The TomeRaider Blog

Tomeraider Iphone is Now Free

2010-01-23T00:02:00.000-08:00

Tomeraider Iphone is now free while I try to get new Iphone developers. If you can help let me know!:) Check it out on itunes:)

Mat

TomeRaider and Yadabyte News and Request

2010-01-14T07:57:00.001-08:00

Hi Folks

I am now running Yadabyte.com as a one man show whilst also trying to be a Writer, which is what I have always wanted to be.

If you would like to help with the further development of TomeRaider please contact me here.

If you have an Iphone then why not buy my one dollar App, TomeRaider, from the iTunes App store:) It's a great Iphone app! When it has a bit more support I will be able to continue its development.

Enjoy:)

Publish Post

Mat

Follow me on twitter: http://www.twitter.com/matripley/

TomeRaider is Going Open Source

2009-11-18T03:16:00.000-08:00

We are in the process of making the TomeRaider file format Open Source as well as the Windows, Palm and Symbian versions. If you are interested in helping out with this please let me know:)

Thanks,

Mat Ripley

mat(a_t)yadabyte.com

TomeRaider 4 For Iphone is Now Live on Appstore

2009-09-09T04:16:00.000-07:00

Phew!

Its been a long time coming. We have battled with development issues and delays and then when it was ready we had to do the long Apple Appstore wait... weeks.. then new changes needed. Then ore weeks.

Now, at last TomeRaider is available on the iPhone for a discounted price while we get it all together. There are new features planned and we are working on bringing many of the thousands of freely available TomeRaider ebooks into the new iPhone versions online Library.

Its very early days, but we are on out way:)

If you would like the App then simply search for "Tomeraider" in the Appstore.

Enjoy!

We are in need of some beta testers for our forthcoming iPhone and Android applications

2009-03-18T03:48:00.000-07:00

Hi Folks

We are in need of some beta testers for our forthcoming iPhone and Android applications including the long awaited TomeRaider 4 E- Reference Reader.

If you would like to help out that would be great, please email beta@yadabyte.com stating which device you have, along with your device serial number and we will start the ball rolling for getting you beta testing.

Thanks very much,

Mat
Yadabyte

TomeRaider a finalist at Smartphone & Pocket PC magazine Best Software Awards for 2008

2008-10-06T03:39:00.000-07:00

Yadabyte is pleased to announce that our Ebook reader TomeRaider 3 is a finalist at the eighth annual Smartphone & Pocket PC magazine Best Software Awards for 2008 in the e-Book Readers category. The award winning TomeRaider Ebook Reader has consistently been in the nominations/ finals for Smartphone & Pocket PC magazine Best Software Awards over the past 8 years.

View more details on Smartphone & Pocket PC magazine 2008 awards click here

TomeRaider 3 ebook reader, the most versatile and only ebook reader that allows you to carry and easily reference data such as the entire Wikipedia and IMDB. Get TomeRaider 3 Ebook reader today, and gain access to over 4,000 ebooks and reference books available for TomeRaider 3 Ebook reader for free.

To download the latest version of TomeRaider Pocket PC (ver 3.62) from the following weblink(s)
http://www.yadabyte.com
http://www.tomeraider.com

New release: Full Spanish Wikipedia TomeRaider Ebook

2008-04-04T05:52:00.000-07:00

TomeRaider Spanish Wikipedia ebook with over 570,000 articles.

This ebook is published as an Torrent, you can download TomeRaider Spanish Wikipedia ebook from the download link below

TomeRaider ebook español de Wikipedia, con más de 570000 artículos.

Este libro electrónico es una publicación como Torrent, puede descargar TomeRaider español de la Wikipedia ebook enlace de descarga de abajo.

Download URL :
http://www.tomeraider.com/ebooks/reference/exclusive/the_spanish_wikipedia_encyclopedia_tr3_ebook--BK1058.php

New release: Full English Wikipedia TomeRaider Ebook File

2008-03-12T08:40:00.000-07:00

We have just released the latest version of our super popular TomeRaider Wikipedia file. This baby takes 2 weeks to make and comes in at under 4gigs, so it should fit on most devices with the right card.

