tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-54756278620656725532024-03-13T16:16:31.103+00:00iSpiny: Spiny Software to goUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger57125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5475627862065672553.post-2736285026091439512016-12-05T19:37:00.001+00:002016-12-05T19:39:30.596+00:00PhD time<div style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Very pleased to announce that Alex (the iSpiny programmer) has been awarded a PhD in computer science from Oxford University! Congratulations Alex! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Here’s a photo of his dog, Pippin, wearing a white bow tie in celebration </span><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">😊</span><br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5475627862065672553.post-75981079845157612272016-05-14T13:02:00.000+01:002016-05-14T13:02:35.588+01:00Contributing to research<div style="font-family: times; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal;">
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Bird vocalisations are valuable to biological, ecological and taxonomic research. Studies can require large quantities of recorded vocalisations, and these are usually sourced from bird sound libraries. One of the largest, easiest to use, and fastest growing of these libraries is the wonderful <a href="http://www.xeno-canto.org/" target="_blank">xeno-canto</a>. </div>
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iSpiny are pleased to announce that we are now able to curate the recordings sent in by ChirpOMatic users, and post the best on xeno-canto.</div>
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How will it work?</div>
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We always love to receive your emailed recordings, even if they're not academic quality! If it is a particularly great recording that's appropriate for xeno-canto, we will get in touch with you for permission to post it. If you have any extra details such as whether you saw the bird and its behaviour, do let us know. This extra data can be very useful to researchers. Once we have your permission we’ll post the recording and send you the link.</div>
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We have already uploaded over 30 recordings, from 26 recordists and a total of 10 countries!</div>
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You can see the current list here: </div>
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<a href="http://www.xeno-canto.org/contributor/VCWOLAERZN" target="_blank">ChirpOMatic recordings for science</a></div>
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Xeno-canto aims to be the the ultimate bird sound resource so let's do our bit in contributing!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhR6sR4Yw4XCA90o71ti4CO6Af_VHcNjfTBy2DK5mSuSdDvuqVIecNi7vtcn0dqLc1ONfncYQy5-qvKAzoTb_jGNMdANZW00WToV6WMozRYCncHHz2yrWtHtNPIG2PA0vMi0pbTdtpGshRg/s1600/Screen+Shot+2016-05-13+at+12.34.19.png" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="157" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhR6sR4Yw4XCA90o71ti4CO6Af_VHcNjfTBy2DK5mSuSdDvuqVIecNi7vtcn0dqLc1ONfncYQy5-qvKAzoTb_jGNMdANZW00WToV6WMozRYCncHHz2yrWtHtNPIG2PA0vMi0pbTdtpGshRg/s400/Screen+Shot+2016-05-13+at+12.34.19.png" width="400" /></a><br />
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To find out more:<br />
<a href="http://www.chirpomatic.com/">ChirpOMatic web page</a><br />
<a href="https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/chirpomatic-automatic-birdsong/id972765162?mt=8">ChirpOMatic in App Store</a></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5475627862065672553.post-54195359461629480152016-04-01T08:50:00.000+01:002016-04-07T21:15:23.483+01:00Featured in the App Store!Our ChirpOMatic automatic birdsong identifier has been chosen by Apple for their 'Celebrate Springtime' selection of apps! We are thrilled!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjojJ_IjrKckzatQfh6AVDkTOIjAAgNewsHHJCR_qzqGZsATBM5ZqJFfEV3_EI4PozCEM461YFshD9nLUX9R-kr_Cq_6fDZHZEduGhcuHwK23qLsC2c9JuEzPm04-V9K7Vj5zaSDgUV_em/s1600/abScreen+Shot+2016-03-25+at+13.37.46.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" height="171" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjojJ_IjrKckzatQfh6AVDkTOIjAAgNewsHHJCR_qzqGZsATBM5ZqJFfEV3_EI4PozCEM461YFshD9nLUX9R-kr_Cq_6fDZHZEduGhcuHwK23qLsC2c9JuEzPm04-V9K7Vj5zaSDgUV_em/s400/abScreen+Shot+2016-03-25+at+13.37.46.png" title="ChirpOMatic featured in the App Store" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5475627862065672553.post-87791411291737847532016-03-22T12:58:00.001+00:002016-03-22T12:58:35.933+00:00ChirpOMatic update<div style="font-family: Times; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal;">
ChirpOMatic, our shazam-style app for identifying birdsong has been updated, the first of several updates planned for 2016. As well as the lovely new design by Sam (<a href="http://www.iamsamcreative.co.uk/" target="_blank">IAmSam Creative</a>), new birds have been added, the analysis has been improved and made faster, and it is now possible to go back and see the results from earlier recordings. </div>
