We’ve been using Twitterfeed for sometime here on BeDeviant.com to automate blog posts. If you haven’t implemented an “auto-content” strategy, you should consider using Twitterfeed, as they just added a ton of new, helpful features.

First off, Twitterfeed makes it super easy to sign up for the service. With OpenID and Google Accounts as an option to sign in, you don’t need to create yet another log-in for your budding social media addiction.

Second, they’ve made it easy to integrate your blog feed with your Facebook account. Twitterfeed will post your blog to your wall and if you’re an admin for a fan page, there’s even an option where you can post content to the page. (We use this option for the BeDeviant.com fan page. Have you joined yet?)

Of course, Twitterfeed has a plethora of customizable options to make your posts show up as frequently (or infrequently) as you want. You can filter by keyword, add a prefix or suffix (convenient for the selective Twitter status app on Facebook), and add info from your Google Analytics account for real-time tracking. Here’s a snap shot of of what our set-up looks like.

Over all, Twitterfeed has gone through a substantial upgrade–if not on the front end of things, most certainly on the back end. There was a time where Twitterfeed was more trouble than it was worth. Not so anymore. This service is worth a go for any blogger or business that wants an easy and hassle-free avenue to seed content.

I’ve enjoyed using Evernote immensely. It helps me stay connected to my “stuff” no matter where I am: Laptop, iPhone, other computer, wherever.

One of the main ways I use Evernote is to keep track of pesky receipts for work. I’ve set up a work flow involving my iPhone camera, JotNot and Evernote that has worked pretty well. Snap, scan, send, file in appropriate notebook in Evernote. Easy.

I recently discovered a new way to bypass the process when purchasing items online: The secret Evernote email address. If you have an Evernote account, you already have one of these email addresses and I’m going to show you how to use it to get receipts (or anything else, for that matter) sent straight to your Evernote account.

First, you need to go to your Evernote web account, log in, and click on settings:

Next, navigate down to the lower right hand corner of the page and look for something that looks like this:

That’s the email address you’ll want to use to get stuff sent to your Evernote. I’ve blocked out the “secret” part of my email address, yours obviously won’t have a giant, green bar across it. I tested this out with my most recent purchase from Apple (Snow Leopard!) and can assure you it works like a charm. Here’s the proof:

So find your secret email address and start using it:

• Email yourself receipts from web purchases.
• Email pictures to your Evernote account to mimmick a MobileMe account.
• Email notes to yourself or portions of emails that you get on your iPhone.

This is just another powerful tool in the arsenal of Evernote. Check it out and get started with your own, personal info cloud.

This is a video of Steve Ballmer, CEO of Microsoft, discussing Apple’s unveiling of the iPhone back in 2008. Watch, then discuss:

I almost can’t help but feel bad for ol’ Steve (Windows Steve, not Apple Steve). Here’s a man who truly believes in his product, yet is directing a company that is clearly missing the “it” factor.

Need some proof? Ballmer’s own words:

In six months [Apple] will have the most expensive phone by far in the marketplace, and, let’s see! Let’s see how the competition goes.

I wonder if he’s still wanting to “see” how the competition is going. The iPhone doubled it’s market share in the first quarter of 2009, a jump that heretofore has been unheard of. The iPhone has busted the doors off the mobile device market, so much so that competitors are being forced to copy in order to survive.

Ballmer is right: The iPhone is one of the most expensive mobile devices on the market today. My question is this: Why does cost not matter to consumers when it comes to the iPhone? What does it have that other competing products do not?

In preparation for a sermonette I’m giving later today, here’s a quick peek into how the iPhone is like the Bible.

1. Practical. The iPhone has thousands of practical uses: Find your way through a city; rent a movie from RedBox; check your bank balance; get a quote for an oil change. The Bible is practical as well–profoundly so: Don’t go in debt; work hard;

2. Artistic. From a visual standpoint, the iPhone is gorgeous. Curves in all the right places, a beautiful UI, and an OS that is second-to-none. The Bible, of course, is primarily a work of art. Did you know that? When comparing poetry to prose, most of the Bible is a poem! How wonderful. The literary rhythm of Scripture

3. Simple. The iPhone is so appealing because it is, in a word, simple. It has one button to get you to the places you need to go. Everything comes up on one screen. It is delightfully easy to use. The Bible is also simple. Very simple: God created. Jesus wept. God loved the world. All things will be made new. Dead simple.

So there you have it. Some of the reasons why the iPhone is like the Bible.

I know it’s not a new service, but Evernote is kickin’ it up a notch lately. If you’re unfamiliar with Evernote, it is billed as a cloud app that allows you to “remember everything.” It may not get everything, but it gets pretty darn close.

