The Quantum Pontiff

ArXiview, my arXiv browsing iPhone app, has been updated for the new iPhone OS 3.0. New features include:

• Search fields now accept boolean queries and exact phrase queries. Touch the little (i) icon to get info on this feature from the search page.
• Search by identifier has been added.
• There is now an in application emailer. So when you want to email yourself a reference the program doesn't quit out of the app.
• Added the cond-mat category for quantum gases.
• The app now sorts resorts in reverse chronological order.
• A bunch of bug fixes (search by category in particular was acting buggy.) The bugs were mostly pointed out to me by Andrew. Thanks Andrew!

In the mean time, reviews of the app have appeared in a couple places. Over at MacWorld Kate Dohe reviews the app and pointed out the lack of boolean searching. This should now be all fixed up in the new version. The one feature that Kate requests that I have yet to find a good solution to is how to transfer the pdfs stored on the device to a local desktop. Next on my list.

Another review by Ian Douglas compared all three arXiv apps out there (one is $0.99 and the other is free or $0.99 depending on what the developer decided for that day. It's a great way to boost up your meter on the store: switch between free and paid. Free will boost your popularity meter and then you can get more from the paid! Score! Look for a "arXiview free for a day" promotion coming to this blog soon :) ) Ian puts my app on top:

Dave Bacon is the Quantum Pontiff of the quantum computing-themed blog of the same name. I like the blog very much and didn't want to give his app a bad review, which is why it was a great relief when I found it was the best of the three by quite a long way.

Here is a review in French. Science librarians have also taken note: Mobile Libraries, the science librarian at Drexel physics, Science Libraries in Transition, and the Biomedical and Physical Science library at Michigan State. To name but a few.

An on the ITunes store itself there is finally a review up by ebitnet: "Of the three arxiv apps, this one is the best..." Thanks ebitnet! Does the nickname stand for entangled bit network?

On a similar note, I highly recommend Life as a Physicist who discusses issues with reading pdfs on small mobile displays. I've been playing around with some ideas for how to fix this for arXiv docs...we will see if this gets anywhere.