Navel Labs Blog

ReadMore v1.9 is Out!

2012-01-18T14:56:00-05:00

Readmore 1.9 has just been released to the App Store. If you don’t see the upgrade available yet, it should show up within the next 24 hours.

I added Spanish localization and extra book metadata like publisher and ISBN. But the biggest feature is integration with Readmill!

Now you can share your reading progress in real time with your friends. Readmill is a brand new service that lets you connect with other readers who share your passion for books. These guys have ambitious plans to provide an API for full blown ebook readers can hook into. Lucky for us, I can hook into that too.

ReadMore interfaces with it by publishing your progress through a book as you finish timing each reading session. All you have to do is sign in through the Options tab, and then turn on Readmill sharing in the book editor for each book you want to publish. A book record will be created for you automatically if one doesn’t exist yet over at Readmill.

The good news is that by building this integration, I also have a good framework in place to support other sharing services. Many of you have asked for this specifically and I’ll have more updates on that in the future.

I’m really impressed with the simplicity of the Readmill site and the passion these guys have for reading. They reached out to me to build this and have been quite supportive while helping me work out the integration details. I’m glad to have them as the first sharing service for ReadMore!

ReadMore v1.8

2011-10-11T14:00:00-04:00

ReadMore v1.8 is approved and should be showing up in the app store any time over the next 24 hours. As mentioned before, this release requires iOS 4. Here’s what you get:

All new custom color picker! Tap the ”…” button when editing a book style. Choose any book color your want. Recent color choices are remembered for next time.
Book information lookup! You can now create new book records by searching for ISBN, title or author to prefill the information. Thanks for your patience waiting for this. I’m pretty sure that using Google Books API for this is a good decision in the long run.
Barcode scanning! Does your book have an ISBN barcode on the back? Tap the small barcode icon to the right of the book lookup search box and point the camera at the ISBN barcode. If Google Books has it in their records, it will show up to choose! Note, you may need a very steady hand and good lighting when scanning with an older iPhone or iPod touch because of the older camera and processor.

Progress to take advantage of the iOS 5 goodies is still underway. I have my sights set on better reporting and feedback, iCloud and iPad!

For Those Wanting ReadMore on Android

2011-09-20T14:00:00-04:00

No, I haven’t decided to port ReadMore to Android. I’m still focusing on iOS devices. Building on Apple’s platforms is quite enjoyable and keeps me busy enough at this point!

But, I’ve heard from some of you who want ReadMore on their Android phone or tablet. Well, it’s not exactly the same thing, but the guys at ReadMill have built their own tracking app similar to ReadMore called ReadTracker.

They were kind enough to contact me to say they were inspired by ReadMore’s concept. Since I currently had no interest in doing Android development, I was excited to hear they were building this. I don’t own any Android phones and haven’t been able to test it out myself, but it looks nice and they have plans to keep improving it as they integrate it with their ReadMill service. (Which I plan to support in ReadMore as well!)

If you’re one of those looking for a reading diary app for Android, check ReadTracker out and let me know what you think.

And just to let you know, the next release with color picker and Google Books API lookup are in beta testing right now!

Cloudy With a Chance of ReadMore

2011-06-14T12:00:00-04:00

If this post is too technical, forgive me. I just got back from WWDC, Apple’s annual developer conference, and want to discuss the future of ReadMore. To do that, I’ll have get down into some details.

If you haven’t heard, Apple is rolling out iCloud, an ambitious project to provide a simple and seamless way to share data between all your iOS devices. Of course, I went there hoping to find out how to take advantage of this for my client projects and for ReadMore. What Apple revealed is much better than I expected.

Ever since I built ReadMore, I wanted to make it universal and run natively on the iPad. But, to make that happen I’ve needed ways to sync the reading history between devices. The vast majority of people who’ve contacted me about a universal version specifically request this syncing.

It’s possible to build sync tools on your own. If you’ve used Things, OmniFocus or 1Password, you’ve already benefitted from their syncing mechanisms. In some cases, the devices have to be on the same local WiFi network. In others, the app developer built a central syncing server and pays to support sync over the internet wherever your devices are. In some cases, they work out a mechanism using a Dropbox account if you have one.

I bring all this up to point out that syncing is hard, both for development and for support. Navel Labs is a one-man show and building a sync server or conflict resolution mechanism is a lot more work than I’ve been able to focus on. As I looked forward to WWDC, I’ve secretly hoped Apple would solve this problem for me, the developer, and the rest of us, the customers.

They did.

Without divulging too much (and thus violating my NDA), let me just say that Apple exceeded all my expectations. They’re building an elegant solution that I can tap in to. Since I’ve been using Apple’s data storage technologies all along, I’ll be able to plug in to what they are doing with modest adjustments, and it will “just work”. If you run ReadMore on your iPhone and (eventually) your iPad with the same Apple ID, your reading history will be shared between them on the fly. Apple solved the hard parts and handles all the maintenance and uptime for the service.