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Probably the biggest new feature is that the app now supports the Apple Watch! So if you are out and about and hear a bird, you no longer have to fumble around for your phone, just tap the button on your watch and record it straight away. You can make as many recordings as you like and they will automatically transfer to the phone. Then tap ‘Analyse’ on the phone to get the results.<br />
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The microphone on the watch is surprisingly good and the recordings are of similar quality to those made on the phone. Something to watch out for is that the microphones are on the left side of the watch, so be careful that your sleeve doesn’t rustle over the phone while you are recording.<br />
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<a href="https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/chirpomatic-automatic-birdsong/id972765162?mt=8" style="color: #4d469c; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Click here to see ChirpOMatic in the App Store</a><br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5475627862065672553.post-20278603706739633972016-03-19T07:22:00.000+00:002016-03-19T07:22:01.099+00:00ChirpOMatic is having a makeover!ChirpOMatic, our automatic birdsong recognition app, is having a makeover! The app has been redesigned by Sam at <a href="http://www.iamsamcreative.co.uk/" target="_blank">iamsamcreative</a> and we are thrilled with the results. He has cleverly transformed the app, yet kept it recognisable. Thank you, Sam!<br />
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The app will be updated very soon with this great new artwork.<br />
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<a href="https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/chirpomatic-automatic-birdsong/id972765162?mt=8" style="color: #4d469c; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Click here to see ChirpOMatic in the App Store</a><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhcHb7J9htAepKpYu1rv8aRHYsmhnj52Q_E0YKB2VFH9wtlth6jHb2tp3fwPfRQ7SV7BjL8Qhx-JW9DIuYPdd9UnfzPaslXd1RCbyUyf9VjOd4WxcroiwaCKHj3q2E3AZYGn5ZIQV-OxEz/s1600/Simulator+Screen+Shot+13+Mar+2016+17.02.16.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhcHb7J9htAepKpYu1rv8aRHYsmhnj52Q_E0YKB2VFH9wtlth6jHb2tp3fwPfRQ7SV7BjL8Qhx-JW9DIuYPdd9UnfzPaslXd1RCbyUyf9VjOd4WxcroiwaCKHj3q2E3AZYGn5ZIQV-OxEz/s400/Simulator+Screen+Shot+13+Mar+2016+17.02.16.png" width="225" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_P7Oq6nO4BJUhwlQ79RehTu7NjLST7LlRdtyCZ1P7roaMY2e13YrMoY97m4XW1rEJRb-eUs__FeymDHm6gXugmMrk_UeMAQ2P5NRF3KL-jBTybMbUfOkHK95rIoTOf9O1XnVyJOmveHXw/s1600/Simulator+Screen+Shot+13+Mar+2016+17.09.28.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_P7Oq6nO4BJUhwlQ79RehTu7NjLST7LlRdtyCZ1P7roaMY2e13YrMoY97m4XW1rEJRb-eUs__FeymDHm6gXugmMrk_UeMAQ2P5NRF3KL-jBTybMbUfOkHK95rIoTOf9O1XnVyJOmveHXw/s400/Simulator+Screen+Shot+13+Mar+2016+17.09.28.png" width="225" /></a></div>
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5475627862065672553.post-45942740342546648492015-08-10T09:06:00.003+01:002015-08-10T09:06:34.423+01:00The ones that failThis quiet summer spell has given us a chance to catch up on analysing the recordings that we've been sent from ChirpOMatic (our new automatic birdsong identifier). And as well as listening to the successful recordings, we've also analysed the reasons that the app has failed to identify some sounds, and we noticed a strange trend. The app cannot identify a bird if it can't hear it - but the reason for this is different for each of the three versions of the app.<br />
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The majority of failed British recordings are as a result of the wind blowing across the microphone - the wind creates a loud roar on the recording, masking everything else (a scenario familiar to anyone who has tried to video an outdoor wedding).<br />
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<a href="https://soundcloud.com/ispiny/wind-noise" target="_blank">Typical British fail</a><br />
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The majority of failed German recordings are due to people continuing loud conversations while they record the bird. </div>
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<a href="https://soundcloud.com/ispiny/german-voices" target="_blank">Typical German fail</a></div>
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And the majority of failed Swedish recordings are because the bird was so far away and so quiet that it was masked by the sound of the internal workings of the phone.</div>
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<a href="https://soundcloud.com/ispiny/distant-birds-sweden" target="_blank">Typical Swedish fail</a> - this was not the quietest, but listen, you can hear him breathe!</div>
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There is quite a bit of overlap, particularly when it comes to talking over the recording. We have some excellent recordings of people calling their dogs, slurping cups of tea, making bird noises and one whole series of recordings of a family having breakfast while in holiday in Spain (I suspect the children were secretly recording). Here are a couple of other favourite fails:</div>
