No letters after my name. Free to be me.

Get Windows Vista Ulimate For Free!

A fellow Melbournian Blogger brought to my attention of a way to get a free and legit version of Windows Vista Ultimate.  As a bit of a geek, this story jumped and hit me in the face like a tonne of bricks so I investigated further.

Even better is that you have a choice of 3 titles: I wonder which one I will go for!

1. Windows Vista Ultimate
2. Adobe Photoshop CS3
3. VMware Workstation 6

www.bastillwork.net is the company offering this amazing offer.  And all you need to do to get your license key for one of these products is this:

Note:  These instructions are taken directly from the article outlining this offer.

For website owners, blogger’s:

1. Write an article about this offer ( or our services ) on your site, be sure to link to us from this article.
2. Subscribe to my website for updates via email.
3. Stumble this article with your comment.

For other:

1. Write at least five quality reviews ( or comments ) for five distinct software listed in our website ( be sure to write quality reviews, we will check it after you submit )
2. Subscribe to my website for updates via email.
3. Stumble this article with your comment.

After you have finished please send an email to admin@bastillwork.net from the same email you used to subscribe to our RSS feed. In this email please include:

1. State where your post about us on your site is.
2. Your StumbleUpon nick name.
3. One of 3 famous software above.

We will send the license to your email after 48h.

Well there you have it.  I must admit, I don’t know these guys at all.  But my fellow Melbournian blogger I can trust and have been in contact with a number of times as I built my church’s website.  He says he got his copy of Windows Vista Ultimate using this website and I trust him.

So I’m going to finish this post right now and do as the instructions above tell me to do.  What have I got to lose?  I’ll let you know when I receive my license key!

Check Out This Cool Video

This video comes courtesy of the Collide Magazine and their snazzy new website. I get a lot out of mulitmedia and appreciate really good work. And this is good:

As it was succintly put on the Collide website, the video would be even better if there was a point to it all.  Fair comment.  But great video nonetheless.

Animoto - The Death Of Slideshows

Everyone likes a good slide show. But until recently, your typical slideshow websites offer a product that’s lame and glittered with all kinds of messy visual bombardment. The end result is a tacky looking slideshow.

So it’s with great pleasure I can say that animoto.com has signaled the death of the slide show. What’s animoto? I’m glad you asked. Here is a 60 second clip explaining what it’s all about:

Looks pretty cool huh? The guys behind animoto are from the movie industry and their talent is obvious in their product - especially the transitions between photo’s. I’ve been with animoto since last August 07 and I’ve seen new transition released all the time.

Animoto allows you to make short 30 second video’s for free. Which is a great service in itself. But the real power behind the service is the ability to make full length video’s incorporating hundreds of your photo’s in one cool video clip.

To subscribe to this service, it costs US$30 per year - and gives you unlimited access to making video slideshows of your pic’s. You can make 1 video or a 1000 videos during the year - it really doesn’t matter.

However, animoto has just released a referral program where if you sign up and join through this link (or any of the links on this post), you get a $5.00 discount off your All Access Pass. Plus, as your referrer, I get to subscribe to the service for a little longer for free. So we both win!

Here is a video I just made today using animoto. It’s a slideshow of 3 years worth of holiday snaps my little family takes to the Gold Coast as outlined here:

So go ahead and check out animoto.com - you won’t be disappointed! Even if you start mixing your free 30 second video’s this service is well worth it. You can download the video’s, email them and post them on blogs and social platforms such as facebook and myspace. And when you’re ready, be sure to buy the All Access Pass to unleash the creative beast that is inside you - powered by animoto!

Very Cool Free Music Sites

I love my music. The feeling I have inside as I listen to a tune no matter what I do makes me feel good. Makes me remember one time I was on a flight and listening to my iPod. I was sitting on an aisle seat when an old guy about 2 rows up from me starts looking back at me with a frown.

Finally he turns around and waves at me to get my attention and asks me to turn down my iPod as the noise is bothering him! This, despite the fact that we are in a airliner with all the noise of multiple jet engines right outside from where he is sitting. But no, my simple iPod and the ear phones sticking out of it, override everything. Maybe I was listening too loud! Yeah, nah….

