Tuesdays with Muerte

Tonight, I taught a group of BYU technologists how to use Photoshop to "touch up" images.  If I had tonight to do over again, here are five things I would have done very differently: I would have done a full run-through beforehand with real people. I would have called before arriving to confirm that someone would have been there to receive me. I would have taught my three main ideas up front, lightning fast (instead of staggering them haphazardly throughout the presentation). Photoshop is for COMBINING and ADJUSTING, not for CREATING. Use backwards design when planning out your final product. Don't be destructive. I would have dumbed it WAY down. Avoid sharing "my favorite tricks." If it's more than a three-click process, it's too much to retain. Show no more than two things per sitting. Then give them hands on practice, with coaching. I would have emailed them a list of resources and tutorials to view in preparation. Live an...

This delightful app  generated some deep poetry based on  words from my Facebook history (statuses, captions, comments, etc.). Let me know which ones "speak to you" in the comments below.  Batman is born, the gods flip a coin. ―Cersei Lannister If last night's snowfall were a valid form of U.S. currency... Thanks padres for coming down from Seattle for the Boy Who Knew Too bad, because it's a crappy site, and mice. I interviewed for a fauxstache. What are fun. Just won my first intramural tennis match in straight sets to Steve Jobs. Does anyone want to dunk astronauts under 2? Someone who works always generates a lot of water. There's no talking your way out of your way. FREE BACON! Boom, baby! I heard a cougar inside my wall.

Software Review I just used iMacsoft's iPod to Mac Transfer to move a playlist of songs (that I originally gave to Rick) back to my iTunes library (11.0.2) from a 4th Gen iPod Shuffle—and it worked great! This FREE, 12MB application can copy music, songs, video, rating, pictures, playlist, etc files from your iPod back to your Mac (or straight into iTunes) in only two intuitive clicks. I have scanned the .dmg file with McAfee virus scanner, and it is reported safe ; without any viruses or spyware. The free version of this software lets you move 100 songs at a time, while the paid version is without limitations. iPod to Mac Transfer  is perfect and powerful  Mac iPod transfer  software which makes it much easier to manage your iPod freely. It offers the function of iPod to Mac transfer of music, photo, video, movie, podcast and TV program. Besides file transfer from iPod to Mac, iPod to iTunes and  Mac to iPod transfer  are also available. Backup mu...

Which External Hard Drive? (Image Source ) It's time to purchase an external hard drive. Here are my needs: It must have USB 3.0 transfer speeds. It must be name brand, (preferably WD, Seagate or I-OMEGA). It must be under $150. *I'd like to purchase it from Costco.  Here are my wants: I want something large enough to hold all my other 1.5 TB of stored data so I can get rid of my other three 500GB, desktop hard drives. I want it to either be a  NAS (Network Attached Storage) , or wirelessly accessible.  That way multiple computers can read and write to it.  (e.g. I'd be able to stream media to my iPad from anywhere in the house.) I want it to be as inexpensive as possible. I couldn't find one hard drive that met all of my criteria.  So here are the three options that I like.  Each one is missing one of the aforementioned qualifications: WD My Book Live 2TB Personal Cloud Storage Drive  —Not a ton of space, nor is it really ch...

Infinity Blade  ($5.99 → Free, 595.2 MB) Journey to the Dark Citadel to battle powerful Titans and free your people from an endless legacy of darkness in this visually stunning combat game. Swipe across the screen to perform attacks, dodge blades, block hits, and cast devastating spells. As you make your way deeper into the castle realm, you’ll have a chance to upgrade your knight and collect new weapons and armor. The game includes gorgeous 3-D graphics powered by the Unreal engine, online multiplayer, and achievements and leaderboards via Game Center. Infinity Blade   is available for free for the next 7 days (Feb. 14 - 21, 2013). It has a 4.5-star rating with a total of 16500 ratings. This might be the GREATEST iOS game of all time! Do yourself a favor—clear some memory and dl this app asap.

Thanks, Mint.com , for keeping me abreast of my financial spending (which I believe consisted of only three purchases: BYU Tuition , Winter 2013 Rent,  Old Mill Condos  Food, Maceys grocery store

Image Source *2018 Edit: This info is OLD—like 2012—OLD! The steps have changed radically since then. If you're at Roots Tech and stumbled on this searching for a current walkthrough, I recommend searching, " LDS Family Search indexing ." If you want to get an idea for what it was like in 2012, read on… To get started with indexing, first download the indexing program, register, and sign in. This info was taken from the FamilySearch Indexing User Guide .  All users must now register and use a FamilySearch or LDS Account. With this new account, you use the same user name and password to sign in to several FamilySearch websites. For members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the LDS Account provides access to not only FamilySearch Web sites but also other Church websites.  On the FamilySearch indexing website  http://indexing.familysearch.org , click  Get Started .  Click  Download Now . If you have questions about the ...

