Bible Technology

56 Henry -- Salvation

robocop — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 09:23:00 GMT

Podcasts

Darryl — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 08:39:45 GMT

After a discussion yesterday, I thought I'd publish a list of the podcasts I subscribe to.

I actually use a Zune rather than an iPod, and the new Zune software does a great job of managing content on the device.

So - here is the list :-). Click the orange feed icon to get to the feed (the Grace To You feed requires a free account).

Christ Fellowship Baptist Church (Steve Lawson)
Mars Hill Church Sermons (Mark Driscoll)
Grace to You (John MacArthur)
Desiring God (John Piper)

There are not many there. But I do mostly listen to them. I use my time traveling in the day to and from work to listen to sermons. I also like to try and run on occasion, and I also use this time to listen to sermons. This way, I've always got something going into my head and it is generally of value.

If anyone has other quality speakers who have a podcast, I'd be interested in hearing about them.

Christmas Story in MP3 for download

Darryl — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 03:22:11 GMT

John Wilke wrote in to tell us about the free dramatized audio Bible presentations available for free download in MP3 and WAV formats.

The site publishing these is www.faithcomesbyhearing.com which is publishing these in a series of podcasts that are around 12 minutes each.

Subscribe to the series here.

They also have the entire Bible in audio format in several translations available free of charge as a download, or on CD from here.

Looks like a great resource!

Telecom OKTA -- a new brand and a cool phone

robocop — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 03:38:14 GMT

iTouch competitor? Or will they be sued by Apple?

Telecom has launched an own-brand range of mobile devices dubbed OKTA, and the first one off the rank is the very cool Touch (how long before Steve Jobs is on the phone threatening a lawsuit?).
The Touch is, you guessed it, a 3G multimedia touchscreen device running Windows Mobile 6. But what makes it cool is the TouchFLO navigation based on hand gestures that gives you access to the phone's many functions. This interface works very well and allows the slim and compact Touch to do without a keypad.

Source: http://blogs.pcworld.co.nz.......

Technology and spiritual growth

Darryl — Sat, 13 Oct 2007 00:22:09 GMT

Centuries ago only the liturgy had scripture, and the scripture they had was Latin - often poorly translated Latin, and they did a poor job of bringing any understanding of God and the Lord Jesus to the people in the pews.  Church tradition ruled and knowledge of the word of God and the Lord was extremely restricted.  These days are often referred to as the dark ages.

Then over many years we had men like Luther, Tyndale and many others who challenged the status quo and over many, many years and through much bloodshed and tears brought the word of God to the people, and along with it a better understanding of the meaning of scripture, and knowledge of the Lord. 

Inventions such as Gutenburg's printing press, made it easy to create volumes of scripture quickly and get it into the hands of the people.  This technological breakthrough is probably the most important in the history of the church.  With the invention of the printing press, knowledge was able to be documented and shared en-masse like never before.  It allowed many of the great church leaders of the time to get their knowledge and understanding out to anyone who could read - and it changed the social class of those who could read from the elite to almost anyone.  These changes revolutionized not only the church but the world. In England the increased availability (and acceptance) of the word of God was one of the key drivers behind the "right of every man" to read, and the institution of free public schools.

Since these days the church has been slowly taking all the knowledge of the smartest men in the world and building up the understanding of scripture amongst the church broadly.  This process started with the likes of Luther who challenged the traditions of the Roman Catholic church and declared that scripture alone was the authority - not the church. 

Since then the church has worked through the doctrines of salvation, the church, creation, the trinity, and more recently eschatology and have nailed down many of these doctrines reasonably thoroughly and with a degree of consistency.  Of course there are still many things that many believers don't agree on, but technology has enabled these discussions to be recorded and thought through by many people over many years, so that the basics are widely agreed on and the details are also becoming more widely accepted.

I was reading Ephesians 4 this morning and this passage jumped out at me:

And He gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.

If you think about this passage in the context of the global church, technology is a key enabler to helping believers grow together.  The printing press allowed the thoughts of many pastors, teachers, evangelists and the apostles to be collated and published for many to consume and understand, and build on, growing the body of Christ as a whole.  Today too, the understanding of the word of God is being propagated by mechanisms such as podcasts, RSS and similar technologies.  However we are only at the beginning of what is possible.

The goal is to unite the church so that "we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God".  Technology, and the Internet have much more to offer through centralizing the understanding of godly pastors and teachers into a repository that allows the examination of scripture and the interrogation of thought in a collective where all the understanding of the church is stored, scrutinized and drawn upon by believers in order to build up their knowledge and understanding of Christ.