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<a href="https://soundcloud.com/ispiny/a-bus-in-portugal" target="_blank">Bus in Portugal</a></div>
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<a href="https://soundcloud.com/ispiny/clip-clop-shoes-in-jersey" target="_blank">Clip-clop shoes in Jersey</a></div>
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So in conclusion, there are just a couple of simple rules to remember when using the app:</div>
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1. The bird needs to be the loudest sound. Talking is actually ok as long as it is quieter than the bird.</div>
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2. The bird needs to sing for a minimum of around 4-5 seconds. Two or three single chirps is not enough.</div>
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That's it!</div>
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Next time, I'll post some of the best recordings that we've been sent :).</div>
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<a href="https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/chirpomatic-automatic-birdsong/id972765162?mt=8" target="_blank">See ChirpOMatic in the App Store</a><br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5475627862065672553.post-2528895142883931742015-07-23T16:44:00.002+01:002015-07-23T16:44:46.482+01:00Quiet times!<div style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px;">
Here we are in the quiet time! Birds fall quiet in mid-Summer - singing uses energy and also attracts predators, so it isn’t sensible to sing unless you have to. Once the breeding season is over, there is no longer a need to sing to attract a mate and protect territory, and on top of that, summer is the time to moult into fresh, new feathers so during this time the bird is slightly less nimble and less able to escape from predators. It’s best to keep quiet!</div>
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As developers of bird song apps, we are very aware of the quiet months. It’s a quiet time for us too!</div>
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Earlier this year we released our Chirpomatic app for Shazam®-style automatic birdsong identification. We released it in time for the peak birdsong season and we’ve been delighted with the number of recordings that we have been sent, both by email and uploaded to our website. We listen to every recording we are sent, and reply to as many as we can but sometimes we’ve been overun, so thank you to every single one of you who has sent a recording! </div>
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We’ve also been looking into the reasons why the app sometimes fails to identify the bird, with some interesting results! More on that soon…</div>
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If you would like to find out more about Chirpomatic, <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/chirpomatic-automatic-birdsong/id972765162?mt=8"><span style="color: #4d469c; font-kerning: none;">tap here for the App Store</span></a>.</div>
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The splendid photo of a moulting robin is by <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/vil_sandi/15696441622/" target="_blank">vil.sandi</a></div>
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Shazam® is the registered trademark of Shazam Entertainment Limited and is not affiliated with iSpiny in any way.</div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5475627862065672553.post-68019223959659192322015-07-14T10:25:00.000+01:002015-07-14T10:42:52.714+01:00Chirpomatic updateThe first update is out for <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/chirpomatic-automatic-birdsong/id972765162?mt=8" target="_blank">Chirpomatic</a>, our Shazam®-style app for birdsong! The biggest change is that the recording time has been increased to 12 seconds - this will help to catch a few more chirps of each song, or the repeated phrase of a song, and will give the app more to analyse. We are approaching the time of the year when birds fall silent while they moult, so the extra recording time will be particularly useful.<br />
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We'd like to say a very big Thank You to everyone who has sent us a recording, whether by email or uploading. Your recordings will be used to improve the bird song recognition, and also give us an insight on the use of the app and where things might go wrong. They are incredibly helpful - please continue to send them!<br />
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Updates to Zwitschomat and Kvitteromat are still with Apple but should be released very soon.<br />
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Shazam® is the registered trademark of Shazam Entertainment Limited and is not affiliated with iSpiny in any way.<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5475627862065672553.post-74731986683749013002015-05-30T07:24:00.000+01:002015-05-30T07:25:43.053+01:00Bird-safe modeSummer is here, the birds are singing, and so are a multitude of bird apps on mobile devices. Playing bird calls on a mobile device or tablet may seem like a harmless bit of fun and even educational, but from the bird's point of view it is very different.<br />
