Digital Bible Blast Podcast Kicks Off

Posted by Kevin Purcell on Feb 28, 2013 in Digital Bible Blast, Digital Bible Study | 0 comments

The first episode of the Digital Bible Blast kicks off with news about Laridian PocketBible for Android, the ChromeBook Pixel and using it for Bible study, online Bible study sites and a list of the latest iOS Bible app updates.

Show Notes

Here’s the show notes for episode 001.

Story 1 – Laridian’s PocketBible for Android

Laridian’s PocketBible for Android hit the 1.0 milestone last week. Listeners can get it in the Google Play store for free. It’s a good Bible app on Android.

Story 2 – ChromeBook Pixel for Bible Study

Google announced the ChromeBook Pixel, a high-end Chromebook for $1,299. It’s a ridiculous computer considering it only runs Chrome, an OS that boots into the Chrome browser. Learn more from GottaBeMobile.com.

Why not get a MacBook Air and get better hardware for the same price that also runs OSX. Even a nice Windows 8 touch screen notebook is a better option.

Bible students will not enjoy using a ChromeBook, since it only runs Chrome OS, essentially just a web browser (see video below). Bible websites offer some nice online study tools when needed in a backup way, but we’d never recommend it for full-time Bible study.

Story 3 – Online Bible Study Sites

If users must use a ChromeBook, then here’s a couple of great sites for online study. Logos puts many of their books accessible via mobile apps on their site Biblia.com. It’s a dumbed down Logos for the web.

Lifeway and WORDsearch offer a smaller percentage of their library via MyStudyBible.com. It’s a nice site but needs a greater number of books with sync to a person’s WORDsearch library.

Future Episodes

We like making this podcast. We’d like to make it better. Send us your news, questions and story ideas. You can comment below or email us at dbbcast@kp.ly.

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.

Bible! from Logos Version 3.0 Demo on Video

Posted by Kevin Purcell on Aug 31, 2012 in Digital Bible Study | 0 comments

Earlier this week I showed you the new Bible! 3.0 from Logos that comes with a name change, a new home screen and some other nice features., I decided to demonstrate this on video so you can see for yourself some of the new features.

Here’s the video demo:

You can get Bible! from Logos in the iTunes App Store or find out more at the Logos site.

Logos Updates iOS App Changes Name to Bible!

Posted by Kevin Purcell on Aug 29, 2012 in Apps, Bible Software, Digital Bible Study, Featured, Software, Technology | 0 comments

Logos updated their iOS app for Apple iPad, iPhone or iPod Touch and changed the name to Bible!, probably to get it higher in the search results sorted by alphabet. The new version still gives users access to most of their Logos books and resources while on the go, but adds some awesome new features bringing the app to version 3.0.

What’s New

The biggest change you’ll notice are the new home page that looks a lot more like the Faithlife Study Bible app, the new panels that include the Passage Guide, Bible Word Study and the Text Comparison tool.

I really like the user interface of the Home page of the app. Notice above the Library view that shows either the book covers in a grid view or a list view (see below).

In the upper right panel the app shows once of 6 panels. In order they are as follows:

• History of recent passages
• Devotions available
• Search history
• Available documents like reading plans, notes and highlighter documents
• Bible Word Study and Passage Guide
• Tools with Favorites, History and Text Comparison

Above the Library list you’ll find the library search box where you can look up books by title, subject and author. The sort button lets users sort by Title, Author, User Rating and Recently opened books.

Next to the sort box the user interface shows two buttons that change between the list and grid views. Finally we get the button that shows the library in full screen mode.

Users will like the ability to still add notes and highlight passage. Searching for words and bookmarking them still exists. And the app lets users copy and paste to other apps.

Logos offers a great free app. I really like it and find it one of the best mobile Bible apps available on the iPad, iPhone or iPod Touch.

Room for Improvement

I don’t like the button used to show the resource panel that slides out from the right side of the app. You’ll find it in the image above just to the left of the reference box and left arrow. The icon’s just too small and hard to tap with my big fingers. I would like to see Logos increase the size or make it accessible with a gesture like a two finger swipe from the left edge. In fact all of the toolbar icons are too small.

Some don’t like that it doesn’t work as well offline, but I’m not as worried since I use a 4G LTE iPad.