A Chore Chart and Allowance Tracker–on Your Phone

Sure, there’s a chance that over-reliance on a monetized chore chart can have negative effects on children. But we parents also want to teach our kids about the importance of work, responsibility, and the basics of financial management.

There’s still not an iPhone app for making you a better parent. In fact, probably less time on apps in general makes better parents. However, a number of us moms and dads already spend time each day managing tasks, finances, and other activities on a phone… so why not a chore chart?

Enter iAllowance.

Those are my sweet kids (names blurred out–you see their names on the app).

They’ve got their own corner of the app where we track their stars (earned or docked for behavior) and money (allowance, and stars converted to money).

The app has a bunch of pre-set chores you can select to track for each kid–at a frequency of your choosing.

And you can add your own. (We added, “Make the bus on time”–everyone gets a star when that happens!)

You can set how many stars equate to a monetary amount, and then have the app make the transfer for you. We were paying our kids 10 cents a star, but we were doling out a lot of money! So we changed it to 5 cents a star.

You can also set up different accounts for each child. We have one for Church, one for Savings, and one for Spending. The Totals screen shows you all that, as well as Stars and Time (one of the few features I haven’t used in the app):

iAllowance is a really a great (and fun) app. It syncs via Dropbox or iCloud with an iPad. As a universal app, if you buy it, you can use it (and sync it) on any iOS device.

The kids love it, too. It’s been an effective motivator, and really fun for them to tap their stars at the end of the day–or tap on “Bad Behavior” and see a frowny face. 😦

Any time you tap next to a chore (which you can do in the Day view or Week view) you get an accompanying sound effect, too. And the allowance deposits happen automatically, in the amounts and to the accounts that you specify.

The app runs smoothly, and the developer is one of the most responsive (if not the most responsive) developers I’ve ever been in touch with.

I can’t say whether a incentive-based program will work for you and–if it will–whether you should run it from a mobile device. But I can say that both the overall setup of stars and allowance, as well as this particular app, have really helped perk up some listening ears around here!

Now… I’ve got to go give myself a star for posting another Apptastic Tuesday review, Blizzard 2015 notwithstanding.

Thanks to the developer of iAllowance for giving me a download for the review. Check out the app’s site here. You can find the full (paid) version here, and try the free version here.

AppTastic Tuesday: Captio

Last week on AppTastic Tuesday: Rules! This week: Captio.

The goal of Captio is a simple one: to very quickly pull up a screen into which you can type text or stick a photograph, and then email it to yourself.

It works in iPhone in both portrait and landscape mode. Here’s the New Note screen, which lets you (a) enter text, (b) select a photo from your phone, or (c) take a new photo:

You might quickly pull up Captio to jot down a reminder or bit of information you want to access later. Then you tap Send, and your text or image is sent to your email address.

You can adjust some settings–for example, have a prefix of “Captio” or “Remember” or anything else in the subject of the email that Captio sends:

And, what is best, you can send it to any email address. This is especially helpful if you have a to-do system (like Evernote or OmniFocus) that allows you to email items directly into those apps.

This is where I’ve found Captio most useful. It can take Evernote and (especially) OmniFocus a few seconds to load and sync–Captio, by contrast, gives you a text entry screen as soon as you tap it.

Captio is also available within other apps via the Share Extensions:

I’ve not personally seen a need to use the Share Extension–it works great, but if I’m saving a Web article to read later, I’ll just use the Evernote Share Extension anyway. Or the OmniFocus Share Extension to create a task from a photo. But for folks who primarily rely on email to keep reminders (not a good idea, but a widespread practice), Captio can help from just about anywhere on your phone or iPad.

Captio also stores all the notes you send, right on your device, so you can use it with or without Internet/data connections.

And, though all the shots above are from an iPhone, Captio is a universal app. So for $1.99 (at the time of this post), you can use it on both iPhone and iPad.

Thanks to the makers of Captio for giving me a download for the review. Check out the app’s site here.

AppTastic Tuesday: Rules!

