troy austian | blog

GrandCentral: Acquired by Google

It seems that Google is buying everything.  Well, everything good.  They seem to have a good, forward-thinking understanding of the market and of where things are headed with web-based and mobile technologies.  Those are two huge technology arenas that are blending in many ways, and there's great opportunity in the integration of those technologies.  Google really seems to get this, and it definitely shows in their developments, partnerships, and acquisitions.  They seem to be very strategic in their approach, and certainly looking toward the future as they continue to develop their offerings and expand their very successful empire...in the course of which they're certainly not afraid to just buy something they like.

This was the case with Google's acquisition of GrandCentral Communications and their product, GrandCentral.  I learned about GrandCentral because Google bought them, and because of friend of mine uses the service.  GrandCentral's functionality is pretty slick and can be a great value to those who make use of it.  GrandCentral provides a web-based voice communications platform that helps you manage all your phones and phone numbers through one simple interface. You get a single phone number that forwards to all of your phones, a number that's not tied to a phone or location but tied to you, giving you one number for life.  You can be reached with that single number, answer a call at any phone you want, seamlessly switch phones in the middle of a call, and even know whether a call is important before you take it.  Their features include the ability to:

• Check your messages by phone, email, or online
• Keep all your messages online for eternity
• Record and store your phone calls (just like voicemail)
• Quickly (and secretly) block an annoying caller
• Click-to-dial from your address book
• Surprise your callers with a custom voicemail greeting
• Forward, download, and add notes to your messages

Google acquired GrandCentral Communications because its communications services fit into Google's mission to organize the world's information and to provide services and features that enhance the collaborative exchange of information between users.  The service is still in beta (a testing stage, not full production).  While I don't know Google's long-term plans for it, GrandCentral is currently inviting a limited number of users to beta test their service. If it interests you, you can sign up for an invitation here.

Listen to My Blog

I just added the Odiogo voice reader to my blog.  Just click the "listen now" icon under the title to listen to any of my posts...and let me know what you think.  One practical benefit of this is that you can subscribe to the audio feed with iTunes as well as Juice and quite a number of web readers, so you can easily get the audio version on your iPod so you can listen to it on the go.  If you like, you can also download audio versions of individual blog posts in MP3 format for your computer or MP3 player.  (Note that it's a computer voice, not mine, which is kinda weird while kinda cool.  Also, it's newly added, so I don't know if it'll be all or only the most recently of my blog posts that'll be available with Odiogo.)  Try it out and let me know what you think.

Blogs Held Up by Technical Problems

My most recent posts experienced a technical problem with TypePad Mobile and were all garbled.  I enter many of my blogs with the TypePad Mobile client on my Treo.  TypePad knows about the issue and assures me they're working on it.  I'm awaiting a resolution and remedying of the affected blog entries, which I hope can be up soon.  Thanks for you patience!

"Backblog"

I'd like to invent a new term.  Yes, you heard it here first!  A new development in technical jargon!  I didn't want to just resume blogging today after not posting since November 20, 2006.  I wanted to give something more to those of you who've been lovingly hassling me...which I actually appreciate and enjoy.  (Just don't tell anyone, because if I wanted people to know, I wouldn't post it here.  :-|  Huh?)  So here's the payoff!  I shall backblog!!!

Just so you don't think I'm being arbitrary and just trying to cover my blogging lapse with a cloud of colorful smoke, let me offer some linguistic background (i.e., the cloud of colorful smoke).  The term blog was derived from web log, which became weblog, which became simply blog.  (Eventually all technical words will be totally combined and integrated until we have no need for spaces...except to arrange the text into pretty pictures.)  A backlog is "an accumulation, especially of unfinished work."  And SO...  Well, you get the picture.  So when you've developed a backblog, you have some backblogging to do.  And you go about this by creating the entries, and then setting the time stamp to the date when the blog was intended.  (Magically, it no longer appears that there was a lapse in the blog...though those who check regularly know better.)

I am certainly not the first to have developed a backblog.  Nor am I the first to engage in backblogging.  Nor, let me just be clear, is it illegal.  I did search dictionary.com and did not find an entry for these terms, so I may truly have invented them first.  So please begin using them whenever you can fit them into your everyday conversations.  You're in on the ground floor!

