Last month I made the switch from my Blackberry (Tour) to an Android (Droid 2) phone.  One of the things that I'm loving about the Android platform is the great selection of photo and image related apps available for it.

Here are some of my favorite:

FXCamera
A great photography app with some really great effects such as:

• ToyCam - a Toy Camera Emulator
• Polandroid - a 1970's Polaroid Camera Emulator
• Fisheye - a Fisheye Lens Emulator
• SymmetriCam - a Mirror/SymmetriCam (my personal favorite)
• Warhol - a Pop Culture Cam that produces Andy Warhol-like pics.
• Normal Cam - a Basic Camera with sepia, b/w, and saturation filters.

Adobe Photoshop Express
  I've used Photoshop for years (since I studied graphic design back in the mid-90's anyway).  While this is not the most full-featured image-editor out there, it is a great one, and it's FREE!

Editing with Photoshop Express is extremely intuitive...simply drag your finger to crop, adjust color, apply effects — you name it.

• Crop, rotate, and color-correct...this is my favorite part of the app.
• Add soft focus, sepia tint, or change to black & white quickly.
• Browse your photoshop.com account using the Photo Browser.
• Add one-touch other effects like Warm Vintage and Vignette.
• Oh yeah...did I mention it's FREE.

 Camera ZOOM FX
The Pièce de résistance of Android photography apps. 

While it's not a freebie (you get what you pay for), it is hands down the most useful, and full-featured Android photography app (as of this writing).

• 40 photo fx as of the most recent release. (fisheye, mirror, greenscreen, and tons more)
• Fully customizable button set up.
• Burst shooting (really cool feature).
• Photobooth feature (shoot a 2x2 image without cropping).
• One click uploading to Twitter, Facebook, etc...
• Customizable grid overlays for perfect shot composition.
• The list goes on and on...a must have app for anyone wanting a great camera app!

So that's my short list (there are others, but these are my favorites)...what are you using?

This past Sunday I preached from my iPad for the first time. Here are my first impressions, and a quick snapshot of my process.

What I Liked:
* Backlit display. The lighting in the movie theater is not great, but with the iPad I was able to read my notes easily and from further away than normal.
* Portability. Rather than carry around 2 sheets of paper or tape/paperclip my notes in my Bible, I was able to carry my iPad and have my notes right in front of me without worrying about a page flying away.
* YouVersion.com access. At one point in my message I wanted to access a verse I couldn't remember the reference of...so I switched to my YouVersion app and did a quick search while a video clip played...bam...found my verse and was able to switch back to my notes flawlessly.

What I Didn't Like:
* Because it's new, it could have been a distraction to people.
* That's about it.

My Process:
1. Save my message notes as a PDF.
2. Email the PDF to myself.
3. Open the PDF in GoodReader (iBooks works too).
4. Preach.

A Couple Tips:
* Switch the Auto-Lock feature to OFF.
* Turn off the volume.
* Consider using landscape if you prefer a wider layout.
* Lock the auto-rotate feature once you decide between portrait and landscape.

My amazing wife, with a little help from some friends, got me a Kindle DX for Christmas!

Since I'm a bit of a bibliophile, I'd been coveting my friends Kindles for the past year. I never expected to actually get one of my own this Christmas.

After 4 days of use, I thought it was time for a quick hit review of the Kindle DX, and a summary of my first impressions.