Today begins what will be a mainstay of Words on the Word in 2015: AppTastic Tuesdays. First up: the iOS app Rules!

Rules! is part zone-out tapping, part memory-training app. The gameplay itself is fast-paced, fun, easy, and aesthetically pleasing. Watch this short trailer to get caught up:

The actual tapping of icons is easy–the game is quite touch-responsive and fast. And the rules are clear enough:

When you complete what rule 1 calls for, you move up to rule 2. Having completed rule 2 on the screen, you then apply rule 1 to the remaining icons. There are 100 levels of rules, though I have barely made it past 15.

When the game introduces a new rule, you get a screen like this:

But then after completing rule 13, it tells you simply, “Now follow rule 12,” “Now follow rule 11,” “Now follow rule 9,” and so on.

So it’s more than about the gameplay itself–you’ve got to memorize the rules as you go; you’ve got to know them by number.

This makes it a less-than-ideal zone-out game. Threes is by no means boring but mindless enough that you can come home to it at the end of a long day. Rules! is not so. It demands more of your mind.

You will probably find yourself, as I did, using some mnemonic device to remember 8-10 rules at once, so you can perform the appropriate actions on the screen in front of you.

There are three game modes: Beginner, Expert, Timeless (i.e., no countdown clock). The scoring rewards you for speed and accuracy:

The need to memorize a host of rules in order to do well caused me to lose interest more quickly with Rules! than I have with other iOS games.

But Rules! especially excels in two areas: (1) its accompanying music is pretty, well-written, and good for focusing, and (2) its layout and design is gorgeous. Even the fail screen looks good:

So, for $1.99 in the App Store, if you’re up for a mental challenge with good music and beautiful design, check it out and see if you can–as one player on Twitter recently did–get through all 100 levels.

Thanks to the makers of Rules! for giving me a download for the review. Check out the app’s site here.

Now in Accordance: N.T. Wright

Accordance Bible Software has recently released a bunch of N.T. Wright resources, including his newly published and massive Paul and the Faithfulness of God. There are two bundles Accordance offers (here and here), and both are on sale this week.

I’ll be posting an extended book note on Wright’s new two-volume work before too long. Consider it a 2015 New Year’s resolution.

In the meantime, I commend to you Accordance 11, which I suspect will be a nice way to access and utilize Wright’s work.

Two New IVP “Black Dictionaries” from Accordance

Last week Accordance released two new IVP “black dictionaries.” Both cover the Old Testament. There is Wisdom, Poetry & Writings and Prophets.

Here’s a screen grab from the Accordance page–they’re on sale through midnight EST tonight, and still reasonably priced after that.

Prophets (click image below for product page):

Wisdom, Poetry & Writings (click image below for product page):

These IVP dictionaries are really good. I usually use whatever volume I own when preparing sermons.

And Accordance 11 (just released this fall) is a nice way to use these dictionaries. You can try especially sophisticated searches with them in Accordance, like this one.

If you’ve used either of these dictionaries, I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments. So far, I’ve really appreciated everything else from this series.

Nisus Writer Pro: One Day Festivus Sale

Excellent Word Processing for Mac

I don’t really know much about Festivus, but in honor of it, for less than 24 hours, Nisus Writer Pro is on sale. I was pleasantly surprised by this really versatile and smooth (and high-powered) word processor when I started using it a few months ago.

Find Nisus Writer Pro here. You can also get Nisus Writer Express and a sweet Mac Mail searching program (InfoClick) on sale. I don’t think it gets priced this low, usually.

Here’s the pricing info, from the Nisus newsletter:

Nisus Writer Pro is $55 for the full version (regular price $79) and $35 for the upgrade (regular price $49). Nisus Writer Express is priced at $20, the upgrade price is just $15. InfoClick is only $10! Family Packs for both Express and Pro are also discounted. You can purchase from our store and from the Mac App Store (full versions only).

All you need to do is go to our store and buy, no coupons required. You will be happy you did as you will receive a fantastic deal on great Nisus products.