We are trying to publish this by Torrent, which is a first for us.

Download here:
http://www.mininova.org/tor/1237296

New Yadabot Command Word: "acronym"

2008-03-07T03:37:00.000-08:00

We have released this new acronym that may not be useful ever, but that's the great thing about Yadabot command words, it doesn't matter. The commands are there if you need them:

Examples:

acronym rofl
acron laser
acro bafta

New Yadabot Command Word: "rtm" rememberthemilk.com

2008-03-06T06:20:00.000-08:00

Rememberthemilk.com is, in my view, the best online task manager, by a long shot.

I have tried many and we have designed a fair few variants, but rtm is super. It's just so simple, powerful and easy to share with others. We use it in work for all of the stuff that doesn't require its own project structure.

Many people use it for non-work and domestic tasks, hence the unusual name:)

Anyways, I won't try to sell it to you any more, sign up - its free and see if it suits your thing....

...If it does, then you will be very pleased to say that we have just added a rtm command to yadabot.

If I say to my yadabot:

rtm call bob hoskins

Then the "call bob hoskins" task will be added instantly to my Rememberthemilk.com task inbox.

Important Notes:

When you first use the rtm command it will give you a URL in the message window on remeberthemilk.com, this is a service provided by the good people at Rememberthemilk.com to allow secure linking with 3rd parties.
We are planning on adding more Yadabot/remberthemilk.com integration as we go

Incidentally, we have made a decision with the "active commands" we are designing - commands that do something rather than just tell you something - that they will not be destructive.

So no Yadabot command will never delete anything or remove anything in whatever systems we eventually link with. Deleting is best done in the browser:)

Thanks

Mat

New Yadabot Command Word: reminder

2008-03-06T02:16:00.000-08:00

We a have released a new command for Yadabot, Reminder. It should be pretty handy.

Simply say reminder, the string and when and it will send you a reminder when. Unlike most of the other command words here we have coded this ourselves, so there may be more glitches than when coded by Das Google.

Some examples of "reminder" command:

remind this is a test in 30 seconds
rem book holiday on 3 weeks
rem this is a test on 3 weeks 3:30 pm
rem this is a test in next Sunday
rem this is a test on next Sunday 4:40 am
rem this is a test on day after tomorrow 4:40 am
remind EGGS EGGS! in 200 seconds

We will shortly be adding an email "backup" and maybe SMS

Introducing Yadabot

2008-03-06T02:08:00.000-08:00

Hi!

We require Beta Testers for our new Yadabot internet interface, its pretty neat and works using your normal MSN, Yahoo or Googletalk Instant Messenger.

There is nothing to install, just add Yadabot to your IM Friends list. Signup to the beta and its free for life, mind you, we have no idea how we can make cash from it, but its cool anyways.

Yadabot is designed for PDA's and Smartphones, its a much quicker way to get many internet things done than in a small browser, but it also works great on your desktop - and it goes with you wherever your messenger acccount goes.

How to Setup Yadabot

Its very simply, just add it to your Instant messenger List, and its with your for life, whenever you are logged in to your IM. Of course, you can delete it just like any other IM buddy.

msn: yadabot@yadabyte.com
yahoo:yadabotyb
gtalk:yadabot@gmail.com

Once it is on your buddy list, just open it up, and send it command words. It will send you back the relevant reply.

Example Command Words

All Yadabot Command Words are "self shortening", you can use "wiki" or "wikipedia"

ebay ipod touch
wikipedia Barcelona
french how much is this hotel for three nights?
calc 300 kg in stone
russian please don't turn off the gas
movie raiders of the lost ark
def irony
calc sqrt( 23+7-9*(34/8))+89
whois tomeraider.com
weather new york
stock goog
news ipod touch case
tvseries six feet under
rtm Book Meeting with geoff Kenneck from Apers
email bob@whatver.com Hi, Bob just a quicky can you....
note Frankinsence, £399 on Ebay 1029373663
rtm tasks

We are planning to add many more command words as well as connections with other web services (currently just remeberthemilk, google and yahoo..)

