Many of you have contacted us about our plans for an iPhone version of CheckBook. We’ve been reluctant to comment on much besides the fact that we are actually working on a personal finance manager for the iPhone. Just an update: Almost all of our effort is now directed toward this project. A good bit of the core logic is in place and, for the short term, we’re focused on designing a user interface that includes many of the features you’re used to in CheckBook and CheckBook Pro. A famous little greenish fellow once said, “Always in motion is the future.” With that in mind we’re working as hard as we can to get a 1.0 out by the end of the summer.

We’ve seen a few reports of Audiobook Builder 1.1 hanging as it begins to import a CD - and they all seem to be from Mac OS X 10.4 users. Looked over the code and found what we think is the culprit. Our fix works here and we’re just waiting for some feedback from some of the affected users to be sure we’ve got the issue licked. If you’re seeing this issue you’re welcome to download the ‘fixed’ version. If you do grab a copy please let us know if it helps. Thanks!

Audiobook Builder 1.1.1a1:
http://www.splasm.com/special/audiobookbuilder/Audiobook%20Builder%201.1.1a1.zip

This could be our final beta, folks. The German localization is complete, all known issues appear to be resolved and we’re testing the heck out of the latest build. We’re shooting for a release any time in the next week so keep an eye out!

Quick update: Beta 3 addresses some good user interface feedback from Beta 1 and resolves all known and reproducible issues. Have a look at some of the changes…

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The first beta of Audiobook Builder 1.1 goes out to a small group of testers today. Interested in joining that group? Drop us a line at feedback@splasm.com and promise to provide something valuable. Like…feedback. We’ll think about it ;).

New features in 1.1 include options for how to separate the final Audiobook into Parts, maximum Part length based on the selected audio format (you can get up to 74 hours per Part if you set up for 8kHz - but we can’t say whether these massive files will work out in iPod land), the ability to set audio format before your final build, a few other goodies and assorted fixes.

Can’t wait to get this one in the can and out to you guys - and it won’t be long, if testing goes well!

Wait, wait, what happened to Build 2, you say? Sigh. Not long after 2.0.2 hit on Wednesday we received a note from a helpful user who’d found a CheckBook Pro 2.x serial number in, um, let’s call it a part of the Internet good little boys and girls don’t usually find themselves in without, well, good reason. So we quietly flipped the switch on the serial number with Build 2 the next day. No biggie.

And all was well until late yesterday when another user noticed printing from Entries, Entry and Reconcile no longer worked. What we found was a big quality assurance boo boo on our part. Things got a little unhinged while we added the Tax-Deductible column to those views and, unfortunately, neither beta testers nor in-house folk properly tested printing anything but Account Summaries before letting the official 2.0.2 out the door. And it turned out it wasn’t their fault…because a quick look at our Project Schedule told us a small part of the project wasn’t properly spec’d. So the printing issue was actually my mistake. Sorry everyone - we’ll do our best to not let that happen again.

And thus, Build 3. You want this one, too. If you updated before Friday afternoon please hit the Products page and grab your flavor of 2.0.2 when you get a chance.

Next update should be a proper 2.0.3, folks :).

Couple of reports already from iPod touch users who’ve just upgraded to firmware 2.0.2 letting us know that only the last Part of their multiple Part Audiobooks are playing properly now. We’ve duplicated the issue with a 64Kbps/32kHz/mono test file 12 hours in length here and we’re about to test on an upgraded iPhone 3G. Stay tuned, answers are coming.

1st update
The issue does affect the iPhone with firmware 2.0.2.

Same test file shortened to 11:55:00 also fails.

2nd update
Same test file shortened to 11:30:00 also fails. And now we see the same issue on iPod touch/iPhone firmware 2.0.1 and 2.0. We’re working our way down in length to try to find a case with this particular test file where the issue does not occur.

3rd update
We believe we’ve cornered a major component of the underlying cause. We’re working on implementing a fix and will begin testing soon.

Just want to let our Mac OS X 10.3.9 users know that we’re aware of the issue preventing it from launching properly. “Something” crept in at the last minute and zapped compatibility with 10.3.9. We’ll have it fixed soon but in the meantime, if you need to revert to CheckBook 1.8.1 you can download it at http://www.splasm.com/checkbook1x/downloads.html .

Interested in beta testing CheckBook 2.0? If you’re currently registered for CheckBook 1.x send an email to checkbookbeta@splasm.com. We’ll send out beta testing instructions and registration information to the first 50 users that write in.

Upgrading to Mac OS X 10.5 “Leopard”? We’re right there with you! In the great tradition of major Mac OS X releases Audiobook Builder, CheckBook and ViddyUp! have all been updated to resolve some minor issues with the latest and greatest from Apple. You might notice a tiny drawing glitch or two in some sheets but that’s the only item left to work on and certainly not enough to prevent us from getting these updates to you today. Enjoy!