I have switched almost all of my work away from Word and Pages to Nisus Writer Pro. I highly recommend it. There are also demo/trial versions at the links above.

15% Off All Logos 6 Base Packages

Now you can get 15% off any base package in Logos 6 through Words on the Word. If you order a base package through this Logos landing page, Logos feeds a percentage back to me, which I’d use for resources supporting the work of Words on the Word. (Current project I’m excited about: Greek Psalms in a Year.)

Check it out here, or just use the promo code ABRAMKJ6 when you checkout with a base package in your Logos cart. My review of Logos 6 is here.

A Full Review of Accordance 11

Accordance 11 is now available. Here I offer a full review.

Don’t Forget: Version 10 Was Already Sweet

To fully understand all I appreciate in Accordance, I offer you this collection of links to my Accordance 10 review posts. While potential upgraders will want to know what is new in 11, those new to Accordance altogether will find a wealth of practical and impressive features. For example, a few initial standouts when I reviewed version 10 were: Analytics (#1 here), Flex Search (first feature noted here), the use of the Command key on Mac to make the Instant Details pane do even more, and Construct searches (see #2 here).

What to Love About Accordance: Improvements in Version 11

None of the features that so impressed me in Accordance 10 has disappeared. The overall layout and appearance of 11 is similar to 10. (Accordance 10 offered a significant update in appearance over version 9.)

An overview of the features in Accordance 11 is here. I’ve found 7 improvements in particular to be laud-worthy:

1. The New Info Pane

A new option is available when you have a Bible text open and click the “Add Parallel” button: Info Pane. Here’s what it looks like:

Though you can save a Workspace with dozens of commentaries tied to a Bible text, Info Pane automatically pulls up all the commentaries (and Study Bibles!) you own that treat a given verse. Clicking on the cover image takes you (in a new pane) to that commentary. What’s especially thoughtful about how this feature was programmed is that just hovering the cursor over a cover image shows the text from that commentary in the Instant Details pane.

You can also choose from a variety of Cross-Reference modules to display hyperlinked related verses in the Info Pane. The Topics section quickly links you to other verses that address the same themes your passage does.

The Apparatus portion is an especially nice feature for doing textual criticism–you can see the information multiple apparatuses contain very quickly.

Accordance 11.0.1 already added something neat: you can command-click on your Cross-References in the Info Pane to see them all at once.

So command-clicking on the Cross-References at right here:

yields this:

The Info Pane is useful in the Gospels, too, where it pulls up “Parallel Passages.”

Whereas in Accordance 10 I had to create and save new Workspaces with relevant commentaries for a given book of the Bible, now in 11 the Info Pane means I can get up and running with research on any book, right away.

And the speed with which everything operates from the Info Pane is quite incredible. Long-time Accordance users probably won’t be surprised, but it is good to see that even a more advanced and robust feature like the Info Pane operates with the same expected speed that makes Accordance what it is.

2. Custom Upgrades

New to the online store in Accordance 11 is the chance to “Custom Upgrade,” which provides users with a discounted collection rate if they already own modules contained in that collection. The Custom Upgrade option is recently also available for various Add-on Bundles. This new feature will especially be welcomed by long-time users who will essentially be rewarded now for past purchases, should they decide to upgrade in various instances.

3. Quick Entry

When I first heard about this feature, I didn’t think it would be that big of a deal–predictive text entry is already available in Google and a host of other free programs. But Quick Entry really does speed up my work with Accordance. One especially neat thing about this feature is how it works with Bible texts.

One can toggle between searching a Bible by Words or Verses. But here I get both options suggested at once, just by typing in the letter “G.” I can then select an option from the drop-down menu, which narrows if I type additional letters. This is a good refinement to the program.

4. Better Library Organization for Tools

You can have Accordance 11 automatically organize your tools into the following folders:

Of course, further customization is possible, but this makes for a great starting point, having everything so well-sorted, which it wasn’t in Accordance 10. David Lang from Accordance has explained the re-organization in detail here. (If you’re already an Accordance user considering an upgrade to 11, you’ll appreciate what David has to say.)

