Error found in 22nd of Kislev

Oi! If you follow the daily learning, you'll notice that today's portion stops halfway through the section. Please go to another source (like chabad.org) to see the full section.

I'll try to send out an update to fix it as quick as I can... but it's not going to come around again until next year, :).

Sorry about that, everyone. I'll also try to look over the rest of the text to see if I can spot any other errors in the luach while I'm putting this update out.

v1.3 Ready for Sale

Just got the email from Apple that v1.3 is ready. I've been using it for the last week, and I'm very happy with the changes. It feels like it's running pretty stably now.

I'm still working on a bunch of new projects, so hopefully I'll have more fun new releases soon.

v1.3 Submitted to Apple

I just submitted v1.3 to Apple this morning.

The big change was that I added the ability to change font sizes. You could actually do this already (if you knew the secret way to...), but it would mess up the text. This was because the text was highly doctored to get it to display right on v2.x phones. Now that 3.0 fixes all the Hebrew quirks, I've made all of the text "normal" so that it will flow correctly.

As these changes relies on OS 3.0, it shouldn't run on phones/iPods that haven't upgraded to 3.0 yet. I'm not sure how Apple handles that (i.e., if it won't show up in the AppStore, or if you get a warning, or if it just fails).

I also changed the way it saves your place. Previously, the app would save your place whenever you were in the middle of reading something. I kept reading the daily portion to the end, and then exiting the app immediately. Then, the next day, I would open the app, and it would still be on the previous day's portion... annoying. Now, the app won't save your place if you've read all the way to the end.

I've gotten a lot of really good feedback on the app, which I appreciate. If you have any more features you'd really like to see, please email them to me, and I'll see if I can fit them in.

The v1.2 Saga

So... for those of you who are wondering why it took me so long to get v1.2 done, and why it still isn't out yet, here's the background story:

I finished the changes in the code I wanted to make a long time ago. The problem is, a while back Apple stated that all new updates had to compile and run on iPhone OS 3.0.

My computer is a PowerPC Mac. I got it as a broken hand-me-down from the research lab I worked in. I got it running again (sort of), and it's served me well until now. Unfortunately, iPhone OS 3.0 apps won't compile on a PowerPC – Apple changed the SDK to include libraries that won't compile properly on PowerPC machines.

So, I was sort of stuck. I got v1.2 submitted eventually by coming back into the lab I work in after hours and compiling and debugging it there.

But, there were still some bugs in the app, so Apple rejected it. I've had to find times when I can go back into the lab after work (or stay late) to be able to get it done (not good for shalom bayis). As it stands right now, Apple still isn't happy with how it's running.

So that brings us up to now. I just got a new (broken) Intel iMac off of eBay for $250! I've been trying to tweak it the last couple days, and it's actually running pretty well, crashing only occasionally. I think it might work well enough to use, until I can get enough money to actually fix it or buy a working computer.

So, G-d-willing, I'll have v1.2 fixed soon and get it submitted again. I have it running on my phone now, and I love it. It's much faster, and it hasn't crashed once on me yet.

v1.2 Submitted

Just submitted v1.2. It took me a long time to find time to do it, but I'm very happy with the result. This version is much more stable and faster than the previous versions.

The next version is probably going to be "native" iPhoneOS 3.0, which means I'll be able to add a bunch more features. It also means you'll need to upgrade to 3.0 (assuming that it's released).

Bugs Galore

Oi! Just read the comment on iTunes and apparently the last 4 books are all messed up. I never noticed because I've been mostly just staying in the daily portion. v1.1 is also crashing more than it should (i.e., never).

I have to help with a bris today, but maybe tonight I'll be able to fix these things and push the update out. We finish Likutei Amorim just before Shavuos, so IY"H the update will be out before then.

Next update taking a little while

Sorry for those who are waiting for the next update. I got half-way through it, and now I'm getting a little overloaded with personal stuff.

The highlights of the next update are adjustable font sizes, smaller memory footprint (should help prevent crashing), and a huge speedup in loading times.

I've got a small list of features that I want to add, but if there are any that people are waiting for, let me know and I'll move them up on my priority list.

Updates: Discussion Forum and Optimizations

Well, I made some good progress over Chol HaMoed and last Friday. I prototyped the discussion forum feature, and it's working great. I think it will be very cool.

I noticed someone commented on iTunes that the program crashes a lot. I haven't experienced any crashes personally, but I would bet that any crashes are due to memory issues. The iPhone seems to be pretty tight on memory, and my app sucks up a lot of it. I wrote in some optimizations that will reduce the memory footprint a little bit on Friday.