Of course this is not all.  Believers must open their hearts to one another and allow each other to have a part in each others lives for accountability and growth - this too can be done with technology, but the offline world has a lot to offer that technology cannot do as well in this role at this stage.  Perhaps in the future this will change, but in the meantime, we can concentrate on growing individually, and helping each other globally using technology to reach out with our understanding and the lessons we learn as we live for Christ.

Audio messages from Max Lucado

Rob Farley — Fri, 12 Oct 2007 02:08:11 GMT

The internet is a great source of study material. But here's one for when you're in your car, or exercising. Max Lucado publishes a one-minute message every day, and they can be great for getting your mind back to God. Why not download them, put them on your MP3 player, and then interrupt your music occasionally with a short devotional. Max Lucado is a great teacher, as anyone who has one of his books or videos will know - and here's a chance to have him interrupt your day with a short message. It's available as a podcast through an RSS feed too, so syncing it up should be no problem.

Modifying a Logos annotation file

Darryl — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 09:08:00 GMT

Tonight I had cause to modify an annotation file from inside Logos.

The story was that I'd given a friend one of my annotation (note) files and he'd then updated it and given it back to me with his annotations in it. When I opened Logos with the annotation file in the right location (<My Documents>\Libronix LDS\Annotations) Logos knew nothing about the file - it was the same name as one I already had there and the one I had was more recent so Logos didn't recognize it.

So I opened the annotation file using EditPlus (a favourite text editor of mine from the old days) and found (happily) that the file is simply XML with a custom schema.

It turns out that each annotation is encapsulated by <annotation></annotation> tags. So - to drop an annotation into an existing file all you need to do is copy the tags and everything in between them at the end of the existing annotation file just before the </lbx-annotations> tag.

Simple.

Typically you wont need to do this, but in case you do - now you know how to do it.

Ecumen - Bible to your mobile

Rob Farley — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 03:14:48 GMT

The Ecumen website's About Us page says:

Ecumen provides mobile content with a reassurance that we will not act in any way that is unethical. We aim to enable Christians to express and develop their faith, whilst giving our customers the confidence that the material we provide is family friendly and free from offensive content.
We provide such items as ringtones (many of which are derived from popular or contemporary Christian music or worship songs), wallpapers, screensavers and other graphics with Christian themes or motifs, family friendly games and daily Bible readings.
To ensure our customers have confidence in our products and services, we operate according to our SAFE criteria.
Ecumen is a service provided by Teimlo Ltd., a company based in South Wales, UK. We supply Christian Mobile Content both directly and through our partners. We conform to the standards of behaviour set out by the Mobile Marketing Association.

Like it says on the page, they provide Christian content to your mobile - assuming you live in the UK. For 25p a day, they will SMS you a Bible Reading. Obviously this is nothing like the iPocketBible in the range of functionality, but this doesn't rely on having an iPhone.

I will be really curious to find out if this service catches on, and whether they'll expand it to other countries.

New Microsoft Zune Players

robocop — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 19:22:28 GMT

There has been much criticism of the original Microsoft Zune players, so when I first met one, I was greatly surprised to see how cool the device actually is.

Now MS have released new models with a distinctly iPod-like look -- well, old iPod-look anyway. And why not, since the iPod has been such a raving success.

Check this link here 4 more.

Info-Techno Sabbath: Unplugging the God of Information Technology

robocop — Mon, 01 Oct 2007 03:53:23 GMT

I'm sure many of us IT guys get stung by this sort of thing. Enjoy.

GodTube

Rob Farley — Fri, 28 Sep 2007 10:07:22 GMT

I know - it sounds a bit corny... but I guess it depends on your take. If you have a problem with the 'corny' aspect of the efforts of the church, then I think you're probably one of those secret Christians, who never tells anyone about their faith, and who misses out on all kinds of blessings.

On the other hand, if you can look past that, then you might find the occasional gem in GodTube. As you might expect, it's an internet video site, where users upload content to share. This being about God, instead of You, the uploaded material is generally about Christian stuff.

I'm not sure how they vet the material - I'm not about to start suggesting that everything there is going to be theologically sound, or even safe for kids. But I'm sure it's going to be a safer bet than that other, non-Christian, site.

I've only looked at a few videos so far. Ben Walters sent me the link to this skit, which reminds me of one that a US group of teenagers (can't remember the name of the group they were from...) performed in the early 90s on a missions trip to Australia. I've also checked out an interview with my good friend Vicky Beeching, and a guy who's trying out some comedy (I assume). Like in this comedian's seventh tip, this site must be good - it's got "God' in title. ;)

I played with an Apple iPhone

robocop — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 07:25:41 GMT

I got to play on one of these little iPhone beauties recently -- one that had been bought in the USA for $600USD before the price apparently dropped to $400USD. (The price drop btw seemed to correlate with and increase in sales from about 8,500 per day to around 15,000 per day in the USA.)