My taste is wide and varied - from Gospel ballads, to industrial metal. From classics to experimental electronica - you name it, and I’m in. Having said that, the genre’s I can’t stand are hip hop and country & western - seriously question these styles.

But you may or may not be aware of two music sites which kick some serious butt in terms of information and access to free mp3 downloads. Before you get all excited, usually the free mp3’s are by artists you haven’t heard of. Which isn’t necessary a bad thing if you appreciate variety but still expect quality.

The first site is ilike.com. And the 2nd site is last.fm. To make the most of these sites, make sure you download the software with each site which enables your music listening habits to be tracked and matched with other artists you may want to check out.

Then go nuts and explore these sites for free mp3 downloads or video’s or connect with people with similar tastes. One of my favourite functions is to find similar artists to a song I’m listening to. Using these sites has enabled me to discover great musicians.

So if you like your music, make sure you check these out!

It’s Official! Facebook Is For Pastors!

Chances are if you spend time online, you have a Facebook account. If you don’t know what Facebook is, then get your head around these stats:

1. More than 70 million users use Facebook
2. Facebook is the 6th most trafficked website in the world
3. Number one photo sharing application online
4. 14 million photo’s uploaded each day
5. More than 2 million people are on Facebook at any given time

Facebook is a social networking site where users have the opportunity to connect to people they know and share whatever they like. Sounds like the online world loves Facebook. So the question beckons, where do we need to be as a Church to reach this world?

Apart from manning our pews on the weekends, we need to be where the people are. And Facebook is one of those places. Chris Forbes, founder of Ministry Marketing Coach, has released a 31 page free eBook on the subject called, “Facebook For Pastors - How to build relationships and connect with people using the most popular social network on the internet.” This eBook covers the following topics:

• How to make the most of your profile information
• Tips for Networking with People in Facebook
• All about groups, messages, poking, etc
• Brand Your Ministry
• Meet prospects for your church
• Learn more about the members in your church
• Fine tune your communication skills
• Testimonies from Pastors who use Facebook
• and much more!

Download it for free here! I wanted to post it here to get the word out.  I will read it in due course and pass it onto my Pastor for his consideration.  Would you pass it onto yours?

Church Multimedia Resources

If you don”t visit churchrelevance.com, you should. Kent Shaffer runs a great blog on “training people to reach other more effectively.” I link my posts to his site more than any other blog and today he has provided another great post.

Many medium to large churches can afford or have the talent pool to create custom made graphics and video resources. For the rest of us, we need to rely on the God given talent of others and the generosity placed in their hearts to share what they have.

Church Relevance has a great post here, outlining free Christian and non-christian sites as well as linking to some Christian sites where you need to pay for resources.

Here’s my rant though, why would these large churches charge for their content when they are raking in the money? Call me cynical but when I see much smaller churches and ministries given stuff out for free, it makes these large & charging churches look like parasites. Anyway, I have told myself not to be so critical so I’ll go and scream in a room with egg carton insulation.

My favorites listed at churchrelevance.com include:

creativemyk.com is a new and growing site offering a image related resources. Be sure to check it out and visit often as new stuff is being added all the time.

LifeChurch.tv This is a Church I really like in regards to it’s philosophy of sharing materials. They have a tonne of material ready to go for you to use in your church or small group setting.

But my new discovery via churchrelevance.com is a ministry called Muddy River Media. This website rocks and, after registering, provides a bunch of material available for free download. They host their previews on YouTube and here is a taste of what’s available:

Medical Science: I couldn’t resist this one as I make a living flogging products for bleeding disorders:

Vine & Branches: One of my favourite topics in the Bible.

Worship Background: Those of us in the media ministry know how hard it is to spice things up. Well have a look at what this site does to spice up things for free!

I really enjoy the growing move within Christianity to share resources. After all, we are one body. When’s the last time your heart said to your leg, “Hi dude. I’m gonna charge you $2.00/liter of blood I supply to you!”

C’mon Christians! Spread the love and talent around!