanding to other media markets. It is simply genius. Apple is in a position to become a major leader in the multimedia distribution industry.

See how popular you are compared to your other friends on AIM...

Sometimes I feel like even people that are in religious positions have gotten it wrong, missing the point of what Christianity is all about. This is a feeling pitted deep in my soul and I cannot even put it into words other than: they are missing the point. No, I am not perfect by any means, but I feel like I do have an understanding of what the goal should be. We should not value our church or ourselves by what we do or even how many people we cranked in on a Sunday morning. Our one goal should be to bring glory to God in EVERYTHING that we do.

Christianity has turned into a numbers game. Visit any church and scan the weekly bulletin. Amongst all of the announcements of upcoming events and the service order, you will more than likely find a record of how many people came into the doors of the church the previous week in addition to what was given monetarily. Churches almost pride themselves with these figures, thinking that if any of these numbers have increased, they have won that week.

Even the events are geared to get more people into the church. It is almost a game of manipulation, fueled by the simple pride of the decision-making members of the church. One more warm body in the pew on any given Sunday morning does not necessarily bring more glory to God. Do not get me wrong, it could, and God could use that to bring glory, but we should not gauge how we are doing by a simple numbered body.

I would rather have a church full of 25 people that are being discipled and that are yearning after the heart of God than 10,000 people that are simply acting out a religion with an empty heart.

Church has almost become a game based on points of attendance and levels of monetary value. Our work is never done and we should be building relationships with people, ministering to their needs, and pouring into people’s lives instead of counting the numbers.

Jesus never once boasted about how many people were at his last sermon or how many people he had healed the previous week. He was more interested in progressing his ministry to the people. His motivation was pure: to bring glory to God in everything that He did. Once we stop measuring ourselves by what we have “accomplished,” we can start to truly see the larger picture of God’s goals.

I have been working on the new PhuseBox version for most of the day (along with some random freelance work)... I have FINALLY been able to nail down a design for the home pages that I like.

It looks much more professional, yet still keeps its "sleek" feel. Also, there is more color, so it is not just boring white anymore. It looks much different, so when you log on soon to find a site that looks much different, that's how you will know that the new version is here.

I have also worked a little on better usability with photos (viewing, sharing, etc.)

-just an update!

[nt]