Thanks very much,

Mat

New TomeRaider IMDB File Released

2007-07-13T05:03:00.000-07:00

Just released, 127 Megs of pure categorized movie information, the Internet Movie Database in one TomeRaider file.

Download the file direct from here.

TomeRaider gets 5 out of 6 in August 07 PC Pro Mag

2007-06-26T11:32:00.001-07:00

TomeRaider has been getting great reviews in paper mags for years but it's been at least two since it was last reviewed on paper (that we know of). So it's proud news for us and TomeRaider that we just got reviewed in the prestigious PC Pro Mag Stars. And we got five stars! Wooooo-hoooooo!

Click to read

Described at "it means you can carry a mind boggling amount of data around with you" and "Its a powerful and great-value application".

NewsRaider – An impromptu resurrection.

2007-04-04T07:23:00.000-07:00

I’m on holiday at the moment in a place where it costs more per megabyte than I thought mathematically possible. Being an avid browser of news sites I’m at a bit of a loss…. I need my fix but it’s just not worth more per article than single copy of your favorite paper magazine.

So… the idea struck me to get out our NewsRaider, nip into a net café with wifi and download more articles than possible by any other means. I have just done this and now on my hard drive I have hundreds of articles to read… oh joy! That Hammond Innes novel that someone left on the shelf of the Villa in 1988 can stay in its dusty frame.

NewsRaider came out about three years ago as a real-time TomeRaider for news sources. For a brief while we all really thought it was going to be the killer app to accompany TR.

NewsRaider was essentially bent over the digital pool table by Google Reader and other online news harvesters. Its quite a sad day as when you have to admit to yourself, your developers and staff that what was three years ago a really powerful innovation is now not much use to anyone – even if it is still powerful. The highway to tech progress is littered with such carcasses.

NewsRaider still sells and there are customers who still really rate it and use it regularly but it just can’t compete with browser based reading for the online times.

But as said, there is still a role for this app, and that’s for offline reading on your PC, Palm or Pocket PC. So, if you’re traveling someplace where there is no net, or maybe just traveling, download it from www.newsraider.com and see if it satisfies your lust for content.

New TomeRaider File: The Wiktionary Dictionary Complete

2007-03-22T07:27:00.000-07:00

I have been looking at dictionaries because of TomeRaider for a very long time… and before TomeRaider I have always been fascinated by words. For me the mark of a good dictionary is the one with my two favorite words in. Basically, if it doesn’t have these... I don’t wanna know.

The Witionary is the Wikipedia version of a Dictionary. Peer written and reviewed. Its an excellent dictionary that in my mind surpasses Wordnet, dictionary.com, Encarta etc … but not the noble OED. I have the full OED in paper, and though I haven’t touched it for probably 3 years it’s a thing of lexicographical beauty.

Anyways enough rambling … you can download the 35 meg Wiktionary file in TomeRaider format here.

A word of warning there are some weird formatting structures from the original text which we haven’t yet removed. It’s a work in progress. And yes it does contained my two favorite words… abacinate and pleached…

Internet Movie Database| New TomeRadier Files

2007-03-22T03:24:00.000-07:00

We have just released the newest cuts of the Internet Movie Database TR3 files. The last ones we did had some omissions, sorry about that., all fixed now:)

The new IMDB TomeRaider files:

English Movies after 1960 – Plot summaries, actors actress etc. Lots of info. We have taken the
English Movies after 2005 – Plot summaries, actors actress etc. Lots of info. Ideal for those interested in new films rather than your full on moovos
English Movies Full – This is the big boy. 128 Megs
TV Shows – The IMDB has a huge TV show section and we have put this in a separate TomeRaider file.

TomeRaider called to arms in $100 dollar educational PDA

2007-03-20T00:37:00.000-07:00

We have long thought known TomeRaider as being a great application for educational use (it won the 2002 Handango Best Education Solution). Over at Mobile Learning they think the same and suggest TomeRaider as the core application on the potential $100 dollar PDA - like OLPC:

A $100 One-PDA-A-Learner (OPAL?)

