Apple TV on Wi-Fi No Longer Reliable for Churches – UPDATE

Posted by Kevin Purcell on Jan 23, 2013 in Featured, Ministry, Technology | 0 comments

UPDATE: See my post at GottaBeMobile to understand how this might be a problem fixed.

For over a year we’ve tried to use the Apple TV over Wi-Fi as a presentation tool at the church where I’m a pastor, but this month we’ve given up because the device just doesn’t give us a reliable option anymore.

We connect the Apple TV to a projector in a our fellowship hall, the site of our Wednesday night Bible study and other meetings. The Apple TV connects via Wi-Fi to our network and we stream video and display presentations from an iPad or iPhone using AirPlay. For those who don’t know, AirPlay wirelessly displays content from an iOS device like the iPad, iPod Touch or iPhone to an Apple TV.

At first this solution worked great. I really like using wireless to connect a laptop or my iPad and iPhone to a projector via the Apple TV. It definitely beats hooking up to the VGA port and our stereo system. Tethering to the projector and sound via wires limits where I can stand. With the iPad and AirPlay over Apple TV I was able to stand closer to the attendees. I put the iPad or iPhone on a lectern, tapped the Home button twice and swiped right to show the AirPlay screen mirroring feature. The setup worked great for about a year and I relied on it weekly.

Unfortunately, with iOS 5 and later the Wi-Fi on the Apple TV no longer connects reliably enough. A bunch of Apple customers took to the Apple support communities to describe similar situations in a 58 page tread with hundreds of users suffering unreliable connections.

When I connect to the Apple TV using AirPlay everything seems to work fine at first. Then after a few minutes there’s usually a drop blanking the screen. This usually happens during higher bandwidth functions like streaming video. It’s also happened when display slides in a presentation using Keynote.

Connecting over Ethernet will prove costly to us at this time. We tried adding a Wi-Fi extender from Netgear between our wireless router and the Apple TV. The extender normally works well. We’ve also tried tweaking settings in our router and even removing security features.

For entertainment purposes at home, the Apple TV version 2 and newer became a must have iPad and iPhone accessory that only costs $99. We still believe that for home entertainment, it’s a great tool. Users can stream video from Apple iTunes, their iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch and now Mac. Users can enjoy video from third-party services like Netflix, MLB and more. We love using it for an entertainment device and wish they would expand their offerings.

Entertainment users won’t put up with a lot of dropped connections, but the occasional hiccup for a device like this doesn’t make me want to throw it out yet. However, churches need a solid and reliable solution that always works. The Apple TV doesn’t give us that.

Imagine standing in front of dozens of people. They came to watch a video that I promoted for weeks. As the presenter, I didn’t plan for a backup presentation because the video, would last the entire hour. After about 15 minutes it dropped a connection. After reconnecting and starting again, it dropped after another 20 minutes. Nearly every time we’ve planned to use the Apple TV for videos and presentations it dropped the connection. Until something changes, I will longer rely on the Apple TV at church. I can no longer recommend it until Apple fixes this issue.

If you don’t mind the occasional hiccup at home and have a wired connection, the it works great. If you can connect the Apple TV to the church’s network via Ethernet, then it works great. But don’t rely on it using Wi-Fi at this time.

Logos 5 Sermon Starter Guide

Posted by Kevin Purcell on Nov 13, 2012 in Bible Software, Digital Bible Study, Preaching, Software | 0 comments

The Sermon Starter Guide sits atop my list of favorite new features in Logos 5. Think of it as the Passage Guide but for preachers. The Sermon Starter Guide helps preachers combine middle steps study and sermon prep into one easy report. I say middle steps because preachers should never use this guide early in the study process. More on that later.

For people who haven’t used Logos before, think of the guides as a digital research assistant. I tell the guide to go look in my library for content related to a passage or a topic. For example, I preached this past week on 2 Timothy 1:8. I did a search on the passage and on the topics of fear, witness, evangelism and power.

Using the Sermon Starter Guide

Find the Sermon Starter Guide under the Guides menu.

Now uses the Sermon Starter Guide to do one of two kinds of supported searches – passage and topic searches. While entering a passage might help if the preacher doesn’t understand his passage yet, I think the best start comes from entering the passage’s primary topic. Preachers should wait to do this until after they’ve studied the passage using the word study tools and the Exegetical Guide in Logos. Once that’s done, then do a topic or passage search using the Sermon Starter Guide.

For example, I ran a report on 2 Tim. 1:8 below.

