Makers of popular language study applications Rikai Browser and Chinese Flash release Rikai Chinese, an iOS web browser that helps learners read Chinese text.

Tokyo, Japan – Browsing websites in Chinese just became easies for Apple iPad & iPhone owners. Rikai Browser Chinese, a web browser with a built-in Chinese-to-English dictionary accessible at a touch, is now available on the App Store.

Long Weekend LLC, developers of the study tool Chinese Flash, created Rikai Browser Chinese , following on the success of Rikai Browser, a similar product for Japanese. “As language learners we use Rikai Browser every day, we knew that Chinese studiers would really benefit from a similar product, so we made Rikai Chinese.”

The application is a fully-functional web browser, complete with history, bookmarks, and navigation buttons. It also keeps a word history of searched words for later reference. A “copy-paste” feature allows text from other apps to be easily looked up as well.

Rikai Chinese also tightly integrates with Chinese Flash, a Chinese flashcard program. “We really wanted to create a learning environment, one where you can lookup words you paste in the program or find on the web, jump to our flash card app to add the words to your study sets and back to reading right away.” added Sharrott.

The app is available on the Apple app store for $3.99 or CN¥30.00.

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Links & Resources

App Store http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/id511598450
Website http://longweekendmobile.com/get-our-apps/rikai-browser-for-chinese/

About Long Weekend LLC

Originally founded during a five-day holiday in Tokyo, Long Weekend is a location independent developer of mobile software. Long Weekend is dedicated to creating unique & memorable software experiences for mobile devices.

Having gone from iOS beginners through to experts in a matter of a few short years, we still remember the pain of moving from being awesome on other platforms (including Ruby, HTML, JavaScript, Java, C#) to being newbies again!

Our course slides are suited to existing programmers from a variety of backgrounds (including desktop, web server, web browser and Flash coders). We are now proud to share this with you under a Creative Commons Share and Share Alike License.

Day One Contents

• Developer Tools – Guided tour of core development tools including Xcode and Interface Builder; building your first app (Hello World); break pointing and debugging in GCC.
• Objective C Fundamentals – NSObject, Properties, Memory Management
• Introduction to Cocoa Touch Framework – Protocols, Delegates & Datasources, Interface Builder Outlets & Actions, Application Object, Collections
• Making Interfaces with UIKit – MVC, Views & View Controllers, Table Views, Navigation Controllers, Tab Bar Controllers

This is the first of three parts, please contact us with any errors or omissions.

Day Two Contents

• Introduction to Cocoa Touch Framework II – Protocols, Delegates & Datasources, File System
• Data Storage with Core Data – Core Data Concepts, Creating a Managed Model, Retrieving Data, CRUD
• Networking Basics – Accessing the network, use of delegates to avoid locking the UI
• UI & UX Concerns – displaying progress for long running tasks; modal views; iOS app life cycle
• Interactivity and Reactivity – UIView properties & hierarchy; UIView animations; responder chain

Day Three Contents

• Data Storage with Core Data – Core Data Concepts, Creating a Managed Model, CRUD
• Networking Basics – Accessing the network, use of delegates to avoid locking the UI
• UI & UX Concerns – displaying progress for long running tasks; user confirmations in modal views; post notifications; iOS app life cycle
• Interactivity and Reactivity – UIView properties & hierarchy; UIView animations; responder chain

Extension Content

Improved jFlash Integration

If you have already been using the “Study in jFlash” feature in Rikai Browser, you’ll love this update. Now when jumping to Japanese Flash, a “Return to Rikai” button will appear at the top of the search box. We think you’ll love the improved flow. Make sure you have the latest version of Japanese Flash and Rikai Browser to use this feature!

Safari Integration

Ever had safari open from a link in an email or another app? Has that page been in Japanese and you wanted to view it in Rikai Browser? Previously, you had to copy and paste the address, but now you can jump to the current safari page in Rikai Browser at a single tap! This feature requires a little setup, but it’s well worth the effort: learn how here.

We hope you love the new features as much as we loved making them. Also, if you or a friend is studying Chinese, Rikai Browser for Chinese is coming soon, and Chinese Flash is already available!

We also got a great review from the blogging mother at geekmom.com. Some of our favorite quotes:

A sweet story, a darling app, and a good cause. This is a keeper.

