palmsolo: Geeking for Jesus

Laridian releases PocketBible 4 for Windows Mobile

palmsolo — Tue, 20 May 2008 18:30:05 +0000

I was blessed to be a part of the best testing program and conducted most of my testing on the T-Mobile Shadow, a non-touch screen device. I plan to post a review here of this latest and greatest version that adds a ton of functionality for those who use it with non-touch screen devices.

There were also major improvements for touch screen devices and Ed Hansberry posted his full review that I highly recommend you check out. I just received a new HTC Advantage X7510 from HTC at Mobius and loaded this latest version on the device. The Advantage is a fantastic Bible study tool and is my new church sermon note taking machine.

I’ll try to get my review up before the end of the Memorial Day weekend holiday since I plan to stay home and work on my yard most of the weekend, along with a movie trip with my family to see Prince Caspian.

New King James Version OneNote 2007 Bible now available for free

palmsolo — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 19:39:03 +0000

A few years back I had a Fujitsu Tablet PC (my first Tablet) and used a Bible with OneNote on it to take notes and read. I honestly can’t remember what Bible that was, but I now see that Rob Bushway from GottaBeMobile.com is one of the people working on this project so it may have been something from the TabletBible site. In this latest update, Rob announced that the New King James Version is now available for OneNote 2007.

I am loving my Fujitsu U810 UMPC/Tablet PC and have been using Laridian’s PocketBible for Windows on the device. I also have OneNote 2007 that was included with my Fujitsu purchase so I now plan to load up these two Bible translations (the English Standard Version is also available) on my U810 (aka Ubacca). I can’t believe that these are available for FREE and I encourage you to donate to the project if you find them useful.

Projects like this and the excellent Windows Mobile support from Laridian have major impacts on my device buying habits as I have been known to keep Windows Mobile devices just for the Bible support. It looks like I will now have to keep my Fujitsu U810 too since it is one of the lowest cost, yet long battery life Tablet PCs available in a portable form factor.

What a great ministry Rob! Keep up the excellent work.

Please pray for Barbara and Michael

palmsolo — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 14:51:49 +0000

I have never met Michael Connick before, but have been following him on Twitter and RSS and enjoy his posts on ultra portable devices and the iPhone/iPod Touch. I was very saddened to hear the news that his wife, Barbara, has terminal cancer. Michael has taken a leave of absence from work to be with his wife and I would like to request that you add them both to your prayer list and ask the Lord for His comfort, healing, and power during this very difficult time. I can’t imagine having to go through this myself and pray Michael and Barbara feel the presence of the Lord.

With God leading the way, how could Kansas lose?

palmsolo — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 19:22:33 +0000

Like most sports fans, I watched the men’s NCAA national championship basketball game last week that had the Kansas Jayhawks battling the Memphis Tigers. Memphis was ahead by 9 with 2:12 remaining, but a combination of their poor free throw percentage and Kansas’ determination and play resulted in a tie in regulation. Kansas then went on to blow out Memphis in overtime to take the national championship.

Kevin posted an interesting newspaper article that shows Kansas may have had more than just great players on their side. I have no idea what the beliefs or practices were of the Memphis coaches and players and won’t begin to make any comparisons between the two teams in terms of spirituality. However, it was great to read the article and see how the Lord was so prevalent at Kansas where the coach and players have no fear in talking about and praising Him for everything He did to bless their team.

Rock Chalk Jaywalk!

Do you really want to condemn America to Hillary’s lies? Check out the movie!

palmsolo — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 02:08:24 +0000

I heard about this film, Hillary : The Movie, on our local talk station a month or so ago and now you can watch the full movie in 9 YouTube episodes. I have links to all 9 episodes below to make it easy for you to view:

I never planned and still won’t EVER vote for Hillary. I never voted for Bill either because I saw through their lies and deceipt. The scary thing is, Hillary is more deceitful and vindicative than Bill and I fear for this country if she is elected.

Let’s vote for an honest and true American and elect John McCain this fall.

Goodbye Mr. Heston and Godspeed

palmsolo — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 18:57:26 +0000

One of my favorite actors of all time, Charlton Heston, passed away this past weekend at the age of 84. I thoroughly enjoyed his movies such as The Ten Commandments, Ben Hur, Soylent Green, Planet of the Apes and plan to try to find some of these to watch this next weekend in his memory. I also was a fan of his NRA support and steadfast support of the conservative movement. He was a man’s man and was the kind of strong figure we as men in America should look up to and try to emulate in many ways. Speaking in general terms, I think men in America are “soft” compared to those tough men who fought in the World Wars and stood up for what was right. The next time someone tries to slam you for being a man, think of Charlton Heston and toughen up a bit.

I look forward to finding Mr. Heston in heaven and talking to him more about his various roles in his life, while thanking him for the wonderful memories.