So, moving on with the tangible application of this innovative linguistic development (What a great time to be alive!)... You'll find that November 20 is no longer my last entry of 2006.  Magically, through the power of backblogging, there are now other entries!  How did you all miss them before???  I don't know!

New Online Bible Website

There's a new online Bible website that recently went live. It's eBible.com. I had received a beta test login for it before it was public, but now it's open to everyone, and I think it's worth checking out.  It has a nice, simple look and some cool features.  It has three main sections: use the Bible, understand the Bible, and share the Bible.  It allows for searches by keyword/topic and by particular Scripture passage, and it's a very nice site for reading the Bible online.  It has 6 versions of the Bible available for free, far fewer than some other sites, but these do include some modern versions like the New King James, the Message, and the New Century Version.  It is missing some that I'd like to see, such as the New Living Translation (NLT) and the New International Version (NIV).  Try it out, especially for just reading the Bible online, and let me know what you think!

I've got to mention my favorite online Bible site, and one we use a lot at RVC, which is BibleGateway.com. This site isn't quite as pretty as the new eBible site, but it has a whopping 21 English versions of the Bible!  And this does include the New International Version (NIV) and the New Living Translation (NLT), which I love.  It also has 8 Spanish versions, plus versions in Korean, Slovak, Swahili, Thai, Russian, Japanese, etc.  There's over 80 versions in all, spanning over 40 languages!  It has a really good search engine, by keyword/topic and by specific Scripture passage, a topical index, and some available commentary.  (There's also a place where you can click to make a donation if you'd like to support it.)  This really is a great site, and we use it a lot.

Don't Click It!

How do you feel about your mouse button?  What if you didn't have to click it to navigate a web site?  Check out this really interesting site and tool around a bit!

www.dontclick.it

Let me know what you think about the click-less experience! ...though you'll have to click on 'Comments' below in order to do so.

Blogger's Blogs

Well, even though I've had a big lapse in my blogging (Sorry about that!), I have been continuing to read other blogs.  I thought I'd start sharing some of them with you.  I'll highlight just a few today...

I, of course, read the blogs of the other RVC pastors!  I spend hours every week with these guys, and still enjoy reading what they share in their blogs.  We've got a great team!  (You can find links to their blogs in the left column of this page.)

I've found Jason Powell's blog interesting and informative.  He's the IT director at Granger Community Church in Indiana -- a great church.  Among other things, I learned from their experience in implementing Fellowship One, the new church management software (CMS) solution that we just went live with at RVC earlier this year.

One blog I read regularly is by a guy named Adam Cleaveland.  I don't know him, but I ran across his blog in some of my other readings, and have really enjoyed it.  He's a student at Princeton Theological Seminary who describes himself as a progressive emergent Presbyterian.  The tag line for his blog, called POMOMUSINGS, is "journeying towards an open and progressive theology".  It includes everyday life stuff, even class notes, and some wonderfully thought-provoking writing on Christian issues.

If you're interested in a circular table saw that stops itself if you touch it with your finger, or underwater goggles with a built-in underwater MP3 player, or a micro screwdriver and microbit set, or if you need a pen that folds flat enough to slip into your wallet, you may enjoy checking out Cool Tools.  It's basically about extraordinary, little known, or otherwise particularly cool tools, gadgets, and resources.  I check it out periodically and run across some interesting stuff.

I had been reading The Leadership Blog by Josh Sargent until he just recently decided to take some time of to "get a few other projects done".  He's posted a number of interviews with notable pastors and leaders, as well as references to leadership resources.

So, I have a question for you... What are some of YOUR favorite blogs?  Please click 'Comments' below to let me know.

All 7 RVC Pastors Are Bloggers!

One of the things I did in the last week of 2005 was set up a new blog site for Pastor Rob, after which I did the same for all of the other RVC pastors.  As each of us has gotten oriented and started our lives as bloggers, I've linked our blog sites to the pastoral staff page of our church web site.  I'm very pleased to announce that as of yesterday, the final member of our pastoral staff posted his first blog! ...and so, all of the pastors at RVC are now bloggers!

Pastor Rob led the way, beginning his blog in February 2005, and now the rest of us will weigh in, hopefully offering you an even larger and more diverse look into RVC and the lives of the guys fortunate enough to be your pastors!