The weblog of Olive Tree Bible Software
The oFone and Cross Platform Development
Jul 13th
Working with mobile devices is a lot of fun and very challenging. New devices and mobile platforms are springing up all time. For example, see the new ofone from Microsoft. This phone does things most developers would not have thought about when writing applications for mobile devices. (In case you didn’t catch it during this video, the ofone is not a real phone. It was used by Microsoft to humorously point out the challenges of developing for mobile devices.) Olive Tree currently supports a staggering 12 platforms! Each of these platforms requires product support, maintenance, web site changes, and development. Looking at the future, more platforms are on the way. Palm is planning on releasing a version of their operating system based on Linux. Motorola is developing more and more Linux based cell phones. The iPhone, which runs a version of Mac OS X, was just released (right now there is no way for developers to create local applications for the iPhone). ACCESS is working on their ACCESS Linux Platform for mobile devices. I am pretty sure that Nokia is working on the next version of Symbian series 60. Who knows, maybe someone is even working on the ofone 
For a software company to stay current in today’s mobile landscape they have to be able to move and adapt as new devices and platforms are released.
So how does a small company like Olive Tree manage to do this? Even more importantly, why is this important to BibleReader users? I can’t give too many technology secrets away, but I can share a few things that we do to make managing multiple platforms easier. Firstly, we have a common set of database files that run on 10 of the 12 platforms we support (The common database files do not run on the iPod and the BlackBerry, due to limitations on those platforms.) This makes the task of creating databases much easier since we only need to create one database. Secondly, we have a cross platform text rendering engine. The bulk of the complexity of the BibleReader is in figuring out how to display the text on the screen. This part of the BibleReader is written in such a way that it can run on almost any platform (BlackBerry and iPod are the exceptions). For example, I am currently working on being able to select hyperlinks using the 5-way arrow keys. I got this working on Windows Mobile Pocket PC. Now with very little effort I will be able to get this feature working on Palm OS, Symbian, and Smartphone. If we did not have a cross platform engine, I would have to spend days coding this feature for each platform. Finally, we have a cross platform database layer. This means that there is only one set of code for reading and searching the databases. Having code that can run on multiple platforms makes the task of moving to new platforms and supporting new platforms easier.
We have also changed our website to help users manage the complexity of the different platforms. Not all of our products work on all platforms. As new platforms come out we initially get Bibles working on that platform. Then, if there is enough interest in that platform, we start enabling more and more products for that platform. Our new website makes it easy for user to find out exactly what will run on their smartphone or PDA.
So why does this matter to BibleReader users? You may be thinking that this really doesn’t matter to you since the BibleReader works on your current smartphone or PDA. If you never get a new device, then this doesn’t matter. However, consider what will happen when you decide to renew your 2-year contract with carrier XYZ and decide to get a new smartphone. Will you continue to use the same mobile operating system that you are using today? With the numerous mobile device platforms out there it is common to switch. Maybe you will decide to try the iPhone, a Palm Treo, or a device we don’t even know about yet (ie the oFone). Will the BibleReader run on the the new device that you buy in two years? Will you be able to continue using the Olive Tree library you have built on your new smartphone? Hopefully, the answer to this question is yes. Since we have positioned our technology to more easily transfer from platform to platform we will hopefully support all major mobile device platforms. I can’t make any promises about what platforms we will support, since we do not know what the future holds. But I can tell you this, we are well positioned to move to new platforms as they arise.
Reading Electronic Books Made Easier
Jul 5th
I have been doing most of my reading electronically on a PDA or smartphone for the past 2 years. When I first started reading books electronically I did not like how much I had to scroll. When reading a paper book you can usually read for a few minutes before turning a page. On a PDA or smartphone it usually takes less than a minute before you have read all the text on the screen and have to scroll. This makes for a lot of scrolling to read through a book. The second problem with scrolling is that the text “jumps” by a line or screen when you scroll. Your eye has to do a quick adjustment to find out where to begin reading again after you finish scrolling. This becomes tiring when reading electronically for a long time.