My plan right now is to try to get v1.2 done tomorrow, or next weekend. That will have some speed optimizations and some extra small features. I think I'll wait until 2.0 to include the discussion forum. That will give me time to implement it well, and work out all the bugs. I plan on releasing that with iPhone OS 3.0.

v1.1 Ready for Sale

Just before Pesach...

New discussion forum idea

First of all, thank you to everyone for the great feedback I'm receiving through email.

Someone recently suggested something that reminded me of a feature that I've been planning for a while, but I didn't know how strong the interest would be. They mentioned how they hoped that the app and this blog could start a community discussion about Tanya. I would love to facilitate such a thing, so here's the solution I was thinking of:

Create what is effectively an online message board for Tanya discussion. Anyone would be able to ask questions on the text and discuss with the community. I would hopefully be able to recruit Rabbis to be moderators and correct any misinformation or ill-posed answers. There would also be a way to directly link to citations in the text somehow (maybe taking you to Chabad.org or something)

That's all pretty easy, just an online message board. The twist to it is that I would make an interface to browse these questions, and ask new ones within the Tanya app itself. So you could be reading through a passage on your phone, think of a question, and then instantly post it to this message board. The message board would identify you by your phone, so you could then subsequently be notified when you get a response.

Anyway, it sounds cool to me. I hope it would be useful to people. Please comment if you have any thoughts. With Pesach coming up, I was thinking I might be able to get a Beta version running over chol hamoed.

v1.1 Posted to Apple

I pulled an all-nighter and finally finished v1.1. I polished up some bugs and added some necessary features. The most major being the remaining four volumes of Tanya, and a fully implemented perpetual calendar. Making that calendar took pretty long and taught me way more than I ever expected about how the Hebrew calendar works.

I also added a "Reverse" button which will reverse the direction of the Hebrew text for those people who are experiencing reversed text (or are using iPhone Beta 3.0).

Features on the horizon:

Adjustable font-size (and other saved preferences)

Place-saving (e.g., when you get a call)

Footnotes in text

Better date browser for daily portion

Swipe to go to next chapter

Streaming audio lectures

Personal notes

If you have any other ideas, please let me know.

Update is taking a while

Sorry to all those people who I told that an update was coming out soon. It still is; it's 99% ready right now... I'm just getting bogged down in school work. I'll try to push it out whenever I get a free moment.

Reversed Hebrew

A very weird new bug just popped up on my radar. Two people just emailed me from Israel saying that the Hebrew was reversed. I intentionally reverse the text in the app because the iPhone doesn't flow text properly from right-to-left (this is fixed in 3.0). Do phones in Israel display Hebrew correctly?

Alternatively, I think they were both jailbroken, because I don't think the iPhone is officially available in Israel. Maybe the jailbreaking (correctly) fixed Hebrew support.

Either way, I'm adding an option to reverse Hebrew into the next update.

[Update]: Just tried it on my friend's jailbroken phone, and it worked fine. Must be something specific about international phones. Maybe the unlocking procedure? Very weird...

Bugs...

Well, the first bug was spotted today – and this one was pretty embarrassing: I misspelled Tanya. I spelled it with a Hey instead of an Aleph.

I've made that mistake a lot in the past. Maybe I transcended my nature for a second there and attached to Reb Meir. In Bereishis, our Torah has written that G-d made "coats of skin (עור)", but in Reb Meir's Torah, they found "coats of light (אור)." You say it's Tanya (תניא), "it was learned." I say it's Ten-Y-a (תני-ה), "G-d, give."

G-d, give me the knowledge and presence of mind to stop making typos...

Please keep those bug reports coming! I'll send out an update as soon as I'm able.

Released!

Tanya.app just showed up in the AppStore. I added the link to the top of the page

"Ready for Sale"

Woohoo! The tanya.app is "Ready for Sale." Unfortunately it still isn't in the App Store. Maybe I need to wait a little bit longer...

Also, I just got iPhone OS 3.0 Beta installed, and it looks like Apple finally fixed Hebrew support. For those of you who haven't tinkered with 2.0, Apple included the Hebrew fonts, but did not support the right-to-left flow that Hebrew requires. To get the text to render correctly, I had to reverse the text, which was really annoying. It looks like now the iPhone fully supports Hebrew, so I can just display the text as-is. We'll see.

I'll try to get support for 3.0 together soon, along with the other 4 volumes of Tanya. I need to make sure they get released before Chitas catches up with me.

It's in Apple's hands now

[sigh] just uploaded it to the App Store. Certificates are a real pain... every time I have to set them up, it always turns into a huge hassle. But, it's done.

Now we pray that Apple approves it speedily... in our days.

Finished the Tanya app

I finally put the finishing touches on the Tanya app. It took a lot longer than I expected, but I'm very happy with it. G-d willing, it will be in the App Store soon!