On Sunday, an LDS bishop was shot and killed in Visalia, California. He was in his office after the three-hour block of meetings when a man asked to see him. He entered the bishop’s office and shot the bishop in the foot, then pulled him into the foyer and shot him in the face. The man was later fatally shot by police. (See Deseret News story.)

Bishop Clay Sannar and his wife have 6 boys, including a 6-month-old infant. This has been on my mind since I heard the news. But a man in Utah who had never met Bishop Sannar did something about it. He spent a few minutes and set up an online fundraiser to help support Bishop Sannar’s family (see tinyurl.com/sannar).

The power of social media and the goodwill of good people: within 24 hours, people had donated over $26,000. The total is now nearly $56,000.

Here are two news reports about how Connor Boyack responded by setting up the fundraiser: story 1, story 2.

Here’s a comment someone left on Connor’s Facebook page: “Connor, thanks so much for setting this up. In times like these, we all feel the need to do something to help in any way we can. You’ve provided a way for many of us to do that. Thanks so much. It has been inspiring and humbling to see so many good people rally together for this. It is a wonderful reminder that there are still so much kindness and compassion in the world.”

It’s my hope that we can use the technology that God has inspired to be created to do good things for others like this.

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The Church News recently published a story about the LDSTech site (tech.lds.org).

The site launched in January 2007. A little over 3 years later, it’s a thriving community of thousands of Church members worldwide (and even a few non-Mormons) who have joined together to solve problems, share information, and work on projects that further the mission of the Church. Anyone interested in what the Church is doing with technology, where it’s heading, or being a part of it all are welcomed to visit the site. Read more about the purposes of LDSTech.

LDSTech began as an information site where members could find out how to troubleshoot MLS software issues, set up satellite feeds, and fix equipment. It eventually evolved into an online community consisting of volunteers and Church employees working together to achieve three specific goals:

1. To enlist volunteers and collaborate with the community on Church-sponsored technology projects.

2. To encourage community discussion, support, help, and feedback about technology and how it can help people serve in the Church.

3. To communicate to the public how technology is being used by the Church.

You can become part of the LDSTech community at tech.lds.org/volunteer where there are over 8,500 registered forum members and 915 people who have signed up to help with projects. A skills assessment can help match you up to appropriate projects. Volunteers contribute anywhere from 1-30 hours a week.

If you don’t have the technical skills to help with projects at LDSTech, you can always volunteer to do simple but important tasks at Simply Serving (serve.lds.org).

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Today, about 8% of U.S. households have access to IPTV (Internet Protocol Television) which enables programming to be delivered over a fast Internet connection to a set-top box you plug into your television. However, in less than 5 years, it will reach 20% of the 100 million homes that now subscribe to pay-television. Personally, I’m really excited to see this technology develop, providing more free content to view whenever I want and on any screen (60″ flat pannel, computer screen, or mobile phone) I want.

But there is a potential downside. In the article “How local TV could go the way of newspapers,” Alan Mutter discusses how local TV is at risk of the same fate as the local newspaper.  “Once it becomes as easy and satisfying to view a YouTube video on your 50-inch television as it is to watch ‘Two and a Half Men,’ audiences will fragment to the point that local broadcasters will not be able to attract large quantities of viewers for a particular program at a finite point in time.”

We’ve watched the newspaper industry lose almost half its advertising base since 2005–causing it to fire 15,000 journalists and, therefore, produce less news. So, how will the broadcast television industry respond to a similar problem? When viewers can watch commercial-free shows anytime they want, advertising dollars won’t be there to fund the production of high-quality programming.

And what will be the impact on quality local news? In part two of the article, Mutter talks about the potential outcome of  local news broadcasts.

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I have been using Dropbox (dropbox.com) for about a month and I love it. Dropbox is software that syncs your files online and across your computers. You put your files into your Dropbox on one computer, and they’ll be instantly available on any of your other computers (home, work, etc.) that you’ve installed Dropbox on. You can even access Dropbox from your mobile device or from an un-registered computer by going to the Dropbox Web site.

Here’s how it works: If you’re editing a document at home and you save it to your Dropbox, it will automatically sync the file to all your other computers as if you saved the document to all of your computers. I haven’t used my thumbdrive for a month, and now don’t have to remember to copy files I’m working on to the thumbdrive and carry it with me. In addition to current files I’m working on, I also put into Dropbox several reference files that I may need to access from other computers.

You also share files with others by putting them in a shared folder or photo album. You can also send people links to specific files within your Dropbox.

Files you put into your Dropbox folder are automatically backed up to their servers. Therefore, if your computer crashes, you can restore the files. (I don’t recommend this as a substitute for a serious backup of your computer, like using Carbonite.com.) Dropbox also keeps a history of every version of the files, so you can undo any mistakes or even undelete files. They keep a 30-day history of your files.

Their 2GB account is free–which lets me sync plenty of files that I may need across my home and work computers. They offer larger accounts for $10 or $20/month. Dropbox works on Windows, Mac, and Linux. 