The list of included data in a default Sermon Starter Guide shows the following:

• Theme – shows themes from the chosen passage
• Thematic Outline – an outline of topics related to the above themes with example texts, great for surveying what the Bible says about the topics in a chosen passage
• Collections – searches the passage or topic in a predefined collection of works
• Media Resources – visual resources related to the passage or topic
• Commentaries – commentary entries about the passage
• Outlines – outlines from books related to the passage like commentary outlines or Bible handbooks
• Parallel Passages – cross references of the passage or topic
• Topics – topcis related to the passage with references
• Illustrations – sermon illustrations from illustration books
• GraceMedia.com – media from the site useful only to those who subscribe
• SermonAudio.com – audio sermons about this passage
• Sermons.Logos.com – same as previous but text-based from Logos’ sermons database
• SermonCentral.com – same as previous but from this site

Customizing Sermon Starter Guide

This guide works great, but not all of these entries work for everyone. That’s why I love that I can create a different set of default data sets using the Add button to include more along with the default. Also an X button shows up at the end of the list items to delete that particular guide data set. Click on the Sermon Guide menu in the upper left corner of the guide window and choose to Edit the content to make your own guide for future use.

From now on, run this edited version instead of the default version to get a sermon guide that helps you.

Good Exegesis by Doing Sermon Starter Guide Last

Before leaving this topic, let me suggest that you not jump on this Sermon Starter Guide at the beginning of your sermon prep. Do the basic exegesis of a passage by studying the words using an Inductive approach and then do word studies. The Exegetical Guide helps in this second step. Then stop and think about the ideas included in the passage and run your sermon guides on those topics first and then on the passage last. This workflow will help you become more biblical and not as tied to third-party tools.

To summarize, here’s how I’d use Logos in my sermon prep in order of steps from first to last.

1. Find a passage using search tools – search topics first or just enter passage if you already know the reference of a passage you want to preach
2. Delineate the passage by reading it repeatedly using the Passage Analysis Tool and the Pericope Set to show the first and last verse in passage sections according to editors of the various Bible translations
3. Use the Text Comparison Tool to read the text over and over in different versions and consult the Passage Analysis Tool again to compare translations
4. Do language study – some will translate from Greek or Hebrew while others will run Bible Word Studies on important words in the passage and/or using the Exegetical Guide and looking up words in dictionaries using the Power Lookup Tool
5. Keep notes along the way using a note attached to a reference, not a translation
6. Using the Sentence Diagram tool under Documents, create a structural diagram of the passage.
7. Determine the topic or theme of the passage (I’m a Big Idea preacher from the Haddon Robinson school so I like to come up withe the Big Idea at this point)
8. Search for these topics or themes using the Sermon Starter Guide reaching as much as needed in the various resources returned
9. Collect media resources for presentation
10. Come up with the outline of the text and translate that into an interesting contemporary preaching outline
11. Use info from the Sermon Starter Guide where it fits by doing the four kinds of sermon development (explain ideas, illustrate them, prove them and apply them)
12. Put it all together and then look over it to determine if the sermon points to the glory of God or instead pushes us to “do better” and fix it if it fits in the latter

I hope this helps you see where the Sermon Starter Guide fits in the sermon prep process.

Logos 5 Unleashed With Streamlined Tools and Community Built In

Posted by Kevin Purcell on Nov 1, 2012 in Bible Software, Digital Bible Study, Software | 0 comments

Logos 5 showed up this week with a refined user interface, some new ways to use what was already present and a few new tricks to make it worth the upgrade. In a word, it’s impressive.

This isn’t my complete review. I’ll do that later at a couple of places. However, let me share a few things I like and some of the new tools I’m not that excited about, but you might like.

What’s New in Logos 5

The new Sermon Starter Guide might help lazy or busy preachers access resources in their library focused on a certain passage. Open it up and type in your passage and watch Logos go find some tools. This is different that the Passage Guide because it offers some study content, but is heavier on preaching content like illustrations, sermon outlines and sermon visuals if you subscribe to the included visuals library which costs an extra $400/year.

Above, notice the ability to take notes about passages preached. (1) I put my sermon title and a note about when and where I preached this passage. (2) The list of items included by default shows things most preachers would like to use when preparing a sermon. (3) Click the Add button to include more in the Sermon Starter Guide.

Some other cool new fathers include the following:

• Universal Timeline – shows a timeline of Biblcial and historical events
• Topic Guide – searches library for content related to a topic
• Searching library or Bible by phrase, clause and theme
• Feature parity between Windows and Mac versions
• Deeper Faithlife Community integration
• Better Proclaim Presentation integration

Most users won’t see but will enjoy the faster and more reliable platform. Logos 4 used a technology that slowed things down, but Logos 5 uses updated coding technology that makes the software run better, faster and more reliably.

How Much is Logos 5?

For a limited time Logos costs 15% less than it will after they end their launch sale. They offer 7 base packages that include the following in the chart below from Logos or at Logos’ website.

For owners of Logos 4 or earlier, there’s a nice discount for upgrades. Contact Logos to see how much you can save over the above prices. Logos also takes into account purchases made since buying a base package. For example, if a user buys the Logos Silver package and then adds a ffew books that come with the Gold edition, they can upgrade to the Gold package for a slightly lower price than others would pay.

Get Logos 5 today. People who already own Logos 4 should not hesitate to get the update. At the very least, users of other Bible software should consider Logos 5 of the huge library and breadth of excellent tools they offer as part of the basic installation.

