http://www.surratech.com These are the thoughts, experiences, and future plans of Christian software developer Michael Surran, author of "Word Cross" and meBible. Christianity Technology Software Bible Blog Copyright 2012, Michael Surran msurran@surratech.com (Michael Surran) 720 en http://www.surratech.com/blogs/20121103.html http://www.surratech.com/blogs/20121103.html Sat, 03 November 2012 15:00:00 EST Bible Software meBible comparison Logos YouVersion iPad apps Logos Bible Software has released their latest version of their Logos Bible for iPad. What does this mean for meBible? What does this mean for meBible users? We answer these questions and more in this blog post. http://www.surratech.com/blogs/20121024.html http://www.surratech.com/blogs/20121024.html Wed, 24 October 2012 18:30:00 EST Bible Software meBible freemium free digital content apps This article looks at the challenges of generating revenue in today's digital market, and why we decided that it's time to give away meBible for free. http://www.surratech.com/blogs/20120509.html http://www.surratech.com/blogs/20120509.html Wed, 09 May 2012 11:30:00 EST Bible Software meBible Copyright Intellectual Property Scripture Christianity Translations This article looks at the challenges of including modern, copyrighted Bible translations in modern Bible software applications, especially for independent software developers. I also discuss how these challenges may affect the future of meBible. http://www.surratech.com/blogs/20120417.html http://www.surratech.com/blogs/20120417.html Tue, 17 Apr 2012 08:20:00 EST Computer Science Software Programming Engineering I take a lot of pride in the software I write, so I am embarrassed and humbled any time a user of my software finds a bug. Unfortunately it is extremely difficult to write complex software that doesn't have one or more bugs lying in wait for the right conditions to trigger it. Some argue that in many cases, writing bug-free software is impossible. Whether it's impossible or just hard to write perfect software, I want to share with you why software bugs exist at all. http://www.surratech.com/blogs/20120317.html http://www.surratech.com/blogs/20120317.html Sat, 17 Mar 2012 05:45:00 EST iPad Speech Recognition Data Entry Software Bible The new iPad has a feature called "dictation" that takes what you say aloud and converts those spoken words into actual text. I've done some experiments with it, and it's amazing! It does much better than speech recognition technologies that I've played with in the past, and it makes it easy and quick to enter information into the iPad. It is especially well suited for transcribing text that you read to it from a written source, since our voices tend to be more "even" when reading something aloud. http://www.surratech.com/blogs/20120315.html http://www.surratech.com/blogs/20120315.html Thu, 15 Mar 2012 14:10:00 EST iPad Vendor Lock-In Open Standards Software Bible There is a tactic in the business world called "vendor lock-in" which many software companies use to make sure that once you start using a particular product, you're "stuck" using it, even if a better program from another company comes along. When companies do this, your data (word processing documents, checking account data, etc.) can only be accessed using the program that created it.... I am a firm believer that it's YOUR DATA. You should be able to do what you please with it, and it shouldn't be locked to a particular program or machine. I've written one app in particular that lets you create your own data: meBible. At the time of my writing this article (version 1.1), meBible's notebook is actually "locked in" to the meBible app. You're probably now thinking, "I thought you were against vendor lock-in. I thought you believe that it's MY DATA!" Allow me to explain how meBible stores its data and what I'm planning to do to make it easy for you to access that data: http://www.surratech.com/blogs/20120308.html http://www.surratech.com/blogs/20120308.html Thu, 08 Mar 2012 08:10:00 EST iPad Apple Review Retina Software Bible What is a Retina display? Technically it's just a marketing term invented by Apple, but in theory it means that the pixels that make up the screen are so small that enough can be packed into every square inch of the display to make it impossible to discern an individual pixel at a normal viewing distance. Okay, here's the translation - this means the display is sharp and crisp, VERY sharp and crisp, as in "don't touch the picture of the lobster because it might grab you with its claw" sharp and crisp! Is anybody in the audience old enough to remember dot matrix printers? The text from these printers was readable and all, but try to remember when you saw your first printout from a laser printer. The