So you may be wondering why I didn’t give up on reading electronic books. Auto scrolling was the reason. Auto scrolling solves both of these problems with reading electronically. On the Pocket PC BibleReader you can turn on auto scrolling by going to Menu->Display->Toggle Auto Scroll. On the Palm BibleReader you can turn on auto scrolling from Menu->Options->Toggle Auto Scroll. When you turn on auto scrolling the text will begin automatically scrolling. The text will do a smooth scroll. This means that the text doesn’t “jump” up the screen which makes it easy for your eye to follow. You can control how fast the text scroll by using the up and down arrows. You can make it go faster with the down arrow and slower with the up arrow.
If it weren’t for auto scrolling I don’t think I would be doing most of my reading electronically. For me, once I start reading a book with auto scrolling I forget that it is electronic. I start enjoying the book and forget about the medium that is being use to present the book. I have even found that reading electronically while riding a stationary bike is much easier than reading a paper book since I can do it completely hands free when I prop up my smartphone.
Happy Electronic Reading!
Stephen
iPod/iPhone?
Jun 27th
Olive Tree is now releasing material in a format for the iPod! We started by posting 8 FREE Bibles and are working on eBooks and devotionals. The format for the Bible is very basic but easy to use. It is organized by book, chapter, and verse. By clicking on a book of the Bible you will be brought to a screen with chapter selection. After clicking on the chapter you wish to view, you will be brought to a verse menu for this chapter. Finally, by clicking on the verse you want to view, you will be brought right to this verse. One thing to note is that the iPod only allows 1000 4 kb notes. Therefore, the whole Bible will not fit on the iPod. Once you have downloaded the Bible you want, you can delete any books of the Bible to have just the ones you want on your iPod. We are hoping the iPhone has the same notes feature with the same formatting. If this is the case, we will release all this material for the iPhone as well! If you bring your iPod with you to work, school, or anywhere else like I do, this material could be a very valuable resource for you. You can read Scripture wherever you are! Anywyay, I think this could be a really cool thing.
You can download the Bibles for you iPod from Olive Tree’s iPod beta web page.
Time with Jesus
Jun 22nd
Yesterday morning I went to the back porch early and read Spurgeon’s June 21 AM entry in the Morning and Evening devotional. Here’s what it said:
Thou are fairer than the children of men. Psalm 45:2
“The entire person of Jesus is but as one gem, and His life is all along but one impression of the seal. He is altogether complete; not only in His several parts but as a gracious all-glorious whole. His character is not a mass of fair colors mixed confusedly, nor a heap of precious stones laid carelessly one upon another; He is a picture of beauty and a breastplate of glory. In Him, all the “things of good repute” are in their proper places, and assist in adorning each other. Not one feature in His glorious person attracts attention at the expense of others; but He is perfectly and altogether lovely.
“Oh, Jesus! Thy power, Thy grace, Thy justice, Thy tenderness, Thy truth, Thy majesty, and Thine immutability make up such a man, or rather such a God-man, as neither heaven nor earth hath seen elsewhere. Thy infancy, Thy eternity, Thy sufferings, Thy triumphs, Thy death, and Thine immortality, are all woven in one gorgeous tapestry, without seam or rent. Thou are music without discord; Thou art many, and yet not divided; Thou art all things, and yet not diverse. As all the colours blend into one resplendent rainbow, so all the glories of heaven and earth meet in Thee, and unite so wondrously, that there is none like Thee in all things; nay, if all the virtues of the most excellent were bound in one bundle, they could not rival Thee, Thou mirror of all perfection. Thou hast been anointed with the holy oil of myrrh and cassia, which Thy God hath reserved for Thee alone; and as for Thy fragrance, it is as the holy perfume, the like of which none other can ever mingle…each spice is fragrant, but the compound is divine.”
May the Lord give us grace to take control of our busy lives and to spend uninterrupted time with His incomparable Christ, who is the meaning of everything.