When e-documents and people collide: Check out Scribd.com

2007-03-07T10:41:00.000-08:00

I just stumbled upon this site, Scribd. It is billed as a YouTube for documents but I think its more like Swivel.com in ethos/aspect.

Currently they only have 2500 documents (There are nearly 10,000 TomeRaider files) but you can bet once people get into this and it gets that C-mass it could be a really cool site.

We are going to have a look at how we can hoot kit up with TomeRaider. For example, I would love a TomeRaider file of the weeks most popular documents on Scribd to take away.

Anyway, if you like reading stuff, which if your reading a blog about TomeRaider you probably do, then go check out this new site.

Introducing: The CIA World FactBook 2006 in TomeRaider format.

2007-03-07T03:55:00.000-08:00

The CIA world fact book is one of my favorite TomeRaider files. It lists loads of information on every country and region in the the world, in a nicely homogenized way. Unlike the Wikipedia entries for countries, the CIA World Factbook is pure information.

The CIA World fact book in TomeRaider format has flags and maps for each country.

Country Categories

In the our version we have added categories that can be used by TomeRaider’s filtering engine. These are kind of fun to play with – you can build up complex filters using: Area, population, GDP, Debt, Life expectancy, Litteracy, Religion and some other fields. OK, maybe "fun" is the wrong word:)

Download this 6 meg TR3 file from here

justanothermobilemonday.com Reviews TomeRaider 3.5

2007-03-06T07:21:00.000-08:00

Two new and great reviews in a day of TomeRaider 3.5:) There was this one and now this one:

This is on justanothermobilemonday.com

Another site I haven't heard of but looks pretty good. Its bookmarked:)

Nice writeup of the new TomeRaider PPC on mobilitysite.com

2007-03-06T04:09:00.000-08:00

Just found this new post:

http://www.mobilitysite.com/2007/03/tomeraider_35_beta_now_available.php

When they say, "...it's the best reference E-book reader in the world ever. You buy the reader but all the books are free, and no DRM stuff to get in the way either..." they are 100% right:)

Seems a cool site too if your into PDAs

Introducing the New Internet Movie Database (IMDB) TomeRaider files

2007-03-06T01:12:00.000-08:00

Before the Wikipedia TomeRaider files started being released a few years back, the IMDB files were our most popular TomeRaider files by a long long shot.

When we first released the TR IMDB it was about ten megs – this was in the days when a 32 meg flash card was considered pretty chunky. At the time only the Psion version for TomeRaider was available and that had, as direct competition Halliwells from Palmtop Software (Who I used to work for Palmtop, great company, since gone on making a mint rebranding as TomTom.).

I remember how back then the IMDB really was considered inferior but now… jeepers… is Haliwell’s still going? Even St Mark Kermode makes many references to it.

We are going to start releasing the new versions of the IMDB TomeRaider files every month or two, at least. Its all automated in house now so there is no excuse not to.

The new IMDB TomeRaider files:

English Movies after 1960 – Plot summaries, actors actress etc. Lots of info. We have taken the
English Movies after 2005 – Plot summaries, actors actress etc. Lots of info. Ideal for those interested in new films rather than your full on moovos
English Movies Full – This is the big boy. 52 Megs
TV Shows – The IMDB has a huge TV show section and we have put this in a separate TomeRaider file.

Notes:

We have taken the quotes and goofs out now. It seems that people who contribute to the IMDB think that quotes mean anything from the film rather than the really memorable or special ones. They just make the files messy and "quote heavy". Let us know if this is not a good move.
The English language versions don’t have details on films like Apocalypto.

Introducing: The Wordnet Dictionary and Thesaurus TomeRaider file.

2007-03-06T00:22:00.001-08:00

We are currently generating the brand new Wiktionary File. This is to dictionaries what the Wikipedia is to Encyclopaedias. It’s a pretty remarkable dictionary.

