Andy Naselli

Thoughts on Theology

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Logos App Now Includes Notes and Highlighting

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After buying an iPad 2 last year, I wrote this about the Logos app:

I anticipate this being one of my favorite apps in the near future, but I almost never use it now because I can’t highlight the text or add notes to resources. (Very frustrating!) I’m waiting for Logos to enable those features to sync with Logos 4 across all platforms. Logos is working on this and has promised that these features are on the way.

It’s now here.

Logos recently announced and explained its updated app. I’ve been testing it out, and it’s beautiful!

This 55-second video shows you how easy it is to use on an iPad and iPhone:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=0fexsKJuEMo

That video doesn’t show the app’s most important feature: notes and highlighting sync across all platforms. So if you highlight words on your phone, [Read more…] about Logos App Now Includes Notes and Highlighting

Wordsmithy

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This pithy book is fun to read:

Wilson, Douglas. Wordsmithy: Hot Tips for the Writing Life. Moscow, ID: Canon, 2011. 120 pp.

Wilson gives seven pieces of advice (pp. 10–11):

  1. Know something about the world, and by this I mean the world outside of books. This might require joining the Marines, or working on an oil rig or as a hashslinger at a truck stop in Kentucky. Know what things smell like out there. If everything you write smells like a library, then your prospective audience will be limited to those who like the smell of libraries.
  2. Read. Read constantly. Read the kind of stuff you wish you could write. Read until your brain creaks. Tolkien said that his ideas sprang up from the leaf mold of his mind: your readings are the trees where your fallen leaves would come from. Mind mulch. Cognitive compost. [Read more…] about Wordsmithy

Fifteen Favorite Christmas Songs

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Here are fifteen of my favorite Christmas songs:

  1. “The 12 Days of Christmas” (live; studio) | Straight No Chaser | Holiday Spirits | video
  2. “Angels’ Carol” | John Rutter, the Cambridge Singers | Christmas with the Cambridge Singers | video
  3. “The Christmas Can-Can” | Straight No Chaser | Christmas Cheers | video
  4. “Christmas Fantasy for Orchestra” | Dan and Heidi Goeller | The Word Became Flesh
  5. “Everlasting Life” | The Rushingbrook Children’s Choir | The Most Wonderful Birthday of All
  6. “Infant Holy, Infant Lowly” | Dan Forrest | Prepare Him Room
  7. “Joy to the World” | Empire Brass | Joy to the World
  8. “Linus & Lucy” | Vince Guaraldi Trio | A Charlie Brown Christmas
  9. “A Little Christmas Music: Medley a la Mozart” | The King’s Singers, Kiri Te Kanawa | A Little Christmas Music
  10. “Lo! How a Rose” | SMS Men’s Chorus | King of Glory
  11. “Magnificat” | Keith and Kristyn Getty | An Irish Christmas
  12. “Mary, Did You Know?” | Kathleen Battle, accompanied by Christopher Parkening | Angel’s Glory | lyrics
  13. “Sleep, Jesus, Sleep” | Shannon Harris | Savior: Celebrating the Mystery of God Become Man
  14. “Somewhere in My Memory” | John Williams, the Boston Pops Orchestra | Joy to the World
  15. “Suo Gan,” the instrumental part from 1:11 to 2:19 | Irish Tenors | Home for Christmas

What are some of your favorite songs?

Update in December 2016: I recently discovered another one. Our girls love The Nutcracker. We’ve probably played it hundreds of times for them. So this song by Straight No Chaser makes me laugh.

A Security Camera for Parents

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I work at home. My wife and I are usually downstairs, and our two little girls sleep upstairs. And we often want to see how they’re doing when they’re upstairs:

  1. Are they asleep or awake? We wonder this (1) shortly after we put them down for naps or for bed, (2) periodically while they are supposed to be sleeping, and (3) when we anticipate them waking up.
  2. Are they OK? We may wonder this if we hear a strange noise or hear them crying or simply want to check on them for peace of mind—whether they’re playing or supposed to be sleeping.

We used to creep upstairs as silently as we could and crack open a bedroom door to check on them, but often this would wake them up.

So I researched baby monitors and security cameras to see if I could find one that meets five criteria:

  1. Wireless. We wanted to mount it in our children’s rooms, where there are no computers, modems, or routers.
  2. Streaming. We wanted to easily stream the video on a computer (Mac or PC), iPhone (or other web-enabled smartphone), iPod Touch, and iPad—whether connected to the Internet via our home WiFi or another way when away from home.
  3. Day/Night. We wanted a clear picture regardless of the lighting in the room.
  4. Audio. We wanted the option to hear as well as see what’s happening.
  5. Secure. We wanted the video to be password-protected.

Last year we decided to get a Sharx Security Camera, which meets all five criteria, and we love it. [Read more…] about A Security Camera for Parents