Users of both Windows and Mac will get a version that runs natively on each platform. Logos doesn’t use WINE or emulation software to make the Windows version run on Mac or vice versa. For the first time, the two platforms seem to enjoy feature parity.

e-Sword Creator Rick Meyers Endures Questions from Rueben Gomez

Posted by Kevin Purcell on Oct 18, 2012 in Apps, Bible Software, Digital Bible Study, Software | 0 comments

Rick Meyers, the talented programmer behind e-Sword, the free Bible software that found its way into the iPad app store, endured some questioning from Rueben Gomez of Bible Software Review. Under the word “endure” was meant as a friendly jab at brother Gomez.

The interview reveals some exciting things coming for e-Sword HD and I am thankful to Gomez for publishing this Q&A.

Most interesting to me is that Meyers hopes to add the ability to use user-created modules. e-Sword has a huge community of users who have created a vast library of user-created content. Like many, my copy of e-Sword has dozens of user-created modules that I’d like to use on my iPad.

Meyers also indicated that some more scholarly modules will come including Greek and Hebrew texts.

The most interesting exchange between Gomez and Meyers is below:

BSR: Given the fact that e-Sword has traditionally been considered freeware, how did you come to the conclusion that you were going to charge $4.99 for the iPad app? Is this a change in your philosophy as a Bible software developer?

RM: e-Sword is still free, so no change there. Everyone who begged me to create an iPad app said they would pay for it. So I made the large investment in development costs to create the app, thus I am holding them to their word

I don’t fault Meyers for charging. He’s given me so much by creating e-Sword, which I used exclusively for many years before God blessed me with my position at Christian Computing Magazine that gives me a chance to play with the best Bible Software on the market for nothing. I’m happy to fork over $5 for an excellent app and hope it grows in the number of excellent books available.

Laridian PocketBible Adds Export for Notes, Bookmarks or Highlights

Posted by Kevin Purcell on Oct 17, 2012 in Apps, Bible Software, Software | 0 comments

Laridian makes one of the best iPad apps for Digital Bible Study and now offers an option to export personally created information like notes, bookmarks and highlights. They announced the new feature on their company blog this week.

Laridian billed this as a way to create a book and then import it back into the program using Laridian’s book builder software, which went on sale for only $20, $10 less than the previous price. A premium version that lets users make books that can be resold costs just $50, down from $100.

So how do I get my content out of PocketBible. First, sync with the Laridian backup servers from within the app. By the way, this works with their Windows version too. From within the iPad app, go to your Settings page by tapping the last icon on the toolbar and choose Manage My Data. Select Sync My Data with Server.

Next, log into your Laridian account from their main page. The login sits at the top of the page. Then click on the My Data link, also at the top of the page.

From that page, about midway down, users can create one of three book types. Choose the Bible you want to use for verse ordering. This is important since some translations use non-standard verse orders and numbering. Most popular translations use the same one.

Pick a book time to make from the three options – Bookmark Dictionary, Note Commentary or Highlight Dictionary. The first and third can be added to PocketBible as dictionaries and the second as a commentary.

Accordance 10 Now in Mac App Store

Posted by Kevin Purcell on Sep 19, 2012 in Bible Software, Digital Bible Study, Featured, Software | 0 comments

For those want to check out Accordance 10, the best shot is to download it from the Mac App Store for $49.99 which includes $49.99 of credit for an upgraded package. In other words, downloaders will get a nice discount on a larger package.

The previous version was available, but only a more expensive $200 version. This makes entry easier with a lower threshold. On their blog the listed som differences between the Mac App Store version and the regular version purchased directly from Accordance. (see it below quoted from their blog)

Mac App Store

• Requires Intel Macs running OSX 10.7.3 or later
• Updates are released through the Mac App Store
• Updates may be delayed due to Apple’s approval process
• Possibility of future iCloud support
• No special discounts are available for full-time students, ministers, or teachers
• Requires a separate download of the Accordance files for each “user” running Accordance on your computer
• May require you to redownload your current Accordance modules due to sandboxing. This is the case if they are currently in your local HD rather than your user folder.
• Only the Accordance 10 Starter Collection is available

Direct from Accordance

• Requires Intel Macs running OSX 10.6 or later
• Updates are released as in-app downloads
• Updates are released as soon as they are ready
• iCloud support not available, but other sync options like Dropbox are being considered
• Special discounts are available for full-time students, ministers, and teachers
• You have the option to move the Accordance files to a location that is accessible to all users on your computer
• All Accordance 10 Collections are available

The key difference is that you get iCloud from the app store which will possibly sync between machines in a future release. Also they don’t offer discounts for full-time students, ministers or teachers.

The direct version might offer syncing via a Dropbox. The rest works like usual.

They also said the following:

Once you register your Mac App Store purchase, you can receive a $49.99 credit towards the purchase of a larger Collection on our website. If you do not automatically see the credit in your cart, be sure to send the order to manual processing with a note requesting the credit and our sales team will adjust the price before charging your card. We appreciate your patience as we process the order