But yes, there is a catch. There’s always a catch.

The catch is that you need to have a device running iOS – if you happen to be one of these then simply download and install Box.net’s mobile app before

If you’re looking for some free cloud storage (and who wouldn’t like a little extra space to sync and backup their files?) Box.net is running a promotion wherein iOS users can download and install their mobile app for a 50GB bonus. In their words, here’s the low down:

This promotion only runs for 50 days, so get your free space in the cloud by following these steps:

1. Visit the app store and download the Box app for your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch
2. Log in to your account or register for a new one directly from the app
3. Start sharing and collaborating in the cloud

It’s that simple. The 50 days end December 1st 2011.

Oh, and the free account you’ll need as a minimum gives you 5Gb.

50Gb Cloud Storage for Free is a post from: Church Techy

The three I think of are what I call the 3 areas or zones of internet safety.

1. Digital Citizenship
2. Digital Footprint
3. Online Risks

For digital citizenship I think in terms of  our online social behavior and skills or empowerment; support and advancement of causes; online law; online security; etc.

For digital footprint I consider issues of privacy; what goes online stays online; one’s online reputation; etc.

And for online risks the ares I consider would include online bullying; sexting; virus; malware; etc.

• Do you think about internet safety?
• Have I missed any areas / zones?
• Am I being too  simplistic with my 3 step view?

Three Zones of Internet Safety is a post from: Church Techy

The feature doesn’t care about your privacy or whether you are in a [cough] delicate situation.

But at least Facebook have offered you a way to stop this.

Here’s how:

1. Access Facebook and go to the Privacy Settings – top right hand corner under account.
2. Select, if you haven’t already, the custom tab on the left hand side and then “customize settings” link in the middle towards the bottom.
3. Scroll down to “suggest photos of me to friends” and click edit settings next to it.
4. Change the enabled to disabled and then click OK.

That’s it.

Are you concerned about Facebook’s seemingly endless invasion of your privacy?

Have your say below.

Take Back Your Facebook Privacy is a post from: Church Techy

Let’s face it – we’re probably all addicted to social networking.

Whether you can walk away from it for a week or more or have to use it to tell us every minor part of your day from what you had for breakfast (and where) to what colour socks you’ve got on – then in some way, the very fact you are reading here is likely proof you use social media and possibly are addicted to it..

Well according to CSOonline “dozens of IT security professionals have pinpointed seven typical security mistakes people make” and they are:

• Over-sharing company activities.
• Mixing personal with professional .
• Engaging in Tweet (or Facebook/LinkedIn/Myspace) rage
• Believing he/she who dies with the most connections wins
• Password sloth
• Trigger finger (clicking everything, especially on Facebook)
• Endangering yourself and others

Please click through on the above link to see the detail.

Are you guilty of any of these?

Do you feel any of these are an over-simplification?

7 Deadly Sins of Social Networking is a post from: Church Techy

There is something called “Twitter Etiquette.” There are a number of articles that have outlined what not to do with Twitter, and I have read most of them. Consider this post as a summary of all those pointers.

Some of the points are downright obvious “don’t ignore others” – “don’t defame others” – well at least I think they are; whilst others I just totally disagree with “don’t neglect trending topics”. However the one thing that really got my goat about the article was its presentation of points as accepted facts without any explanation.

Take:

#10. Do not tweet way too less (People forget your existence) and
#42. Do not be reluctant to unfollow people who don’t tweet often

Why?

If your purpose in using Twitter is to learn stuff or follow links to blog posts, etc and not to actually promote yourself or your brand / business then what is wrong with only tweeting once in a blue moon? To my mind this makes the tweets all the more interesting – so long as they are.

#11. Do not only follow celebrities (They are boring)

Why not?

If this is your idea of relaxing then why not? Personally I don’t think I follow any huge names but the few ‘celebs’ (and I use that word guardedly) I do follow all, so far, have something worthwhile to say.

#17. Do not auto follow back everybody and
#18. Do not follow everybody you meet (Be selective)

Why on earth not?

What harm can really come in auto-following someone? Clicking on random links from DM’s is another story though. Or why shouldn’t you follow everyone you meet (not quite sure what is meant by ‘meet’ here)?

It’s your twitter account so do what you want with it.

OK, if you want to build a brand or a business or a huge following then that’s one thing, but if, as I suspect, like most of us on twitter we are just ordinary Joe’s and Jane’s then I don’t get these.

Let’s have a look at some more:

#30. Do not neglect trending topics

Tell me why?

