Computing is short of words. There are massive new concepts being thrown up by technological advance, and English is not keeping up well. Sometimes an analogy is made between a technological object and an "old-world" thing. Like a "notebook" for instance, which is the industry word for a laptop. Monitor, screen, keyboard; all are horribly derivative terms. Mouse is an unusually good one - though I haven't used one of those for months. And I find it annoying that there is still no agreed term for a USB memory device - drive - thumb drive, pen-drive, memory stick, whatever you call it (but I might not!). PCs sometimes include Macs, sometimes don't. Occasionally they're politically correct police constables.
I used to write computer 'programs'. So called because a programme is a list of events, and computers process things sequentially. Then someone came up with the word 'application' - i.e. Software that puts your general purpose computer to a particular task. In what seems like a recent development, that too-long word has become abbreviated to "app". Which is a good thing because it differentiates and creates. (see Genesis 1)
Apple have a slogan, "there's an app for that". In case you missed it, they're saying that if you have an iPhone or similar device, you can get it to do pretty much anything by downloading an app from their store. Apple have made this incredibly easy to do, and have of course profited from it enormously. But also they have brought down the price of software - many apps are free, and even top-notch ones are only a few pounds. And it's also opened the way for some 'minority' software to be viable, and accessible.
There are some astonishing apps out there - like the one that translates signs from Spanish to English when you look at them through your iPhone's camera. I use a guitar tuner app, and another that gives you a complete guitar effects unit, and if I take my phone for a run it can tell me exactly where and how slowly I went.
There are many Bible apps: I use one that has simultaneous commentaries and several versions of the Bible.
Another couple of apps that I use regularly are daily devotional ones.
MyCofE was produced for the church of England, and has the text of several daily services available every day, both BCP and CW.
It is technically outdone though by the Divine Office app, of a decidedly Catholic persuasion. I actually prefer this one because it has both a service text and an audio track of some people saying the service. There's even an option to show you where in the world people are currently praying! (using that particular app, anyway). It's quite amazing to think of all the people around the world in prayer at one moment. If technology can help us to visualise that, to see God's point of view, then surely it is a good thing.
Matthew 5:14
"You are like light for the whole world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid.
Location:Shed
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