Retina display is the "laser printer" of computer screens :-) Don't take my word for it, go** to a local Apple Store or Best Buy and handle one yourself! http://www.surratech.com/blogs/20120306.html http://www.surratech.com/blogs/20120306.html Tue, 6 Mar 2012 10:00:00 EST Introvert Church Introversion Social I wasn't going to write a blog today, but I've got a "fire shut up in my bones" (borrowing from Jeremiah) that I feel like I've got to let out, so here it goes! There are extroverts and there are introverts. Well actually, in my humble opinion, humans are much more complicated than that, but society has drawn this nice little line in the sand and insists that people stand on one side or the other. American society seems to favor the extrovert "team", so I'm here today to speak for the underdog team - the introverts! http://www.surratech.com/blogs/20120305.html http://www.surratech.com/blogs/20120305.html Mon, 5 Mar 2012 09:30:00 EST Great Commission Christianity Discipleship I've been a Christian for a long time, and I've observed something interesting: the word "disciple" isn't used very much in the modern Church. I've seen the word "discipleship" used quite a bit, usually in terms of a specific class offered by the church or even a ministry category, but the question remains, what is a disciple? In my opinion, it's a very important word that is often misunderstood both by new and mature Christians. http://www.surratech.com/blogs/20120303.html http://www.surratech.com/blogs/20120303.html Sat, 3 Mar 2012 01:00:00 EST Bible Christianity Church The Bible is not a buffet. It's more like a home-cooked meal at Grandma's house. At a buffet, we stuff ourselves with the food we love and pass by the food we don't enjoy. If you're like me, you don't feel so great in the belly after visiting a buffet! If you frequent a buffet often, your whole body will suffer the consequences. Grandma, for the sake of this argument, cooks a wonderful meal and makes her famous apple pie. But don't you dare touch that pie until you eat your vegetables! Grandma will expect you to clean your plate and eat everything she sets before you, including the greens. http://www.surratech.com/blogs/20120302.html http://www.surratech.com/blogs/20120302.html Fri, 2 Mar 2012 06:31:00 EST Labor Bible Christianity Software Ministry Work Talk about the topic of money and faith if you want to get people stirred up. I've seen many extremes, so I understand why this is so! I've seen the BMW-driving, Rolex-wearing televangelist convince people who can't even pay their rent to send all they have to him. On the other hand, I've seen the rich exploit the poor Christian who is expected to work for a slave's wage because he / she is in "ministry". I've seen the mass-marketing of Christianity that always reminds me of the money changers in the Temple (Matthew 21:12). And now here I am, writing Christian apps, hoping to strike that perfect balance between the extremes. http://www.surratech.com/blogs/20120301.html http://www.surratech.com/blogs/20120301.html Thu, 1 Mar 2012 07:46:00 EST Apple Software Safari WebKit Twice this morning Safari crashed. I was just reading the news on my iPad, and Apple's web browser, called "Safari", just disappeared, kicking me back to the home screen. This has happened to me on a number of occasions since upgrading my first generation iPad to iOS 5. Thankfully it is quick and easy to reopen Safari and pick up where I left off, but it is still very annoying nonetheless. What makes it more annoying is that Safari is an Apple program running on Apple hardware. I expect better from Apple. http://www.surratech.com/blogs/20120229.html http://www.surratech.com/blogs/20120229.html Wed, 29 Feb 2012 06:39:00 EST Bible Software Christianity When I first conceived the idea of what would eventually become meBible, the iPad was still relatively new and there weren't THAT many Bible apps for the iPad, but Bible apps did exist. These included the venerable (and free) YouVersion app for the iPad, as well as Bibles from big name publishers like Logos and Olive Tree. So you may be wondering, "What were you thinking, Michael? Why write another Bible app?" I must admit, I have sometimes wondered that myself! But truth be told, if I never sell another copy of meBible, I'll still be glad I wrote it. Here's why: http://www.surratech.com/blogs/20120228.html http://www.surratech.com/blogs/20120228.html Tue, 28 Feb 2012 07:18:00 EST Bible Software Christian Education Hi! My name is Michael Surran, and I'm the founder of SURRAtech. That sounds all big and important, but right now I'm just an independent Apple software developer. Well, I say "just", but I love it! Since this is my first official blog post here on SURRAtech, let me tell you more about what I do and why.