News Archives - Page 181 of 235

2011-11-082011-11-08

New Release of Bible App for BlackBerry Faster, with Better Connectivity

The latest release of the Bible App™ for BlackBerry is available now in BlackBerry App World or for direct download to your device. In this major update, version 3.6, besides noticeably quicker overall performance, we’ve also made significant tweaks to help you make the most of your particular network conditions. Here’s what you’ll find under the hood:

Faster Performance. The Bible App now responds much more quickly, especially for the features that most of you use most—like Notes, Bookmarks, and reading plans.
Reading Plan Caching. If you often find yourself with a slow or weak network connection, then sometime when you notice you happen to have a strong signal, you can jump into the Bible App and flip ahead through the next few days of your reading plan. Each day that you view will be stored (cached) into your device’s memory. As long as you don’t completely exit the Bible App (which you can set in the Options on your Home screen), then when you come back later, those days will still be there, and that dreaded “No network available” message won’t interrupt your daily reading.
Active Network Scanning. The Bible App now constantly monitors your network connection, adjusting settings in the background to try to maintain your signal. It also logs what it determines are its optimal settings, so that in the event your signal is completely lost, it can help you get reconnected as quickly as possible.
Customizable Network Settings. For the first time ever, from right inside the Bible App, you can actually manually tweak your connection settings (shown). This new feature will let you experiment to find the strongest signal possible, or to disconnect on demand to avoid unnecessary data charges.

If you have a BlackBerry, then you know that for all their terrific functionality and usefulness, sometimes these devices can present unique challenges. We continue working diligently to keep bringing you the best Bible experience possible on your BlackBerry.

If you have friends with BlackBerry devices, please consider telling them about the Bible App—perhaps even helping them install it. As always, all they’ll need to take full advantage of its best-in-class features—reading plans, Notes, Bookmarks, and so much more—is a free YouVersion account. And please come connect with us on Facebook and Twitter to let us know how you’re using the Bible App!

2011-11-07

Now in Dutch: The Entire YouVersion Experience

Now, for the first time, everything that YouVersion has to offer—the interfaces at YouVersion.com and in the Bible App™, technical support, communication, of course Bibles, and so much more—are all available completely in Dutch. While we’ve offered a Dutch language option at YouVersion.com for some time, the website is just one small piece of the YouVersion world.

Dutch represents our tenth complete language launch. The first was English, followed by Norwegian, Spanish, Simplified and Traditional Chinese, Russian, Korean, Brazilian Portuguese, and most recently, German. And today, we’re excited to share with you many of the ways that you can now engage with the YouVersion community—entirely in Dutch:

Menus, Buttons and Controls in Dutch. Thanks to our world-changing community of YouVersion volunteers, you can now experience the entire YouVersion user interface in Dutch, directly on your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Android, or BlackBerry device. Simply set your default language to Dutch.
Communication in Dutch. At the top right of our blog’s English version, one of the alternate languages you can select is Nederlands. Whether you start there or simply jump straight to the Dutch version, you’ll find blog posts relevant to you, written in Dutch. You can also connect with us in Dutch on Facebook or Twitter, or email us a question in Dutch. And we’ll get back to you—in Dutch! How do we do it? We couldn’t… except that amazing Dutch-speaking YouVersion volunteers are passionately devoted to assisting you in your own language.
Dutch Technical Support. If you have any questions about YouVersion.com or about the Bible App, try visiting our all-new Tech Support site, also available completely in Dutch. And even if you don’t find what you’re looking for there, send us your question in Dutch, and Dutch-speaking volunteers trained in YouVersion support will gladly get back to you.

Your story is an important part of YouVersion’s story. If you’d like to share how YouVersion has helped you connect with the Bible, please come tell us on Facebook and Twitter. And if you have friends whose heart language is Dutch, please direct them to the Bible App and YouVersion.com, too. Our desire is to help as many people as possible freely, easily engage with God’s Word, all over the world, and in any language. Your participation makes that happen.

