Digital Bible Blast 002 Covering Logos, PocketBible and More

Posted by Kevin Purcell on Mar 11, 2013 in Digital Bible Blast, Digital Bible Study | 0 comments

In this second episode of the Digital Bible Blast we cover a few things. Here are the show notes that go along with this episode.

Story One – Preaching Workflow

We cover the steps for writing sermons using a Mac and then getting those sermon notes on an iPad using the Pages app from Apple on the iPad. It amounts to writing in Pages on the Mac ($19.99) and then saving to iCloud and opening the sermon notes in Pages on the iPad ($9.99).

Store Two – Logos March Madness

Check out this year’s Logos March Madness at LogosMarchMadness.com.

Story Three – PocketBible for Windows Phone

Laridian announced that they made PocketBible available on the Windows Phone platform. Get it for free and $6.99 for the advanced features.

Story Four – iOS Bible App Updates

A few Bible apps received updates. The biggest came from YouVersion which added support for iPhone 5′s larger screen and the inclusion of video clips from The Bible miniseries from History Channel, the Jesus film and the Lomo Project as well as the KJV included in the download. Other app updates include:

• Olive Tree Bible
• e-Sword
• MantisBible

Story Five – More Logos News

Morris Proctor, the official Logos Bible Software trainer posted about the new features available in Logos 5 to coincide with the free barebones version of the Logos 5 engine becoming available for download. Check out the post to see what comes new in Logos 5.

They also started their March Madness campaign  Vote for favorite authors and save money on books based on the outcome of the competition. They’re now in round 2 with a 30% discount.

Morris Proctor explains what’s new on Mar 4 on Logos Blog

Free engine update available
Beta has new Notes editing engine that should improve things a lot

Accordance for iPad or iPhone Update in CCMag Article

Posted by Kevin Purcell on Jan 29, 2013 in Apps, Christian Computing Magazine, Digital Bible Study | 0 comments

This month I discuss the Accordance Bible app for iPad and iPhone in my monthly column for Christian Computing Magazine. Go check it out for free at the magazine website or view just the article in PDF here.

To get the app check out their site and find the link to the app store.

In the article I discuss some of the new features and what they did right and what they could improve in this update.

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

Logos Ending Support for Windows XP and OS X Leopard

Posted by Kevin Purcell on Aug 27, 2012 in Bible Software, Digital Bible Study, Featured, Software, Windows | 0 comments

Logos CEO Bob Pritchett announced through the company’s support forums that they will end support for Windows XP on October 26, 2012. What does this mean for users running Logos 4 on Windows XP?

1. It means that users will still be able to use Logos 4 and their current collection of books and resources. That won’t change with this announcement and policy shift.
2. To use new versions of Logos 4 going forward a users must upgrade or use Windows Vista SP2 or newer which of course includes Windows 7 and the forthcoming Windows 8.
3. To buy books in the future a user might need to use a system with the later versions of Logos that only run on Vista SP2 or newer, although not all new books will carry this requirement.

So why the change? Mr. Pritchett announced that when Windows updates their .NET framework, a development technology that Logos uses in their software, the new version will not run on Windows XP. Since Logos needs the newer version to achieve future functionality, they too will update their .NET framework to take advantage of some bug fixes and performance increases. Quoting from the forum:

Logos 4 depends on a number of Microsoft platform components, including the .NET framework. With the October 26, 2012 release of Windows 8, Microsoft is upgrading the .NET 4 platform to .NET 4.5, which is an “in-place” install replacing .NET 4 (which we’re planning to move to for many reasons, including performance and bug fixes).

.NET 4.5 will run on Windows Vista SP2 and later version of Windows, but specifically NOT Windows XP.

October 26, 2012 is the release date for Windows 8; at that point it will be 11 years since Windows XP was released (Oct 25, 2001), and it will be three full generations (Vista, 7, 8) out of date.

Very few Logos users remain on XP, and continuing to support XP in new releases takes development and testing resources, as well as making it more difficult to use other capabilities only offered on newer versions of Windows.

It looks like some users can possibly persuade the powers at Logos to change their minds. Pritchett stated that people now have a “chance to speak up if there’s a really compelling reason we should not drop XP on October 26, 2012.”

I support this move. It’s hard to move forward knowing that some might get left. However, Logos made it clear that users of Windows XP can still use current versions of Logos. Some in the forum asked if the current versions that still run on XP will receive bug fixes. Logos did not offer an official answer. I can understand the desire for those who want to see Logos improve without their needing to update their operating system. Many users of Logos don’t have the funds or technical skill to undertake such an upgrade. That’s the cost of doing busing in a fast and changing world.

I want to see Logos improve and especially long for some performance advances. Let’s hope this move provides these advances.

For those who need to update before the deadline, I recommend going for it as soon as one can. Windows 8 on a desktop or laptop will not be fun. It’s a tablet OS and doesn’t feel right on my laptop. It was designed for touch not mouse or trackpad! Get a Windows 7 machine. People who buy one now can get a very inexpensive Windows 8 upgrade which will allow the user to try it out, but go back to Windows 7 if you don’t like the new interface.

UPDATE: They also announced an end to support for Mac OS X Leopard as well stating:

Dropping 10.5 support in future releases will free up development and testing resources and allow us to do more in Logos Bible Software.