Church Public Affairs now has an official presence on YouTube. Eight videos of Elder Ballard answering common questions about Mormonism were first posted on the Church’s Newsroom site, then posted on the new YouTube channel:
(You can also subscribe to these videos by RSS.)
Elder Ballard answers questions like these:
According to the Oct 1st issue of RCR Wireless News, the digital smiley face 
is 25 years old. Scott E. Fahlman claims he was the first person to put a colon, hyphen, and right parenthesis together to form a horizontal smiley face. Mr. Fahlman is a professor at Carnegie Mellon University. See what higher education can do?
The Church has launched a new Stake Technology Specialist Web site. It is a resource for those called to oversee a stake’s satellite receivers, computers, and other audiovisual equipment. The
There is a feature about the new Web site on the LDS.org home page (although we may soon need to move it to the Past Features page to make room for upcoming features about general conference and the new member of the First Presidency).
Learn more about it in the About the Church section on LDS.org.
Attendees at BYU Education Week were told that technology can and should be used for good. Ron Schwendiman, of the Church Internet Coordination Group, reviewed the wonders of the information age and cautioned that it must be harnessed for good. Some key points:
Read more in the Deseret Morning News.
According to the PEW Internet and American Life Project: “A growing number of Americans rely solely on a cell phone for their telephone service, and many more are considering giving up their landline phones.”
In my post of June 14th, I reported that 11% of US adults now use only a mobile phone to place phone calls. But it’s even greater than I thought.
Government statistics as of December 2006 showed that at least 12.8% of US households have only a cell phone and no landline telephone. Given the growth rate from the previous periods, that number today is probably around 15%.
Six weeks ago, I blogged about Facebook’s announcement of a new business model that encourages people to develop and distribute applications on its platform. I also mentioned Paul B. Allen’s prediction that Facebook will become the largest social network in the world
Now Advertizing Age says that Facebook is Google’s biggest competition. Sure, Google is the 900-pound gorilla for search and has one of the largest databanks about users, but Facebook poses a real threat because (1) its network of connections between people knows comparatively more about each of its users than Google does and (2) Facebook is becoming a viral distribution platform unrivaled by any portal or search engine.
Facebook is growing at a stunning rate–nearly 30 million users now–with no signs of stopping. Viral distribution is the most powerful form of marketing and promotion. The potential is huge, and Facebook might have the upper hand.
Nearly half of US adults now have broadband Internet access at home, according to the Pew Internet & American Life Project. More than 70% of home Internet users have high-speed connections and 23% use dial-up.
Given the demographics and logistics of those who don’t yet have broadband, it’s unlikely that the percent of broadband penetration will grow substantially beyond these rates in the US.
Now, before you begin building media-heavy Web sites, remember we’re just talking the USA here. In most other countries of the world, the large majority have dial-up and only 1% to 25% have high-speed access.
According to a recent study, 11% of US adults now use only a mobile phone to place phone calls and 17% only use mobile and the Internet (VoIP).
So, where is this heading? If you look at the 18-to-29-year-old group, a full third of them use only a mobile phone or the Internet for their calls. One telling statistic is that mobile-phone-only users tended to be male and better educated, but less affluent than the general adult population.
In addition to phone calls, there are other factors driving mobile use, such as text messaging, picture sharing, watching video, and listening to music.
Learn more at eMarketer.
A few days ago, I blogged about Microsoft Surface tabletop computing. I just found a great demo of multi-touch computer screens from Popular Mechanics.
Remember in Steven Spielberg’s movie Minority Report, when Tom Cruise uses his hands to manipulate data on a giant computer screen? It’s here.
Today at the D: All Things Digital conference near San Diego, Microsoft unveiled Microsoft Surface, a tabletop computer. No, it doesn’t sit on top of a table. It is the top of the table. Microsoft Surface is a translucent, interactive façade that recognizes motion and objects, and interacts with cell phones and digital cameras. No more searching for the remote controls on the table because the table is the remote control, and the video game system, and just about anything people over the next few years can dream of.
It will be tested with the public in November in restaurants, hotels, casinos and stores. Industry analyst Roger Kay says, “This is game-changing and will cause companies like Apple and Google to go back on their heels. I try not to gush too much. I think this is a really big deal.”
Read more about it:
Paul Allen has just predicted that Facebook will become the largest social network in the world. It has just launched a new business model that encourages people to develop and distribute applications on its platform. Great entreprenurial opportunites.
Now, how can members use Facebook to share the gospel?
Read more about Facebook’s plans:
I attended a half-day session at the International Worldwide Web 2007 Conference on usability.
After learning a lot about Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and usability, I’ve come to believe that virtually all efforts to make a site more usable for the disabled or more friendly for search engines, will also make a site better for the average user.
The session on usability presented a list of 5 major usability problems:
1. Unclear and confusing page layout
2. Confusing and disorienting navigation mechanisms
3. Inappropriate use of colors and poor contrast between content and background.
4. Graphics and text size too small.
5. Complicated language or terminology.
They then listed 15 issues that account for approximately 80% of the usability problems on Web sites. From that list, I’ve compiled the following list I intend to apply to Church sites:
Priority 1 Items
1. Text equivalents.
2. Color.
3. Language.