We’re glad you’re here! We couldn’t be happier to welcome you, our Dutch-speaking friends, to our growing YouVersion family. Please keep checking our blog in the coming days, and we’ll share more details with you about all that this Dutch language launch means. And most of all, please start sharing and getting to know other people in your YouVersion community. Welcome!

2011-11-03

The Opportunity of 7 Billion Lifetimes

This week the United Nations officially recognized that the global population has now reached 7 billion people. Let that sink in for just a moment…

This historical milestone has already brought weeks of speculation about critical aspects of our lives on Earth—resources, waste, employment, communication, even about how we’ll all be able relate to each other.

And in the YouVersion community, hopefully we can recognize this event from an additional perspective: Opportunity. The fact that there are now 7 billion of us simply means that there are more people than ever who need to discover and connect with the life-giving power of God’s Word.

“When [Jesus] saw the crowds, he had compassion on them because they were confused and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. He said to his disciples, ‘The harvest is great, but the workers are few. So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask him to send more workers into his fields.’”
—Matthew 9:36–38, New Living Translation

The YouVersion community is spread all over the world, representing diverse languages and cultures, each of us uniquely equipped to share God’s Word with the people around us. God’s story of love for people has already transformed our hearts and lives. Now, just imagine the unprecedented opportunity that God has entrusted to us: That together, we get to help others connect with that same story, perhaps for the first time. It’s awe-inspiring to consider that we could participate in becoming the most Bible-engaged generation of all time.

2011-10-272012-10-31

NIV and NLT Available for Download from YouVersion—for 48 Hours Only!

[ARCHIVED POST FROM 2011]

You will once again be able to download the NIV and the NLT for offline use
Starting 12:00 AM Sunday, October 30 Central Time U.S. (GMT -5)
Ending 11:59 PM Monday, October 31 Central Time U.S. (GMT -5)

Some Bible App users who have downloaded the NIV and NLT during special events in the past have let us know that they lost these versions while upgrading or replacing their phones. We reached out to Biblica and Zondervan, publishers of the New International Version (NIV), and to Tyndale, publisher of the New Living Translation (NLT), to see if there was anything we could do to help these users get their versions back. They graciously agreed to allow us to make their versions available for download again, but only during this 48-hour window. Don’t miss your chance starting this weekend!

Other Bible publishers also generously offer their versions for free to the YouVersion community for download—all the time. Check the list of available versions on your device right now to see which ones you want to download!

Note: When you look at the available versions on your device, remember to tap the “Refresh” button, to ensure that the list you’re seeing is the most current.

Downloading offline versions:

What does offline mean? Many versions in the Bible App™ are available to download to your mobile device. When you download a version, you can read it literally anytime, anyplace, even when you can’t connect to your service provider or to the Internet.

Below are links to detailed instructions on how you can download your free copy, once these two versions become available again on Sunday, October 30. Mark your calendar, and be sure you don’t miss this opportunity!

2011-10-252011-11-01

YouVersion in German: Publishers Contribute Bibles, Volunteers Translate

At YouVersion, we’re convinced that experiencing the Bible in your own language is the most powerful way you can engage with what God wants to say to your heart. Translating the Bible into the many languages that people ask for is not something we would be able to do ourselves. Fortunately, partners from Bible publishing societies around the world generously join with YouVersion to make sure that as many people as possible have access to God’s Word. Another thing we could never do on our own is translate the many tools YouVersion provides—interfaces, menus, websites, blogs, tech support, etc.—into every language. And that’s where you come in. The same passionate commitment of an extraordinary, worldwide community of volunteers has already brought YouVersion to you in English, Norwegian, Spanish, Simplified and Traditional Chinese, Russian, Korean, and Brazilian Portuguese, and now—in German. We are honored to serve in God’s kingdom with you.

