MangAI v1.10 released

March 7th, 2013 5 comments

New to version 1.10:
-Mobi output support
MangAI now offers creation of .mobi files.
This output format was added as per the request of a MangAI user who discovered that mobi is the best comic format for Kindle Paperwhite.
As Amazon owns Mobipocket, there’s a good chance that other Kindle devices will like mobi best as well. For now, mobi output is only enabled by default for the Kindle Paperwhite, but you can enable it for any device in .properties settings.
Mobi output requires Amazon’s free KindleGen tool. See -Setting up KindleGen- in Help->Contents or readme.txt for details.
-Various fixes and improvements
Automatically update the .properties settings file when new helper programs are discovered.

Thanks to user feedback for helping improve this program. Please contact me if you have any suggestions for MangAI.

Download the latest version from the MangAI project page.

Categories: MangAI, Projects

Ramblings #6: quiet voice

February 12th, 2013 3 comments

Not much has been going on lately. MangAI v1.09 is running strong. I’ve been mostly vegging lately, working on my bedroom that has been a mess for far too long. Still thinking about my next iOS app and enjoying having an iPhone for the first time.

A new section has been added to bitcake called Articles. This will be a random collection of things I find interesting. The first article will be a writeup of my current health condition. It’s… really weird. If you like medical stuff, mysteries, strangeness, and/or falling, look forward to reading about “Earth Axis Syndrome” (I got to name it since it doesn’t have one :P).

Categories: Articles, General

MangAI v1.09 released

January 11th, 2013 No comments

New to version 1.09:
-Bug fix: Missing code during final MangAI packaging
One of the final steps of packaging MangAI is code shrinking to remove unused and unnecessary code. Unfortunately, the shrinker I was using was removing code that appeared to be useless but was important.
I’m not sure which algorithms were affected by this. At the very least, string chapter detection (e.g. v1cb1) was not working as well as it could.
This has been fixed.
-AI improvements to MPM
Better automatic conflict resolution, especially for conflicts between lettered chapters.
-Added more ereader .properties settings profiles
Settings profiles now available for:

  • phone (mobile phone)

Some of the latest mobile phones can make for decent manga readers. The experience is nothing like reading on a larger tablet, but still nice if you can’t always carry your tablet with you.
The phone settings profile leaves scans at their original resolution for improved pinch zooming. White space is chopped to fit more content on screen.
If on a phone, I recommend reading in landscape (i.e. hold phone sideways, the full width of the scan fills the height of the phone, scroll up/down to read).

Download the latest version from the MangAI project page.

Categories: MangAI, Projects

Ramblings #5: 21st century pocket

January 7th, 2013 1 comment

Murray 2013 everyone!

So I finally got to upgrade from my 5+ year old Samsung flip-style unsmart phone to an iPhone 5 (quite the step up ^^). Of course one of the first things I tried out was manga on a phone screen. The experience is better than expected. I’ve only tested a few series so far, but vertical scrolling in landscape mode (i.e. hold phone in landscape, width of page fills full height of screen and you scroll down to read) seems to be the way to go. The extra height on the new iPhone 5 screen is a big help for manga.

Please leave a comment if you are interested in reading manga on your phone. I can look into adding default profile settings in the next MangAI update.

Speaking of MangAI, I’m working on an update right now to fix a very weird bug. Apparently, when I pass my code through an obfuscator for final packaging, something is getting messed up. I noticed while processing some test manga for my new iPhone that some string chapters (e.g. chapter b1) were not being properly recognized. The unobfuscated code, on the other hand, works perfectly. This probably won’t be the easiest problem to track down, but I’ll release a fix as soon as its ready.

Categories: General, MangAI, Projects

Lottery Sim holiday sale

December 22nd, 2012 No comments

Happy holidays everyone! To celebrate, Lottery Sim is 50% off ($.99) for the rest of 2012.

Lottery Sim is a great last minute present for the Lottery players in your life. You can gift the app (either by email or printout) through the App Store.

App Store

Categories: Lottery Sim, Projects