So, what are they like? Well, they have a very solid feel and are really thin. The camera is tiny and the camera software really cool. The screen is excellent and the touch screen amazing. I typed a couple of sentences on the virtual keyboard and I didn't get a single letter wrong, even with my semi-fat fingers! Google Earth works great, including zooming in and out and moving around, and this was running over one of several available wifi connections, of which the owner had configurations for about 8.

Much more could be said, however I will stop with this: compared to an older iPaq I owned a couple of years ago, this device is leagues ahead. The interface is simple, fast, brilliant and just works. But don't go rushing off to TradeMe to buy one as they have been banned from there for now :-)

iPocketBible

Rob Farley — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 13:46:30 GMT

There are times when it could be good to have an iPhone. It seems that Laridian, the creators of PocketBible (which I use on my PocketPC) have released iPocketBible, which runs on the iPhone and iPod Touch. And what's more - it's a subscription you pay for, rather than buying the product outright.

You do still have to buy the Bibles that have copyright associated with them. The free ones are the standard lot, including the KJV and American Standard Version. In most churches I've been to over the years there's a preference for the NIV, NKJV, Amplified, and more recently a growing trend towards the NLT and Message. NASB is good too, but all of these will cost you extra on top of the $1.99 per month subscription to iPocketBible. But $1.99 for a Bible is nothing, right? You can't buy much for $1.99 these days, but having access to a Bible on your phone could be a good (in more ways than one) option.

Unfortunately I can't write a proper review of it, as I don't have an iPhone to test it on. But Laridian have made sure that this is designed especially for the iPhone browser, and knowing (and loving) PocketBible for the PocketPC, I can assure you that this will be a good product. And it will improve with time as well! Already Laridian have a list of features they plan to add soon, including being able to highlight verses in different colours, personal notes, and being able to synchronise personal data (such as notes and highlights) with PocketBible for Windows if you have it.

I have heard that iPhone support for Bibles in general is fairly weak. But this product should change that, and in particular, the number of people that use their iPhone in church. If you're one, just make sure you turn off your ring tone!

You can read all about it (and buy a subscription) at http://www.ipocketbible.com/ - I might use the 'subscribe' link when I get an iPhone.

Paperless churches

Rob Farley — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 04:48:00 GMT

Growing up, I went to a mixture of Churches of England and Pentecostal churches. Since moving to Australia as a teenager, I've always been a part of Pentecostal churches, even during the stint that my wife and I had in London. Obviously there are many differences between the two, but one of the more subtle ones is regarding the hymnals and bibles that accompany the Book of Common Prayer in the pews in the mainline churches. Pentecostal churches (in my experience at least) don't tend to do this.

Perhaps it's because the Pentecostal churches I've been to over the years don't tend to have pews as such. I think of the old cinema seats, and the individual plastic chairs, and the easily moveable bench rows - none of which lended themselves to the idea of having bibles put in the back of them. But perhaps it's also that many Pentecostal churches are remarkably 'new', meeting in buildings that are less than four hundred years old, singing songs that were written either in this century or the last, and certainly not sticking to a formula for church that was found in a book (unless that book is written by the pastor of a mega-church, suggesting that singing, notices and sermon, possibly with communion thrown in somewhere is a good format).

Doing things 'by the book' is just not the Pentecostal way. Of course, if that book is the Holy Bible, then the argument falls flat, but that's not what this article is about. What I'm talking about is the provision of paper to each congregation member. And actually Pentecostal churches have often been very good at this, sometimes handing out wads of paper to each person who arrives at the door, so that they have an A5 notice about the upcoming women's conference to stick on their fridge - presumably next to the same notice that they received the previous week. But even this is starting to fade, as churches discover PowerPoint for their notices.

Song words have long been displayed using overhead projectors - with the move to computer projectors being still relatively new. Some preachers are even using them for their sermon notes, and this is perhaps where I see a danger appearing.

When preachers display their sermon notes on the screen, people no longer need to look up the relevant Scriptures in their Bibles, and soon stop bringing Bibles to church with them at all.

Clearly there's value in the Pentecostal churches encouraging the congregation to bring their own bibles along with them. It means they can stick a bookmark (perhaps one of the adverts for the women's conference) into the particular page which stirred something in them, so that when they next pull their Bible out, they can turn to it and be reminded of the message they heard. If you're using the Bible that is provided for you, then you may not have this advantage. But you can't bookmark something that just appears on the screen above the preacher's head.

