Yearly Archive:: 2012

Free Download: The Best of The Atlantic’s Technology Writing

Over the last two or three years, some of the best writing on technology to be found on the Internet has come from The Atlantic‘s technology section. Until the end of the year, they are giving away a 345 page ebook of the best posts of 2012 for free. Here’s their blurb: The Best Writing From

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This Christmas “Browser History” is the New “Shaking the Box”

I tried to muster a look of disapproval, but I couldn’t help but smile when my 4-year-old picked up a present, sized it up, shook it a few times, and proclaimed, “I fink it’s LEGOs!” Like father, like son, another generation is carrying on the tradition of trying to figure out what’s inside those beautifully wrapped boxes. But

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5 Human Experiences Modern Technology Makes Impossible

When a new technology arrives we tend to focus on what new things it makes possible, but a recent trip to Taco Cabana and another to an Apple store reminded me that of equal importance are the things technology makes impossible, or at least extremely uncommon. Below are five formerly everyday human experiences that modern

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Henri Nouwen on the Social Media Cycle

Reading through Henri Nouwen’s short work Out of Solitude the other day, I came across this wonderful quote that describes the constant temptation to define our worth in terms of what we’ve accomplished and the feedback we receive: When we start being too impressed by the results of our work, we slowly come to the erroneous

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When Jesus Creates

An Artisan I’ve long been fascintated by the Greek word tekton (literally artisan or craftsperson) which is translated “carpenter” in the gospels (Matthew 13:55, Mark 6:3) to describe the kind of work Joseph did, because it means as a little boy Jesus would have watched his earthly father creating which is theologically awesome since we believe all things were

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Of Cars, Community, and Church: Families vs. Facilities

A Counter-Cultural Choice The church community of which I am a part is coming up on its 50th anniversary this month, and it has been creating videos that are meant to represent the congregation as a whole. Some of them have been quite touching, but I was particularly struck by this past Sunday’s video because

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6 Tips for Handling a Perfect Storm of Internet Fame

Last week, three big websites referenced things I’ve worked on recently: Biola University launched it’s new Open Biola project and featured my lecture on its homepage of resources. Jeffrey Zeldman, one of the web’s leading designers, blogged about my MediaElement.js library. Outreach Magazine and other websites reported on my work to distribute 50,000 Arabic digital Bibles during

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In Awe of Flesh On Screens

I wrote a little piece for Mere Orthodoxy. It starts like this: Passing a row of large televisions at a bigbox store yesterday, I became aware that I was surrounded by images of human flesh. You can read the rest here: In Awe of Bodies

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Want to Rein in Social Media? Don’t Post about It!

Last fall, CNN posted an article which argued that if you tell people you are trying to lose weight, it can actually make it harder to succeed. Problems with Losing Weight There are certainly some great reasons to talk with a community about weight loss, diet, and exercise. Accountability and encouragement are really important, and yet some doctors

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H+: New Web Show about Posthumanism

I just noticed this preview for Bryan Singer’s new show called H+: The Digital Series which premiers online August 8th. Here’s the synopsis: A groundbreaking new series by acclaimed producer Bryan Singer, H+: The Digital Series takes viewers on a journey into an apocalyptic future where technology has begun to spiral out of control… a future

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