New feature: Change language!

This week's update introduces a nice new feature, one I've often been asked for, especially by Dutch speakers. I've added a setting so that the language of the bird names can be different from the main language of the iPhone/iPod, so that for example, the device can be set to English, but the bird names, song descriptions and wiki link can be in Dutch.

To change the language of the bird names, go to the Settings of the iPhone/iPod and scroll down until you see the settings for Chirp! There you can choose from the range of languages available - German, Dutch, French, Norwegian, Swedish, and also partial translations into Danish and Irish Gaelic.

Another new feature, but rather more trivial, is that on the Main Menu, shake the device to hear a random bird song!

Easter treats

Happy Easter! Frohe Ostern! I hope you all have good weather and can enjoy the spring season!

More new birds are on the way for Chirp! Europe as we add some birds that have been among the most requested - the Skylark, Buzzard and Chiffchaff. These will be followed next week by the summer-visiting trio of Swallow, Swift and House Martin.

As well as new birds, new features are being added this week and next. The first of these, available now, is a link to Wikipedia so that when you have identified a bird, you can go to the Wiki to check its distribution, size etc and find out more general information about it (as long as you have an internet connection). 

More treats next week - details to follow!

Update on the update (USA)

"Where's the update?", you may be saying. I'm saying it too. There's a black hole at Apple headquarters and I think Chirp! USA fell into it. I'm going to resubmit it this evening and with luck it will appear at the end of this week.

Our new banner

Our new banner has a bit of a Swiss look about it - we want to say thank you to the Swiss who are consistently our best customers. Vielen Danke! Merci beaucoup!

New icon, more birds

The Chirp! USA update is in with Apple and should be available by the end of the week! Ten new birds have been added including Pileated Woodpecker, Hairy Woodpecker, Red-breasted Woodpecker, Evening Grosbeak and the gorgeous Rose-breasted Grosbeak. There seems to have been some confusion between the US version of Chirp! and the European version, so the US icon has been changed.

NEW! Chirp! USA

It's been a busy day! At long last, after months of work, Chirp! USA arrived in the AppStore, and the new version of Chirp! Europe was also released.

So now we need to plan for adding more birds to each app. This is not a straightforward job in Europe, as Chirp! is now in 6 languages, thanks to Erik Myklebust, who provided a full translation into Norwegian. It is only fair to the translators to have the bird song descriptions translated in batches, so decisions need to be made in advance as to which birds will be included each week. We have chosen birds for the next few weeks from the feedback we've been having, so please keep sending suggestions!

For the USA, it is much simpler, so we intend to add birds as quickly as we can, choosing from feedback emails whenever possible. Suggestions so far for next week include the Pileated Woodpecker, one of the Grosbeaks (Red-breasted Grosbeak image above by Flickr's rjones0856) and the Yellow-bellied Sapsucker. Please send more suggestions!

Chirp! v2 coming soon!

At last! Version 2 of Chirp! should be available by the end of next week, depending on how long Apple take to check it. The most obvious new feature is a map that allows you to compare the commonest birds in the different countries covered by the app, from Sweden down to Switzerland, and from Ireland in the west, across to Germany. 

And even more exciting is that the behind-the-scenes changes will allow us to start including more birds! Already there may be birds that you did not see previously - the 'crunching marbles' sound of the Black Redstart (shown above) and the 'piece of cheeeese' of the Yellowhammer were not previously available if the app was running in Britain. As well as this we are intending to add one bird each week as we move into spring. The birds will be chosen from your feedback so let us know what you would like us to include - use the email button on Chirp!'s Info screen, post a comment below, click the link from the iSpiny website, send by pigeon post... just let us know!