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As soon as bird sounds start to play, nearby birds are distracted from feeding their young, and expend their energy looking for the phantom intruder. Most nature reserves discourage or even ban the use of mobile devices on their sites to protect the wellbeing and longevity of their birdlife. And it's also bad news for other birdwatchers who don't know if they are listening to a real bird or not.<br />
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But the problem is that it just isn't possible to use an automatic birdsong identifier without playing sounds loudly. You need to listen to your recording and listen to the matching sounds, to see if this is indeed the bird that you can hear.<br />
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That's why we came up with the idea of Bird-safe mode for Chirpomatic. When Bird-safe mode is switched on, you simply hold the phone to your ear as though making a phone call in order to hear the sounds. The best thing is that the sounds don't start playing until the device is next to your ear, so you don't miss anything. It is actually much easier to hear the sounds this way, so it is a win for the user and a win for the birds!<br />
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We are now going to add Bird-safe mode to our other apps as we update them, so that all our apps can be enjoyed with a clear conscience, without disturbing the birds or other birdwatchers!<br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5475627862065672553.post-84770530055324440962015-05-09T19:36:00.001+01:002015-05-29T11:37:19.819+01:00Chirpomatic: automatic birdsong identification!We are delighted to announce our latest app, <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/chirpomatic-automatic-birdsong/id972765162?mt=8" target="_blank">Chirpomatic</a>, an automatic birdsong identifier!<br />
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Chirpomatic works rather like Shazam® does for music. When you hear a bird, quickly hold up your phone and start recording. After 10 seconds, the app will start analysing the sound, and will show you the top matches along with photos of the birds and notes to tell you how varied the sound can be. You can compare your recording with the reference samples to check the identification.<br />
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The first version of the app covers bird calls and songs of parks and gardens in north-west Europe, and is currently available in English, German (Zwitschomat) and Swedish (Kvitteromat). We are already working on versions for North America, starting with backyard birds of the west coast USA, particularly California. If you would like to be told when the US versions are ready, you can <a href="http://eepurl.com/bl81jX" target="_blank">sign up here</a>.<br />
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The app works entirely off-line so you can use it wherever you are without worrying about network connections. The recordings you make are stored in the app so you can listen again, you can email them, or upload them to us. The recordings that you send us will be used to improve the app, and will also be made available to researchers.<br />
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As with all the iSpiny apps, Chirpomatic has been developed by myself and Alex Wilson. Alex is a specialist in machine learning and is currently completing his PhD at Oxford University. We also had advice from Dr Phil Howard, data scientist at a major games company.<br />
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We've been working on Chirpomatic since the end of 2013, but the road to a Shazam-style app for bird sounds is littered with highly publicised projects that failed to be completed, so we didn't announce it until we were absolutely sure that we would be able to finish it! And now we can celebrate!<br />
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If you would like to find out more about Chirpomatic, <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/chirpomatic-automatic-birdsong/id972765162?mt=8" target="_blank">tap here for the App Store</a>.<br />
