Mobile Ministry Magazine

The developers over at Palm Bible+ have been plenty busy over the holidays and have produced a release candidate for the next version of the free and popular Palm OS bible reader. Here's a summary of what's going into Bible+ 3.4

New Features Inculde:

• Night mode support. It has own set of colors in font preferences. Look for the additional row; use the shortcut 'i' to activate/desactivate; can be configured via Define Controls.
• Status Gadgets for Treos: Bluetooth, Signal bars and Battery.
• Keys with built-in function can be overridden.
• Memo Pad's category selection in Export personal notes.
• Bookmarks will try go to the current bookmark if any. If the bookmark is in a category other than the current category, select 'All'; close and reopen the bookmark form (if you are in Jhon 3:16 it will try to select that bookmark in the bookmark's list)
• When adding a bookmark it checks if already exist. If so it uses that bookmark. (You can not have two bookmarks for the same verse)
• Popup list when the stylus goes up after sometime.
• 5 way navigation support on Snapshot screen
• Treo 650/TX navigation support.
• Support Jog Up/Down/Back in Book/Chap/Verse choose
• Multi-book versions. Like commentaries.

Improved Features Inculde

• Snapshot's navigation
• Made fast search faster on devices with more free memory, especially ARM-based devices

Fixes Include

• Major search bug (the fast search on ARM systems would sometimes miss a number of hits)
• A problem with the built-in hi-res Hebrew font
• A little bug in the Search results
• Fatal error displaying a starting verse footnote when Equal-Width Verse Numbers and Minimize Space After Number are ticked in Options, Preferences, Layaout.
• Fatal error in Search's menu.
• Fatal error when the title was too long.
• When copying a verse more than one time.
• Some memory leaks
• Selecting a Bible for the upper/lower part when in the lower/upper part the selected book is not available
• Verse Chooser only goes to 219
• Choosing books in the row 12 when there are more books than can be displayed on one screen.
• Navigation in goto Chap/Verse

As you can see, this is a pretty through list of fixes. Download the Bible+ 3.4 Release Candidate. And make sure that you download a Bible (or two or a lot more) to read with it.

Labels: Bible+, free, open source, Palm OS, software

When I got started with the Bible side of PDA life, it was really hard to find or create a digital version of modern translations. Due to publishing rights, this was frankly an impossible task unless you had the tools and knew the rights-laws for your region.

Since then, mobile Bible reading has been seen in a more favorable light and its been folks like Crossway (ESV) that have done a lot of this pushing into mobile media.

In a recent announcement, "Crossway has partnered with the leading digital software providers, including Accordance, Biblesoft, Laridian, Olive Tree, and WORDsearch, to make the ESV Study Bible available with all of its notes, articles, and features."

What does that mean? Well, no matter if the ESV is your cup of tea or not, there's no excuse, no matter what mobile device that you have, towards having a solid Biblical reference on your person.

The ESV Study Bible contains more than just the Biblical text, it also has the translator notes and references that makes for a better understanding as to why certain words/phrases were used. Basically, this makes it so that you don't have to understand Greek to know why something was used, but can use some textual analysis of your own to decide whether the translation is speaking correctly.

The ESV Study Bible will be available from electronic distributors such as Laridian, Olive Tree, and more. I'm not sure if Palm Bible+ will get it, but that would be pretty cool. There's also an offer going on where if you purchase the print edition of the ESV Study Bible that you'd get the online edition free. This is a nice way to bundle and shows some forward thinking for those who still need to touch the leaves when feeding the Spirit :)

Labels: Bible, Bible+, ESV, Laridian, mobile, Olivetree, software

Here is a (small) list of some of the places to get free (and low-cost) electronic Bibles (mobile, smartphone, laptop, and desktop):

• Laridian
• Olive Tree
• YouVersion
• Logos for iPhone
• eBible
• eSword
• Bible Explorer
• Palm Bible+
• Symbian Bible Reader (previous called S60 Bible Reader
• Mantis Bible Reader
• Rapier
• Berean Bible Study
• BibleTouch
• GoBible
• mbible.com (Online Mobile Bible)
• Touch Bible LE
• Several iPhone Bibles and Bible Widgets
• AcroBible for Android
• CadreBible
• Arabic Bible
• Best eBible (Symbian S60)

Are we missing one that you use? Add it in the comments.

Image via Palm Bible+

Labels: Android, Berean Bible Study, Bible, Bible Explorer, Bible+, iPhone, Laridian, Mantis Bible, Olivetree, Rapier, S60 Bible Reader, software, WordSearch, YouVersion

A previous post about Bible readers got me thinking again about the idea of Bible formats and the fact that content is very much unmovable from one appliation to another. In some respects, I really have won out because with my current phone, even though its not Palm OS, it can use the Bible+ Bibles formatted for that application.

