Last week Apple and Microsoft unveiled new computers. Apple showed off a newly designed MacBook Pro with Touch Bar and Touch ID while Microsoft refreshed their Surface Book and introduced a professional creativity focused all-in-one system called the Surface Studio. It will run the new Windows Creative Edition coming out next year. We talk about the two companies and their vision for what customers want in hardware. Watch the podcast below or listen at the bottom of this page.

We took the two announcements events in the order they came, starting with Microsoft’s unveiling of Windows Creative Edition. Most of what they covered focused on creating content using Windows. They were enamored with 3D since Paint gets an update to include 3D. My colleague Travis Pope of GottaBeMobile tells you all about the new version.

The SurfaceBook gets an update to the SurfaceBook 2 (starts at $2,399). It’s a two-in-one mobile device that’s mostly a laptop, but with a detachable screen. Microsoft first released it last year, but it was extremely buggy. They fixed the bugs and now they put in new processors and upped the video graphics chip for better overall performance and great battery life.

How can technology help in your small group ministry? We examined some ways that tech can help you with a more dynamic small group discipleship ministry. This focused on three areas, content, organization and the small group meeting time.

In our discussion of using tech in small groups ministry, we got the following recommendations:

Google Pixel and Pixel XL

We also took a look at the Google Pixel XL Phone. I shared my early review after a week’s uses.

The things that set this phone apart include the following:

Recently I recommended the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 as a favorite thing, but now Samsung’s pulling the phone after the replacement phones are now burning up. A few replacement models seemed to have burned up now in the US.

We talked about the Samsung recall for the first third of the show. Then we got to an interesting discussion about how to find the truth about Internet rumors using online truth sites. Some of the most popular sites like this include Snopes.com, Urban Legends and Truth or Fiction. For political rumors there’s Fact Check.

We record the Theotek Podcast every Tuesday at 9:00 p.m.. The best way to get a notification when we go live is to subscribe to our YouTube Channel or our Twitter Feed. You can also just come to this site. Below you’ll find the audio version. The podcast link above shows where to download the audio version or how to subscribe using iTunes or Stitcher Radio. Soon we’ll be included in the Google Play Store’s Podcasting section.

Google announced their new hardware in an event held on October 4. During the event they announced Pixel phones, Google Home, Google Wi-Fi and a new Google Chromecast. The Theotek team talked about the new devices and shared our opinions. Are they desirable for people wanting a new phone or other gadgets? Watch the podcast below or listen to it at the end of this post. Below the podcast is a list of what they offered with a few details and links to their store to order them.

These two phones will run Android 7.1 operating system. That makes them the most up-to-date Android phones on the market. They hold 5 or 5.5-inch screens powered by the newest Snapdragon 821 processor. Throw in 32GB or 128GB or storage.

The announcement event also included the new Google Assistant, a form of their Google Now service akin to Apple’s Siri. It’s a chatbot essentially and helps people find things, control their phone with voice and look up pertinent information like movie times, directions, appointments and more. It’s pretty nifty looking.

The 12MP camera on the back got the highest rating from DXOMark, a camera rating service. The company will give users free unlimited Photo storage for the full resolution photos and 4K video the phone can shoot.

They look drool-worthy and I’ve seriously considered picking up the Google Pixel. Right now they’re backordered and buyers can’t get one till some time in November if they order directly from the company’s device store. Verizon customers might get one sooner, but they’ll also likely get a phone riddled with Verizon apps they can’t get rid of and they won’t get OS updates as soon as the unlocked versions sold the device store.

Sometimes churches or believers can’t afford the high-end or expensive option in many categories like Bible software or web services, so we’ve got some of the best free stuff or free alternatives for you. We shared our favorite freebies that churches, pastors, and believers can use to help build the kingdom of God in their context without wrecking their wallet or bank account balance.

Below the video you’ll see the list of freebies starting with the Bible Software free stuff and then a simple list of the other free stuff we talked about in this episode of the Theotek Podcast.

e-Sword is the best free Bible study app available. They make both PC version and a Mac version, that’s not free but really inexpensive.