But one of the top files we have is the Wordnet Dictionary. This is taken from the Princeton Wordnet project. Our version has all 130k definitions and the hyperlinked Thesaurus embedded. It’s a great file if your looking for a very comprehensive Dictionary and Thesaurus.

You can download Wornet as a TomeRaider file it from here

How we make the TomeRaider Wikipedia File

2007-03-01T23:48:00.000-08:00

Thanks for all your suggestions and glitch finds in the Wikipedia released last week. We have just uploaded a new one that’s much purer. Also this one links to the print version of the Wikipedia article as this renders better on handhelds.

It generally takes about 40 hours to make one of these TomeRaider Wikipedia files, and that’s not including checking and glitch fixing.

The process:

We download the raw text data of the Wikipedia. Uncompressed this comes in at over ten gigs. One file. Ten Gigs. It’s a whopper!
Then we pass it through some simple filters we wrote in C to get the size down to something manageable. This filter truncates the articles and removes some other “known junk”.
Then we have to pass it through a second program we wrote that does a bazillion find and replaces using regular expressions.
Lastly, the output of this file should be ready to import into TomeRaider.
When a TomeRaider file of this size – it is now 1.5 million entries – is made three very processor intensive tasks are performed.

The text gets compressed using our own methods. This takes an age – but its so efficient to uncompress on your smartphone that the trade off is worth it..
All of the hyperlinks, in every page need to be checked and fixed or removed. Even using binary search this takes a long long time.
The file then needs to be sorted into the right order for TomeRaider. Again, a simple tasks but on such huge quantities of text takes a long long time.

And the result, when you take it out of the oven, is a perfectly baked TomeRaider file of the wonderful Wikipedia.

I remember a couple of years ago talking to Andrew Orlowski about the Wikipedia, he was pretty pessimistic about its potential and the validity of its content. But it does seem that peer review on such a huge scale is a method that can produce factual content with a new kind of reliability.

You can download the new version of the TomeRaider Wikipedia Here and the new TomeRaider PPC /Smartphone here

Introducing the new TomeRaider 3.5 Pocket PC Beta

2007-02-26T04:17:00.000-08:00

Last summer we released a new version of TomeRaider that had a very innovative new interface. We took out the toolbar and made the scrollbar do all the work. In terms of design ergonomics is was state, but, it seems, that people didn't like the way it looked so bland. And you know, with hindsight, they are right.

So we went back to the drawing screen and now are happy to announce the all new redesigned TomeRaider 3.5, available first for Pocket PC and WM5.

Really we should call this TomeRaider 4 but we like the TR3 icon too much and don’t want to confuse by naming, or not naming, .tr3 files to .tr4 files.

With TomeRaider 3.5 we have simplified the interface at the front and made good use of Drop up menus and scroll lists – in this version you should never need to leave the page view.

What’s new:

Total Interface rewrite. We have come up with what we think is the close to perfect interface for big file browsing. It still works great on smaller ebooks but on the 1.3 million entry Wikipedia or the IMDB TR3 file it really shines.
Aesthetic Improvements. The last version worked well but nobody liked it stark UI. We are back to pretty with 3.5.
In page index list. This is a huge advance. No more zipping back between page view and index view. You can now navigate the file from within the page using the pop up index list.
Elastic Scroll bar. This is like in Picassia, it works really well on large files. There is no point having a traditional scroll bar when you have a million plus entries because one pixel equates to tens of thousands of entries.
In page find. Sadly missing from the last versions you can now jump to any page just by typing the name. This was in version 1 and 2 of TomeRaider and its reintroduction changes the app quite significantly.
Much better ergonomics. Try it, you will see what we mean.
In page history view. Like the in page index list ect.

You can download the TomeRaider 3.5 beta from here or the non beta older uglier and less cool version from www.tomeraider.com

Introducing the new Wikipedia TomeRaider file.

2007-02-25T23:47:00.000-08:00

Hooray!

We have just finished the first cut of the new Wikipedia TR3 file and it really rocks. A few years ago Eric Zachte converted the entire Wikipedia text to TR2 and then to TR3. You can still download or get on CD the files from Eriks website (see below).