Because of this, there's extra value to not only having a Bible on my device, but the content that I've collected over the years. Needless to say, I've got a ton of Bibles (and other content), and much of that I didn't want to have to reacquire for another application and publishing scheme.

And in previous posts, we've talked about this conflict with publishers needing to (rightly) control the content they make available, and the Bible software developers who make all of our Bible readers possible. I don't want to rerun too much on previous discusisons, but I do want to ask the community here a question:

How important is it to you that the electronic Bibles that you have for whatever application you are using now are compatible with another Bible application you may choose to use in the future?

This is a pretty valuable question. Some don't consider the free or low cost Bibles, but those as well as the very expensive bundles can be very tedious to move from one applicaiton to another. What are your thoughts? And is this something that we should change?

Labels: Bible, Bible+, content, reading, S60 Bible Reader, software

The E71 is getting packed up and sent back to Nokia this weekend, but before I do so, I wanted to add some notes about it that might prove helpful to some of you who are interested in this smooth mobile.

• As a device to keep you connected, there really are few that are better. Yes, the interface might feel a lot dated compared to others, but its simple and very esily gets the job done.
• I found it pretty easy to manage contacts and calendar information with the built-in applciations; though their abilities can be extended with 3rd party software.
• For a Bible reader, I use S60 Bible Reader as that one is able to use the same Bibles that I had from the Palm OS application Bible+. It not as stout in terms of bookmarking and taking notes as other apps are, but its solid in terms of just reading while in service, study, or just when sitting and enjoying the day.
• Many people ask where you can purchase it, and your only options in the US at this point are from online retailers, or Nokia flagship stores in Chicago and NYC. You would be getting the benefit of purchasing it without a contract, which over the life of the device keeps things nice and inexpensive.
• The battery life, oh such nice battery life. Only BlackBerrys are better. But you win with much better software and hardware here in my opinion.

Feel free to ask any other questions that may come to mind about the E71. As I get other devices, look for them to be shared here as well.

Labels: Bible+, BlackBerry, E71, S60 Bible Reader, smartphone

Cool post over at Palm Addict about how a person preached a sermon using the mobile device. Here's a snippet:

...After the service, we were discussing what kind of plant it was, so I pulled out my Treo, launched PalmBible+ and started a quick word search. I finally got the English name for the weed that was most likely the one Christ was talking about (the bearded darnell), and looked up pictures of it with Blazer on Google Images.I also was able to look up the Polish name using the Lingvosoft English-Polish dictionary, and everybody was able to see exactly what plant Christ meant, and everybody was amazed at how similar it looked to wheat on first glance, yet, at the same time, was quite different. ..

Read the rest at Palm Addcit.

Labels: Bible+, dictionary, Palm Addict, PDA, resources, software

Since moving to using the N800 and N75 as my computing devices, I've had a bit of a quandary when its come to using the devices for Bible study and church. One main issue has been search. Its not so much of an issue on the N75 with the S60 Bible reader - this Bible reader is a lot like the Bible+ reader that has IMO the best user interface for searching for verses when you know the verse you are looking for in either term or address.

The problem comes when I am using the N800. There, I am usually writing notes and want to go back and forth with Rapier and Bible Gateway (yes, I use both at the same time). While I can get to many verses or notes, its cumbersome, and I have gone to the point of putting the devices down and just listening out of frustration.

I read a post about how one can look up Bible references from the web with Logos and it really hit that what I needed (in some cases) was just a better way to get the verses down do that the N800 can give me what I am looking for.

The way that Logos works, according to the post, its pretty much as simple as pointing Logos to the web page where you want to pull the verse from, and then the library shows the verses in another screen. This method really works best when you have a web page that has all the verses listed, and then the browser is open to that page, and the person is in Logos - kinda like one of those options we talked about before.

Here is a bit more detail about the process:

Libronix will quickly find all the Bible references mentioned and add them to your verse list in the order in which they appear on the web page. You can then decide how you'd like to view them. The default is to show only the references without the text. Double clicking those references will open them in your preferred Bible allowing you to read them in their contexts, compare them with other versions, or dig into your study Bibles and commentaries. If you'd like to see the text of the verses along with the references, you can select "References and Text in One Column" or "References and Text in Two Columns."

In looking at this just in the context of Bible software. It would seem that the best way to take advantage of this is have some sort of outline in some kind of container (RSS) that a program could use and then using the ability of that program to take notes, one would have all the verses they need and could just concentrate on listening to the lesson and engaging in the discussion.