I just started using the “email to Evernote” feature (which is under “Settings” in case you don’t want to spend 20 minutes looking for it like I did!) which gives me a unique email address to send notes to. For instance, I just emailed a PayPal receipt to Evernote from my iPhone (they have a sweet iPhone app). It converts it to a PDF and zaps it to my Evernote account, nice and neat like.

I use Evernote for:

• Receipts. Evernote has OCR built into it, so I can snap a quick photo of a receipt with my iPhone, send it to Evernote, and search for it later. I also rely heavily on the tag feature to find receipts for end-of-the-month statements at work.
• Blog Fodder. Find something you read or watched online that you really like? Use Evernote’s web clipper to save it for later to include in a blog post.
• Note taking. I found myself needing to take notes while in front of a computer that was not mine. Enter Evernote. I logged onto my web account, pounded out my notes, synced up with the cloud server, and there they were when I needed them. Mobile computing, baby.

Evernote has a lot more uses than that. Sign up for an account and start playing around with it. The future is mobility and Evernote is way ahead of the game. Don’t say I never gave you anything! If you don’t know, now you know…

If you’re an Evernote user, how do you utilize it?

I hopped into a conversation on FriendFeed started by Tony Steward yesterday and it got me thinking.

Tony asked the question,

What technology and insights are you most excited about in the church world right now?

I had a few things to add, mostly regarding the iPhone. I thought I’d expound a bit on some of them and see what you all think. I realize that most of these are currently completely unfeasible, but a geek can dream, can’t he?

1. Let me embed hyperlinks into my Keynote slides (or PowerPoint, for you Windoze users) that beams the Scripture references I am using to web-enabled cell phones automatically over WiFi. This could, essentially, eliminate the “I forgot my Bible at home” syndrome, and would allow me as the communicator to pick one translation so everyone can be on the same page, literally.

2. Open up a web-based communication channel that would allow me, as communicator, to see real-time feedback from the audience on my iPhone. It would need to be “closed” and identity-based to allow some accountability.

3. “What song did the band play tonight? It was that one song… You know, with the chorus and the guitar? That one.” Ever heard that as a ministry or worship leader? What if you provide a real-time tracking system for your worship songs that allowed iPhone users to be notified of each song played at your service and a link to iTunes to download immediately? If one were so inclined, you could have the entire night’s worship set in your iPhone before you leave the church.

4. Give me an app that generates tag clouds of the preachers and teachers I am listening to. Type in their name (or build voice-recognition into the app so it can automatically identify who it is you are listening to) and the app goes to work, collecting tags about the speaker from Amazon reviews, blogs, Twitter, etc.

This is “Web4” type stuff, requiring data that can “sense and react” to the real-world environment around us. It’s possible, just not right now. Ask Seth Godin–he knows.

So let’s continue to conversation that Tony started, right here. What technology and insights are you most excited about in the church world?

Yes.

The Matrix is my most favorite movie ever. When it came out, I was a freshman in college and it is the only movie I have ever watched multiple times in the theaters (1o to be exact!).

It was technology meets humanity. It has philosophical, action-packed, and cutting edge all at the same time. Simply put, it blew my mind.

Whether or not they knew it at the time, the Wachowski brothers were making a prophetic piece of film that more and more seems to describe the world that you and I live in:

• People are “plugged” into technology in ways never imagined–sometimes in disturbing ways. Think about it, how often do you have the TV on just so there’s “something on”? I know I’m guilty of this!
• Technology (i.e. “AI”) becomes smarter and smarter–how long before it becomes self-conscious? In other words, when will your iPhone start asking for a sandwich?
• Technology is allowing us to work smarter, faster and … longer? In The Matrix, human beings become the energy source for the Machines. It technology is making us work more instead of less, who’s really in charge?

As of late, I’ve really appreciated the gentle urgings of a few in the Christian community to make sure we remember that we are, in fact, “human after all.” We need time to sit and breathe and stare into the sky.

We need time to feel the warmth of a cup of coffee before the first, piping hot sip.

We need to feel the ink from our pen flow onto a page, recording the thoughts that come from the flesh-and-blood supercomputer that sits inside of our head called “the Brain.”

We need to sleep in late, smell the roses, ride rollercoasters, make love and feel our eyes burn when we look at the sun too long.

So while technology is a great, wonderful, and an amazing piece of our lives, it can’t be our lives. Technology will never give us what being human can.

These are the programs I have running constantly:

1. Quicksilver: Do yourself a favor and get this Mac app. Leaves Spotlight in the dust!

2. Seesmic Desktop: In my opinion, the best Twitter app out there.

3. iTunes: Duh.

4. iCal: I schedule my days by the half hour, so this standard app keeps me going.

5. Things: In the words of Dave Ramsey, “When you get lost in the craziness of the day, go back to the to-do list. It’s all about the to-do list.” I agree.

That’s me.

What does your digital workspace look like? What’s a “Must-Have-Runnin’” app for you? What did I miss?