What About Bob

Congratulations! It's a new website.

Well, it seems like a birth.  Today we launch our new website for VCC. 

Check out our new site at www.valleycreek.org.  at some point today.  It's due...just not sure of the time.  Birth announcements will follow. 
 

VCC Technical Ministries

These guys work hard and receive little credit - little praise and all 
the negatives that happen.  It's truly an act of a servant's heart.

Introducing Microsoft Surface

Microsoft Surface debuts today at a Wall Street conference.  Surface is a table that integrates a 30-inch display allowing one or more simultaneous users to interact directly with images on the screen. Users can paint with their fingers, move and resize items like photographs, and manipulate content—all without touching a mouse or a keyboard.  Check out this demo.

Microsoft says this new technology can create new situations, such as ordering a beverage during a meal with just the tap of a finger or quickly browsing through music and dragging favorite songs onto a personal play list by moving a finger across the screen.

Surface also features the ability to recognize physical objects that have identification tags similar to bar codes.
A customer can set a CD on the surface and it would recognize the item, give you all the info plus suggestions on additional accompanying purchases.  The example on the demo was really cool.  In a restaurant setting, the menu comes to life allowing patrons to drag and drop whatever they want by pressing the images displayed on Surface. 

Price points will be high and will be a road block for most people.  Just keep my 5 year old away from Surface.  From the way he likes to beat on things, the restaurant check could be higher than the technology.

Vista Capable

Microsoft Qualifies 'Vista Capable' Label

Microsofties still insist they would never--gasp!--deliberately mislead consumers.

But a few days after a lawsuit was filed claiming the validity of the "Vista Capable" logos slapped on PCs, the software maker coincidentally decided to elaborate on the meaning of the term.

The company's new description of the "Vista Capable" program includes the following, which seems to directly address the suit's claim that earlier labeling did not clarify how much Vista delight low-end PC buyers could expect to share:

All Windows Vista Capable PCs will run these core experiences at a minimum. Some features available in the premium editions of Windows Vista — like the new Windows Aero user experience — may require advanced or additional hardware.

Microsofties still insist they would never--gasp!--deliberately mislead consumers.

But a few days after a lawsuit was filed claiming the validity of the "Vista Capable" logos slapped on PCs, the software maker coincidentally decided to elaborate on the meaning of the term.

The company's new description of the "Vista Capable" program includes the following, which seems to directly address the suit's claim that earlier labeling did not clarify how much Vista delight low-end PC buyers could expect to share:

All Windows Vista Capable PCs will run these core experiences at a minimum. Some features available in the premium editions of Windows Vista — like the new Windows Aero user experience — may require advanced or additional hardware.

Tomlin Technology

Being technical by nature, I am always interested in the latest and greatest.  The Tomlin crew had their share of "toys" . . .
The sound board of choice is the best...Digidesign Venue D-Show  They also had a larger Venue for the monitor mix on stage.

This guy is called Hillbilly among the crew.  When I asked if it the system was a FROG he told me to bite my tongue.  This lighting system is a WholeHog 3 controller from FlyingPigs Systems .

Video Screen & LED Screen images were controlled by two Mac Towers running RenewedVision's ProVideo Player and ProPresenter.  I was very impressed with this Mac-based software. 

My-God-Space.com

The MySpace phenomenon has swept the nation.  Some online stats include over 25 million unique users a month adding over 150,000 new users a day.  The number of visitors to MySpace (from homes, workplaces and colleges) has skyrocketed, making it the Web’s top social networking site.
If you haven't really looked into MySpace you will be shocked by the amount of inappropriate material that is out there.  And there is no way to guarantee the blocking of this material from young eyes. 

My pastor has teenagers and was very concerned about the exposure.  So much so that he has had a team of programmers working on a Christian alternative.  Check out My-God-Space.com.   His site is monitored by Christian eyes and limits the use of inappropriate language.  It certainly isn't the mammoth size of My Space but has many of the same functions and gaining popularity here in Memphis.  I think is a great idea and a step to reduce the onslaught of bad stuff our kids are subjected to on a daily basis.

Apple Announcement?

Apple to hold special event at NAB
It looks like Apple will hold a special event at the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) trade show on Sunday, April 15. While no details were available on what, if anything, will be announced at the event, Apple has used such events in the past to launch significant product releases. 

Could this be the release of OS Leopard or a new Mac Pro?  Read more HERE.