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Five things I took from the 2010 CITRT

October 26, 2010 in Church IT, citrt with 3 Comments

Anytime I go to a conference, training, meeting, pretty much anything I try to look back on it and figure out what I took from it.  While it’s not always specifically about what I got but key learning points, bits of info, people I met, etc.  So here’s a look at 5 things I took from today’s Church IT Roundtable:

  1. While we do IT it’s not about the technology it’s about the people
  2. We are not alone in this, there are other guys and ladies that have had the exact same problems we’re having right now.  Just for the fall 2010 Roundtables there were 179 people (last count I heard) that all want to see each other succeed and came to meet with others to prove it.  Remember that even if you are a “1 man shop” your team is out here rooting you on.  Find another local Church IT person(s) and meet regularly with them over the phone, over lunch, however you need to, and use them to vent, to pray, and to encourage.
  3. You can’t please everyone all the time, and that’s okay.  Along with that it’s okay and healthy to say “no” because somethings can’t be done because of time, budget, manpower, etc.
  4. Every platform, OS, phone, etc, etc, etc will not fit every person, ministry, or church, we have to know the environment of who we are working with and where we are working at to know what the “best fit” will be, it won’t be perfect because they were all created by people, but when we take the time to match the real “needs” and not listen to what everyone “wants” we’ll empower people to do the most ministry.
  5. While we do IT it’s not about the technology it’s about the people. (Yes, I put that twice on purpose)

Also check out Andrew’s highlights from the Fall DC CITRT Meeting

I’d be interested to hear some of your insights!

Favicons made easy

October 25, 2010 in Church IT, citrt, free, Technology with Comments Off

I used to find it to be a chore to create a favicon for my websites, but the last time I did a google search I found http://www.favicon.cc/ which allows for the easy creation of a favicon either pixel by pixel or by the upload of an image.  After that it’s a simple download and then upload to your hosting.

Wondering why to use a favicon, what it is, and more: (From Wikipedia)

A favicon (short for favorites icon), also known as a shortcut icon, website icon, URL icon, or bookmark icon is a 16×16 or 32×32 pixel square iconassociated with a particular website or webpage.[1] A web designer can create such an icon and install it into a website (or webpage) by several means, and most graphical web browsers will then make use of it. Browsers that provide favicon support typically display a page’s favicon in the browser’s address barand next to the page’s name in a list of bookmarks. Browsers that support a tabbed document interface typically show a page’s favicon next to the page’s title on the tab. Some programs allow the user to select an icon of their own from the hard drive and associate it with a website.

Adding Google Apps account Sync to Apple iPad

July 13, 2010 in Apple, Church IT, citrt, google, Technology with 1 Comment

It’s true I recently got the Apple iPad to use as another communication and connection device when away from the office or home.  While I’m still learning the different apps I’ll want to complete the different tasks I do, obviously one of the main things I want to easily access is my contacts and calendar.  I went through and added my account on the ipad using the GMail button as we use GApps.  It loaded email just fine but my calendar and contacts did not work.  After some further googleing and searching I found and did the following which allowed me to properly do a Google Apps sync on my iPad (instructions i found said Apple device so I assume this will work as well for iphones and touches though I only did on ipad). This is all found on Google’s site on a couple different pages but I want to make sure it was easily found the next time I needed it.

All instructions found on Google’s Support site:

Mail, Calendar, & Contacts:

Set Up Your Apple Device for Google Sync

If your business, school, or organization uses Google Apps, your administrator will first need to enable Google Sync before you can take advantage of this feature.

1. Open the Settings application on your device’s home screen.
2. Open Mail, Contacts, Calendars.
3. Tap Add Account….
4. Select Microsoft Exchange. Yes, choose this even if you are not using Exchange

settings mail calendar contacts on iphone add mail calendar contacts account on iphone microsoft exchange

Enter Account Info

5. In the Email field, enter your full Google Account email address. If you use an @googlemail.com address, you may see an “Unable to verify certificate” warning when you proceed to the next step.
6. Leave the Domain field blank.
7. Enter your full Google Account email address as the Username.
8. Enter your Google Account password as the Password.
9. Tap Next at the top of your screen.
9a. Choose Cancel if the Unable to Verify Certificate dialog appears.
10. When the new Server field appears, enter m.google.com.
11. Press Next at the top of your screen again.

exchange domain exchange server

12. Select the Google services (Mail, Calendar, and Contacts) you want to sync.

13. Unless you want to delete all the existing Contacts and Calendars on your phone, select the Keep on my iPhone option when prompted. This will also allow you to keep syncing with your computer via iTunes.

If you want to sync only the My Contacts group, you must choose to Delete Existing Contacts during the Google Sync install when prompted. If you choose to keep existing contacts, it will sync the contents of the “All Contacts” group instead. If there are no contacts on your phone, the latter will happen — the contents of your All Contacts group will be synced.

iphone exchange mail calendars contacts exchange keep on my iphone

You’ve set up Google Sync! Synchronization will begin automatically if you have Push enabled on your device. You can also open the Mail, Calendar or Contacts app and wait a few seconds to start a sync.

Choosing Which Calendars to Sync

  • Open the Safari browser on your phone and go to http://m.google.com
  • Click on Google Apps user? at the bottom of the screen.
  • Enter your domain name (e.g., YourDomain.com).
  • Click the Sync icon in your domain area (this section has a green background).
  • Sign in if required.
  • Select your device to configure Calendars.

    • Thanks Technology

    January 25, 2010 in citrt, Technology with Comments Off

    I stole this from a long slew of people who had posted it before me, so it must be good.  Before RSS I would actually have had to go to someone’s blog to have seen this, Thanks Technology!

    Thanks Technology from John on Vimeo.

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