But, in order to use this, it looks like I will have to abandon support for iOS 4. Like many other developers I don’t have the resources to continue to do testing for new features on both iOS 4 and 5 devices. I have a list of features I want to get built before I make this transition (history stats, better color picking, and a few more), so users who stay on iOS 4 will have some goodies coming there way. But when it’s time to release the iPad version I plan to only support iOS 5.

As usual, the app will continue to run as-is on older iOS versions. And when you are ready to upgrade to iOS 5, ReadMore will update right along with you.

I plan to have this universal iPad and iCloud syncing support some time this fall. It won’t be at the same time iOS 5 comes out since I’ll have some more testing and development to do, but this is the plan at this point. Thanks so much for your support and patience. I’ve been so encouraged to hear how you all use this app. Keep reading!

ReadMore v1.6 - Backup/Restore

2011-05-10T14:00:00-04:00

I just submitted ReadMore v1.6 for review this morning. This release has a couple of minor bug fixes, a page calculation bug fix, and the new Backup/Restore feature!

To help keep your data safe, you will be able to create backups of your database on the device and then transfer them out by either emailing them to yourself, or using the iTunes file transfer method. You can use iTunes file transfer to copy a backup file on to your device and then restore it in the app. This is also the official way to move your reading history from one iOS device to another.

And this release is the last one that will support iOS 3.x. Time is marching forward and it is much simpler to only support iOS 4.x and beyond. That will make it easier for me to continue the iPad universal version and keep working on the best way to synchronize data between devices.

"read more" Trademark

2011-04-01T10:00:00-04:00

In a press conference on April 1, 2011 the mobile software firm Navel Labs, confirmed that the company successfully trademarked the phrase, “read more”. The company now seeks licensing fees from any website or publication using those words to encourage customers to continue reading.

“It just makes sense”, says Jonathan Penn, President and CEO of Navel Labs. ”I’m concerned that our product’s identity is diluted whenever someone sees the phrase in these contexts. We need to protect our brand.”

The company’s flagship app, ReadMore, has excited readers all over the world by predicting how long it might take to finish reading difficult books. Students, professionals, and casual readers reportedly love using it to help them progress through material they’ve always wanted to read but needed external motivation. Enthusiasm has erupted all over the world as ReadMore user groups share their experiences with each other.

”I’ve been reading through ‘Master Social Media in 30 Days’ and wondering if I would actually finish it in 30 days at my pace.”, said Julius Argmenta of Napa Valley, California. “I now know that I’ll read it in 25 days. That makes me even more of a master of this material, you know?”

Reactions to the trademark have been mixed. Molly from Ohio points out, “It’s a cutthroat world out there. Navel Labs beat everyone to the punch with that trademark. You snooze, you lose.” Darren from Oregon shares a similar sentiment: “Everyone should have known this would happen. You can only blame yourself if you were surprised by this. Look, I’ve read through the works of Shakespeare in 123 days!”

Todd Thorneapple, spokesman for the Society of More Better English disagrees. “We can’t let such a common phrase fall into the hands of intellectual property mongers. What’s next? Is someone going to trademark the phrase ‘press any key to continue’?”

Navel Labs is undergoing it’s third round of fund raising and is currently valued at $3.14 billion.

ReadMore Makeover, Engine Tuneup, Speaks German!

2011-02-16T10:30:00-05:00

ReadMore v1.5 is now in review in the App Store! This update has a lot more under-the-hood improvements, the first language translation, and a major design overhaul on the book summary page.

First, I’m pleased with the direction the engine under the hood is going. In order to tackle things like the iPad version I’ve had to do some rearranging of code that no-one sees.

Second, ReadMore is now in German! My thanks to http://www.literaturcafe.de for the excellent work.

Third, the book summary page has been drastically redesigned. You can check it out in the screenshots on http://readmoreapp.com. In order to support languages other than English, I had to abandon my nice “wordy” description of the statistics. I’m sure some will be disappointed with this, but it was necessary. Translating user interfaces is very difficult and the smaller the chunks of text, the better. I also think it’s much cleaner now and will be more flexible when I can finally tackle the iPad version properly.

In addition to the redesign, I did some experiments with my beta testers to make the stats more useful. The layout and grouping is clearer. I’ve tweaked the predicting algorithm a bit more so that it only takes into account your last two weeks of reading to predict an end date. If you haven’t read the book in a while, there’s no use trying to pretend that you’ll finish in 4,325 days reading 0.3 pages per day. :)

I hope you enjoy the new version. Implementing features is a delecate balancing act. There’s a lot more planned in the near future. Backup and restore, picking a date you hope to finish by, more colors, iPad…don’t worry, I haven’t forgotten!

Release Notes

Revamped the book summary screen based on user feedback. Better focuses on your reading session pace and clearer predictions.
Added the new “Options” tab where some future goodies will live.
Made the progress “pie chart” on the reading stack a tad larger for better contrast.
German!