Sticking with Bible study Rick Mansfield showed off the free Accordance Mobile app, which people can download on their iPhone or iPad and get a ton of free content, especially if you sign up for a free user account with Accordance. Rick showed off the great ESV interlinear Bible available in the app.

Apple announced the new iPhone 7 and Apple Watch Series 2 on September 7. We talked about it because we can’t help ourselves when it comes to Apple News.

We also debated the value of removing the headphone jack in the iPhone 7. I’m certain Apple did it for one reason, profit. The others seem a little more favorable of the idea, and that’s okay. What do you think? Post a comment below, on the video at YouTube or hit us up on Twitter.

Some of the highlights of Apple’s accounement include…

The Theotek Podcast covers technology for the church and Christians. We do it normally every Tuesday night at 9pm Eastern. Follow us @TheotekPodcast for more information and please subscribe on Youtube.

Faithlife shipped Logos 7. The update comes with a lot of new features for users of Logos 6. Logos Now users will feel like it’s a pretty minor update.

We covered the major new features in Logos 7 and talked about how users can upgrade or subscribe to Logos Now.

Logos 7 incorporates a bunch of new features including the QuickStart Layouts accessible from the Layouts menu. You’ll find it on the toolbar towards the right next to the question mark icon. A box pops up and along the left inside that box you’ll see a list of layouts. The top section shows your QuickStart Layouts. Think of them as predefined layouts ready for your use. Logos lets users arrange all the books on their desk the way they prefer and then save the layout. See the Saved Layouts in the bottom of the left hand list in the screenshot above. The QuickStart Layouts are layouts made by Logos designers.

The Sermon Editor, accessed from the Sermon item in the Documents menu, gives users a sermon creation tool inside Logos 7. The sermons become searchable and show up when the user creates a Passage Guide search on a passage that includes a Sermon made in Sermon Editor.

Inside the Sermon Editor users can instantly add the text of Bible verses by typing the reference. It will replace the reference with the text of that passage.

The editor also makes slides instantly out of Headings, Bible passages and more. The user can export these slides to Faithlife’s Proclaim presentation service

Every once in a while we dispense with the news about church and Bible technology and don’t talk about Bible software and only deal with what we call Our Favorite Things. These are recommendations of a tool, accessory, gadget, software, app, service or really anything that we enjoy using in our lives. They come from our ministries in church and Bible tech, church life, family, entertainment or hobbies. We’ll each shared some of our favorite things in this edition of the Theotek Podcast.

Here’s everyone’s list of recommendations with links.

Wes talked about using a tablet for note taking purposes and recommended the app Notes Plus for iPad. You can write in your own handwriting and take advantage of Apple Pencil support.

It’s great for recording the meeting and for adding images, drawings and text as well.

Second, Wes recommended Adobe Spark, one of the great Adobe mobile apps. Spark puts together your images and videos into a nice presentation on the web or on mobile devices. See more about the Adobe Mobile apps over at GottaBeMobile where I wrote a full article about the most useful of the Adobe Mobile apps.

LaRosa recommended two great alternatives to Adobe Photoshop and Indesign from a company called Serif. Affinity Photo Editor is a great cheaper alternative to Photoshop with layered photo editing tools without the expensive subscription. Get it for $49.99 in the Mac App Store or download the free trial available at their website.

Our crew talked about a great tool for writing long form documents and projects called Scrivener. It’s now out on both Mac and iOS. Windows users can also get it. It helps you organize your writing and research all in one place and then export it to multiple formats.

We shared how to use Scrivener in writing ministry and church life as we talk Church and Bible Tech with Theotek. Tuesday Nights via YouTube Live Stream now. After that we talked about some of our favorite things.

Our crew talked about our experiences in the last 9 months using the iPad Pro for our Bible study, preaching, and general work/play. Then we looked at Our Favorite Things. We planned to talk about Scrivener, a great writing tool that a few of our team members use. However, we went long talking about the iPad, so we’ll save that discussion for next week.

In the meantime, watch or listen below to our thoughts on using the iPad Pro.

For Our Favorite Things this week, I talked quickly about SideClick, a little remote attachment for streaming set-top boxes, like Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV and Roku. Check it out at their website.