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Shazam® is the registered trademark of Shazam Entertainment Limited and is not affiliated with iSpiny in any way.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5475627862065672553.post-22584882444614979862013-01-30T12:11:00.003+00:002013-01-30T12:38:13.596+00:00Chirp! on the iPhone 5After a gentle reminder on the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/chirpbirdsongs" target="_blank">Chirp! Facebook page</a> page, we've been finishing off the full screen iPhone 5 version of Chirp! The app looks good on the iPhone 5 - the larger screen allows the bird photo on the Browse screen to be larger, and also the text of the song description. The downside is that the app will no longer run on devices using iOS 3 or 4, thus eliminating the old iPhone 3. It's a great shame, but sadly we didn't have much choice.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5475627862065672553.post-6962890204905193142012-12-21T18:15:00.002+00:002012-12-21T18:15:26.294+00:00It's December already!I knew it was a long time since my last post, but I am astonished that nearly a year has gone past! It has been a very busy year, and although there no new apps to show for it, our existing apps are now nearly complete (!). The British bird guides are now fully iPad compatible, and with a lovely new design that has been made specially for the iPad. We find it depressing that so many reference apps simply enlarge the graphics of their iPhone app to make it fit on the iPad screen, and we asked Marcello to create a design that was specifically <i>for</i> the iPad but with a layout that was sufficiently similar to the iPhone design that it would be easy to move from one to the other. We are delighted with Marcello's design, and thanks too to Rhodri Griffith of Cwcw Creative who stepped into the breach to produce the elements of the design. I know I'm bound to be biased, but I think ours are without doubt the nicest looking iPad bird apps!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5475627862065672553.post-6743323058616528102012-01-07T10:07:00.002+00:002012-01-07T10:16:45.947+00:00New logo for iSpinyNew year, new logo! We are searching for a new logo for iSpiny by holding a contest on 99Designs. We are down to the final four - will you help us choose by taking part in our poll?<div><br /><div><a href="http://99designs.co.uk/logo-design/vote-jbdbf5">Logo poll - click here!</a></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5475627862065672553.post-23841958445997934842011-12-30T13:36:00.004+00:002011-12-30T13:55:01.898+00:00Vogelgids van Nederland<div><div>Our Dutch app is out! Released into the wild of the AppStore, we hope that it will flourish and prosper. It's called Vogelgids van Nederland and it's a guide to birds of the Netherlands (in Dutch and English). The text has been translated by specialist translator, Max Nuijens, and the interface by Chirp! translator, Frans Schutgens, so it should be good! Any mistakes are entirely my fault as it was my job to transfer their text into the app. Now we wait and watch with baited breath to see how out well our young app will fly :).</div><div><br /></div><div>Hope you all had a lovely Christmas (or other celebration of your choosing), and very best wishes for 2012!</div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5475627862065672553.post-45292409780638764462011-11-29T12:12:00.005+00:002011-11-29T13:01:29.040+00:00Expanding into new countries!I'm taking advantage of a very brief lull to bring the latest update. The most exciting news is that work on our forthcoming guide to birds of the Netherlands, Vogelgids van Nederland, is almost complete! It should be ready for final testing in the next day or so and we hope to have it in the AppStore before Christmas.<br /><div><br /></div><div>We've also been working on an update to Chirp! Europe and expanding it to include Spain and Portugal. No new birds for those countries yet, but we have some lined up for a spring update and I hope we will be able to expand into Italy as well. Just in time for spring and summer holidays in southern Europe!</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5475627862065672553.post-90455708341807725922011-10-06T10:14:00.004+01:002011-10-06T10:29:45.287+01:00Goodbye Steve JobsI can't say it better than others have - Steve was a visionary and creative genius who made things happen. It's a sad day.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5475627862065672553.post-51638087908182559082011-09-30T09:20:00.004+01:002011-09-30T10:29:36.075+01:00At last - the Record Centre Update!It's taken us ages, but Bird Guide Britain finally has a Record Centre section! This was part of the original plan for the app but it soon became clear that it would take a long time to develop to our satisfaction and so we decided to release the app with reduced record keeping facilities to start with, and add the Record Centre later as an update. And so here we are, a whole year later!<br /><br />The new update allows multiple sightings of a bird to be recorded. These can then be viewed as a list, sorted by location, date or bird name, or viewed on a map. They can also be exported as an Excel file. Use the email back-up regularly to make sure you don't ever lose your data.<br /><br />Update now and see what you think! Remember it's only version 1.0 of the Record Centre, so please tell us what you like and dislike so we can continue to improve it!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5475627862065672553.post-69984338936591555942011-09-02T10:39:00.004+01:002011-09-02T12:25:49.781+01:00End of an eraVery unusual for me to make two posts in as many days, but I felt that the occasion had to be marked in some way. The first Spiny Software cd-roms went on sale in the year 2000 and now, after 11 years, they will no longer be sold. They won't run on the latest operating systems on macs or windows, and we don't have time to update them any more.