So if you're a preacher and you use PowerPoint for your sermons (which I do encourage - as people are often more likely to pay attention if your main points are on the screen for them to read), please try different ways of encouraging your listeners to actually turn in their own Bibles to the verses. If nothing else, they'll get practised at opening their Bibles and finding particular Scriptures. That entertaining moment of explaining to someone that the book of Amos is really easy to find (because it's just before Obadiah) may not be a good idea for the fact that newer Christians may feel a little alienated by the laughter of the people who know the order of the minor prophets, but the benefit of actually getting people to get their Bibles out is very useful.

When I'm training, I encourage my students to try things out while I'm talking to them. If I've explained how to write a database query, I get them to try it out, not only during lab times, but also while I'm explaining it, so that they can get a feel for the concepts. Preachers don't tend to give much time for the congregation to do their own research, but it's not a bad thing. But if your church is paperless, it's almost impossible.

(NB: I rate electronic bibles to be the same as having a paper bible with you - the point is whether your people have come armed or not)

BibleTech08 Tickets go on sale

Darryl — Sat, 15 Sep 2007 18:04:15 GMT

I just noticed that tickets to BibleTech08 -the Bible Technology conference in January have gone on sale at Logos with 25% off. This puts the price at US$149.95.

My understanding is that this covers meals which isn't bad :-)

I also noticed that I'm listed on the speakers list. My only concern at this stage is that all the sessions appear to be only 45 minutes long - which is not very long... Its going to take some hard prep to make this work well.

Hopefully I'll meet you there!

Q&A - Electronic books vs paper - publishing and usage

Darryl — Sat, 15 Sep 2007 05:22:53 GMT

The last two Q&A posts have both examined electronic books and paper.

Benefits of electronic books over paper

Dealing with technology advances in electronic books

All has been pretty good so far. However, the modern publishing business hasn't helped things along, and there are still a number of technical challenges to overcome as well.

A paper book is useful as long as you have the book around. You can read it where ever you are and you can share it with others pretty easily. So - is this possible with electronic books? We again, asked our four Bible Software companies the questions.

Question: If I purchase a book that runs on your software, is it possible use that book on any other software?

Olive Tree:

Not at this time. Books purchased from Olive Tree will only work with Olive Tree’s BibleReader software.

Laridian:

It's possible but it's not likely. Like everyone else we have a proprietary format that we haven't shared with anyone else.

eSword:

No.

Logos:

Books that work with Logos Bible Software work with any product built on the Libronix Digital Library System; more than 50 publishers have released packages using our engine.

BibleTechnology.com:

Now this is interesting. If I purchase, say, a Holman Christian Standard Bible, I can only use it in the one Bible software application that I choose to buy it from. So - where as I can purchase a paper Bible once, I may end up purchasing an electronic bible multiple times.

To be fair, both eSword and Laridian support both Windows desktop and mobile devices, meaning if I went with either of these organizations I could get one book and carry it with me where ever I am. However, this may limit the choices of books available to me - as other organizations will publish books that these companies will not publish. So what if I purchased Logos for their desktop software and one of the others for their mobile software? That would mean I need to purchase books for different scenarios - one for the desktop and one for the mobile device.

To date, customers seem to just accept this and move on, however, I'd like to understand this a little more and see this change. As I understand it there is a technical issue - each file format is technically different. There are also non-technical limitations - such as limitations placed on the software manufacturer by the publisher (as opposed to the software manufacturer) - where the publisher sets restrictions based on factors they are concerned about.

We had another question in this vein...:

Question: Do you work or have plans to work with other software companies on standard book and note formats?

Olive Tree:

Yes – we are considering several possibilities in this area.

Laridian:

Been there, done that. Jim VanDuzer (Laridian VP) and I conceived STEP back in 1994-95. The issues we encountered as we sought to broaden the membership of our group were mostly political and egocentric. One company wouldn't join if another was a member. Another wouldn't join if we wouldn't implement it their way. Others would join but wouldn't give away any secrets.

In 1998 Laridian was a founding member of the Open eBook Forum, a group dedicated to the creation of an HTML/XML-based standard for electronic publishing. We were well on our way to a useful standard when Microsoft descended upon us and usurped the committee and format. As a result we went from having a goal of being a format which, like STEP, would permit users to install books from different publishers onto their book reader devices and software platforms to a format that is nothing more than a common typesetting language used by publishers to make life easier for electronic publishers. While this is useful in a very limited way, the more ambitious goal of user-level interoperability was abandoned.

