Web Finds: iPhone's big announcement, get your LinkedIn up-to-date, and CES: what you're NOT missing

The Wall Street Journal confirms it: Verizon and the iPhone are FINALLY getting married. Don't know if I'll be at the wedding just yet - I need to do a bit of smartphone shopping.

Slate actually called the Consumer Electronics Show "pointless."

It's a new year -- not a bad time to re-evaluate things, including your LinkedIn profile. Dana Nelson calls it "the social network for grownups." Check out her tips. The Glassdoor blog also provides some strong pointers.

According to a recent Gallup poll, those who described themselves as "very religious" had a lower risk of depression. "Don't stop believin'!"

An evangelical makes the case that interfaith cooperation honors God.

It's so easy to click a button and subscribe to a blog. But Community Organizer 2.0 suggests that job seekers and networkers should fine-tune their subscriptions to truly reflect professional goals. Read blogs because the posts make you think.

Vadim Lavrusik tweeted about Goldman Sachs' recent investment in Facebook. The article from CNN says "we are witnessing the beginning of the end of Facebook." Can you say, "Friend-me-now-before-the-Apocalypse-hits?"

Mobile is now. The FCC chairman makes a case for it, and promises to move net neutrality to the top of his agenda in 2011.

All Religion Considered

NPR's All Things Considered does a weekly tech segment. This week I was fascinated to learn that it had a religious topic: "Religion finds home on iPhones, social networks." (You can also listen to the three-minute piece).

Reporter Jessica Alpert gave additional commentary on NPR's All Tech Considered blog (which I was able to contribute to throughout my semester at NPR's Social Media Desk).

According to Alpert, there are over 200 bible iPhone apps. And one devoted couple created the iRosary. Another app reminds Muslims of the daily call to prayer.

One of my Twitter friends, Matt Lipan, is a United Methodist pastor in Indianapolis. He's a great example of someone who's engaging people online. He has an active Twitter account, blogs about his sermons, and is launching a video/chat forum called "Outside the Walls."

Can technology bring people closer to faith (and each other) - or does it distract? On the other hand, maybe using technology and social networks can work together to bring believers (and non-believers) into more intimate conversations. That's one topic I'm interested in exploring further.

iPhone: The Future of Newsgathering?

The thing I love about interning at WISH TV is that no day is every the same. This particular day got me thinking about how newsgathering might change and evolve as I enter the field in the next several years.

Today a homeowner received the kindness of strangers when two paramedics stopped by her Anderson, Ind. home to say that oh, by the way, her house was on fire. The home is beautiful, I might add. It is Victorian-style, built in the 1870s and has customs trimming and painting. Luckily, the firefighters showed up pretty quickly. The story aired at the 10 pm (MyIndy, Channel 23) and 11 pm (WISH TV 8) newscasts.

That's the side story. The main story is how the iPhone is revolutionizing a journalist's newsgathering abilities. Let me explain.

It's been on stories like these - and others - that Web 2.o tools and ever-evolving PDAs can change our world. We can find directions, make phone calls and do research from the comfort of a handheld device.

With the mapping, address book and calling applications, reporters and photographers could more efficiently contact interviewees, find good places for B-roll and - with the new video-iPhone - shoot an entire news package with it ("good enough for the evening news). At least that's what the CBS affiliate in Miami did.

CBS4 branched out, using newer technology to report the news. Only time will tell how these tools will be used in the future of broadcast news.