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<br />I'm sad to see the end of this era, but I am hoping that we will recreate some of the titles as iPad apps, which would be great. I certainly won't be sorry to never have to work with windows again!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5475627862065672553.post-26633340963034328082011-09-01T11:51:00.002+01:002011-09-01T12:46:27.723+01:00Thoughts on reviewsAs a developer it is tempting to avoid reading reviews for apps that have been out for a long time and, one hopes, been polished over many updates. There is no way of responding to reviews on the App Store so for example if someone gives Chirp! a one star review because there is no sound, all we can do is shout at the computer "you've got the mute button on" which isn't helpful. (On that subject, Apple have a reasonably robust review process that all apps and updates have to go through so, really, they are not going to pass a bird song app that doesn't have sound).
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<br />Volume issues aside, obviously some people leave poor reviews because they genuinely don't like the app, but sadly one of the other main reasons for unusually poor reviews is that some competitors try and boost their app by leaving inaccurate or misleading reviews for better apps. Shame on them.
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<br />I don't want to give the impression that we are complacent. It's just that we have responded and will continue to respond to customers who make suggestions or tell us what they don't like - please continue! But to be sure that you are heard, the best way to contact us is through email, Facebook or Twitter (links above). Looking forward to hearing from you!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5475627862065672553.post-1341386369438347532011-06-28T20:02:00.003+01:002011-06-28T20:50:34.438+01:00Progress reportWork on our long-awaited update to the Bird Guide is coming along fast! Alex has been able to devote considerable time to it recently and it is nearly ready for thorough testing. We are really looking forward to getting it finished - partly because we seem to have done little else for so long but also because it will be great to see the app as it was planned to be from the start.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5475627862065672553.post-19814441781957275802011-04-14T11:34:00.003+01:002011-04-14T12:01:20.378+01:00April already?My neglect of this blog is shameful! My only excuse is that little has changed - I am still working on the next Bird Guide Britain update, and squeezing in occasional Chirp updates when I have time. <br /><br />The next update to the Bird Guide is a really major one with many new features. As well as new features there will be quite a few new birds, and I am also working through all the current birds, checking the information and adding new and better images. It's going to be very good! Progress has been slow this year because Alex, who does the complicated programming, is a student and has his final exams very soon. On the plus side this is giving me more time to improve the content, so the finished result will be even better!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5475627862065672553.post-73965323180355069392010-12-31T13:20:00.005+00:002010-12-31T16:37:45.083+00:002010, a busy year!Looking back over 2010 I can't believe how busy we have been! At the beginning of the year we were finishing off our British Bird Guide and had started planning the new slideshow feature that we intended to add to Chirp!, when suddenly Apple announced the imminent arrival of their groundbreaking device, the iPad. We immediately shelved all other projects and worked like crazy to get an iPad version of Chirp! ready for the launch. It was fun to be in at the very start of the iPad and I'm very pleased we did experience that, but no sooner had we finished the iPad version, but we had to start updating the apps for the new iPhone 4 and its new multi-tasking feature. At this point I was wondering if we'll ever we able to resume normal operations, but fortunately (for us, anyway) Apple took a break from producing new devices and we were able to get back to routine work. <br /><br />During the summer Bird Guide Britain received a complete cosmetic makeover by Marcello at Wrinkly Pea, and we also added a slew of new features, then we resumed work on the slideshow for Chirp! It took way longer than we expected to get the slideshow working in just the way we wanted, in portrait and landscape mode, and in 6 languages, but it was finally released this month - a full year since we started on it! Here's hoping faster progress will be made in 2011!