Category: Web/Tech

  • Launching Beyond The Zoo

    As I’ve talked about here a few times, Kristen and I have collaborated to create a new website. In truth, it’s just a convergence of two great passions for both of us… blogging and eating!

    The whole point of BeyondTheZoo.com is to help people discover hidden gems in San Diego County. We know that when people come to visit they will automatically check out the zoo. And we love the zoo! Our hope is to help visitors (and locals) discover unique and fun hole in the walls.

    Of course, Kristen and I have always loved finding unique places! Wherever we’ve lived we have hunted for special places to take our friends. So, BeyondTheZoo.com is really just fulfilling a lifelong passion and pursuit.

    Anyway, this is what we’ve been working on for the last month. So far, it’s been a blast working with Kristen on the design. We’ve taken a lot of what we learned by starting YMX and applied some wisdom, too.

    And… we waited to launch it until January 1st so I could fulfill my only New Year’s resolution of 2008. No new websites! This is our first.. I’ve got a few more I’ve been dying to launch.

  • Club Pengiun Gives Away $1 million

    I found this really cool. If your kids are like mine, they are hooked on Club Penguin. Now they are asking kids to help them pick out ways to give away $1 million. Check out this post on their blog. (Megan’s 4th favorite blog!)

    Donation booths are set up at the Beach, in the Plaza, and on the Migrator. Remember – every little bit counts, so you don’t have to donate a lot to make a difference.

    On December 25, we’ll announce how you’ve decided that the one million dollars will be split. Check out the Kids Helping Kids page on the website to see how your donations are changing the real world. Let us know any other ideas you have for making the world a better place for everyone! link

  • A Few Ways to Connect with Me

    Maybe you’re ready to take this relationship to the next level? Let’s say you come to Adam McLane’s site every day. And you’re thinking to yourself… “Adam, I dig what you have to say. What are some ways you can check out what else I do online?” Here are a few ways I suggest you do that.

    #1 Subscribe to my RSS feed. This will make sure you get every post delivered to your RSS reader, iGoogle homepage, or even by email.

    #2 Subscribe to the YS Podcast. You’ll see my pretty face each week on the weekly show that I host. Sure, it isn’t much… but it’s just enough Adam McLane to not feel like a total stalker. Don’t use iTunes? Subscribe via YouTube.

    #3 Join my delicious network. Now we’re getting serious. (Rounding 2nd base!) Each day I bookmark all sorts of things. Blog posts, news stories, adolescent research studies, new websites, and all manner of web goodness. Like the links in the YS newsletters? This is like the full monty of that.

    #4 Check out my shared items on Google Reader. These are blogs that I read on a daily basis and posts that I think are worth sharing. In other words, let me filter through the lame stuff for you.

    #5 Follow me on Twitter. If you’re curious what I’m up to 10-20 times per day, I post to this micro-blogging site in 140 characters or less.

    #6 Be my friend on Facebook. You won’t find me on Myspace anymore. I haven’t deleted my account, but I never ever go there. You will find me a lot on Facebook. Me likey Facebook.

    #7 Of course you can get to know Kristen too. It’s like getting to know our family 360 degrees. Kristen blogs a lot about family life, recipes, contests, and kids books.

    #8 Check out some of our new projects. Kristen and I have started some projects under the umbrella of McLane Creative. Our first project is a collaborative site giving real-world reviews of things to do in San Diego, called Beyond the Zoo.

    #9 Meet me in person. I know, that’s not a Web 2.0 way to get to know me. (What is wrong with me?) But it’s completely practical. If you’re ever in the San Diego area I’d love to get together for a cup of coffee and meet face-to-face. Drop me an email.

  • Monoprice.com: Get Accessories for Less

    As I posted a few days ago our family got a new HDTV for Christmas. Since this was our first forray into HDTV, I didn’t have many of the cables I’d need to fully enjoy the full quality. Specifically, it left me with 3 problems I wanted to fix. First, I want to play Nintendo Wii in widescreen so I needed a non-standard cable. Second, I wanted the audio from the cable box to our audio system to have the optical audio cable. In truth, I’ve wanted this cable for more than 6 years but didn’t want to pay $50 for it. Third, I wanted an HDMI cable to connect the TV to the cable box to get the best possible signal.

    So Paul and I headed to Target. Those cables were going to cost me more than $100 total! So, then we went to Radio Shack. They had a 6 foot HDMI cable for over $100 by itself. Out of frustration I posted a couple comments about it on Twitter.

    That’s when Peggy suggested Monoprice.com. Let me tell you… I am glad she did. Instead of paying $100-150 retail for those three cables I paid $22, including tax and shipping.

    Long story short. Don’t get ripped off at Target or Radio Shack with their cable or HDTV accessories. Go straight to a supplier and pay wholesale.

    UPDATE: I got the cables a couple of days later. They were AMAZING quality. That’s right, I got better and longer cables for about 10% of the price of retail. What’s not to love?

  • I Am Second

    Talk about a site you need to check out. I am second may be the prettiest, most powerful site on the internet.

    What is it? It’s an online ministry designed around a powerful thought: If Jesus is number one in my life that means I am second.