Based on your responses to my previous post , I've decided to entitle my presentation: eMissionar y Work: Utilizing LDS Technologi es to Lead Friends to Christ (Part A) We will be addressing missionary-minded questions such as: How do I share inspirational thoughts with my friends who are having a hard time? How can I host a CES fireside viewing from my own home? How do plan to attend a church service while vacationing with non-member friends in Spain? How do I share the Book of Mormon with an acquaintance if I don't have a copy with me? How can I get the telephone number for the missionaries assigned to our ward? What is the most effective thing I can do, technology-wise, to invite people to know Christ? (Part B) I will attempt to answer any LDS-Church-technology-related questions you have. Here are some sample questions I'd love to respond to during the Q/A portion: How do I mark up my set of online scriptures? Where do I go to find the home tea...

What should I present for my 30-minute, MITE Night presentation this Thursday?  The audience will primarily be LDS, young single adults (ages 23-35).  There will also be some non-members in attendance.  The first 15 minutes will be the presentation portion. The last 15 minutes is reserved for Q/A.  The content will essentially be the same. Who should my message target?  Which presentation title should I use? LDS Technologies: What the heck are those people doing on their phones and tablets all lesson?! VERY basic overview of common mobile resources. Greatest emphasis on initially setting up an LDS account. Less aggressive demonstration of tools. No, "this is how you perform this task."  More like, "this tool exists." LDS Tools Gospel Library Mormon Channel (including Radio) Bible Videos Others LDS Technologies: Efficiently leading friends to Christ. Speaking directly to member missionaries. (Favorite.) Mormon Channel, sharing Maps to ...

Here is an excerpt from an online evaluation of a customer service call I made yesterday to inquire about the status of the internet outage at my house:  Based on this experience with CenturyLink's Customer Service, how likely is it that you would recommend CenturyLink to a family member, friend or colleague?  (required)   2 of 10 Please provide your reasons for your rating above.   My rep, RJ, was nice enough, but he was powerless to provide any real help.  The message communicated to me was, We're sorry. We're working on it.   (Which was probably true. Poor RJ probably didn't have any more information than that. However, if I wanted someone to comfort me, I would have called my mother.) At the time of the call, my apartment's internet service had been out for 72+ hours (that's over 3 days for those of you who are slow with arithmetic), which is ridiculous by any standard. The only information I could squeeze out the old RJ, my technical s...

Photo source:  Flicker Which Cell Phone Provider Offered My Family The Best Plan? This is a follow up  post from  yesterday's   Winner: Verizon's Share Everything family plan .  Most important to me:  p rice  & c ontract flexibility. Less Important to me:  superior quality and coverage . I f you have the patience, i t's worth your time to follow these steps exactly:   the most comprehensive cell phone plan purchasing walkthrough .  If not, here's the 3-step summary: The best thing you can do first is identify your usage for those three (data, voice, text) up to this point. ( Get an estimate .) Then ask yourself, what is the lowest quantity, in each category, I'd be willing to buy.  As I mentioned, nothing worthwhile exists for less than $30 for me as an individual.  If you're interested in the lowest-end service, PCMagazine identifies  10 super-inexpensive (but crummy) cell service providers ....

I've put a LOT of thought into this over the past few weeks.  Here's why choosing a Verizon's  Share Everything plan is the best option for each of the 5 of us: Everyone: Verizon is the best service provider (based on my collective research): Highest voice quality on calls. Best coverage for 4G network in the U.S. Best customer service. Simple Sharing Plan. Family plans  always cost less and offers more than individual plans . Here is the cost breakdown: Data plan: $40 for both Unlimited Text & Voice—EVERYONE, EVERYWHERE, ALL THE TIME! 4GB shared data for $80. This is where they bilk you if you're not careful!  (e.g. $40 for 1GB, $60 for 2 GB.) The more people on the plan, the less expensive it will become. (Assuming we all manage our data appropriately.) If we do happen to go over, it's only $15/1 GB we go over our allotted amount, which is still a great deal! Additional Costs: Add $40 for every smartphone you add to the plan ($6720...

Today, I made the terrible decision of which Apple laptop to purchase: The  13" Macbook Air , the  13" Macbook Pro , or the  15" Macbook Pro (Retina Display) .  I looked into WinOS laptops and none of them stood up to my choice. Air Pros: Light, forward thinking, fast-ish, less expensive ($1600), less guilt in 3 years when I want to upgrade. Cons: No ethernet port, no optical drive, slow for video and heavy graphic design, can't upgrade without voiding warranty. Pro Pros: Ethernet and optical drive in addition to legacy ports, slightly more powerful and upgradable than the Air Cons: Heavy, 2x more expensive (The one I want would be $3K.) Pro (Retina) Pros: Sexy beast! Most powerful laptop on the market. Most-stunning visual display. Cons: RIDICULOUSLY expensive! Specs not necessarily needed right now, but will be normal in 2-3 years. Only for people with money to burn. Click Image to Enlarge The Comparison The Air was cheap.  Inex...

On July 2, FamilySearch indexers and arbitrators from around the world joined together for 24 hours in what became a mind-boggling event in so many ways.   We passed the 5 million records goal in less than 16 hours and just kept going! Congratulations to the 46,091 indexers and arbitrators who participated in this historic event. Final Record Count: 7,258,151 Indexed 3,082,728 Arbitrated 10,340,879 Total