Happy Easter and thank you Jesus!

palmsolo — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 04:34:39 +0000

Tomorrow is the most important holiday for Christians as we remember and recognize the fact that Jesus died on the cross and then rose again to redeem us from our sins. I am watching The Passion of the Christ again this year since I find that it helps bring me back into focus on the Lord and all that He means to me. He has truly blessed my life and I thank Him for everything he has done for me and my family.

Have a Happy Easter and may the Lord bless you all as well.

A couple of hot mobile devices in my hand

palmsolo — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 16:29:16 +0000

I just posted a first impressions article on the REDFLY Windows Mobile Smartphone Companion that you may enjoy reading. It is a very nice piece of hardware, but if it is priced at US$500 then it seems to lose much of its appeal. There is no OS on the device like the Palm Foleo had and it just extends your Windows Mobile device to a larger display and keyboard. I like the idea and would snap one up for US$200, but not at US$500.

I do have a photo of PocketBible with Maps running on the 8 inch display of the REDFLY so maybe this could be a good Bible study device to work with the powerful Bible applications available on Windows Mobile.

I also have another device that I have to keep secret for now, but check out my ZDNet site early next week for a HUGE review.

RIP Mr. Russell Shaw

palmsolo — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 06:33:46 +0000

I was shocked and saddened by the news of the passing of Russell Shaw. I met Russell at Gnomedex last year after communicating with him virtually over the year previous to that. He was a fellow ZDNet blogger and wrote the VoIP and BlackBerry blogs over there. I do not know the details of his passing or if he had a family. He lived close to me in Portland, Oregon and I am sorry I didn’t get to know him a bit better. He was a very kind person and helpful to me as well. I pray that his friends and family are comforted during this time of grief and am sorry to see another ZDNet blogger pass away at such a young age. I am still shaken when I think of Marc Orchant’s passing last year.

Appeals court in California rules homeschooling is unlawful. Can we stop this madness?

palmsolo — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 23:16:26 +0000

I just listened to the latest episode of the What Would Jesus Podcast and became infuriated when I heard the part about the idiotic decision in a California court regarding homeschooling. I searched online and found the news that this court ruled that homeschooling is unlawful. I highly doubt this decision will stick because it is unconstitutional and plain ridiculous. I am now going to find out who I can write to down there and let them know this decision must be thrown out.

We started homeschooling in Maryland since the school district we lived in was substandard and my wife felt led by the Lord to teach our girls. My oldest two were homeschooled for 2-3 years in Maryland. We then moved to Washington and my wife continued to homeschool my oldest two girls. After a few years the girls asked to try public school so they could ride the bus

We checked out our small local elementary and it seemed to be a good school where real Christmas carols with the name of Jesus were still sung in the Christmas program. My oldest daughter passed a coupe tests and went from 3rd grade in our homeschool curriculum to 5th grade, she skipped 4th. She has gotten straight A’s every quarter and has been in advanced honors courses the last 2 years too. My middle daughter started in 3rd grade and then achieved straight A’s in most every quarter as well. She is testing for 7th grade honors courses this Saturday.

Since it seemed this elementary school was doing well, we started my youngest daughter there in Kindergarten. She is a strong-willed child and we thought it may be good for her to try a class with other kids and a teacher that was not her parent. She did fine in Kindergarten, but then in 1st grade she was just getting satisfactory to low reports. That is unacceptable to us as there is no reason for her to achieve and suceed. We talked to her teacher and the school about our concerns that she may fall behind, etc. and they said she is just fine and is average. Against their desires we brought her home to build a strong foundation from homeschooling and I am happy top report that she too is now excelling and much happier. The school just wanted their number and were fine to let her slide through.

People throughout the world were all homeschooled in the past and I am not convinced that the government can do it better. Shoot, look at how poor America compoares to ALL other industrialized nations. We are failing and I place most of the blame for this on parents who do not take a person interest in their child’s education and just push them off to school every day. The teachers are trying hard, for the most part, but when their are disruptive kids that consume their attention and time everyone suffers.

The popular myth that homeschooled kids are social idiots is another issue that fires me up. 90% of the people I know who homeschool have kids who are involved in church, sports, Girls Scouts, etc and their kids get more social interaction than the fat kid who goes to school and then plops down to play games all night. Parents who homeschool are making MAJOR sacrifices in time and if you haven’t homeschooled then you have no idea how all-consuming it is and I applaud my wife for giving up so much to love and instruct our girls.

I do think there may be a select few who abuse the right to homeschool, but in Washington State they try to help prevent that by requiring one of the parents teaching their kids to have an Associates degree. Kids are also affiliated with a local school and can even participatre in sports, band, etc if they want since we are still paying all the same taxes as everyone else.

Support and encourage homeschooling and let the State of California know that the poor decisions by a couple of uneducated judges should not ruin the lives of thousands.