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There is some great artwork being created on the iPad. I wonder how digital art will change as a result of inputing information directly with your hands on a screen, rather than using a mouse or tablet. By eliminating the gap that exists mentally when controlling the cursor with a separate device maybe the art will feel more fluent or organic because the process more closely resembles brush to canvas or pencil to paper? Undoubtedly the way we interact with technology changes the way we think and create.

Today’s the day you can start pre-ordering the new iPhone. If you haven’t seen it, it’s not too shabby.

All of the iPhone’s recent buzz got me thinking about how much has changed in technology over the past 18-24 months, and how much it affects us on a daily basis. While there’s been some amazing advancements in technology during my lifetime, I wonder if we’ll look back on the past 2 years as something truly extraordinary.

Extraordinary and so life-changing because with social media now everywhere, and smart phones like the iPhone allowing us to do so much to connect with each other, our lives now revolve around a crazy number of people and one small device. Could we have even imagined a few short years ago that we would grow so dependent on knowing where our friends are, or what they are doing, reading and thinking at any given moment? And could we have imagined that we’d expect all that power to fit in our pocket?

What has this shift in expectations done to what we come to expect from one another?

Some new friends I met last week from the the 8BIT Network invited to me to do a guest post on the the ChurchCreate blog. We had just had a fantastic conversation about the way media is used in the church gatherings, and about how the sum total of really small choices makes a difference in how connected a group of people feels when they’re gathered.

Please read the article and check out the rest of 8BIT’s other sites. I’m planning on posting some follow-up thoughts here on iblogo sometime in the next few days.

One last thing … Thanks to all of the new readers of iblogo that stopped by the site for the first time during the the Orange Conference. If you haven’t already, consider following us on Twitter. It was great to meet so many of you and we’re looking forward to the conversations we’ll be having here over the next few weeks!

(video above from Adam McLane/YS)

There’s a great group of folks in Haiti right now, joining the many there seeking to bring hope, healing and relief. Following their tweets, Facebook status updates and blogs is truly heartbreaking and inspiring all at once.

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If you’re still trying to get caught up on LOST before tonight’s episode, this won’t help. Here’s a great video from Newsweek, with staff members who have never seen the show LOST attempting to explain what’s happening.

[WARNING: although they have no idea what they're talking about, the clips from the show do contain spoilers.]

This Wednesday at 1pm CST, we’re trying something. We’re going to host our first ever ustream meetup for MERGE, the student event we’re hosting this June.

We realize that plenty of folks are using ustream for all kinds of content delivery. We want to see how it works to gather a group of people to talk about MERGE, answer questions, and help connect leaders who are bringing groups.

If you’re a youth worker wanting to know more about what we do at MERGE, join us on Wednesday. If you’ve been to MERGE in the past, we’d also love to have you join us to share some of your experience with others.

And if you’re somebody who’d like to be with us in our first foray into this area of social media, we’d like that too!

See you Wednesday…

Sleep
Sleep tonight
And may your dreams
Be realized
If the thunder cloud
Passes rain
So let it rain
Rain down him
So let it be
So let it be

Technology Students Mess with Dormitory Lights – These bloopers are hilarious

I’m pretty sure the University of Wroclaw was founded by Germans, which may explain why they picked the Knight Rider theme song. This project seems simpler than some of the more elaborate building projections seen as of late, but is nonetheless mesmerizing to watch.

I just read an article entitled “Innovation Cultivation” by Larry Boatright. It is brilliant. I felt as though he was describing some of my story in this part:

I think a pretty dramatic shift is occurring regarding innovation and the church. For so long, the conversation has centered around the church creating a new program, ministry, or innovative initiative to meet needs. There’s been an unhealthy culture of dependence on the “professionals” to drive innovation. We find a need, we design a plan, we allocate funding and resources, find a leader, and move on to the next innovative task. But I think that’s changing. More and more followers of Jesus are heeding the call to make a difference, to demonstrate the love of Christ themselves rather than depending on the church to do it all. And this, honestly, sets pastors up to make a pretty dramatic shift as well.

So many pastors are simply exhausted from being the CEO of an organization that drives and creates innovation. They signed up to shepherd a people, to reach a community, but lay in bed at night feeling like they are pimping a product, trapped in a cycle that is dependent on their ability to create, create, create. What if pastors made a dramatic shift in the way they did things?

What if they shifted from being drivers of innovation to being cultivators of innovators.

I think the shift that he is suggesting is a critical and profound change (that is desperately needed) in the nature and role of leadership. As I’ve moved towards this type of leadership myself over the last several years, I have seen incredible things happen. I’ve seen people feel empowered and  move from being a consumer to a creator. The entire article is worth a few minutes of your time. I would love to hear your thoughts on this as well.

I’m a sucker for movie trailer mashups, and every time I think there’s nothing new to be done, somebody comes up with something else. The clip above is one of the first in a series of “Pre-Makes” using footage from vintage films to re-create iconic scenes from more modern films.

As with other mashups, I’m always in awe of not only the amount of creativity shown, but the amount of time spent!

(via EW.com / Collide)