Labels: Bible, Bible+, internet tablet, Logos, N800, Rapier, S60 Bible Reader, software, study

My bro had pointed me to the Logos blog and a post where they are speaking on an upcoming version of Logos for the Mac. From a usability and user experience aspect, it looks just great and really looks that it will make studying on the desktop a bit easier for those that prefer to do studies electronically.

This got me thinking (again) about using electronic devices for study, and what really is effective about it. For example, one can have a lot of resources at their disposal, but unless used correctly, you will not get much good out of it.

In looking at the Internet Tablet and how I want to use it for reading and study, I've settled on only wanting two Bible versions: one for casual reading (the ESV) and another for more indepth studies and discussions (the NET Bible). Because of the connected nature of the IT, anything else that I'd need would be accessible though websites such as CARM, eBible, YouVersion, etc.

I'd like to be in the position of studying effectively more often than not. Using a few materials as a gateway that have solid user interfaces and resources makes that possible. After that its just a matter of using it. I'd like to get to the point of linking within my notes to verses, bookmarking/tagging sections of the Bible for easy retrieval, and then effective search capabilities that go beyond just looking for a verse - but all the tags, bookmarks, and verses that correspond to the search term. Its my hope that such will enhance and make reading more like there being a slew of offline documents right in front of me.

Lately also, I've been looking into the resources at the Sword Project website. Besides being open and mostly free; the development there is just on the content, not on an application in particular. This means that instead of worrying about whether I will be able to use the content again, I can just concentrate on reading (on most devices) and go from there. Notes, tags, and bookmarks are another story, but that'll come.

If I can get Rapier installed on my tablet, I'm pretty sure that I can get there. But with products like OliveTree, Laridian, Logos, Wordsearch, and others, its pretty cool to know that there's some means to use electronic resources effectively. Its just a matter of studying on the tools and methods that would work best.

Labels: Apple, Bible, Bible+, internet tablet, Laridian, Logos, Olivetree, software, Sword Project, WordSearch

I was just writing on my personal website on how the Bible+ website tonite gave me a chance to sit and reflect on how God not just uses the big public actions to show His mercy and redeeming love to people, but also the little things. Its really something that the culture of the web can hide if we are not careful, or worse can make seem bigger than it really is.

The more I live, the more I am noticing that its not just what I've done here (online) that really counts in God's eyes. Yes, I've been gifted in this area to do this or that. But its when I address those things that He sees as being relevant that makes for those God-affirming actions (whether online or offline). For me, it was my fustration at the really crappy design of a website that led me into redesigning it for free and it becoming a visialbe point of God working in mobile tech. For you it might be something different. But the point is that when ever tech is on the plate, we do need to see where our faith intersects and act in relvance to God's plan for us (Matthew 28:18-20).

I know, using a smartphone as a Bible might seem as a really insignifiant thing many times. And we might even be drawn to doing so because of some fustration that we have with other things in life. But when those fustrations lead you into doing something that confirms God's Word, mobile really becomes something at the intersection of faith and technology that can change things.

Labels: Bible+, mission, mobile

As some of you know, I have a pretty intiamte relationship with Bible+ as it is one of the first Bible readers that I used on a PDA and that I am also the person who's responsible for the current site's design and upkeep. One of the things that I had just kinda fell into today was redesigning the Bible+ front page (it's not done yet) but upon checking the links to one of the reviews that we had listed for Bible+, I saw that one had been recently updated (well, recent as in December of last year).

Bible Software Review (BSR) took a look at Bible+ and updated its findings on the program after version 3.2 was released late last year. If you are looking for a solid review of this free software, its worth taking a read.

In addition, there was a recently published review of Logos 3 (June of this year) at BSR. I wanted to quote from the article, but its really a deep and impressive piece to read. I encourage you to read the Logos 3 review, and other software reviews, feature articles, and blog at BSR.

Labels: Bible+, Logos, review

...I like to keep my bible software on my palm, because for me it’s the best way to have God’s Word with me at all times without the bulk. I had a bible on a PDA even back when I had a 512MB Sharp Wizard. I need daily scripture spiritually about as much as my body needs food physically. It keeps me going in the right direction as I make daily decisions and respond to day to day pressures. It helps me see things from God’s perspective. I like to get a full understanding of scripture by using a variety of translations. With a palm, I can have as many bible versions and other references as I want with me and still not add an ounce of extra weight to my purse. I have both a Treo 700p and a TX, and I use the bible on both. I mainly use the TX with its larger screen for in-depth reading, and the Treo when I’m running about and want to look up a quick verse...

Read the rest of this informative piece at Palm Addict and make sure to check out the Bible programs featured at the end of the piece.

Labels: Bible, Bible+, DailyReader, Devotions, GMPSoft, Laridian, Memorize, mobile, Olivetree, Palm Addict, Personal Prayer Assistant, SMS Advance