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

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.

PocketBible for Android 1.0 Ready for Action

Posted by Kevin Purcell on Feb 21, 2013 in Digital Bible Study | 0 comments

Laridian started work on PocketBible for Android a long time ago releasing pre-release versions for use along the way. They finally hit the 1.0 stage and now sit at version 1.01 with the tools PocketBible users expect only now on Android.

Here’s one reviewer’s take on the latest version:

Laridian broke ground in mobile Bible apps a long time ago with versions for the Pocket PC and Palm OS. They also pioneered Bible apps on iOS. Unfortunately, it took them a little longer than the other Bible app makers to jump on the Android train.

PocketBible for Android works much like other versions giving users a simple interface without a lot of glitz. That’s a good thing in this case.

PocketBible uses the screen scrolling mode of navigation in addition to tapping the go to button that lets the user jump to a specific place in the Bible. In fact, if a user wants, they can scroll from Genesis 1 all the way to the end of Revelation. We’re not sure why anyone would want to do this, but you can.

Better than scrolling all the way through the Bible, the app scrolling moves along swiftly and smoothly. Compared to some other apps I’ve used, PocketBible on Android scrolls much faster.

The user doesn’t need an Internet connection to just read the Bible or search for content. PocketBible’s not the only app to do this, but it is a welcome feature for those who can’t connect 24/7.

The app comes free from the Google Play store. Get add-on books from within the app or better yet go to Laridian and sign up for an account and buy add ons directly. Then, log into the account on the app and download all of your books.

At first download the user will get plenty of free content to test the app before investing in the more up to date books available. Laridian’s library of books doesn’t match bigger companies like Logos, WORDsearch or Olive Tree, but they give just the right kinds to make the app useful to 90% of the Bible reading world. If you need more scholarly works, check it out. We think you might find it a little wanting.

Like the other PocketBible apps, the Android version lets users read and search the Bible. Uses can study in more than one book open at a time. It also includes highlights and notes. These all sync to their servers so a user can use their own personal markups on a phone, tablet and on a Window PC via the desktop software.

Laridian head Craig Rairdin joined the inaugural Christian Computing Hall of Fame deservedly so. PocketBible for Laridian shows why he deserves his membership. He proved himself long before he even started Laridian with QuickVerse, but we’re glad he’s still creating new stuff for mobile digital Bible students.

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.

Laridian PocketBible Bibles Sale

Posted by Kevin Purcell on Jun 8, 2011 in Bible Software, Software, Technology | 0 comments

Laridian makes one of the best advanced mobile Bible study tools out there and they are giving you a chance to build your library with a nice sale, offering 20% off if you use the code JUNB20 when you check out. Here are some of the great things you can get if you take advantage of their offer.

• New American Standard Bible – $19.99
• New American Standard Bible with Strongs – $23.99
• Amplified Bible – $11.99
• English Standard Version – $15.99
• New Living Translation – $11.99
• New International Version – $19.99
• New King James Version – $11.99
• The Message – $11.99
• Revised Standard Version – $3.99
• Holman Christian Standard Bible – $11.99

These are just a few of those available. Laridian has mobile versions of their software for iOS, Windows Mobile, Palm and they are working on a new Android version of PocketBible. You can also get the desktop version.