Twitter & Facebook meet iBelieve

A few weeks ago I blogged about improvements being made to an iPhone app named iBelieve (Find Others of Like Faith? – There’s an App for That). I also discussed  a spin-off of this application, named iBelieve Plus. Well, the team at Design Iteration has finally finished polishing these apps. As a result, iBelieve 1.1 and iBelieve Plus 1.o hit the App Store this week. The price of iBelieve 1.1 is still free . However, iBelieve Plus will cost $0.99 due to the the added ability to save and view Facebook and Twitter information about users.

For the current 3000+ users of iBelieve 1.0, the updates in version 1.1 will be quite noticeable.

Facebook and Twitter Connect:

The user of iBelieve Plus now has the ability to allow their faith marker to be shown on the map – or not. By toggling the on/off slider the faith marker can be shown or removed.

Also, the user has the ability to display his or her Facebook or Twitter user name beside their faith marker. This allows others to search and friend the other users of similar faith in Facebook and Twitter. With the on/off slider, this function can be instantly turned on or off with a swipe of the finger. It is worth noting that in iBelieve 1.1 you will be able to see Twitter and Facebook icons next to faith markers that have enable this feature in iBelieve Plus. However, you will need to upgrade to iBelieve Plus to see the Twitter and Facebook information.

Show All with 3D Multicolor Markers:

Another upgrade added to iBelieve 1.1, and included in iBelieve Plus, is the abilityto show all users of all faiths on the map at one time. In addition, each major faith affiliation has been assigned a unique color to make it easy to distinguish various faith concentrations on the map at a glance.

Previously, in iBelieve 1.0 the faithmarkers were basic green circles without any visual depth.  Even though this was a simple graphics upgrade, it has significantly enhance the ability to see what is going of on the maps.

Faith Affiliation Percentages:

And, finally, the significant enhancement released in iBelieve 1.1 and iBelieve Plus is the ability to see user percentages. As you scroll through the affiliation picker, the percentage of users saving a marker under each affiliation is displayed.  For example, the overall percentage of Christians using iBelieve is currently just over 15% of the total users while Muslims represent just over 10%.

Download iBelieve 1.0 for Free on the App Store

Download iBelieve Plus $0.99 on the App Store

iBelieve Connect - Street Level Zoom

About a 3 weeks ago the iBelieve for the iPhone  hit the app store.  It has been exciting to watch the map populate everyday with more and more dots representing the faith of iPhone addicts around the world.  But, it has been much more intriguing to read the user reviews that rolled in requesting new features. iBelievers spoke out about what  they thought would make this app really pop. And, it was well received.

So, what was the feedback? Resoundingly, “Let us connect with other users of similar faith!”  and “Let us see all users at the same time” . So, that is what has begun tobe implemented in the release of iBelieve.

Users will be able to choose to associate their Facebook user name, Twitter user name, or both with their chosen affiliation and approximate location. Zoomed out to a world view, only the location dots of users will be seen. But, when they drill down closer to street level on the map, you will see the contact info flag next to the user’s marker.

In addition, the picker on the Map Screen will allow all faith affiliations to be displayed at one time on the map.  Each major religion category will be shown in a distinct color when the “Show All” category is selected, showing the regional mix of faiths in a glance.

I am looking forward to the release of the new iBelieve features within the next few weeks. Hopes are that this new version will help move forward social networking among and across the multiple faith groups around the world.  The world becomes a smaller place everyday.

iBelieve 1.o is free on the App Store. Until the new and improved iBelieve is available in a few weeks, please take a moment to download a copy @http://bit.ly/FK0Z9. Thanks for your help!

This game was almost insultingly simple. There was a weight attached to a stick. The stick was attached to a ball.  The goal – to merely right click on the ball with your mouse, spin the weight upright with a flick of the mouse and then balance the weight on the stick by moving the mouse.  The challenge – every few seconds that you could hold this in balance, the stick would shorten and it would become harder and harder to stabilize.  The reward – the longer you could balance the more points you scored. This was a PC precursor to the Wii games that we love to test our reflex skills with today.

As you know, we are now in a world where this kind of fun has to come through an iPhone, iTouch, or Nintendo DS app.  So, the nerds at AppCore and Design Iteration decided to make an iPhone/iTouch adaptation of this little Flash application from the past. How the team got to this point requires the brief telling of a backstory.

To give out props where due, I have to mention a sharp 17 year old guy named Christopher Smith. He is the guy who brought the idea to everyone’s attention.  Christopher is the son of AppCore’s Lead Dreamweaver and Design Iteration’s Founder, Jim Smith.

He caught his dad one night while he was sitting in his easy-chair staring intently into his laptop ;}. With some well-chosen, fast-talking line, he got Jim out of his chair and lured him to a website. This website was a well hidden URL where Christopher and his buddies played this little weight on a stick game.  After playing the game for awhile, Jim was addicted and birthed the vision of how this could be an iPhone app.

Now, back to where the app dev nerds enter the scene.  Within 2 weeks gameplay was laid down, physics algorithms banged out, artwork squeezed out of Illustrator, testing completed, and Stickit the app submitted to Apple.   The little balance game with big appeal had made it to iPhone prime-time.

The simplicity of the little Flash app’s gameplay had been preserved in Stickit. The goal was still to balance the weight on the end of a stick as long as you could. Instead of using a mouse to move the ball at the end of the stick, you slid your finger around on the screen.  Three levels of difficulty were added to allow the most uncoordinated of gamers to have fun as well as challenge those Jedi’s with iPhones and iTouches.  If you were proud of a high score and wanted to brag about you could submit it to a global leader board. Simple, fun, addictive. 

There is a video of Stickit being played in the iPhone SDK simulator on YouTube.  It really gives you a sense for the balancing action of the game.

Check it out on YouTube:

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CqJxDQ2qbn4

Buy it on the App Store by following this link:

http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=322869352&mt=8

That idea became a storyboard, the storyboard became an app named iBelieve, that app was released on the App Store.

The first release of iBelieve allows you to pick your spiritual faith among the following affiliations:

Bahái
Buddhist (including Mahayana, Thervada and Vajrayana)
Christian (including Amish, Anglican, Assemblies of God, Baptist, Catholic, Church of Christ, Episcopalian, Greek Orthodox, Jehovah’s Witness, Latter-day Saints, Lutheran, Mennonite, Methodist, Pentecostal, Presbyterian, Protestant and Seventh-Day Adventist)
Confucian
Daoism
Hindu (including Saivite, Shakta, Smartha and Vaishnavism)
Jain
Jewish (including Conservative, Orthodox and Reform)
Muslim (including Shiite, Sufi and Sunni)
Nothing (including Agnostic, Atheist, Money and Sports)
Pagan
Pastafarian
Rastafarian
Shinto
Sikh
Unitarian Universalist
Wiccan

Once you choose your affiliation, your approximate location (within 3 miles) is logged on our server and displayed on Google Maps which is integral to the app.  In the map view you can browse the locations of all other users around the world who have logged there faith affliation through iBelieve.  As more and more users join the movement, we look forward to seeing points of the spiritual faiths of iPhone and iTouch users from countries all over the world pop up on map.

Today iBelieve is selling on the app store for $0.99.  We are trying to get the word out to iPhone users through Twitter, Facebook and Blogging.  Hopefully if you are reading this article and have an iPhone or iTouch, you will consider downloading iBelieve.

http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=322141156&mt=8

Take a look at the screenshots below to see what its all about.