technology – Page 2 – Temple Study

Using Google Wave in the LDS Church

October 10, 2009 by Bryce Haymond 12 Comments

Google Wave

Anyone who has been following this blog for some time knows that I love new technologies, and most particularly how those new technologies might be used to benefit the Church and the work of the kingdom of God on the earth. Last week I received a nomination to the “preview” of the new Google Wave service from a friend on Twitter (thank you!). Last night I finally received my invitation to join the service and test it out. I quickly hopped on board and began exploring.

I’ve only used the tool for a few hours, and its only available in a very limited preview release at the moment, but I’m already wondering how this cool new technology could be used in the Church to help the work roll on. For those who are not familiar with the service, it is being touted as the ultimate collaboration tool, an amalgam of email, instant messaging, wikis, social networking, document collaboration, picture/video sharing, and much more. Many are still not sure what exactly its potential is, or if it will even catch on. But from my limited encounter so far, it does seem like a powerful tool for working on things together, and I think it will be of use to many.

So the question that’s been rolling around in my head then is, how can we use Google Wave in the Church? How could it facilitate those things we already do in the Church to make them better? How can we harness its power to help the threefold mission of the Church accomplish its ends in a quicker, easier, or simpler way? [Read more…]

0.41 Gigapixel Photo of Salt Lake Temple

July 25, 2009 by Bryce Haymond Leave a Comment

Not to be outdone by yesterday’s 360° Panoramas of Temple Square, Dr. Hamblin has produced probably the highest resolution photograph of the Salt Lake Temple ever made. It is 0.41 gigapixels, which amounts to 410 megapixels. Compared with most modern digital cameras which are capable of 2-8 megapixels, this is a super high resolution image. The total file size of the image is 400 megabytes, but don’t worry, you don’t have to download all of that data to see it.

Dr. Hamblin used a new technology called Gigapan to create the gigapixel panorama. The results are nothing short of amazing. The image loads fast, and you can zoom into any portion of the temple and see exquisite details very close-up. I have embedded the photo below for your convenience (if you are reading this in email or RSS, it will only display on the website). If you’d like to see the photo fullscreen, click here.

Dr. Hamblin has also produced a short guided tour of some of the architectural features of the eastern facade of the temple in this photo. It includes the building dedicatory inscription or plaque, sun stones, star stones, clouds, squared-circle stones (sometimes called “Saturn” stones), all seeing eye, moon stones, Alpha and Omega, the Right Hand of Fellowship, and the Angel Moroni. To see these, click here, and then click on the “Snapshots.”

Human Bodies Emit Visible Light

July 24, 2009 by Bryce Haymond 17 Comments

Very sensitive cameras capture light emitted from the body. Kyoto University, Tohoku Institute of Technology / Livescience.com

That’s right. Our bodies actually emit a minuscule amount of real light. This is not just radiation or infrared body heat, but actual photons are released from the surface of the skin:

Past research has shown that the body emits visible light, 1,000 times less intense than the levels to which our naked eyes are sensitive. In fact, virtually all living creatures emit very weak light, which is thought to be a byproduct of biochemical reactions involving free radicals. ((“Humans Glow in Visible Light,” Charles Q. Choi, LiveScience. http://news.aol.com/article/humans-glow/584160))

New research indicates that the amount of light varies throughout the day: [Read more…]

The Virtual Design of Temples

May 20, 2009 by Bryce Haymond 9 Comments

Have you ever wondered what goes into the design of new temples? How much is planned ahead of time? To what extent do they know what the temple will look like when it is finished? What level of detail is thought about even before construction begins?

I have thought those things many times before, and I believe they have now been answered in large measure by something fascinating that Elder Bednar shared in his CES fireside address just a couple weeks ago on May 3, 2009. His talk was entitled, “Things as They Really Are,” and he spoke about how the virtualization of reality through modern technology can take particularly pernicious forms that can have damaging eternal spiritual effects. It is an excellent talk, and one that every member of the Church should read and study carefully.

He also spoke of the good that can come through these technologies. One of the positive influences of our modern advances in virtual reality was shown in architecture, engineering, and design planning. Elder Bednar showed two sets of images of how computer graphics technology is used in the design of temples, and they are incredible:

Left: Computer rendering of sealing room in the Newport Beach California Temple. Right: Photo of sealing room in the Newport Beach California Temple. (click for a larger view)

Left: Computer rendering of sealing room in the Newport Beach California Temple. Right: Photo of actual sealing room in the Newport Beach California Temple. (click for a larger view)

As you can see, an extremely detailed plan of the Newport Beach California Temple was conceived before construction even started, even down to the fabrics, textures, colors, lights, windows, and furniture. Here is another:

Left: Computer rendering of lobby in the Copenhagen Denmark Temple. Right: Photo of lobby in the Copenhagen Denmark Temple. (click for a larger view)

Left: Computer rendering of lobby in the Copenhagen Denmark Temple. Right: Photo of actual lobby in the Copenhagen Denmark Temple. (click for a larger view)

Again, the attention to detail is astounding in the lobby rendering of the Copenhagen Denmark Temple before it was constructed. Needless to say, the Church knows a great deal about what a temple will look like before the dirt is stirred. Coming from a computer graphics background, I am greatly impressed.

The Church spares no expense in doing things right, particularly where the Lord’s temples are concerned. As in ancient times, the House of the Lord is only built with the finest of materials, craft, and skill available, and the most painstaking efforts are made beforehand to ensure that the Lord’s most holy house ends up being what it should be—the most sacred place on earth.

TempleStudy.com Now on iPhone, iPod Touch, Android & Blackberry Devices

April 16, 2009 by Bryce Haymond 7 Comments

TempleStudy.com on the iPhone

In honor of my purchase of an iPhone a few days ago, I decided it was time to make TempleStudy.com more mobile. Now you can access and read TempleStudy.com in a much more reader-friendly way just by visiting the website in your browser on your mobile device. The website will automatically detect the type of device, and will reformat the design of the site to load much faster, and look much nicer, on the small screen.

Hopefully this will make TempleStudy a much better experience for you folks who live on-the-go. Of course, you can always fetch the RSS feed too, but that doesn’t offer as much functionality. With the website on your mobile you can browse categories, tag clouds, do searches, leave comments on posts, subscribe to posts, and more. Be sure to check out the menus on the navigation bar.

On a side note, I love now being able to stream General Conference talks to my car on the way to and from work. I truly believe these emerging technologies are helping the work of the Lord roll forth in remarkable ways.