Jon Swerens

This Is Your Brain on Visuals credits and notes

Jon Swerens — Wed, 02 May 2012 17:00:39 +0000

Here are the slides from Wednesday’s presentations at The Chamber. Plus, you’ll find some notes from the presentations and credits for photos. Leave questions in the comment box below!

BEYONCE, GORILLA GLASSES & UNZIPPED FLYS: HOW TO BECOME A STANDOUT SPEAKER: HOW TO BECOME A STANDOUT SPEAKER

View more presentations from Anthony Juliano

This Is Your Brain on Visuals 2may2012

View more presentations from Jon Swerens

Notes, downloads and credits:

The Painter of Light™, RIP

Jon Swerens — Sat, 07 Apr 2012 14:01:11 +0000

A quick note about the death of Thomas Kinkade:

His art did a poor job of reflecting the Gospel that he professed. Sin and redemption are a part of that story, but instead of his art reflecting death and decay and our eventual victory over it, his art simply acted as though it doesn’t exist.

This is the reason so many could find true beauty in his art, which was present in some degree, while others found it superficial.

Nevertheless, RIP Mr. Kinkade.

Create a universal QR code for Android Market and iOS App Store

Jon Swerens — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 19:59:32 +0000

It’s easy enough to create a QR code for a URL using a free online tool. (URLs are web addresses, my non-geeky friends.) There are dozens of them, although this QR code generator from the ZXing Project is a favorite of mine.

But what if you are offering apps for different mobile platforms, such as iOS and Android? How do you make a QR code that somehow “knows” what kind of device is scanning the code?

Thankfully, you have an array of free online tools to help you do just that. Here are the steps I took to create a QR code for the app offered by The Greater Fort Wayne Chamber of Commerce:

1. Gather your app links

Make sure you have the proper, complete links to your apps.

A link to the Android store begins like this: https://play.google.com.

For example, here is the link for The Chamber’s Android app: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.moblico.chamber2go.FWChamber2go

A link to the iOS store — that’s iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch — begins http://itunes.apple.com.

For example, the link to The Chamber’s app is this: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/fwchamber2go/id503214934?mt=8

2. Shorten the links

The shorter the links, the less complex the QR code becomes. Thus, theoretically, it’s easier to be read by your QR scanner. Compare the two codes to the left. The code on the left uses the original URLs I listed above. The one on the right uses shortened URLs.

If you don’t currently use a URL shortener, or if you’re unsure how to shorten a URL, I recommend the URL shortener called Bitly. You’ll be able to shorten the link and keep track of how many times the link is scanned or clicked on.

3. Copy your links into this QR code generator

Copy those shortened URLs you created and paste them into the proper slots on the form here: http://qrappdownload.appspot.com/

Important! Be sure to delete the sample URLs in the online form!

Then download the QR code you generated somewhere you can find it again. You might want to save those links that the generator creates, just in case you lose your QR code image.

4. Test, test, test!

Before you plaster that QR code all over town, be sure to test, test, and test again that code on as many devices and code readers as you can. For better advice than I can give, check out “Testing QR Codes for Scan-ability” by Kevin Mullett at Cirrus ABS.

That’s it! If you use these tools, let me know how they worked for you, especially if they didn’t work for you.

Potpourri: TBN in legal hot water / You married the wrong person / Stop wasting time / An Easter song

Jon Swerens — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 21:35:00 +0000

Here’s a new little experiment: A potpourri post. These are a few interesting links that came my way today:

“Christian” TV channel faces lawsuit: Lawsuit brought by family members claims Trinity Broadcasting Network founder and his wife bought their jets with sham loan

“We always marry the wrong person.” “(God) didn’t design marriage for self-fulfillment, but to train you, slowly and painfully, to ‘love and care for the stranger to whom you find yourself married’”

Get more things done today: All you need to do is eliminate four bad time management habits and stop wasting time today.

Song of resurrection and ascension: The song “See The Conqueror” may be 150 years old, but this version is brand new by Jenny & Tyler.

I have a lo-o-ong back, so here’s attempt No. 1 at getting better ergonomics for my laptop:

Jon Swerens — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 18:21:11 +0000

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Sometimes, a productive work day looks like this:

Jon Swerens — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 15:38:04 +0000

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These poses pretty much describe the photo shoot at Indiana’s NewsCenter. (with Ryan Elijah, Jeff Bowman and Larry Wardlaw)

Jon Swerens — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 15:14:32 +0000

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You get funny looks from other drivers when there’s a garden composter tied to the roof of your van.

Jon Swerens — Sun, 11 Dec 2011 21:03:01 +0000

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I designed some signs to help you around The Chamber building during the Taste of the Chamber! www.fwchamber.org/taste

Jon Swerens — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 21:25:59 +0000

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This is what you do when you’re the tallest person who works at The Chamber:

Jon Swerens — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 20:26:44 +0000

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