Olive Tree at BookExpo America
Jun 12th
For those of you who don’t know what BookExpo America (BEA) is, let me give you a quick summary. BEA is the third largest book fair in the world, and combines the largest selection of English language titles on the planet with special industry and author events and unparalleled educational content to create a dynamic environment for networking, sourcing and relationship building. It’s main purpose? To fuel the passion for books and spark new ideas for publishers, booksellers, librarians and rights professionals from around the world.
Just shy of two weeks ago, Olive Tree was one of the many companies present at this book fair. You might wonder what Olive Tree Bible Software was doing at a book fair? The answer is simple – we were working on licensing more products that we can make available for you to install to your PDA or Smartphone device! As an electronic publisher, Olive Tree works with other publishing companies to acheive permissions for Bibles, study tools, devotionals, and Christian eBooks. We then get eText for those books, convert them to the Olive Tree format, and post them on our website for you to download! So that’s how things work in the realm of electronic publishing…
While we were there we met with many publishers and made great progress in moving forward with more resources for handheld platforms. More new products are always around the corner!
~ K
One Handed Navigation on Palm
Jun 5th
You may have noticed that we have not posted anything to the Olive Tree blog for nearly two weeks. A number of Olive Tree employees were out of town last week. I went for a 7 day backpacking trip down the Olympic coast. Now that my “batteries are recharged” I am ready to take on the summer programming projects Below is a picture of me by the camp fire.
If you are like me you prefer to not use your stylus when using the BibleReader. This is especially true when I am in church. I find that using the stylus is distracting. Did you know that you can easily navigate the Palm BibleReader without a stylus. There are a number of settings in the Palm BibleReader that you can customize to make one handed navigation easy.
1. You can assign your most commonly used features to shortcut buttons. Go to menu->Options->Preferences. Then choose “Shortcuts” from the drop down in the upper left corner. On this screen you can assign the features that you use the most to the hardware buttons. For example, I always assign the select button (center button of the 4-way arrows) to be the verse chooser since that it is the feature I use the most. If you have a Treo you can add shortcuts to any of the letters on the keyboard by using the “Shortcuts – Alpha” preferences.
2. You can customize how the up, down, left, and right arrows scroll. Go to menu->Options->Preferences and then choose “Scrolling”. From here you can select if you want the up/down and left/right arrows to scroll by line, verse, screen, history, chapter, or book.
3. When you are in the verse chooser you can use the up, down, left, and right arrow keys to move the selection box around on the screen. You can then use the button in the center of the up, down, left, and right arrows to choose the book, chapter, or verse that you have selected.
4. In the Palm BibleReader you can make the up, down, left, right, and center buttons toggle between navigating the main screen and scrolling. This feature is a bit hidden in the BibleReader. This is not intentional, we didn’t want to make this navigation be the default since we wanted the arrow keys to scroll by default. To make this feature work you need to assign one of the shortcut buttons or alpha shortcuts to be “Toggle 5-Way Nav.”. Then when you are on the main screen you hit the button that you assigned to “Toggle 5-Way Nav.” to change between one handed navigation and scrolling. When you turn on the one handed navigation you will see a blue box around the current item on the screen. You can move the blue box around with the up, down, left, and right arrows. You can select the button or window by clicking on the center button.
5. On newer Palm units that support the one-handed APIs all of the preference, search, bookmark, and note screens can be navigated by using the up, down, left, right, and center buttons.
I had to include one more picture
New Resources for Palm OS, Pocket PC, Windows Mobile Smartphone, Symbian
May 23rd
It’s already a busy summer here at Olive Tree! This last week we posted more new products, and I thought you might be interested to know what a couple of them were. Also, in case you haven’t noticed, many of the new commentaries that we have been releasing are now supported on Windows Mobile Smartphone and Symbian devices – the study tools available on these platforms are increasing!
Here’s a couple of the new products we’ve recently posted:
C.A. Coates Commentary and Articles
Available for Palm OS, Pocket PC, Windows Mobile Smartphone, and Symbian phones!