<br /><br />Happy New Year to you all!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5475627862065672553.post-73516839244344979272010-09-30T10:23:00.003+01:002010-09-30T13:03:40.763+01:00Bug alert! (Bird Guide Britain)A bug crept into the last update of Bird Guide Britain and messed up the lists of seen birds and starred birds. We have made a fix which will return the lists to their previous state, but unfortunately if you have already gone through the app and corrected the list yourself, you will have to do it all again when the update comes out. We are really very sorry about this :(. We looked into all the possible ways of correcting the fault, but the more complicated the fix, the longer it would take to implement and test, so we decided that the best course of action is to release a quick fix as soon as possible to minimise the number of people affected.<br /><br />We've asked Apple to prioritise the update (which they do in cases like this) so it should be out in a few days.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5475627862065672553.post-69551333316369591782010-09-09T22:29:00.005+01:002010-09-10T09:58:15.193+01:00A busy summer<div>It's been a busy busy summer! We have a new member of the Chirp! family, Chirp! Canada, we've updated Chirp! USA with a huge batch of new birds, and an update for Chirp! Europe should be out this weekend with new birds and with buttons to change the language of the bird names inside the app. We've another big new feature for Chirp! that is nearly finished so more updates will be coming soon!</div><div><br /></div><div>Bird Guide Britain gets another update very soon and that will complete all the commonly seen birds in Britain, plus most of the locally common birds. Once that is done, we can start adding the scarcer birds, and also finish the record keeping features.</div><div><br /></div><div>I'm sad to say that there is dirty work afoot in the UK AppStore Reference section with some developers giving competitor's apps poor reviews. I thought we'd escaped but four 1 star reviews arrived on the Chirp page this evening - a bit odd as we've consistently received almost entirely 4 and 5 star reviews for the past 18 months! If you like Chirp or the Bird Guide, please leave a nice review for us if you have time :).<div><br /></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5475627862065672553.post-64018438495438443592010-07-18T09:58:00.005+01:002010-07-18T10:37:46.113+01:00Common names<div>I admit I was a bit dismissive of the competition, run by Natural England, The Guardian and The Oxford University Museum of Natural History, to name several rare species of invertebrates. After all, nobody has a problem with plant names such as Fucshia and Rhododendron. But now the results are in I freely admit that I was wrong - the names are wonderful! And I am sure that a newspaper article discussing the fate of the Queen’s Executioner beetle will attract the interest of far more people than an article about <i>Megapenthes lugens</i>! (To see the results of the naming competition, visit <a href="http://www.buglife.org.uk/News/Rare+species+named+for+the+first+time+by+British+public">Buglife</a> for a good summary).</div><div><br /></div><div>I'm now such a convert to the cause that I think all common names should be decided by competition. It couldn't fail to produce better results than the dreary efforts of the official organisations. While preparing birds for inclusion in the Chirp! apps, I frequently find examples of official name changes, and they are usually for the worse, going for the purely descriptive. I was sorry to see that the Canadian bird sometimes called the Whiskey Jack - a great, original name with a very long heritage- is officially the Grey Jay. Grey Jay! Yes, it's grey, yes, it's a Jay, but give me Whiskey Jack any day.</div><div><br /></div><div>PS I'm alarmed to see that apparently I haven't updated this blog since May! I'm sure I updated in June, but there's no record of it. We have continued to be ridiculously busy so maybe I forgot to press the "publish post" button. I shall try to be more diligent in future!<div><br /></div><div><br /></div></div><div><br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0