Bug Fixes

All dates and times should be localized according to your device settings. Let me know if otherwise.
Fixed tapping on the status bar to scroll to top in the book summary view
Fixed bug where the keyboard toolbar would stay visible if you transitioned away from the Book or Reading Session editor while the keyboard was visible.
Fixed bug where deleting the next to last book in the reading stack with a large number of pages would not cue the stack to redraw with new heights.

ReadMore advances again!

2010-12-02T09:30:00-05:00

This morning, I submitted v1.4 of ReadMore to the App Store. The last release was back in August. I’m sure many of you have been wondering what’s been up and what’s coming next…so, here’s the scoop.

As I’ve mentioned before, Navel Labs has been a side project for me. Every once in a while, I’ll partner with phenomenal people to help pull features off, but the final call falls on me. A few months ago I left traditional full time employment (at a marvelous Cleveland startup) and went back into contracting. I made the transition so that I could give these apps some better attention and get more involved in the mobile app scene. The dust has finally settled and I’m back to focusing on ReadMore’s next steps!

First, I want to make clear that future versions of ReadMore will require iOS 4.0 and greater. As I’ve kept in contact with customers here and there, I’m not aware of anyone still on iOS 3.x so I hope this won’t be too much of a problem. To move forward with the new features and match development costs with the value to you, I need to depend on the later OS versions. If you have an older version of iOS, you will still be able to use the app as is, but iTunes won’t download future updates for you.

So, here’s what’s in the new version that’s waiting in the store right now:

Lots of under the hood improvements, stabilizations, and user interface cleanups (like using commas for numbers in the thousands) 
You can now give books a start page! Mark off portions of books or anthologies as their own records. 
Page numbers can now be negative. This was a surprisingly popular request. It’s most commonly used on long introductions and prefaces but can be used any way you need it to. 
Wood grain toolbar is BACK by unexpectedly popular demand. Thanks to Benedikt Imminger (tinylab.deviantart.com) for the help with the hi-res and (future) iPad versions.
I’m exploring better and more useful ways of prediction. Now the app uses only the last two weeks of reading momentum to calculate. If you haven’t read anything in the last two weeks, it doesn’t even try since it’s pretty indeterminate at that point.

If you find some weird prediction behavior, let me know.

I’ll be writing about future features soon. Thanks for your patience!

The Apps Are Back

2010-10-12T22:03:00-04:00

For over a week a system glitch at Apple meant that Navel Labs’ apps were not available. Most people could see the apps in the store but when clicking “Buy Now”, iTunes told them that the apps were no longer available.

Well, they’re back! It’s scary to have your stuff vanish like that and it’s one of the many drawbacks of having an all-in-one ecosystem like Apple provides, but I’m still glad to be a part of it. And I’ve been surprised how passionate the new customers are.

Thanks everyone for your patience! And if you’ve been waiting, go get the Pomodoro Timer and ReadMore!

The Data Driven Life

2010-07-18T23:47:00-04:00

Millions of us track ourselves all the time. We step on a scale and record our weight. We balance a checkbook. We count calories. But when the familiar pen-and-paper methods of self-analysis are enhanced by sensors that monitor our behavior automatically, the process of self-tracking becomes both more alluring and more meaningful. Automated sensors do more than give us facts; they also remind us that our ordinary behavior contains obscure quantitative signals that can be used to inform our behavior, once we learn to read them.

That quote comes from an article in the New York Times called the Data Driven Life. It almost sounds frightening. Almost inhuman. Where does it stop? Do we hope to eventually have some sort of ultimate tune up where every waking (or sleeping) moment is governed by a set of strict parameters and success conditions?

I wrote ReadMore because I wanted to better understand what takes me so long to read certain books. I had a lot of hunches. I tried keeping records in notebooks or spreadsheets. Eventually, I realized I have a smart device in my pocket almost all the time. Why can’t it do the work for me?

Tracking one’s behavioral data isn’t new. Athletes have been doing this long before computers. And mentorships or apprenticeships are the apex of feedback oriented learning. Having your behavior reflected back to you can be invaluable for maturity and mastery.

Tracking these details can work well because you confront yourself with what really happened. Procrastination and disillusionment thrive on vague thoughts. The more specific you tune your expectations, and therefore the more irrelevance you cut out, the better your focus and even your enjoyment of what you’re trying to master.

So, back to ReadMore. How long does it take me to read books? Turns out, it’s not very long at all. Looking at a 500 page book feels daunting. Until I realize that the last one of similar dimensions only took me 5 hours of total reading to complete. And I only have 7 reading sessions left if I want to finish. That doesn’t sound bad at all. The act to complete the book doesn’t distract from the content anymore.

Now, regarding a future where we could be slaves to our own nit-picky personal data mining: I think it’s unwise to take it too far. We don’t want to get distracted from living by all these details. But between the chaos of my young creative mind, and the hypertracking über-nerds described in this article, there is much to be learned from logging and tracking some behaviors. Who knows. I might have another app to write soon. :)