A piano player when you need one

Technology of the day: Church Music Player

I realize that this technology is no hidden secret but recently I left Utah for a summer and realized that not everyone knows about it.  For those of you that haven't experienced the Church Music Player, this is for you.

Remember the time that you were organizing a church meeting of some sort (FHE, Bishopric Meeting, Sunday School) and you ended up singing a capella? Most people don't prefer to sing a capella so let's assume you either didn't know about the Church Music Player, or didn't plan ahead of time.  Regardless, the Church Music Player is a great way to get piano accompaniment when pianos and piano players are scarce.  Just click Church Music Player and navigate your way to "Music" where you'll find a number of selections from hymns and children's songs.  Furthermore, you have your choice to either download the mp3 song or you can use the online player.

There are also Learning Materials if you are in the mood for a little enlightenment:

• Music terms and symbols
• Conducting
• Accompanying others
• Teaching songs to children

The web site is quite well done.  Check it out sometime and be sure you computer's sound is not muted.

Mormons on YouTube

Technology of the day: The Mormon Channel


A lot of my LDS friends lately have been just discovering the LDS church's Mormon Channel.  I'm surprised that it's taken them so long.  The church has been publishing on YouTube since over a year ago, August 07, 2008.  Many people, including non-members, have been discovering the church through this channel.  If you haven't watched a few church videos on this channel yet, I highly encourage you.  Don't be unprepared to talk about this if someone brings it up in a situation where you could be the missionary.


The church has posted a number of "Mormon Messages" in a number of languages with the purpose to attract the attention of non-members to the channel.  These "Mormon Messages" are generally video collages of clips from talks with general authorities, interviews with members, and supporting imagery that run with background music and some inspirational message.


Recently ldsmediatalk.com (another blog on LDS technology) posted that 

Mormon Message Videos Viewed Over 6 Million Times

The most popular video currently being one called An Apostle’s Easter Thoughts on Christ featuring Elder Holland with 568,095 views.

The Mormon Channel includes a number of other offerings to watch that are not considered "Mormon Messages" including a selection of videos about LDS public affairs.


Check these videos out soon.  These videos are a highly visible part of the churches image and it's quite possible that next time you're doing a little missionary work, you'll find yourself discussing them.

Safety First

Technology of the day: The Internet Safety Podcast

A "podcast" is an audio broadcast available for downloading from a website to a personal computer or other device.  You can also listen to it directly from the website if your computer has speakers.

Some time ago I had the privelege to take a class from Dr. Knutson at Brigham Young University.  One of Dr. K's long time side projects has been the The Internet Safety Podcast.  He broadcasts these podcasts for non-profit and solely for our benefit.  Being the veteran computer user and LDS parent, Dr. K expresses his concern for those of us that are still a little naive about the content of the Internet.


What is on the Internet?
Who is on the Internet?
What dangers might I run in to while browsing?
What risks am I taking as I give out information on the Internet?
How can we safely raise kids in a computer oriented age?

These and many other questions are addressed in the podcasts you'll find at  www.internetsafetypodcast.com .

This website is not just for LDS members.  In fact, it's not even labeled as an LDS resource, but I wanted to give Dr. K a little debut here on my blog first of all.  If you feel you are relatively new to the Internet and feel you could use a little training, I strongly recommend you visit The Internet Safety Podcast today and start listening in.

Each podcast lasts about 30-40 minutes.  You don't need to be at a computer to follow along so feel free to just upload them to your music player and take your dog for a walk.

Dr. Knutson is an Associate Professor in the Computer Science Department at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. As a formal student I can testify that, as far as computer science professors go, his presentation skills are exceptional and he will be worth your time.

Introductions

Welcome to my new blog, The LDS Tech Blog.

My name is David Wiggins. I'm currently a senior in Computer Science at Brigham Young University planning to graduate at the end of the year. I've been a member of the LDS church all my life, served a full time mission to Sao Paulo Sul Brasil, and currently serve as an extraction worker in my ward.

The reason for starting this blog is to make an effort to teach LDS members about all the great technological developments that exist in order to enrich our lives. Furthermore, it acts as a journal for myself to record my own adventures in discovering new techy things in the LDS development. There is a vibrant community of LDS developers working from within and without church employment to provide ways to enrich your life spiritually, ways for you to be in the know of church events, even ways that you can serve church efforts from home.

Now, don't stop reading while thinking that this will be another recording of a bunch technical jargon related to technology you probably won't care about. I intend to write with the "Average Joe" as my target audience. Furthermore, I'd like to write about things that EVERYONE can enjoy.

I'm going to try to contribute to this blog regularly. I'd like it to be place you follow and can expect new things with some frequency.

Enjoy reading!