The Techie's Toolbox

I love the technology of communication because it is always changing. I know, for some people, that’s exactly why they do not like technology. But I feel that technology keeps us growing, keeps our minds sharp and allows us to communicate in more efficient ways than ever before. Think about it,without technology, we could still be riding horses to deliver the mail by Pony Express. A simpler-slower life, yes; a better life, only you can judge.

With that in mind, I was checking out some of the latest web tools that are out there for communicating. Seeing what’s hot. Applications and tools that maybe you’ve heard of, maybe you haven’t. But all definitely worth checking out. So here is a look at what should be in everyone’s Tech Communication Toolbox (as defined by Wikipedia).

Facebook is a free-access social networking website. Users can join networks organized by city, workplace, school, and region to connect and interact with other people (Wikipedia). This is the place to be these days. I recently found one of my best friends from grade school who I had not seen nor talked to in 29 years. Guess what? He’s an associate pastor. CLAMEDIA has a Facebook page.

TWITTER is a social networking and micro-blogging service that allows its users to send and read other users' updates (otherwise known as tweets), which are text-based posts of up to 140 characters in length (Wikipedia). This is a handy application for those on the go with a knack for texting on their cell phones.

GOOGLE READER is a Web-based aggregator, capable of reading Atom and RSS feeds online or offline (Wikipedia). You can customize your pages and feeds. I currently have mine with News(8 feeds), Sports(10 feeds), Entertainment(12 feeds), Personal Growth(12 feeds), Church Technology(13 feeds), Comics(6 feeds), Adoption(6 feeds), and Travel(5 feeds).

SKYPE is software that allows users to make telephone calls over the Internet. Calls to other users of the service and to free-of-charge numbers are free, while calls to other landlines and mobile phones can be made for a fee. Additional features include instant messaging, file transfer and video conferencing (Wikipedia). My wife and I used this service to have video conference calls with our family while we were in Vietnam. Our parents could see their new grandchild for the first time, and hear her cry.

TOKBOX is a startup providing free video calling, video conferencing and instant messaging services through an online application, similar to Skype. Tokbox also allows users to create video posts, similar to text-based Twitter, that can be embedded on other web sites. The user can allow TokBox to access a buddy list from popular instant message programs (Wikipedia). Last night I participated in a 22 person video conference call with Media/Tech Directors from around the country. All were talking and praying together on the same topics and requests.

MeeBo is an Ajax-based in-browser instant messaging program which supports multiple IM services, including Yahoo! Messenger, .NET Messenger Service, Google Talk, AIM, ICQ, MySpaceIM, Facebook Chat and Jabber. This is invaluable if you do a bit of texting and not everyone is on the same messaging program.

Don’t understand all the terminology. Do a Google search or check out Wikipedia. These are just a few terms that are already commonplace in the 21st century.

So there you have it. The must have applications for February 2009. The good news is, they probably won’t be the must have applications for 2010. So start learning now, and see how technology changes.