No more e-mailing file attachments to yourself or carrying around a thumbdrive! This has simplified my life, and that’s what I expect from technology.

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“When the servants of the Lord determine to do as He commands, we move ahead. As we proceed, we are joined at the crossroads by those who have been prepared to help us. They come with skills and abilities precisely suited to our needs. And, we find provisions; information, inventions, help of various kinds, set along the way waiting for us to take them up. It is though someone knew we would be traveling that way. We see the invisible hand of the Almighty providing for us. For instance, inventions in the fields of travel and communication have come along just as we were ready for them… The airplane did not come as an accidental discovery… Revelation was involved. It came precisely when we could use it to move across the world to restore the Gospel… When we are ready, there will be revealed whatever we need—we will find it waiting at the crossroads.”

–Elder Boyd K. Packer, April 1, 1977, Regional Representatives Seminar

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Here’s my horror story with DRM (Digital Rights Management):

I have a Sony Reader for ebooks. One of the things I like about it is that it uses the ePub format, which is emerging as the common open standard.  I wouldn’t buy a Kindle (from Amazon) or a Nook (from Barnes & Noble) because their propriety formats require you to buy books just from their stores. I wanted a reader that could read books from many sources.

So the other day, I bought a book from Barnes and Nobel in ePub format, assuming that it would work on my Sony Reader. It was the right format, but the Barnes and Noble ePub file also comes with DRM (Digital Rights Management) protection. No problem, I thought. DRM is intended to ensure that only the purchaser can use it–so you don’t make 10 copies and sell or give them to your friends.

But, guess what? The DRM also ensures that you won’t read the book on any e-reader except Barnes and Noble’s Nook. It took me about 2 hours to figure this out, since neither Sony nor Barnes and Noble readily admit this anywhere. I spent hours trying to ensure that I had the Adobe® Digital Editions software installed correctly and that my Sony Reader was properly authorized. After all that, and calling customer support, I finally figured out that the Barnes and Noble ePub books cannot be read on anything but their Nook or their proprietary readers for the PC, Mac, BlackBerry, and iPhone/iPad. So, I’ll have to read this book I bought on my PC.

Lesson learned: DRM does more than just protect the digital rights of the book–it can also be used by the publishers to ensure you have to buy their hardware to read their products.

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I love the Reveal Gospel Library app for Android mobile phones. It has a great variety of LDS e-books, which are provided by external sources like yanceyware.com, thecoffeys.net, Guttenberg, and other sites. You can access all the scriptures, Church magazines, lesson manuals, general conference talks, and publications for other Church programs. All free. Many thanks to Dave Packham and Jack C. Holt for developing this!

It has great functionality and none of the hassles I had with readers on Windows Mobile with multiple steps to find, download, copy to my phone, and set up menus.

See my previous article about the application for Android phones to listen to the Mormon Channel radio.

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In the recent April General Conference, Elder Quentin L. Cook said, “We live in a noisy, contentious world, where it is possible to be viewing or listening to information, music, or even pure nonsense virtually every waking hour.”

I love the benefits of technology and am an avid multi-tasker. However, I recognize that there is danger that it overtakes our lives. We can become so busy multi-tasking with e-mail, Facebook updates, radio, iPods, and tweets that we never have a quiet moment to reflect on what we’re actually doing or to take a moment to listen to the Spirit.

Elder Cook cautions, “If we want to have the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, we must find time to slow down, ponder, pray, and live so we are worthy to receive and act upon His promptings.” (“We Follow Jesus Christ,” Elder Quentin L. Cook, April 2010 General Conference)

I have previously provided some suggestions for managing technology. For example:

• Managing technology and organizing and controlling information overload
• Using technology for good

What have you found to be helpful in prioritizing your life and achieving a good balance with technology?

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Mormon Times just published an article with a behind-the-scenes look at translating and interpreting for LDS general conference. The article explains the work of hundreds of volunteers who make it possible for general conference to be broadcast in up to 92 languages. Then, for 2 weeks after conference, they work with the Church magazines staffs to publish the conference editions in the Liahona and Ensign magazines. Audio, video, and text are also published on LDS.org (conference.lds.org) and distributed on DVD and audio CD.

The article also traces the history of interpreting for general conference from 1961, when conference was first interpreted into four languages–Spanish, French, German and Tongan.

And conference isn’t the only time interpreters are needed. There are more than 200 events per year they help with, such as the General Young Women and Relief Society meetings, young single adult firesides, temple dedications, stake conferences, and even one-on-one interviews between general authorities and local leaders.

The article also gives a list of the conference languages, including the languages interpreted in the Conference Center and broadcast via satellite, the languages interpreted remotely then sent to Salt Lake via Tieline and then immediately broadcast via satellite, the languages interpreted in the Conference Center and recorded on DVD, and the languages interpreted live in country.

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Watch this video about texting:

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