Prof Horner’s Bible Reading System on your Olive Tree iPhone App

If you’ve discovered Prof. Grant Horner’s Bible reading system to be a blessing, like me, then you might be interested in this tutorial for adding his Bible reading plan onto your iOS device (iPhone or iPad) *without the need to jailbreak*:

1. Download the Bible reading plans here. Thanks to a guy called Robert who’s put all the hard work into creating these, you have coded 7 years worth of daily readings which rotate per Prof. Horner’s system. You can use the reading plan as one large file on the iPhone. However, it is a bit unwieldy like that so it’s broken it up into 7 separate yearly plans. [UPDATE August 2014: the above link is now broken but you can get a full year’s worth here]
2. Now you just need to get these files onto your iOS device. Until Olive Tree add an official way to add them you will need to download another application. Go to http://www.macroplant.com/iphoneexplorer/ and download the free app, iPhone Explorer. This app allows you to look in certain areas of your iOS device’s file system and view, copy and paste the content. If you don’t have a jailbroken device then the extent of this is limited, you couldn’t add your own SMS ringtones, but you can add reading plans to BibleReader!
3. Install and launch iPhone Explorer on your computer and plug in your iOS device. You will be able to see your device in the app, click on it, select the App folder and then find BibleReader. This may take a little time if you have a lot of apps on your device as the list won’t appear to be in any order (it is, but is based off the random folder names iOS uses for your apps, luckily iPhone Explorer doesn’t show you their real names as you’d be completely lost!).
4. Within the BibleReader folder there are four folders, one which is named Documents, and two files. To add your reading plans (the 7 files not the folder), then drag these files into the Documents folder in iPhone Explorer. Now unplug your iOS device, and close BibleReader. If you don’t have iOS4 then all you need to do is leave BibleReader (if it was even open in the first place). If you do it is a little more fiddly. Leave BibleReader if you had it open, then double-tap the Home button, find BibleReader in the opened dock, hold down on it till it enters wiggle mode and then tap the close button.
5. Now open up BibleReader again and you’ll find your reading plan!

A Sad State of Affairs

I was saddened to see this advert in The Times this afternoon. I’m as much a fan of iPhone Apps as the next man, but I don’t want to live in a world where we’re encouraged to trade in quality time with our children to trade stocks and shares ‘Whatever, Wherever, Whenever.’

Flash My Brain for the iPhone: A Review

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UPDATE: April 2013 – The developer appears to have given up on this app and ithas gone a long time without updates. Despite having a lot of promise, I would no longer recommend this app ;-(

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Whilst I’m on a Greek and an iPhone App roll, I thought I’d introduce you to another iPhone App that I have been using recently that has enhanced my Greek study no end.

As soon as the App store became available I was aware of the possibility of using my iPhone to aid my Greek study. I held off, thinking that written memory cards suited me just fine. Eventually I caved in however, and have been happily using ‘Flash My Brain’ for several months now. There are now an impressive array of flashcard apps available for the iPhone – but in my view, this one beats them hands down for biblical Greek study.

I have uploaded all of the 600 vocabulary words used in Jeremy Duff’s ‘Elements of New Testament Greek’, including one version that includes audio helps for each of the words. Hopefully the somewhat poorly shot embedded video demonstrates something of the feel of the App…!

Many of its reviews on the App Store are all over the place, with mixed reviews elsewhere too. By and large I feel this is a little unfair. I’ve therefore decided to give my reason’s for using it below:

Things I like:

• I have found that the Leitner memorisation system and customisable shuffling incorporated as options have made my learning more systematic and works really very well for me.

• The online card view system makes it really easy for you, if you wish, to make your flashcard sets available for other users to access. Last time I checked, there were 243 different cardsets just for Greek vocab and grammar that people had uploaded and made available through the online server – with many hundreds more in everything from taxes to Tibetan to time tables! Whilst I guess most people have specific and individual requirements when it comes to their flashcard content, there is so much good stuff available on there that it does deserve a mention.

• You can take photos with the iPhone’s camera, or add photos from your saved albums on both the iPhone and iPod Touch – you can even then slice them up and use bits from the front and back of your cards. I have added sound recordings to my flash cards that can be set to automatically play or play on my command (see embedded video for an example of this). This I find really useful as I have both the visual reminder of the word with an audio pronunciation right there to reinforce it. However, the editing process through the iPhone editor can prove to be a little time consuming. If you’re prepared to shell out for the desktop version, you’ll find that it seamlessly integrates with you iPhone and makes the process of creating cards SO much easier! Having created over 600 now, I don’t think I would have managed just using the built in iPhone editor, even though it is very good.

• It’s always on you! (well, always on me anyway). Whether I’m on the train, walking out and about or lying in bed, I can always reach for my phone and have my vocab easy to hand. Fantastic!

Things I would like to see:

• A cheaper price! ‘Flash my Brain’ for the PC or Mac weighs in at $29.95, with the iPhone App setting you back $5.99 currently. Whilst these apps are the best in their market imo, they are still a little pricey.

• The font used to display Greek text on the iPhone is readable, but ugly. To be fair, I guess this is the fault of the current iPhone software for not supporting more attractive fonts for biblical Greek study so this may change in the future.

• I’d like there to be some kind of free uploader available so that users can easily upload their own cards without being reliant on either using the iPhone editor (laborious) owning the PC / Mac version (expensive).

Check it out:

Flash My Brain

for the iPhone.

‘Bible App’, powered by You Version. A fantastic* App!

I just want to quickly sing the praises of an iPhone App that I have consistently gone back to time and time again: You Version’s Bible App.

With an unbeatable price tag of zilch (it’s free!), it really is, in my opinion, the best Bible App available for the iPhone. It’s gone through multiple updates, and has gotten better with time: more versions, more options, more languages, and lately, even downloadable, offline editions of the Bible. The sheer number of versions supported is staggering – 16 versions in English alone (and all of the ones I personally use on a regular basis such as New International Version [NIV], New Living Translation [NLT], The Message [MSG] and English Standard Version [ESV]).

My personal opinion is that the contrast setting – a black background with white text – works best. I also find the daily ‘reading plan’ (a daily reading plan to read the Bible in a year) and ‘bookmarks’ (save your favourite verses) tabs to be really useful.

* Are there any downsides? Only a few…

• You need an internet connection to view some versions (but not all – a recent update enabled several versions to be downloadable for offline reading, such as the New American Standard [ASV], New Century [NCV] and New King James [NKJV])
• No koine Greek support yet – this would be the icing on the cake for me, especially if it included accents 🙂
• A fantastic feature is the ability to email a verse you are reading to a friend (or yourself). I find this really useful. However, what you cannot do is email more than one verse at a time which is a bit annoying.
• People think you are sending a cheeky text when you whop it out in church!

The Features

• The whole Bible is at your fingertips—just tap around the Bible App and browse with ease.
• Take your pick from 19 different translations of the Bible (including Spanish, German, French, Swedish, and Chinese versions) and make it your default.
• Search the entire Bible for a word, phrase, or verse, and you’ll get your results in seconds.
• Jump to a verse quickly by typing the reference in the search box.
• The One-Year Reading Plan provides daily selections to keep you on track when you’re on the go.
• Share your perspective on a verse by contributing relevant notes, video, images, and links.
• Learn from others by checking out recent contribs. Just tap the number next to the verse.

In short, I can’t recommend this App enough. If you have an iPhone or iPod Touch, download it!