More subjectively, let’s do this by looking at the trending topics right now:

#nowplayingPeople are tweeting their media choice of the moment.
#OhJustLikeMePeople are tweeting things that they’ve discovered they have in common.
#MJis
Liverpool
#imthekindofperson
#idoit2People are retweeting things they have in common.
Justin BieberThe young Canadian R&B/pop singer has a lot of fans who like to tweet about him! His second album, My World 2.0, comes out March 23.
My World 2@justinbieber’s new album comes out March 23 and his fans are excited.
#hcrHealth Care Reform. People are tweeting news about this issue in the U.S.
I’m okay

Not one of those things is even remotely making me want to click on them.

And when Michael Jackson died I didn’t need trending topics to tell me – I’ve got lots of celeb obsessed folks around me that couldn’t wait to let me know. That and even with only a few followers you’re still bound to hear stuff like this.

#34. Do not forget to archive your tweets (Back up! I use twapperkeeper)

Another why?

I can guess some reasons but I’m here to learn from you so tell me why you think I should back up my tweets – don’t command me and expect me to do it blindly -though I know some will.

#43. Do not forget to integrate your tweets with other social media platforms, such as Friendfeeds, Facebook, and LinkedIn

Surely this is only relevant if you’re attempting to build a brand or promote one? Personally I see and use Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn as three separate entities. I have some crossovers but on the whole different uses for different sites.

It also makes me less ‘samey’ and a more rounded individual because I’m not following the same folks across three platforms – what’s the point in that?

#48. Do not forget to install a mobile app to help you tweet while away from your computer
#50. Do not leave your iPhone charger at home when you are going out (It has happened to me three time when I tried to use TweetDeck with an exhausted iPhone battery.)

My answer to these two – get a life and stop worrying about the online aspect of it.

It will still be there when you do get battery power.

Dis-connect for a while.

Talk to those near you that you love or love you.

Sadly this brings to mind a tweet I’ve seen only this morning:

I love “couch time” with my beautiful wife on Sunday mornings! We’re talking about our up-coming anniversary!

No names, no pack drill and I’m not picking on them but the point is why are you tweeting this? If you love that person enough to talk with them then put down the phone / laptop / whatever.

What annoys you about articles like this and am I as guilty as some of the points I’ve raised?

Sunday Rant. Why or Why Not? is a post from: Church Techy

I’ve been up all night – no not willingly as I’m at work and in 4hrs I’m attending a men’s breakfast. I’m going to try and get a decent enough seat so that I can stream the speaker live on ustream.

We have Mike Warnke over from the USA speaking – for those that don’t know Mike he was the number 1 christian comedian for a number of years. Anyway, he’s a good guy, funny and has a unique perspective on life.

Please feel free to stop by and watch my ustream – it’ll tweet when I go live but I’m not quite sure what the URL will be but you can try this one or just watch my twitter stream at about 10am UK time.

Mike Warnke on Ustream is a post from: Church Techy

Here’s one I’ve managed to miss before – so many things, so little time …

Anyway, regular readers will know that I’m a fan of keeping my children safe online and by extension all children.

I’ve long been an advocate of everything and anything that helps to promote the safety of children and not just online. Anyway, it would appear that InSafe host an annual “Safer Internet Day” and this years theme is:

Think B4 U Post!

I agree.

So what is SID? In their own words:

Safer Internet Day is organised by Insafe each year in February to promote safer and more responsible use of online technology and mobile phones, especially amongst children and young people across the world. The topic for 2010 is “Think B4 U post!“.

To read more, simply click on the image above.

And by the way, it’s today!

Safer Internet Day 2010 is a post from: Church Techy

I’ve long been a quiet evangelist for the green movement – not that I am an out and out recycling nutjob or constantly turning off lights, etc but I do try and remind folks where it’s blindingly obvious that we all can help to save our planet.

One of the ways I’ve been trying to drive the Church in this is by moving to what I’m terming as online publishing. Take last Sunday morning for example … I walked in and was greeted with a smile, a hug and no less than six individual bits of paper. Each had a valid reason for its existence but equally each could have been condensed down to a couple of lines and put on one piece. After the service I lost count of how many of these bundles of six were left languishing on their seats forgotten by their owners.

Is there an answer? I think so but the onus to drive it has to come from our leaders as they are the ones getting the designer(s) to generate this content.

First and foremost we need to look into exactly what is being handed out and why. Does it need to be printed out? If so, does it need to be handed out to every member or is it meant for external distribution? If for members (and I ought to clarify that I also mean attenders here as well) then do we need the huge glossy flyer for what essentially boils down to a date, time and type of service?

For regular content, such as a newsletter or magazine can we not get these (on the whole) delivered by electronic means? In our Church we are fortunate that most of the members are internet enabled and have personal email addresses. For those that don’t we can still run off the odd dozen copies or so.

I’m sure I don’t need to teach any whom read this to suck eggs but I’m raising this today to remind myself to address the issue with my church leaders and to challenge the tech community to suggest alternatives when the guaranteed “but what about’s” start coming at us.

So what do you do in your Church to reduce your carbon footprint?

Online Media is a post from: Church Techy