This easier organization also greatly enables what has recently become my most used new feature in Accordance 11….

5. Research, or, The Feature Formerly Known as Search All

Search All (Accordance 10) was fine, but Research (Accordance 11) is even better.

We’re in the season of Advent now. What does my Accordance library have to say about this important time of preparation? Think of Research as harnessing the power of a Google search, but utilizing the content of all the books Google only allows limited preview to. In a matter of seconds, or less, Accordance goes through all my Dictionaries (selected in the drop-down menu at top left in the image below) for “Advent.” The resources that have search hits are neatly listed in the left sidebar, and the main pane of the window below allows me to quickly scroll through all the places “Advent” appears. There is an option to see “More…” of a hit result, while still staying in the same Research tab. Or you can just click on “Open” to go directly to the resource:

At first I thought the new Research was just pretty cool, but it’s much more advanced than Search All, well-executed, and easy to navigate. I find myself using it much more than I used Search All in version 10.

How does it tie in to the newly organized Library? From that drop-down menu that gave me “Dictionaries,” I can hone my search in on any category of tools in the library–Grammars, Commentaries, Greek Lexicons, etc.

Here–it’s worth showing two more search results, just so you can see how cool a thing Research is:

6. User Notes Extended to Commentaries and Books

Accordance 11 offers some improvements to User Notes, not the least of which is that users can at last take notes on commentaries, books, and other non-biblical resources they own. You can do this in Kindle, iBooks, Logos, etc., so I’m glad Accordance is caught up here. This has been a long-requested user request, so will be a much-appreciated addition.

You can make a single note file that is notes on one book, or you can make a note file that includes notes on multiple books you own.

There is also now full Unicode support for Notes.

7. Speed

Okay, this is definitely not a new feature, but it’s so much a part of what makes Accordance Accordance that I am compelled to mention it. Even running Research queries returns results before you can even think to navigate away to Firefox and check your email. Once again Accordance has added new features without sacrificing their trademark speed.

Desiderata

There’s still room for improvement, though. Here are some desired features:

1. More Seamless Syncing for User-Created Tools and Notes

The iOS version of Accordance allows the syncing and editing of User Notes, but does not allow the preservation of formatting styles therein. The iOS app also does not permit editing of User Tools at all. Accordance has noted that both are forthcoming in future updates, which I’ll be happy to see. The lack of ability to edit User Tools on iOS however, has led me to begin to use Evernote in place of Accordance on iPad, since Evernote edits and syncs automatically across multiple devices.

This is not a criticism of Accordance 11 per se (i.e., the desktop app), but it does affect the overall Accordance user experience. The installation screens in Accordance 11 hint that a 2.0 iOS app is not too far off.

2. More Robust Editing Capabilities in User Notes

I’ve often wished (whether in User Notes tied to a biblical verse or for my “Books of the Bible” User Tool) to be able to drop and drag images, or even just make a bulleted list easily. There are workarounds, but not easy ones. Editing options are fairly limited:

The “Auto Link” button was an addition in a later version of Accordance 10. That’s one thing Evernote can’t do; any verse references in notes you write are automatically hyperlinked to the version of your choice.

Accordance has hinted more is on the horizon. In the meantime, I’ve become reliant on with Evernote for sermon preparation and note-taking.

3. Future Additions to Info Pane

Given that Logos has had both a Passage Guide and Exegetical Guide since at least Logos 4, Accordance’s Info Pane feels a bit overdue. Similarly, BibleWorks’s Resource Summary Window (bottom left pane here) quickly links to grammars, lexicons, and other verse-by-verse references.

At the time of this review, the Info Pane does not have a Grammars section or Lexicons section or (what would be really fun) a Diagrams section. The improvements in Library organization and the Research feature make it really easy to get to words in multiple lexicons at once, so this is not a huge critique, but a more robust Info Pane would be great. Knowing Accordance’s responsiveness to user requests, I expect the Info Pane will grow and expand over time.

