In February of 2012 I wrote a blog post called Chocolate Cheesecake, Apple’s Flat Panel TV and Steve Jobs. The post was my way of processing sadness over the loss of this wonderful man, who had made a huge difference in my life. I predicted iTV was coming and even described how it would work. At the same time I questioned if Apple could continue to innovate without the vision of Steve Jobs.

“I really wonder now that Jobs is gone how will Apple fair at this magical process? With no one like Steve to say “its crap start over” what will happen to new products being developed?”

So now, a year later (mid April), can the question be answered with anymore clarity? Read More.

Have we gone barmy? We're putting iBird UK on sale for only $2.99 (2 pounds) until June 1. The regular price is $19.99 so this is a humongous 85% discount! Why not take this opportunity to find out what kinds of birds you can see in England and Ireland? It may inspire you to travel there. The main change to this new iBird UK update 6.1 is optimization for the taller iPhone 5 screen and hundreds of new photos. Read the product page for more exciting details. See iBird UK.

Surely you have heard of Google Glasses? These are Google's new initiative to change the fundamental way we interact with computers by moving the screen right to our eyes. Glass has a full Android computer and display built into the frame. Google created a contest called "If I Had Glass" and winners would get early access to develop their idea. We decided to enter our concept for the ultimate bird identification product we called "Glass Birds". And we were selected as a winner! Click on the image below to see what the future of birding looks like.

This is a huge day for us and I hope for you as well. We have just launched the lastest update to iBird. This new version 6.1 is celbrating our first full size booth at Macworld (yes we are growing) and the fact we are heading towards birding season. Its been really crazy around here for the last month as we have been trying to get this update done AND prepare for Macworld.

Whats New?
So much. Of real importance is we have optimized iBird for the iPhone 5, iOS 6 and the iPad Mini. We've made many small but important improvements in usability. Significant additions to content including a dozen new species, tons of new illustrations and alignment with the AOU and ABA standards. iBird Journal has been completed and is being prepared for launch sometime toward the end February. You can read about Journal and all these other details on the About iBird 6.1 page on the More menu.

Here are a few highlights. We now support full screen on the main species page with a single tap (we removed the Portrait from the Slider on the species page). You can zoom and pinch to see all the high res detail in our drawings. The species Latin name, order, family and band code are now located at the bottom of the illustration on a semi-transparent background. The iBird portrait screens now support landscape orientation on the iPhone and the iPad and on the iPad landscape works on every screen.

Several customers have inquired about the beautiful Snowy Owl on iBird Canada splash screen. So I asked Peter Stahl, the photographer, how it was taken and here is what he said. "Every winter in Alberta the snow owls migrate south from the Arctic; some years more then others. In January, 2010, I went with some photography buddies, searching for good photo ops. We found this young juvenile, northeast of Calgary, Alberta and watched him for two days. I was rewarded with this shot on the last day of our trip, using my Canon 1D MK4 and 800mm lens."

To see the Snowy Owl full size tap the image

Scientific American, perhaps the most prestigious science magazine in the world, recommends iBird in the August issue (page 84).

"iBird Explorer PRO, Mitch Waite Group, 2011 ($2.99) ($14.99*), for iPhone/iPad. This top-rated app for bird lovers features 924 North American and Hawaiian birds and their songs." [ * Note: Price was $2.99 when materials delivered to magazine.]


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Who listens to their customers anymore? We do. And we hope this 6th major update to iBird reflects what you've told us. What have you told us?

How to Search
Save and Load Search
New Illustrations
Miscellaneous Version 6 Updates

How to Search
We've received hundreds of emails that said the same thing: "Your search engine is better than all the other birding apps but I am not getting the matches I want. How can I learn to use it?" We have done a number of things to help. Refer to the search screen below.



A new button on the top of the search page called How to Search has lessons how to best use the search for narrowing your list. The popup tutorial explains the order in which to use the attributes, how to use them one at a time instead of all at once, etc. Once you understand the best way to use the search engine you need to understand what the best attributes are.

Using Attributes
You've told us it's not clear what all the attributes do and you wish we could define each one of them. So we did! Refer to the screen below.



Each search attribute now has a tutorial that teaches you how it works and when to use it. Above you can see an example for Head Pattern, one of the most powerful attributes for identifying birds. When you tap the button "How to use this search attribute" which you will find at the top of EVERY search attribute you will get a popup definition of what it means an how to best use it, like in the screen below.



Save and Load Search
Another request we hear often is "I'm tired of setting up the search attributes only to have to set them up again when I have shut the app down". This new iBird version 6.0 introduces Save and Load Search. See screen below.



To use the Save/Load search feature first set up a search. In this example we have selected Location = California and Backyard Feeder = Yes frequently. This combination results in 53 matches. Press Save Search to open a screen for naming the search as shown below.



We called this Calif Backyard. Now go back to the search screen and press Load Search. This will open a screen with a list of all the searches you have saved. Below we see two such searches; Calif Backyard and Calif June Perching.



The screen also shows the number of matches for each search. However since the name and the number of matches may not be enough to remember what the settings are we have created a history feature. Press the blue disclosure button to the right of the Calif Backyard and you will see the screen below.



Now we see a history of the search. It shows the names of the attributes and the values selected for them. Below is an example of a more complex search for black and brown ducks in the forests and lakes of Washington state.

More Astonishing Illustrations!
Continuing the tradition we started in iBird 5.1 of adding new drawings we have added the most number of new illustrations ever: 23 from our best artist. Below is a sample of just 6. To see them all use the Search attribute Illustration Update and select the value 6.
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We are now combining male, female and the flight drawings into one gorgeous illustration. Tap any of these to see it enlarged.
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