The story is adorable and simple – Juliette receives a red balloon as a present from her father, and proceeds to have all kinds of wonderful adventures with it.

Read the whole review here. And a screen shot:

Unlike most apps, 90% of proceeds go to charity, in this case to the Tyler Foundation, helping them support families of children with cancer in Japan.

Some backstory here, one of the Tyler Foundation’s supporters approached us about creating a storybook featuring his daughter Juliette. Taking inspiration from the real Juliette’s favorite bedtime books, this original story was crafted with a very similar Juliette as the main character (we even copied her shoes!)

So far all the feedback has been extremely favourable.

Kristen Rutherford had this to say about it on GeekMom.com

The story is adorable and simple – Juliette receives a red balloon as a present from her father, and proceeds to have all kinds of wonderful adventures with it.

Each page is brightly colored and sweet, Juliette is spunky, and there are little interactive things to do as the story rolls along.

A sweet story, a darling app, and a good cause. This is a keeper.

You can see a video introducing the app on this page.

Please help us support the Tyler Foundation and buy this app!

Bailey the Therapy Dog – One of Tyler Foundation’s many
projects to support kids with cancer

The book is an enchanting bedtime story following Juliette as she goes to unlikely places thanks to her shiny red balloon and colorful imagination.

The foundation was started in Tokyo by Mark Ferris and Kim Forsythe-Ferris, whose son Tyler was diagnosed with leukemia before he was 1 month old. The organization’s mission is to improve quality of life during cancer treatment, and ensure a smooth and successful transition to normal life afterwards.

As Ferris explains, “in an immediate sense, we are focused on supporting children with cancer, however our greater mission is to provide children-in-need with psychological support … it’s about improving quality of life.”

The Foundation utilized its expertise after the Earthquake and Tsunami disaster in north-eastern Japan in March, undertaking numerous activities to help children in these areas recover psychologically.

A number of high profile supporters, including Maxi Priest, Julian Lennon and Academy Award winning lyricist Tim Rice, collaborated on an original collection of music to raise funds for the Foundation’s work.

Ferris continues, “In July we were approached by our long time supporter and friend Nick Johnston, a successful entrepreneur and philanthropist.”

“Nick’s idea was to make an iPad bedtime storybook people around the world could download, enjoy with their kids, and support a worthy cause.”

With Johnston providing initial funding, he approached expert children’s app maker Long Weekend LLC to create an original and memorable story.

Long Weekend co-founder Paul Chapman recounts “Nick wanted to do good … naturally we wanted to help. He suggested we base the character on his daughter,” Chapman continues “but we went one better and put her in the book!” Juliette is the name of Johnston’s daughter and the book features her likeness.

An original story written by Chapman and his wife Yoko, it features artwork by digital artist Andrew Onorato of the creative studio Conduct.

According to Ferris, ninety percent of all sales proceeds will go directly to the Tyler Foundation, helping fund their charitable activities including counselling and support, Shine On House, the Therapy Dog, and Smile Ambassador Programs.

Juliette and the Shiny Red Balloon is available to download for iPad on the Apple App Store.

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Media Contacts

Joy Fajardo (Tyler Foundation)
joy@tylershineon.org
+81-3-4580-2770

Paul Chapman (Long Weekend LLC Australia)
paul@longweekendmobile.com
+61-435-490-300

Ross Sharrott (Long Weekend LLC USA)
ross@longweekendmobile.com
+1-609-388-1593

Links

Website:
http://longweekendmobile.com/get-our-apps/juliette
App Store:
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/animal-phone/id479234314?mt=8
Press Kit:
http://longweekendmobile.com/press-kits/juliette
Screenshots:

http://longweekendmobile.com/

Youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=

About Tyler Foundation

The Tyler Foundation is dedicated to making life better for kids with cancer in Japan and their families. Incorporated as a Non-Profit Organization in July 2006, the foundation is supported entirely by private/corporate donations and one iPad storybook.

Tyler Foundation Website
http://www.tylershineon.org
Tyler Foundation on Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tyler_Foundation

About Long Weekend LLC

Founded during a five-day holiday in Tokyo, Long Weekend is a location independent developer of mobile software focusing on education and early learning. Long Weekend is dedicated to crafting unique and memorable software experiences on all sorts of mobile devices.