I personally don't think it's possible to develop standard book and note formats. There are too many political obstacles (the technical obstacles are easy by comparison). However, we have designed our synchronization engine to be usable by other companies. So, for example, a company could create a plug-in for our sync manager that would allow our mobile devices to have their notes, bookmarks, and highlights synchronized to their desktop Bible software. It's a non-trivial task, but it's designed to be possible. We have pitched this idea to a couple of companies but nothing has come of it.

eSword:

I integrated STEP, but that has since been abandoned. I doubt that another attempt by the software community will be realized any time soon.

Logos:

Most of our data files are in industry standard XML format; our electronic books are in a private format so that we can continue to improve the files to take advantage of new technologies. Our book format is one of the distinct strengths of our platform.

BibleTechnology.com:

Interesting. There are quite different points of view here and Craig gives us some interesting background into previous attempts to do this sort of work. I really hope that Olive Trees attempts don't end up on the same heap - perhaps they should talk to Craig from Laridian :-)

While I understand the business need for proprietary formats, it ends up costing customers more money, and is confusing for many customers. Personally, I'd rather spend money on additional books than on the same book multiple times.

Q&A - Electronic books vs paper - Dealing with technology advances

Darryl — Fri, 14 Sep 2007 05:22:53 GMT

As we saw in the last Q&A post there are quite a few benefits to electronic books, and we certainly saw that there are some real benefits - particularly in the area of time spent searching through books and spreading your library out in front of you on a table or desk.

Unlike physical books however, as technology advances, so does the electronic book technology and the book reader technology. How do our four software companies work with books in this sense?

Question: What guarantees do you give to customers that books purchased today will continue to work in five years time?

Olive Tree:

Olive Tree is committed to supporting popular handheld platforms as they continue to come on the market. We have developed a cross-platform technology that allows us to more easily move our products to new platforms. Olive Tree also has a history of offering Bibles and study tools for almost ten years across a variety of mobile devices. Our product set and supported platforms only continue to grow. We have a current transfer policy that lets customers transfer files they have purchased to a new device, even if the operating system changes. Also, we still make available a limited number of products that will work with the very original Palm devices (the Handspring Visor for example), so this also speaks well of our continued support of older platforms

Laridian:

None. Don't accept any other answer from any other Bible software company.

However, we've been in business for almost ten years now and our file format has changed very little. More importantly, we have a complete record of everything you've ever purchased from us. I'm looking at a customer here who placed an order in December, 1998 that included our Bible software and the NIV Bible. That customer could come to our site today and re-download those products at no charge. Now, it's highly unlikely they still have a device that would run that software. But if they did, they could install it and it would work.

Furthermore, if that customer upgrades from our old version 1 software to the latest version 3, they would be able to download a version of the NIV compatible with version 3 even though their original NIV is no longer compatible with the new version. We handle this automatically at our site.

eSword:

Assuming their hardware still works in five years, then there is no reason why their investment would be compromised. Users can always retrieve their purchased resources if they lose them for any reason, or upgrade their hardware, etc.

Logos:

We don’t charge for upgrades to the viewing engine, and our users have not had to re-purchase titles for more than 12 years.

BibleTechnology.com:

So far so good - each electronic Bible publisher here will allow you to download new versions of the books as you need to. Logos is a little different - they build their software to be able to read the old books, so you just download the new viewing engine and then read the old books with them. This raises the question - what happens to customers when the technology moves forward - do they have to buy everything again? We asked the question specifically:

Question: How does a user migrate between revisions of your software? What costs are involved and how do you set these?

Olive Tree:

Updates to our software (both BibleReader and text updates) are currently free, including a free upgrade across different device operating systems. All a user has to do is login to their account on our site, and download updated files from their Personal Library.

Laridian:

The process of migration from one major version to the next varies from platform to platform and version to version. Prices also vary. We charge a nominal price for our software and upgrades are at a discount from that price. You don't have to re-purchase any content (Bibles and reference books) that you already own; you just have to upgrade the software.

eSword:

Upgrades are always free as is the program itself.

Logos:

We have an update feature built into the product, and free updates can be downloaded from our web site as well. The latest version of the software platform is always included on the CD or DVD-ROM with new electronic books, too, and automatically installs when appropriate.

BibleTechnology.com

So the technology question does seem to be well managed by these companies. Each allowing either free or negligible upgrade prices as technology changes. While Laridian is the only company that charges for the reader software, the price of this software is only $10.00-$19.99, which in our estimation is reasonable - particularly considering the reader software doesn't change versions more than once every two to three years.