This collection of C.A. Coates’ ministry contains 37 volumes of his commentary and articles. We made this excellent resource simple and easy to use by adding in the Table of Contents Chooser, which makes navigation to a particular location in these 37 volumes easy and quick.
NET Bible® First Edition, free version
Available with limited notes for Palm OS and Pocket PC.
Available with no notes for Windows Mobile Smartphone and Symbian phones.
The NET Bible® is a modern translation of the Bible based entirely on the original languages. The full version, available for Palm OS and Pocket PC, includes almost 60,000 translator notes from the original Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek texts, as well as more than 700 references to scholarly works.
How Biblical Languages Work
Available for Palm OS and Pocket PC.
This eBook is an excellent resource for study of Greek and Hebrew. It serves as an engaging introduction to these languages, and makes learning Greek and Hebrew much easier.
I hope you check out these and our other new releases soon – enjoy!
~ K
User Feedback – New Palm toolbar and more
May 16th
With the release of a new beta version of our software, we at Olive Tree are always curious to see what kind of user feedback we will have. The latest beta version of the Palm BibleReader was no exception. And with this reader, we were even more expectant, because there are some really neat features that we added this time, as you probably read about in an earlier blog post. Sure enough, the user comments have been coming in, and we wanted to share a couple with you. Here’s what one avid Olive Tree user wrote in to tell us:
Thanks for not leaving out Palm users on all of the wonderful new features that you have just released. The new beta is incredible. The new search options are second-to-none and the secondary toolbar is just AMAZING! I have never seen a company so dedicated to constant improvement of their products. I am so glad that I am a customer of Olivetree. Thank you for being so attentive to the requests of your customers.
Today we also came across an article recently posted on PalmAddicts that gives a good discussion of Bible software for Palm devices, and talks in particular about OliveTree’s BibleReader software, our frequent updates, and some of the new features we’ve just recently added. Here’s a quick look at what this article discusses:
Recently (in about the last 2 years), Olive Tree improved their BibleReader by leaps and bounds! So much so that it is now the most used Bible reading program on my Palm device … I carry 12 different translations of the Bible with me, including a French Bible. It has commentaries, cross reference links, life application notes and a dictionary … Navigation through the Bible and searches are very easy to do. There are a variety of choices for programming your hard keys for certain tasks while using BibleReader. They put a high importance on you being able to customize the program to do whatever you want … The best part about Olive Tree is that their basic reader and a few of the most basic Bibles come absolutely free!
You can read this full article at:
http://palmaddict.typepad.com/palmaddicts/2007/05/bible_software_.html
So if you’re a Palm user, why don’t you download our new beta reader and checkout these new features for yourself!
~ K
New Customizable Toolbar on Palm
May 9th
We have added a secondary customizable toolbar to the Palm OS beta BibleReader. You can choose what buttons you want on this toolbar and where this toolbar should be placed. When you don’t want the toolbar visible you can even hide it using the blue arrow button on the top of the toolbar. We have had many requests for a popup highlighting palette so that you would not have to always go to the highlighting preference screen each time you want to change your highlighting color. You can now do this with the secondary toolbar. First, go to the secondary toolbar preferences (Menu->Preferences->Secondary Toolbar). Second, remove the buttons from the secondary toolbar that you do not want. Finally, select the highlight colors from the drop down list that you want and click on Add. Now you can use the secondary toolbar to easily highlight with the colors that you want and you can hide the toolbar when you just want to read text.
Help us test a new look for our website!
May 7th
We are in the process of testing some new features on our website, and are looking for some outside testing. The basic changes we’ve made:
- You can customize the website to be “device dependent” so that you can browse olivetree.com just based on your device and the features and products that will work for you.
- You can now build your own software bundle, and get discounts accordingly. This new discount system is already in place, and the discounts will apply to any purchases you make, once you turn on the testing mode for the site.
If you are interested in helping us test these exciting new changes, go to the link below and read the instructions there to get started. Please send all comments, suggestions, and feedback to beta02@olivetree.com.
http://www.olivetree.com/store/dd_beta.php
Looking forward to hearing from you soon!
~ K