Bible Publishing Societies

Our partners have graciously provided the YouVersion community with several options that allow us to together enjoy the Bible in German:

Neue Genfer Übersetzung (NGÜ2011). Offered by the Geneva Bible Society, the New Geneva version of the Bible includes the New Testament and Psalms. This translation is well-regarded both for its accuracy and for its writing style: easy-to-understand, contemporary German.
Schlachter 2000 (SCH2000). Franz Eugen Schlachter, the son of Franz Joseph Butcher, was a Protestant theologian and pastor who translated the entire Bible into populist German from the original Hebrew and Greek. First published in 1905, his “Butcher’s Bible” grew in popularity throughout the 20th century, largely because he had managed to keep its concepts accessible through simple language, even as he maintained exceptional accuracy to the original source texts he used. Because of its popularity and historical significance, the Geneva Bible Society republished it as an updated version in 2000.
Hoffnung für Alle (HFA). Provided by Biblica, the HFA is a very popular German version of the entire Bible, striving more for smooth and comfortable reading in conversational German than for a strict, literal, word-for-word interpretation.

In addition to these more contemporary translations from publishing partners, YouVersion also offers “classic” versions available in the public domain, including Albrecht New Testament and Psalms (GANTP), Elberfelder 1871 (ELB), and of course the timeless Luther Bible 1912 (DELUT).

Volunteers

While great German translations are absolutely necessary for German readers and speakers to engage in the Scriptures, YouVersion has several other important pieces. The Bible App™ is only useful if its users can actually read its controls, buttons, and menus. Volunteers from all over the world united their ability to translate with their love of God’s Word, to make these tools as easy as possible for German users. And while YouVersion’s German-speaking community is already awesome, certainly we can always use more help. We never stop working on growing and improving the Bible App, not to mention all our other tools. We also now offer assistance and technical support in German, whether requests come in through email, Facebook, or Twitter. If you can help with German translation in any of these areas, please let us know.

So what’s it like to translate for YouVersion? Here’s what just a few amazing German language volunteers recently had to say about their own experiences serving the YouVersion community all around the world:

“It’s my deep desire to read God’s Word. Unfortunately, I’m not always getting down to it very regular. I’m studying Computer Science so I’m naturally using my computer and smartphone a lot. This is how I first stumbled upon YouVersion’s Bible App. It made my daily reading a lot easier. At first, when I used it, the App was kind of unstable, and I thought about joining the dev team to improve it. Then I heard about helping as translator. Immediately I volunteered. During recent months the developers put great work in the App, and I was thankful helping out by translating. May the YouVersion community reach a lot of German people, and may everyone be blessed as I got blessed.”
—Manuel W., Darmstadt, Germany

“I find the YouVersion Bible App very useful, and I like to help make it available to as many people as possible. For several years, I have been doing volunteer work as a translator and proofreader for various Christian projects. I know this is a special task God wants me to fulfill.”
—Barbara S., Stetten am kalten Markt, Germany

“One year ago I first discovered YouVersion while I was looking for Japanese and Korean translations of the Bible. I’m studying these languages and wanted to combine reading the Bible with my study of these two languages. Later that year I read about a need for German volunteers at YouVersion, and I thought about getting more involved. At first I translated into my mother tongue, and now I’m a member of the German support team. It really helps me to improve my translation skills and is a great service for God.”
—Steffen B., Germany

“I always had difficulty getting myself to read the Bible every day. I’m an engineer, and I have a smartphone, and one day I found the Bible App from YouVersion. It took me a little while, but once I had spent some time exploring the Bible App, I actually found myself reading God’s Word more consistently. While I don’t mind using an app that’s in English, I know that deters many other people. Then, when I saw that YouVersion was asking for help translating their interface, I realized that I had the chance not just to be a part of the YouVersion community, but to actually help other people use God’s Word more. Now I’m very excited about what God is bringing to our work at YouVersion.”
—Tobias K., Leipzig, Germany