    How does it work? There’s not a lot to the site. Very simple navigation takes you to amazing stories from some famous people and some not-so-famous people. I’m telling you, the stories are amazing.

    Who is behind it? It’s so incredibly done I have a hard time thinking it’s independently financed. So I haven’t figured out if there is a bigger organization behind it. But, thanks to twitter, I was able to find a couple of people who worked on the project.

    Trey Hill Photography

    Ditore Mayo Entertainment

    Apparently there are some TV spots and billboards that are drawing attention to this project. Very cool stuff. I love seeing sites that represent the Gospel message so well. Fantastic combination of message, beauty, and wonderful site navigation.

    Update: I got an email from someone involved with the project who provided me a link to the new I Am Second blog. Also, he shared an interesting LA Times story about American Idol Jason Castro’s faith. Jason’s story is also featured at I Am Second.

  • Blackberry or iPhone?

    I am tired of my phone. I’ve rocked my HTC 8525 for almost 2 years and it’s pretty much outlived it’s usefulness for me. The lack of battery life and the size of it really don’t help. It does some funny things… like I have alarms set on it that won’t stop. And it has calendar items from my time in Romeo that I can’t seem to delete. And since I’ve dropped it a couple of times, it sometimes flakes out completely. It’s been a workhorse and I’m ready to put it out to pasture.

    This has caused me to do some shopping. And I’m really at a loss of what to get. I like the idea of the Google phone, but I make it a habit to never by the first generation of anything tech. And smartphones are clearly out. So that leaves me with two choices, Blackberry or iPhone?

    Of course this is all tied to a bigger question. Do we finally drop our 10 year relationship AT&T? I’ve been abundantly honest about the fact that their customer service is horrid. And when you couple that with their unique ability to jack my bill up higher and higher all the time, it may be time to move to another provider… thus making Blackberry my only real choice.

    But here’s what I am thinking. I know I’m a power user. I also know that I’d love to have everything in my life be on a single platform. I wonder if there is any way they’d let me test drive both before making a decision? 2 years is a long time to hate a phone.

    The big thing going for the iPhone in my book is that it’s an interface I’m used to and like, I already know how much AT&T sucks, it’s a fun toy, I could sell my new nano, and I know that if I jacked it up Apple would fix it. The big thing going for the Blackberry is that it’s a proven performer. It’s a workhorse like my current phone. What it lacks in sex appeal it gains in functionality.

    Eh, I’ll probably sit on this one through the holidays. If I had to chose today I’d go with the Blackberry. I think the iPhone is cool. But at the end of the day, the iPhone doesn’t seem to be for power users.

  • Fair Warning

    Starting tomorrow, I have about a week off. Since my move to San Diego I have not taken a break and in many ways I am just ready to chill and do nothing.

    At the same time, Kristen knows well, that when I have significant time off I get bored and create things. And since I am a dork my inventions are typically internet related. And that last statement reveals why my post is titled, fair warning.

    What am I creating? I have 3 new websites planned in my head that will get birthed during this time off. And for the first time in a long time, these new websites won’t have anything to do with youth ministry or even Christianity. Here’s what will hatch out my soul and be shoved down the throats against your will because of their unbelievable awesomeness:

    _ something on San Diego living

    _ something about life

    _ something about death

    Does this need to be said? None of them have anything to do with my job.

  • Is Twitter Killing Blogs?

    The youth ministry world has seen a decline in the quantity and quality of youth ministry blogs. I don’t have any research to back that statement up, but as a person who spends his life blogging the world of youth ministry I can say that I find it harder and harder to find great blog posts about youth ministry. The known bloggers have gotten better, and there are plenty of youth groups who have a blog as their groups website. But by and large I find it harder and harder to find the middle of the road youth worker who is just blogging about day-to-day challenges.

    The flip side is that I see a huge increase in the number of Facebook users and Twitter users in the youth ministry world.

    – Does this represent a change from the personal website to mass microblogging?

    – Is it that blogging, as a fad, is fading?

    – Is it that I’m just stuck up and I don’t see some new bloggers out there who are doing a great job?

    – Or has Twitter provided a more immediate outlet for youth workers to connect? Is it just faster and easier?

    p.s. If you’re not already a friend of mine on Facebook or following me on Twitter consider yourselves invited.

  • John Stewart & Stephen Colbert Speak My Language

  • Make the virtual your reality

    Last night I drove up to Escondido to meet a friend for dinner. And like a lot of the people I’m meeting lately, this is a friend that, up until the moment we shake hands, I’ve never met physically. It wasn’t the meal that was fun or memorable. It was getting to know someone in real life that I’d known online for years.

    For some people meeting people from the online world seems odd. To me, it has always been perfectly natural. People whom I like online I almost always like face-to-face. It’s never scary. I’ve never been worried about them being an ax murderer. And typically, we fall into normal conversation pretty quickly. I’ve done it hundreds of times!

    So here’s my encouragement. If you have the opportunity to meet-up with a blogger, facebooker, twitterer, YouTuber, or forumite… do it.

    My experiences offline with people I first met online has only ever enhanced the community concept. It’s a big lonely world made slightly nicer and smaller through key strokes, videos, emoticons, and photos.