TCHNOLOGY - TESTERS NEEDED FOR INTERACTIVE BOOKS & MAGAZINES TABLET APPS

Testers Needed for Interactive Books and Magazines Tablet Apps Posted: 14 Jan 2012 11:50 AM PST The Church's Media Services team released the LDS Ensign and The Coat apps for iPad and Android tablets in December to experiment with a new platform for digital content, and now they’re looking for feedback on the LDS Ensign app in addition to future help on similar testing. The Ensign app is an interactive digital magazine, but it is much more than just a PDF of the Ensign that you can read on your tablet. The LDS Ensign app provides audio and video features that enhance your experience with the Ensign. You can read, watch, or listen to each talk, and there are biographies of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles at the end of the issue.

A tutorial at the beginning will tell you everything you need to know about using the app, so it should be pretty easy to download and use right away. To download the LDS Ensign app, open your tablet's application store and search for “LDS Ensign.” Download and install the LDS Ensign magazine from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The app icon is as follows: Note that downloading the magazine requires an internet connection, but once you’ve downloaded it, you can use the app entirely offline. You can also download the app of The Coat—a true story from Heber J. Grant’s childhood—and see the same technology at work in an interactive, animated storybook.  The Coat has a number of animations, such as zooms, shifts of perspectives, and even snow angels, each triggered by finger swipes across the screen. To download the coat, search your tablet’s application store for “The Coat" and look for this app icon:   The technology for the Ensign and The Coat could be used in the future for other applications, so the Media Services team wants to know what you think of both the platform and—more specifically—the LDS Ensign iPad app. At this point, the apps are only for large-screen devices, like tablets. They are available on iTunes and the Android Market. How to Get Involved To give feedback on the LDS Ensign app, take the short survey that’s located in the Table of Contents in the app. If you are interested in future testing on similar apps for 7” tablets—such as Amazon Kindle Fire, Barnes & Noble Nook Tablet, and other 7-inch Android tablets—then join the Interactive Books and Magazines project to be notified of these opportunities when they arise. To join the Interactive Books & Magazines project: Go to LDSTech.org and sign in with your LDS Account user name and password. You will be brought directly to the Projects page. If you are not directed to that page, click Projects in the top navigation bar. Under available projects, search for Interactive Books and Magazines. Click Interactive Books and Magazines. Scroll to the bottom of the page and click the Join button. (If you see a Leave button, it means you’ve already joined this project. You’ll be redirected to your Projects page, and Interactive Books and Magazines will appear under My Projects. You can also go to the Interactive Books and Magazines Forum to check up on the progress of the new project or visit the Interactive Books and Magazines wiki page for more information.

TECHNOLOGY - BOOK OF MORMON APP FOR WINDOWS PHONE 7 RELEASED

Book of Mormon App for Windows Phone 7 Released

Written by Whitney Denney

Friday, 28 October 2011

A new Book of Mormon app is available for Windows Phone 7. The Book of Mormon app is available as a free download in the Windows Marketplace. The Book of Mormon app is geared toward a non-member audience largely unfamiliar with the Book of Mormon. It provides another way for people who are curious about the Book of Mormon to access a copy of it. David Staheli, a senior engineer on the project, says, “If anybody out there is curious, they’ll come along and see the Book of Mormon, and they can download it for free just to see what it’s about.” The following screenshots are from the Book of Mormon app: The Application and its Features The project started in December 2010 as an experiment. Brother Staheli says, “We thought, ‘Why don’t we take what we’ve already done—the whole gospel library and all the scriptures—but simplify it a bit for missionary purposes.’” The goal was to make the Book of Mormon less intimidating to investigators, so the team simplified the user interface by removing some of the advanced features, such as footnotes. The Book of Mormon app offers a lot of study-friendly features. Users can read or listen to audio of the text as well as underline, make notes, and bookmark their page. The application also offers a search function that will locate verses containing search terms. One of the most significant features of the Book of Mormon application is the “About” feature on the homepage. This allows users to connect to Mormon.org to learn more about the Church. They can also call the missionaries directly using a toll-free phone number specific to the application, which is one way to measure the application’s success amongst investigators. The Progress of the Application Though Brother Staheli is not yet aware of how many calls have been made using the application’s toll-free number, he is keeping track of the impact of the application as measured in download numbers. Since its release a month ago, the application has had approximately 500 downloads, about one-tenth of the downloads for Gospel Library for Windows Phone 7. Currently, downloads number about fifty a week. Brother Staheli says, “That’s like handing out fifty copies of the Book of Mormon a week!” These numbers are somewhat low to start, but as the application takes off, it will likely be extended to other platforms to increase its visibility in the market. The app has the potential to be a very economical and effective distribution of the Book of Mormon. Pass it On Initial promotion of the Book of Mormon app took place in the LDS Tech community with the team requesting that members tell their friends about the application. Brother Staheli hopes that the word about this app will continue to spread and increase its contribution to missionary efforts. He says, “I think the application is a success because, even if we have a lot of members (rather than non-members) downloading it, it brings missionary work to the forefront of their minds, and they are familiar with it, they know that they can recommend it, and pass it on.” If you know someone with a Windows 7 phone, let them know about the Book of Mormon app. Even small actions like this will help carry the gospel to all the world.

NEWS - DESERET BOOKS NEW BOOKSHELF APP: MIXING THE OLD WITH THE NEW

Deseret Book's new BookShelf app: Mixing the old with the new

Published: Friday, June 17, 2011

By Nick Galieti, For Mormon Times

The out-of-print works of B.H. Roberts, “Key to the Science of Theology” by Parley P. Pratt and other works from church history are back on Deseret Book’s shelves — electronically.
Of the more than 1,500 titles in the recently released Deseret BookShelf app for iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch, about half are considered out-of-print books, said Matt McBride, director of digital products for Deseret Book.

It’s taken years of scanning and retyping to present these titles in a digital and indexed format, said McBride. Future out-of-print titles include the volumes in the “The Collected Works of Hugh Nibley.”
Deseret BookShelf app is free to download from the App Store and includes eight free e-books with download. The free books include “Jesus the Christ,” “Discourses of Brigham Young” and the best-selling “Autobiography of Parley P. Pratt.” Hundreds of other books, including recently released books, are available to buy. An Android platform version of the app will be made available late summer 2011.
The BookShelf app is designed “to provide a tailored e-reading experience for LDS books,” McBride said. “This app allows the reader to interact with the books in a way that facilitates gospel study.”
This interaction includes being able to search your entire indexed library, not just one title at a time. Future versions of the app will include tools for lesson or talk preparation — all without leaving the app, he added.
The number of books available to buy on the app increases daily. McBride anticipates that the app will “offer an increasing number of exclusive direct-to-digital publications.”
The app builds a personal e-book library which allows for reading and marking books. It also links directly to the scriptures when referenced by the authors.
“This is a remarkable era for publishers when content can be made readily available in whatever format suits your personal tastes,” Sheri Dew, president and CEO of Deseret Book, stated in a news release about the new e-book technology. “We now have the capacity to publish books that can literally be accessed anywhere in the world in a matter of moments.”
E-books, or electronic books, are growing in popularity the world over. According to Book Industry Study Group (BISG) research, the first quarter of 2010 saw e-book sales jump to 5 percent of total book sales from the meager 1.5 percent in 2009. Wired Magazine reports that Amazon.com sells more e-books than hardcover books with a ratio of 143 e-books to every 100 hardcover books.
Nick Galieti is a writer, documentarian, freelance record producer and sound engineer with www.independentmusicstudios.com. He authored the LDS devotional book “Tree of Sacrament” and has produced a number of documentaries and albums.