Q&A - Electronic books vs paper - Benefits

Darryl — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 05:22:53 GMT

If you walk into a book shop, you can buy a book and take it home and read it. You can also loan it to a friend should you want to. You can read your book in bed, on the couch in the lounge, at a desk, on the train, at work (in your lunch hour of course), or on a plane. You can read a book anywhere.

How is this relevant? Simple. Now that books are electronic you actually lose some of this functionality in order gain other functionality.

In this post we will examine some of the benefits of electronic books and compare these to normal books. We will also look at some of the limitations in the next Q&A post.

One of the key benefits of electronic books and libraries is just the time spent flicking through pages. If you want to find a passage in the bible, just type it in. If you want to search for all the occurrences of the phrase "Lamb of God", just type it in and viola - there they are. This basic functionality is something a computer can do much more exhaustively and efficiently than a human with a book.

What other advantages are there? We asked our four Bible Software Companies:

Question: What distinct advantages do you see Bible Software having over using regular books and paper beyond just time?

Olive Tree:

1) Portability. You can take a library of resources with you on your laptop or mobile device.

2) Space. You no longer have to have a huge library of books – they can all be stored digitally on your computer or mobile device.

3) Ease. The tools available with Bible Software give you a way to study the Bible in an in-depth way, but much easier and more powerful than spreading your books out on the table.

4) Search. Quickly find what you want in any book.

Laridian:

In some cases, Bible software is actually less advantageous than books. Books are high resolution, portable, and require no power. They are more impervious to peril of most types. Books have a well-known, intuitive user interface that does not vary from book to book.

Searching is easier with an electronic book. It is also more powerful. So while a concordance can show me everywhere in the Bible a particular word occurs, PocketBible can show you occurrences of combinations of words and phrases. It's also easier to find and read Bible verses that are cited in a reference book. Our desktop software, for example, shows you the text of any link without you actually having to go there. Just hover the mouse over the link.

An electronic book can be non-destructively marked up. You can highlight your Bible for one purpose, then throw those highlights away and start over using another highlighting scheme. If you do that with a paper Bible you have to get a new Bible every time you start over.

eSword

The ability to search volumes of content in seconds is probably the single biggest gain the computer has brought to Bible study.

Logos

Bible software is a time machine. Electronic books are easier to search and hyperlinks make it simple to follow footnotes and cross references. Our users consistently tell us that Logos Bible Software gives them more time to dig deeper into the Word, and to get more out of the study.

Q&A - Getting started

Darryl — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 17:51:00 GMT

For people new to Bible software, what sets the different Bible software packages apart from each other?

To understand this we asked four well known Bible Software companies to answer some questions. Here are some of these questions and the answers by the organizations verbatim below:

Question: For someone who has no knowledge about Bible software, what sets your software apart from the competition?

Answers below:

Olive Tree:

There are several things that distinguish Olive Tree from other mobile Bible software companies:

1) We support a number of handheld devices: twelve different operating systems in all, which includes millions of different devices.

2) We have a very large product selection (almost 400 titles) which means you are more than likely to find Bible versions and related materials to meet your needs.

3) We offer over 100 free resources.

4) iLumina MOBILE – a multi-media product that includes Bibles, Bible study tools, video tours of places in the Bible, and animations of Bible stories.

5) Our Learning Center that provides video tutorials for the BibleReader software, users manuals, articles expounding on specific products and application features and blog entries related to using newly introduced BibleReader features and resources.

6) Original Language support with parsing information for the Greek New Testament, LXX (Greek Old Testament), and HMT (Hebrew Old Testament).

Laridian:

Frankly, all Bible software is pretty much alike. There may be minor features here and there that are different, but like word processors, spreadsheets, and presentation managers, Bible software has a feature set that is well-known and widely implemented.

Our company, though, specializes in mobile computing. So we try to have high-performance, low-cost software for a variety of the most popular mobile platforms. Even our desktop product has mobility at its heart -- it has a sophisticated synchronization manager that keeps your notes, highlights, and bookmarks database synchronized between all your mobile devices and your desktop.

eSword:

Price (free), usability (easy/intuitive), customization (smorgasbord of resources - you choose what you want to study with).

Logos:

Logos Bible Software has two distinct benefits: First, we offer the largest digital library for Biblical studies, with more than 7,000 digitized and tagged titles. Second, we use specialized tools and automated reports to help bring to your attention the books you need when you need them. No one has time to read 7,000 books, so our software takes the passage, topic, or word you’re studying and helps you quickly find relevant material in your digital library.

