Dave Prochnow » Birds

LifeList-Birds Updated

dp — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 15:25:07 +0000

My popular North American birds life list App, LifeList-Birds, has been updated. Identified as Version 1.1, this update contains the following changes, enhancements, and corrections:

Performance improvement
Your name, date, and time are automatically entered and can be edited
GPS coordinates* are automatically recorded (*must have wireless and/or cellular connection)
You can map your sighting position and save the map image in your iPhone/iPod touch Photo Album
Modified “sighting entry” page
Moved total-bird-sighted count from bottom of database table to floating footer

This update works on all iPhone and iPod touch devices with OS 3.1.3 or later. Version 1.1 is a free update to all original App purchasers.

LifeList-Birds Update Pending Approval

dp — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 18:03:35 +0000

My LifeList-Birds App update has just been submitted to Apple for review. This will be a FREE update via the Apple iTunes App Store for all those who have purchased this App. While we wait for approval, here is a quick laundry list of the features incorporated into the Version 1.1 update of LifeList-Birds:

Performance improvement
Your name, date, and time are automatically entered and can be edited
GPS coordinates* are automatically recorded (*must have wireless and/or cellular connection)
You can map your sighting position and save the map image in your iPhone/iPod touch Photo Album
Modified “sighting entry” page
Moved total-bird-sighted count from bottom of database table to floating footer
Requires OS 3.1.3 or later

Where’s My Database?

dp — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 19:02:19 +0000

Did you know that your LifeList-Birds database is also stored on your computer? When you attach your iPhone or iPod touch to your computer, typically, iTunes is launched and a backup of your installed Apps is made to your computer’s hard disk drive. This backup includes all user preferences, settings, and databases that are associated with each App. You can locate this backup archive via these system file paths:

MacOS X -

user name (home folder)/Library/Application Support/
MobileSync/Backup

Windows XP -

drive letter:\Documents and Settings\user name\Application Data\
Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup

Windows Vista -

drive letter:\Users\user name\AppData\Roaming\
Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup

Once you’ve navigated to the backup folder, you will find a series of folders with long incomprehensible names (e.g., f698a97c3cf479fc12c09bd54774859980741346). Find the most recently updated folder (i.e., check each folder’s “date modified” entry). Inside the correct folder you will have to wade through a nonsensical listing of file names. These are the stored names for your backup files. For example,

aefbf9450dc85d985a83a22a0bed88f9f3fa8cc2.mddata

is the name for my LifeList-Birds icon file. Remember never edit these files.

An alternate method for locating, viewing, and copying your basic iPhone files is with USB iPhone Browser App (http://www.iphone-explorer.com/). This FREE App enables you to create, copy, rename, and delete files and folders directly on your iPhone and iPod touch — just like a generic USB removable media device. Although available for both MacOS and Windows, USB iPhone Browser will not enable you to make a user-friendly backup or copy of your LifeList-Birds SQLite database.

If you’d like to locate, extract, backup, copy, or repair your LifeList-Birds database, then you will need the following tools:

MacOS X – iPhone/iPod touch Backup Extractor
(http://supercrazyawesome.com/)

Windows – iPhone Backup Extractor
(http://www.reincubate.com/labs/iphone-backup-extractor-how-extract-files-iphone-backup-windows)

SQLite Browser – FireFox Add-On
(https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/5817)

SQLite Browser – Database Editor
(http://sourceforge.net/projects/sqlitebrowser/)

SQLite Database Repair Utilities
(http://sqlite.software.informer.com/download-sqlite-database-repair-utility/)

Remember to protect your valuable data—always backup your iPhone.

What’s in Your Life List?

dp — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 16:09:49 +0000

Do you enjoy birdwatching? Do you regularly update your birding Life List? For example, just yesterday I spotted a Cooper’s Hawk capture an unsuspecting American Robin. This sighting made a wonderful entry into my Life List. Luckily, I had my iPhone with me. What? Yup, rather than entering this sighting into my “paper” notebook, I made the notation on my iPhone with my newest App, LifeList-Birds. Why not convert your paper life list into a digital, handheld Life List? Depending upon the size of your life list, conversion from paper to digital could take you between one afternoon and several days. Now your list will be as close to you as your iPhone.

If you’re using LifeList-Birds, tell us how many bird entries you’ve made. Go ahead and brag.

Where’s My Bird?

dp — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 17:19:34 +0000

When using my LifeList-Birds App, you might think that even with 900+ bird names built-into the database, your bird’s name is missing! Not so fast, Dr. Peterson. While LifeList-Birds does follow the bird naming convention developed by the American Birding Association, it has been indexed according to the more commonly associated name for each bird. For example, if you’re looking for the Northern Cardinal, you would press the “C” index link (not the “N” index link) which would whisk you to the proper Northern Cardinal entry. This unique and powerful indexing feature in LifeList-Birds saves you the potential headache from hopping around looking for, say, Snowy Egret, Cattle Egret, and Reddish Egret (which might require three separate touches)–rather, just press the “E” index link and all of the egrets are conveniently cataloged in front of you.

Now sighting each of these egrets and entering all citation data, that pleasure is left up to you!

LifeList-Birds App Approved

dp — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 21:12:34 +0000

My new life list App, LifeList-Birds, is now available in the Apple iTunes App Store. This App is an observer’s checklist (sometimes called a “life list”) featuring over 900 North American bird species. Once a bird has been sighted you can entered all of the relevant who, where, when, what, and note data and store everything inside this unique database App.

LifeList-Birds is not a field identification guide.

ListList-Birds costs $1.99.

You can purchase and download LifeList-Birds directly from this iTunes link. [NOTE: this link will open iTunes on your desktop PC.]

New iPhone App

dp — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 15:52:27 +0000

A new iPhone App has just been submitted to the Apple iTunes App Store. LifeList-Birds is a data collection App for recording your lifelong bird sightings. Containing well over 900 birds, organized alphabetically according to common vernacular names, each entry can be edited for all of the who, where, when, what, and why data that make Life Lists such a rich experience. Invalid entries can also be deleted. Plus your entire LifeList database is automatically backed up on your computer during each iTunes device sync.

More LifeList database Apps are currently under development.