But as the wiki grows it becomes more and more cumbersome to handle and the returns of relevance diminish with this growth, it is also now over that SD important 1 gigabyte mark. So, last month we made a decision which is to supply regular cuts of the full Wikipedia text but only the introductory paragraph and then a link to the online article for those who want to read.

It works really well:

The files is less than 250 megs so it will fit on most SD cards.
It is super fast to browse and index search, even with 1.3+ million entries.

There are some text errors in the file, and to be honest there probably always will be – that’s a drawback of a content source written by so many people. But we will be doing regular updates and constantly removing glitches ion the text. If you find and “significant repeaters” then drop us an email at the Yadabyte support address.

We currently have these cuts of the Wikipedia data, all available for immediate download:

Wikipedia (226 MB) - This is the new file which holds the first paragraph of the articles, all 1.3+ million of them. For most people this will be the most useful. (File Version 01)
Wikipedia Complete (1.1 GB +) - various cuts made by Erik Zachte. Its, contains the full wikipedia with full articiles
Wikipedia Compact (49MB) - For this one we took a number of indexes from various encylopedia sources, merged them and then compared against the wikipedia. Close to a traditional encyclopedia in terms of scope.

Download TomeRaider for Pocket PC, palm OS, WM5, Windows etc at www.tomeraider.com
Email support issues to support at www.yadabyte.com.

Thanks:)

The Forthcoming Wikipedia TomeRaider File

2007-02-19T21:52:00.000-08:00

To accompany TomeRaider 3.5 we are going to release a new cut of the Wikipedia as a TomeRaider file.

The Problem With The Wikipedia from a Portable Point of View

When Erik Zachte first spent month converting the Wikipedia to TomeRaider format a few years back the Wiki was a huge but manageable beast. But in that time its grown exponentially both in terms of articles and individual article content. It’s a wonderful thing, but its pretty cumbersome, even when powered by the TR engine.

We did do some various reduced size versions but when your dealing with 1.3 million articles and you want to cut that down there is no clear point at which to “yay or nay” any given data.

What our research found for the vast majority of Wikipedia uses is that most “day to day” uses of the Wikipeda involve that first paragraph, the abstract that every article has. The bit that sums up the article in a nut shell. The new TomeRadier wiki uses just this initial summary with a link to the full article online.

It is hard to express just how blindingly fast and cool this is. All 1.3 million entries in your pocket and, in the new TR 3.5 interface, browsing is close to addictive.

The new TomeRaider Wikipedia will be released within days and comes in at a super compressed 270 Megs.

A New TomeRaider PPC Is Imminent

2007-02-19T21:32:00.000-08:00

We started this blog a few weeks ago because there were imminent changes afoot that we thought might be cool to put down in a public blog. As always in software development things take about 3.8 times longer than expected, but, those imminent changes are getting their shoes and socks on and will soon be afoot.

The first thing we are going to do is release TomeRaider Pocket PC 3.5 at some point this week.

What’s going to be new in TR PPC 3.5?

The last version of TR on the PPC had a new kind of handheld interface that prized screen real estate over the aesthetic. It didn’t look very in interesting because it was just a “smart” scrollbar. I really liked it, some of us didn’t and the general consensus from the users was a thumbs down. In fact it was so badly received that the editor of Pocket PC Mag refused to publish a review that a PPCM journalist had written essentially on the grounds that the screen grabs would look bland in the mag.

So we went back to basic and came up with what we now feel is a close to perfect compromise. The new UI is very simple, focussing the use on browsing rather than the sundry features like bookmarks, categories and the like.

It makes good use of “drop up” menus, which on the small screen size of a PDA or Smartphone are very useful features. You can have the core feature, say Index find, on the tool bar prime and then the features that are related but less used in the drop up, such as Full text search.

Stay tuned….

Why this blog?

2007-01-18T03:56:00.000-08:00

This blog is just going to be public info on TomeRaider, MondoPondo and other Yadabyte Software.