Conclusion: Get It

I have a contact form at Words on the Word. (Feel free to drop me a line.) Easily the most common inquiry I receive is folks asking things like, “Which is better: Accordance or Logos or BibleWorks?” or, “How can I do x in Accordance?” This post is not a comparative review (this one is). So I won’t answer that question in those terms here.

But I will say that the speed of Accordance and its search capabilities are hard to beat. Bibleworks is just as fast and can also run complex queries, but Accordance has more biblical studies resources, and just as many (or more) original language resources, not to mention the most customizable workspace setup of any software program (Bible or otherwise) I can think of. You gathered from the above that I like Evernote–though I also find myself wishing I could set up my workflow in it as flexibly as I can in Accordance.

Thinking about diving in? Check out all the Accordance collections here.

If you’re already using Accordance and wondering about the upgrade to 11, it’s a no-brainer. Go for it. It’s quite affordable for all the features you’ll get. The upgrade costs $59.90 ($49.90 if you have Accordance 10). And don’t forget about potential discounts you may qualify for.

Accordance has quite a few sources of support, too. Check out their blog for more features and tips and tricks in Accordance 11. All their sources of support (a video podcast, user forums, online seminars, and more) are here.

Accordance 11 is one of the apps I use almost every day. Accordance 10 was already good enough to be my first stop in Bible software. Version 11 has taken several significant steps forward that make it even more enjoyable and efficient to use.

Thanks to Accordance for the review license to Accordance 11. See my other Accordance posts (there are many) gathered here.

Accordance at SBL/AAR 2014: 50% Off

If you’re at SBL/AAR 2014 this last day, Accordance Bible Software is offering the best deal I’ve ever seen from them: $250 gets you the (normally $499) Essential Collection.

The deal is only available for new users. If you’re trying to decide what you think, you can see my Accordance 10 review series here, and my initial impressions of the new Accordance 11.

Here are a few other booths you might check out, too, before the conference ends.

Accordance 11: Now Available, and First Impressions

Accordance 11 is now available.

I’ve already highlighted some of the new features, as well as posted about the new Collection upgrades.

I plan to write more soon in review of the program upgrade. For now, I point you to this excellent post from Accordance, describing the “Top 11 Features of Accordance 11.”

Okay, okay–I’ll post a couple more quick looks inside now, too. The overall layout of the program hasn’t changed as much as Accordance did when going from version 9 to 10. But there are two major new features that immediately make themselves indispensable, and better aid the user in accessing resources:

1. Info Pane

With a Bible text open, click on the familiar “Add Parallel” button and select the top “Info Pane” option. You then see this (click or open in new tab to enlarge image):

Commentaries, cross-references, thematic topics, and critical apparatuses from your library all show up instantly. And–this is especially cool–by hovering over the book cover of a commentary or apparatus, you can see the content. The Instant Details in the image above (the pane at the bottom) shows the contents of the BHS apparatus for Exodus 20:1, just by my hovering the cursor over the apparatus image in the Info Pane.

2. Research

I thought Accordance 10’s “Search All” feature was fine–it wasn’t perfect, but it still very quickly helped you comb through all your resources at once for a given search. But the Research Tab is now faster (no idea how they did that), and the search results are (a) more clearly organized and (b) easier to work through. It looks like this when I look up Bonhoeffer:

I’ll post more again soon. I’m already making regular use of the new features above in my weekly sermon preparation.

Thanks to OakTree Software, which allowed me to beta test Accordance 11 and has given me a review copy. More to come.

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Don’t Forget: Version 10 Was Already Sweet

What to Love About Accordance: Improvements in Version 11

1. The New Info Pane

2. Custom Upgrades

3. Quick Entry

4. Better Library Organization for Tools

5. Research, or, The Feature Formerly Known as Search All

6. User Notes Extended to Commentaries and Books

7. Speed

Desiderata

Conclusion: Get It

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1. Info Pane

2. Research

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