Leave it to Google to take their incredible search capabilities and put it to good use.

One-day workshops: Friday, March 19
Register your team now at WiredChurches.com.

First Impressions Workshop
Presenter: Mark Waltz, Granger’s Pastor of Connections

Learn how to make great first impressions that last. Discover ways to:

Comcast pokes fun at those who still have dial-up connections and has even created a website dedicated to The Slowskys (those famous turtles that love the slow pace of their lives and Internet speed).

I'm typically NOT a fan of third party plugins that are pasted directly into your website with little customization. But this week we installed one that has changed my mind and made me reconsider my position.

I'm currently sporting the Palm Pre - and believe me, I obsessed about it for months before it's release. But that doesn't mean I'm a fanboy that will keep buying Palm products. I'm definitely not brand-centric when it comes to phones. I simply want the best possible mobile experience I can have no matter what platform. I'd even buy the iPhone if it wasn't through AT&T and if Apple didn't require you to use them for support and repairs...

So I was definitely interested when I saw that Windows Phone 7 (Engadget writeup here) was on the way.

Based on the Zune HD user interface, Windows Phone 7 will hopefully be a far cry from Windows Mobile 6.0 (the last version I was familiar with since it came on my Motorola Q9c).

I currently own a Zune HD, so when they talk about the interface and the new, innovative navigation, I'm chomping at the bit to see it in action.

Looks like we won't see it on phones until later in the year, and who knows what carriers will pick them up. But hopefully Sprint will be on the top of the list...

My 3 big concerns so far:

• Hardware: Who's going to make the darn things? I want a solid phone that doesn't feel like plastic. Can you deal with that?
• Multiple Applications: So far it doesn't look good - but maybe by December they'll reconsider and reconfigure.
• Flash Support: I should be getting flash support on my Pre this month. To go backwards would not be fun... And for the record Microsoft - Silverlight is NOT a viable alternative to flash! I don't care that the phone has Silverlight on it. I want flash! How many streaming videos have you watched in Silverlight? How many have you watched in flash? Enough said...

If you're like me - you love the fact that you can learn just about anything online.

Anyone out there use wireframing consistently in the design process?

Earlier this year I pre-ordered Windows 7 for a fairly good deal ($49.00). I installed it on my wife's laptop and then on the desktop the kids use to play games online.

See where this is going?

Sure enough - a few weeks later I get the message on the desktop that the product key is invalid (since it was on my wife's laptop first) and that I had 28 days to purchase a new key (for the low low price of $119.00 of course).

Needless to say, I was a bit irritated, but I got out the Win XP Pro disk and started a fresh install of that - only to remember the painful process it is to install XP and then have to hunt down drivers, Comcast Internet information and all that jazz...

So I threw up my hands and prayed for a way out of the mess. And when I opened my eyes my browser had changed to the Ubuntu website (no, not really...). But Ubuntu did pop into my head. So I got my friend Matt Metzger on the line and he walked me through the setup process.

I stand amazed at the fact that something can be so easy to install, so easy to use and free all at the same time. No 3 hour install process like Windows products. No searching for drivers. No nothing but load it up and go.

Now I know there are limitations to Ubuntu, but for the kids at home to jump on the Internet and play a few games it made all the sense in the world. And it looks incredible. The UI and menu structure are clean, well designed and straightforward.

Welcome home Ubuntu...

The Problem: I recently received an email from The TypePad Team asking me to fill out a survey. Here is what it said exactly:

Hello,

Yesterday you should have a received an email from me telling you about an upcoming survey for TypePad. This is your official invitation to participate in this survey.

We want to make TypePad better by understanding more about you, what you blog about, and your experience with TypePad. The survey should take about 5 minutes to complete and your answers will be treated with the utmost confidence.

I realize your time is valuable and your participation and feedback is extremely important to helping us improve TypePad. If you could complete the survey by Wednesday, February 10th, we would greatly appreciate it.

To take the survey, please click here: (I won't put you through the pain)

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me directly at: (not necessary)

Sincerely,

The TypePad Team

Lack of Excellence: My problem with this was two-fold.

First, the survey itself is NOT a five minute survey. I thought I'd be nice, so I decided to fill it out (even though I'm not really using TypePad any more). But 8-10 minutes in I was so frustrated that I dropped out and never finished the survey. I suppose if you checked boxes wildly you could be done in 5 minutes, but I was trying to check the correct boxes and give explanations that would add value.

Second, (and maybe this was at the end) there was no real assessment of the negatives. Questions were more along the lines of, "How would you rate this totally excellent and awesome feature in TypePad?" instead of, "Do you feel TypePad does a good job by offering this feature?" or "Do you feel TypePad offers the right features?"

I've never been a big fan of TypePad in general and I'm in the process of moving at least three long time staff bloggers from TypePad to WordPress. But that doesn't mean I wish TypePad ill will. I simply don't understand the philosophy they operate under and hope that they course correct quickly for the sake of those that are still using their platform. I think they truly believe they have one of the best platforms out there - when from everything I've experienced, they charge a lot of money for something that is behind the times, poorly themed, and locked down so tight you'd have to move a mountain to try and customize it. All making me ask, What were they thinking?

I'll be honest, aside from using Blogger for blogging and Google as my search engine, I typically overlooked Google as it grew - writing them off as a bunch of web junkies having fun cloning stuff that already existed in the marketplace.

But each year they grow, and add new SaaS (Software as a Service) offerings for people to use - most of which are free. And in the past six months I've really started paying attention. Here's why:

• Google Apps: My hosting company is directly connected to Google Apps - making it simple to set up corporate email for clients using Gmail as the engine. More on the power of Google Apps here (specifically how churches can leverage Google Apps).
• Google Voice: I recently added Google Voice to my life so I could manage voicemail visually on my Palm Pre.
• Google Chrome: I recently switched over to Google Chrome as my default browser. Screaming fast and very light. It still have some glitches when it comes to functionality and extensions working like they did in Firefox but it can only get better.
• Android / Nexus One: Are you kidding me? A mobile operating system and their own phone? Android came in like a lamb but is already roaring like a lion. I can't believe I'm actually looking forward to the Nexus One coming to Sprint. It could quite possibly replace my Palm Pre - which I AM happy with at the moment.
• Google OS: I guess this was a no-brainer. If you offer a myriad of Saas tools online - why not make an OS that seamlessly integrates those on your computer and mobile devices?

I don't know exactly when the switch went off in my brain, but I'm suddenly a big Google advocate, and I watch my tech blogs closely to see what they'll think up next.

How about you? Anyone moved to Google for everything? Given up MS Exchange for Google Apps? Switched to an Android phone with success?

I'd love to hear stories.

I must say, I never saw this coming...but Mashable reports the war between the standard browsers and the new guy is heating up.