Q&A - Products and platforms

Darryl — Sat, 08 Sep 2007 15:22:53 GMT

The first questions we asked the four Bible Software organizations we questioned recently was what sort of products they made and who did they build them for?

Question: What products does your organization make available and which of these gets the most focus?

Olive Tree:

Olive Tree focuses on Bibles and Bible study resources, but also offers devotionals and Christian eBooks affording users to build a real Personal Library for their mobile device. Bibles are our primary product of interest, but we also have a section of products on original languages (Greek and Hebrew) that get a good deal of attention from those in the scholarly sector.

Laridian:

We develop and sell software for a variety of mobile devices. Our best-sellers are PocketBible for Windows Mobile and MyBible for Palm OS. We also have Bible software for BlackBerry and iPod. Very shortly we'll have Bible software for the new Apple iPhone and for the Windows desktop as well.

eSword:

e-Sword and Pocket e-Sword. Both products are fairly mature, so creation of new resources for both products get the most attention.

Logos:

Our primary product is Logos Bible Software and the electronic books that work with it.

BibleTechnology.com.

The four organizations support a wide range of platforms between them with only Logos being a single platform (although a Mac version of Logos is in the works). Since answering our questions Laridian actually shipped PocketBible for Windows - you can read our review of it here.

So who is the target market for these companies?

Question: What sort of people is your main Bible Software product suited to?

Olive Tree:

Those interested in reading and studying the Bible on their handheld PDA or Smartphone device, from basic reading and Bible study to more advanced lesson preparation and exegesis. In recent years we find a good number of missionaries and pastors are using these mobile devices to conveniently carry a library of materials to places that would have been not so easy in time past.

Laridian:

We believe our average customer is not a preacher or teacher but is the guy or gal in the pew on Sunday morning. Since we focus on mobile computing, our customer is probably a business person who carries a smartphone or PDA he or she depends on for their business and personal organizational needs. Because that device is with them everywhere, having the Bible on it is invaluable

eSword:

The pastor/teacher primarily, though millions of users 8 to 80 make use of e-Sword every day!

Logos:

Logos Bible Software is designed for everyone who wants to study the Bible. Our tool is specifically aimed at pastors, students, and others who want to invest in serious study with a large library of resources, but it is useful for casual students as well.

BibleTechnology.com:

The four organizations are generally aiming for the more advance student of scripture allowing you to delve more deeply into scripture should you want to. In most cases this doesn't make a huge difference to the usability of the products, but it may make quite a difference to discoverability of features and the number of features you end up actually using.

We recommend that you take a look at several or all of these products if you are looking at purchasing software.

BibleTech08 - BibleTechnology.com hopes to be there!

Darryl — Sat, 08 Sep 2007 03:20:49 GMT

As with a few others (like Bronson) my talk has also been approved for BibleTech08 - the Bible Technology conference in Seattle in January (I mentioned it previously here).

My talk is "The future of technology and the underground church". I'm awaiting some details before I confirm (costs to fly from New Zealand are not insignificant), but all going well, I hope to be there.

I think it will be a great opportunity to get to meet others who are using technology as part of their ministry, pick their brains about what they are up to and how they see the future being with Technology.

www.bible.org

robocop — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 07:51:55 GMT

Software ideology for Christians - part 2

Darryl — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 02:34:53 GMT

In my last post on this subject I explored some common beliefs of Open Source advocates and (attempted) to boil them down to their common points and make some assertions about those common points.

To re-iterate the basis for this particular point, there are some people who have a fundamental problem with certain business models regarding software or who have preferences to roll their sleeves up and dig into code and config files to get their computers running just so.

I have three things I'd like to examine in light of principles from scripture.

Firstly software is amoral - that is there are no moral bases for examining it. You could compare it to a train. A train is not moral or immoral its just a tool or an instrument. Software can be used for evil purposes - just as a train can be used for evil purposes, but they are still what they are, just being used for evil.

Secondly any opinion of software is just that - an opinion. Unless you can apply scriptural principles to the purpose of the software, there is no moral basis for condemning it or accepting it. As an opinion you have a right to your opinion, but so do others. Many advocates of Open Source software take it upon themselves to migrate every user they come across to their "side". As we already saw - there are no sides - software is amoral, and thus if someone is comfortable using what they are using, don't try to change that. If someone doesn't share your ideology, so be it. It is quite possible they just don't care about the cause like you do, they just want to get things done - let them. 1 Cor 13: 5 says "Love does not insist on its own way". More on this in a moment.