Long Weekend Website
http://www.longweekebdmobile.com

About Conduct

Conduct excels in creative, digital strategy and technical delivery expertise to develop mobile and web applications. Co-founded by Charlie Pohl and Simon Krambousanos, they first put Conduct on the ‘mobile map’ with award winning work on iPhone app The Hidden Park.

Conduct Website
http://www.conducthq.com.au

However, there are always ways to improve.

Japanese Flash and Chinese Flash use a modified Leitner-style SRS to help you remember more vocabulary.

Our user Murray wrote to me recently because he wanted to know which “box” the card he was currently studying was in. Currently, the progress bars at the top of the app show you generally how you’re doing, but not the current card:

Some people might think that is a good thing — “too much information” defeats the purpose of having an intelligent SRS algorithm. Then again, Murray’s request to highlight the current box’s text isn’t particularly hard to implement in code, either.

Do you have an opinion on this?

Please leave your feedback in the comments below or on the GetSatisfaction page devoted to this issue.

Preloaded with over 150 study sets, the app lets users focus on relevant vocabulary, such as word lists for the HSK and TOFCL (Taiwan-based) tests. Users can also create their own study sets out of the 100,000+ word built-in Chinese-English dictionary, which is convenient for quickly adding new words learned “in the wild” to a study list.

Chinese Flash also offers each tone pronounced by a native speaker from the popular Chinese learning site Lingomi.com.

“Lingomi’s philosophy is a balanced approach to Chinese learning; vocabulary, characters, and tones — we couldn’t agree more, and are proud to offer their great audio content as part of our product on the iOS platform,” said Mark Makdad, a director at Long Weekend, makers of Chinese Flash.

Run by 3 Western expatriates in Asia, Long Weekend also makes Japanese Flash, a top-rated Japanese language study tool for the iOS platform.

“Studying ideograph-based languages, namely Chinese and Japanese, requires a slightly different approach; we try to help native English speakers bridge the gap in learning these languages,” Makdad said.

The app debuts at USD $4.99, or 30 RMB, and can be found at http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/id486531735?mt=8

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The first time I went through the process of cutting down a binary size, I got the .ipa file to about 19.5MB. Great! I’m done. Then I submitted to Apple and after the 10 days wait it went live at 20.5MB, over the limit. What happened?

As it turns out, Apple encrypts your compiled code before compressing into a .ipa file. The result is your code might be compressed some, might be compressed not at all. The .ipa size on your machine is not always going to be the same as the final for sale app. Given the affect on sales, this won’t do.

We can compute the maximum size of the binary possible by assuming the compressed code will get zero encryption, while all of our images and other resources have the standard compression. Here’s how:

1. Open the Organizer Window and find the Archived app you are planning to upload, the right click and select “Show In Finder”:

2. Right click the archive and select “Show Package Contents”

3. Find the App in the Products -> Applications folder, make a copy, right click and again choose “Show Package Contents”.

4. Find the compressed code, the filename will be the same as the bundle, in our case jFlash. Note the size of this file and remove it from the bundle.

5. Compress the remaining files.

6. Add the compressed files size to the uncompressed size of the removed code file. This will be the maximum size the bundle can be. Usually it will end a little smaller than this once live on the app store.

There you go. If you can get the maximum bundle size to 20MB or under, you will have no trouble with uploaded binaries being larger than you thought.

This caused us a bit of pain, I hope this helps you avoid the same issue. Happy coding!

A couple months ago we were approached by a friend of ours about making a children’s book. He knew about Animal Phone, our app that gives kids a phone with animals to talk to, and thought we could make a great children’s book. We knew that our friend was a big supporter of the Tyler Foundation for Childhood Cancer. After some discussion we decided to combine the two, 90% of this apps proceeds will support the work of the Tyler Foundation.

We recently finished the app and expect to release it at the beginning of December. You can get on the mailing list to be alerted when it is released. It’s a cute story about Juliette and, surprise surprise, her red balloon. Each page includes an interactive animation that supports the story and engages the reader. We also got voice actors to read the story, or you can choose to read it yourself. Finally, because the Tyler Foundation does it’s work in Japan, we made the app bilingual in English and Japanese.

Here are some screenshots of the app: