Category: Abiding

Stay tuned for more about the Bible apps possibilities that I developed during my PhD research before I experienced that God’s Not Dead Movie, from the head of the scientific merit review board saying the Bible had no place in the Business school,  but in the mean time check out the new improvements.

By Stephan Hall 

If you weren’t in the Explorer Program, you might not even notice that it’s a different Glass. It has all of the computer hardware along the right side just as XE did, and a prism that sits in front of the right eye. The device, similar to the Explorer Edition, has a band that stretches around the forehead, going back around the left ear. What’s most obviously new at first glance is a robust hinge mechanism that allows the computer and battery modules to fold down like a regular pair of glasses, and a hinge for folding down the left side of the band as well.

The overall design of the computer side is more robust as well, built to withstand normal drops and bumps that could occur in less-than-ideal workplace environments. Sources have also said that the device is more water resistant, built with fewer places for water and other outside material to seep in. And, as to be expected from a device built for the workplace, Google has tweaked its visual aesthetic to better fit in a factory or a hospital than on a runway. It’s practical and industrial, with a focus on function over fashion.

Recently, we told you that there are some internal changes coming as well. According to the same sources familiar with prototypes of the device nearing final, the Enterprise Edition includes a larger prism display for a better viewing experience, an Intel Atom processor that brings better performance, moderately improved battery life, and better heat management. These are all important upgrades over the Explorer Edition, which suffered from incredibly short battery life, heat problems, and lackluster performance.

From what people familiar with the company’s most recent plans have told 9to5Google, the Mountain View company is currently planning to distribute the device exclusively through its certified set of Glass for Work partners. This would mean no retail availability or marketing at all and in turn no announced retail pricing — which is a stark contrast to the Explorer Edition. Astro Teller said in an interview at SXSW earlier this year that their misleading marketing pitting the XE as a consumer product was one of their big mistakes.

A few weeks ago, a device named “A4R-GG1″ was seen passing through the FCC. That device showed evidence of support for 802.11a/b/g/n/ac WiFi on both 2.4GHz and 5 GHz bands, a feature we’ve confirmed ourselves is also included in revisions of Google Glass Enterprise Edition that are nearing final production. Considering the device is being built with the Glass for Work groups in mind, 5 GHz support was almost certainly added to benefit the Glass video streaming applications so widely used in the workplace.

(Image via Google)

Update: A previous version of this article claimed that the device would have “fewer buttons and ports,” but the wording has been updated to reflect that it in truth will have fewer openings and tighter buttons to close off areas where liquid could otherwise seep into the device.

A new Bible app, ToYouBible, is revolutionizing the way Bible readers experience the Bible. ToYouBible instantly populates thousands of applicable Bible passages with the user’s name and also customizes them to read according to the user’s gender. A version of the app also allows the user to input their spouse’s name, if married, and then instantly customizes all relevant biblical passages on marriage with both spouses’ names. For instance, John 3:16 for a woman named Susan would read this way:

“For God so loved Susan, that he gave his one and only Son, that Susan believing in him should not perish, but have eternal life.”

The popularity of Bible reading using mobile device applications has been demonstrated by the success of the YouVersion Bible app which currently has over 100 million users worldwide. This trend piggybacks on the increasing popularity of smartphones and the busy and active lifestyles of many users who are people of faith.

The ToYouBible app also caters to the popularity of personalized merchandise and gifts. The creators of the ToYouBible App, believe that use of mobile devices and as well as the added value of personalization could help make Bible reading more meaningful and relevant to readers.

One of the creators, Gregory Ijiwola, Ph.D., an evangelical pastor and a Moody Theological Seminary alumnus, said his desire is to foster a more intimate experience in reading God’s word.

“We believe the Bible is God’s letter to humanity on his love and plans for us and it contains the answer to all of life’s questions. However, when people read it, the words and promises of the Bible oftentimes seem distant and meant for people who lived thousands of years ago.”

Ijiwola asserts that people of faith are taught to memorize and meditate on scriptures by speaking them. He believes the ToYouBible app can encourage this practice. “While using sound hermeneutical principles and staying true to the original text, we want to use this app to liven up Bible reading by making it read like a letter to the individual with their names directly in it,” he said.

The ToYouBible App, tagged ‘The Bible That Reads in Your Name’ is currently available in the iOS and android version on the Apple Appstore and Google Play store respectively. According to the creators, it already has “hundreds of steadily increasing downloads” a day after its launch.

The creators can be reached by emailing toyoubibleapp@gmail.com or by calling 224-717-1504.

To view on Facebook go to: https://www.facebook.com/ToYouBible

By Elizabeth Dias

Silicon Valley, meet the Sermon on the Mount.

A new app lets people share inspirational images online, but instead of trending hashtags they can peg them to their favorite Bible verses.

Launched on March 5, the Parallel Bible is different from traditional Bible apps such as the popular YouVersion, which focus on the individual’s experience with the Word.

Instead, users sign into a virtual fellowship, uploading their own photos and videos and tagging them with related verses, searching Scripture to see other users’ photos and sharing stories in small groups or on their own news feeds.

“What we want for the Bible is to turn it back into a big table where everyone feels like they can be welcome,” co-founder Andrew Breitenberg says. “If you are a human being, you qualify—you don’t have to be a Christian to read the Bible.”

Breitenberg founded Parallel with his brother Chris. The brothers who grew up in Princeton, N.J., and who now live in Virginia Beach and Washington, D.C. Andrew, 36, is a graduate of Swarthmore and spent the last six years doing street art and graffiti in Cape Town. Chris, 33, is a graduate of Davidson and has worked at a peace-building nonprofit and spent time traveling Asia.

Both have explored evangelical and Eastern Christian traditions, and their spiritual influences include French mystic and activist Simone Weil, American Catholic mystic Thomas Merton, and the British theologian C.S. Lewis, beloved by evangelicals worldwide. For the past six months, Richard Rohr, a Franciscan friar and founder of the Center for Action and Contemplation in Albuquerque, has been their mentor.

Their core idea is the theological principle that the Bible is inherently more than a book, it is a shared experience. Biblical texts began as oral traditions, and only became bound in one cohesive, written form after hundreds of years. The modern idea that the Bible is a just book with a beginning, middle and end, misses the diverse cultural contexts that it contains, as well as the way that people have interacted with those stories over the centuries and the participation that is possible in the Bible’s stories today.

“Ultimately faith is not individual but communal with God and the people around you,” says Chris. “We are just shortening that leap.”

Parallel Bible is currently free. The Breitenberg brothers do not believe in putting ads or commercials in the middle of the Bible, and their goal is to create the new community first and monetize later. That strategy, they say, has so far not deterred investors. Their team is small—right now they have just one developer—and their startup budget for the past two years was about $100,000. It is currently only available for iTunes (an Android version is in the works) and they have had about 1,000 downloads. But, as Andrew says, this is just the beginning. “You can’t build something that looks like Instagram overnight.”

Beyond the development process however, the app signals a new evangelism, the communal sharing of stories rather than overt proselytization. And the founders are thinking big. “It literally could be the next Bible that the world uses,” says Andrew.