Third, there is often an attitude problem. Many times Open source advocates will interject in a conversation when someone says something that violates their ideology. For example someone endorses a software product build by a company that advocate doesn't like. One of the first things that is often said is "You don't use that stuff do you?". The question could equally be rephrased - "Idiots use that software - did you know you are one?". This is a mild reaction - often the reaction heaps insults on the software or the company that made it.

The Bible calls this slander or revile and has plenty to say on the matter - look for example at Titus 3:2, Matt 15:19, Eph 4:31, Col 3:8, 1 Peter 2:1. It is also divisive - as not everyone will share this ideology and some will react violently against it, so it sows seeds of discord among brothers (Prov 6:19). "God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, that there may be no division in the body". In other words God made the church to be united, even at an individual level, and this attitude does not reflect a commitment to do that.

The last point on this is that the body of Christ today is worldly and lazy. We don't want to work for the Lord, we would rather spend our time in our trivial pursuits entertaining and amusing ourselves as we see fit to. Heb 12:1 tells us to "lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us". The authors is instructing the reader (you and me) to put aside anything that holds you back from working for Christ. The metaphor is a runner running a race - he wouldn't run the race with his business suit on if it will slow him down. We too should be putting aside the things of the world in order to achieve maximum efficiency for the Lord. I've recently written about this on my other blog too - read it here, here and here.

The point is this: there is no place for these sorts of extreme attitudes in believers. They are contrary to the nature of Christ and based in worldly cares and concerns. As believers we should be about pleasing Him, not splitting hairs over technology.

Technology is a useful tool. We should use it to grow in Christ and build up believers - technological bigotry is not helpful in this. Rather - turn that passion into a passion for the Lord and his glory.

Software ideology for Christians - part 1

Darryl — Tue, 04 Sep 2007 02:34:53 GMT

Recently a couple of us had an experience where we ran into a believer who felt it was unconscionable to use or purchase software from a particular company. The individual had a pragmatic objection to "close source" software (close source simply means software that is written and maintained by a company), and a moral objection to using software from this particular vendor.

The moral objections were based on an instance of criminal activity that the company was tried, convicted and punished for around 10 years ago. The company has changed dramatically as a result. The remainder of the objections boiled down to the fact that the company in question is a company (a large company) and as such profits financially from its software.

This sort of attitude is quite rampant in the technology industry (and for most of us there are no prizes for guessing who the company in question is). However, these sorts of opinions are really based on an ideology - that is a set of ideas about the way the world should be. I get to spend a bit of time talking to people with these ideologies and in my experience they typically boil down to a small group of ideals:

Big companies are inherently bad
Software should be free
Software X is more secure/stable/reliable than Software Y
Software X is more flexible than Software Y
I like to dig into the core of the software/operating system and proprietary (closed source) software doesn't allow this

Each of these are straw men propagated by a group of people who are not objective and begin with an opposing or negative or pessimistic stance and work to conclusions from there.

Firstly - software should be free? On who's authority should software be free? Why? How is it wrong to build a business selling software? The alternative is making money from services... which is more profitable? Is profit wrong (see my other blog for my views on wealth)?

Software X is more secure/stable/reliable than Software Y. If this is so there must be some facts and figures to back it up. As a rule, people who state this haven't looked at the facts, they've just listened to the rhetoric without doing any investigation for themselves.

Software X is more flexible than Software Y. My response to this is - so what? If the product is a vertical product, this is a good thing within that vertical market. If it is a generic product (e.g. an Operating System) this can actually be a bad thing for the average consumer.

I like to dig into the core of the software/operating system... same argument as the previous one. If this is your thing, then go for it. The average computer user just wants to get their work done and move on. For those uber techo geeks who like to roll their sleeves up and roll their own computer system - more power to you! But this is not necessarily something the average computer user can do or even wants to do. At the end of the day - this is just a preference, nothing more - and it is the preference of a small number of people.

I'm going to post a Christian ideology on all this in the next few days. This post is to cover the bottom line arguments and set the scene.

Apple likely to introduce new iPod with large touch screen!

robocop — Mon, 03 Sep 2007 20:24:00 GMT

Why is this important to Christians? Because iPods are a way for Christians to be trained in theology, apologetics, church history or whatever else. Check www.biblicaltraining.com, www.greatbibleteaching.com or www.apollow.ws for examples of content that can be played on the iPod.

Apple is expected to unveil a revamp of its iPod line on Wednesday with the launch of a long-anticipated full or wide-screen, with touch control, version of the digital music player that is designed to bolster the group’s reach in video.

European journalists have been summoned by the California-based company to attend a briefing at the BBC’s headquarters in London. The assembled reporters are to view a live broadcast of a presentation given by Steve Jobs, the Apple chief executive.

Source: http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/ind...