This sounds awesome.

I bought an N810 tablet last year when looking for something to run anki on the move but the anki on there is so buggy I probably spend more time trying to get it running than I do actually using it. For instance last weekend I went away so took it with me but within 2/3 minutes into the journey it wouldn't read the decks properly so it was useless the rest of the trip.

So yeah I will be away during the summer and probably buy an Itouch just to get this app.

resolve Wrote:Grinkers: unfortunately I can't do anything about Apple's payment options. :-(

Not completely true. I believe that Apple has made it possible for devs to issue redemption codes for a free download of a specific app. It is possible to have someone pay via Paypal etc and then send them the code in return. I'm sure Apple has found a way to take a cut of that though (maybe subtract the commission from Dev's account?)
Of course, it would all have to be done manually and is probably too much trouble.

I will get it because it's money towards a helpful and deserved cause. My one query is about iPad compatibility. Will they be released separately, or will it be one joint file? I don't have a problem with paying $25 for everything, but having to pay for both formats is out of the question.

As far as I know, you are allowed up to 50 free coupon codes per release of the app. They are only valid for people in the US, and I imagine there are T&C which prevent selling them. I would be very surprised if Apple allowed people to sell their app without Apple getting a cut.

nicksan: currently the toolkit I use doesn't support universal binaries, so while the standard application will run on the iPad, it won't take advantage of the full screen size. You can run it at 2x, but it's not as pretty as a regular iPad app. If the toolkit doesn't add support quickly, I'll release a separate iPad binary that will support the full screen size. If you've already purchased the normal app and you're in the US and I have coupon codes left I'll send you one, but Apple won't let me do that for 50+ people or for people outside of the US.

I also think I read an article that iTunes now allows users to gift apps. Someone with an iTunes balance could gift apps for a nominal premium, if there were people REALLY desperate. It probably only allows gifting to users in the same region of course.

Thanks for the quick reply. That's a reasonably way of doing it, can't ask for more than that. I'm not in the US, but I think I've got a US iTunes account which should accept codes. Will have to wait and see.

I love your software and I know you don't have any control over Apple stuff. I was just grumbling.

I'll just get a Japanese debit/credit card; it's not only itunes that's annoying. Citibank is basically stealing tons of money from me, so I'll probably try JP Bank. I guess I better hurry up, because it sounds like Anki will be coming out soon!

If there's ever an iPad-specific release of this, then it's a guaranteed buy for me. Especially if it incorporates that neat USB syncing through iTunes thing that Apple put in for iPad apps.

If not, I guess I'll just have to get the iPhone app, and make a deck that isn't bloated with media and near impossible to view on a small screen.

@Grinkers:
Get a post office bank account, they have the best service and are the most convenient. I have a bank account there and at Mitsui Sumitomo, and the difference in the amount of ridiculous hoops you need to jump through is astounding. I see no real point for going with a tiny bank (tiny in Japan at least) that is supposedly gaijin friendly, but in reality is just less convenient and more expensive.

For credit cards, get a department store visa (from Jusco/Aeon/etc). They usually have no yearly fees, though the interest rate may be crap. You'd be paying it off every month anyways right? They also tend to give credit cards to people who are normally rejected by major banks (aka foreigners with no credit history at all in Japan)

will it work on all itouch/iphone generations?

yep. I have personally tested it on iTouch 1g + 2g+ iPhone 3gs, and it's been tested by 10 beta testers with different devices too.

@Jarvik7
Citibank is "stealing" 2000 yen from me per month, because my balance went under 300,000 yen. What's that nonsense? Anyway, I'll probably be opening a Post bank account asap and use that as my primary, and I figure I'd just get a credit card there at the same time. First year is free, so that gives me some time to deal with it. It's only 1300yen/year anyway, which is nothing compared to the robbery at Citibank.

Is an alias/hanko required for any of this? I figured I'd just do all of this once I get my permanent residence in a month or two, but 2000 is robbery.

When I couldn't get a credit card, I liked ebank (now rakuten bank). For ~ 3200/year you get a visa debit card with 1% cash back.

I opened both of my bank accounts without a ginko-in (hanko) or an initial deposit. Although being Japan, it is case by case. Opening the post office account took about 10 minutes, opening the Mitsui Sumitomo account or making any changes to it required a morass of paperwork. I still haven't updated my address because I don't want to fill out five two page forms in triplicate.

While it may be easier to open an account with a ginko-in, I recommend against it. Hanko impressions are legal even if you didn't press it yourself or give permission, and they are pretty simple to copy compared to a signature. It just opens yourself up for fraud. Inkan may be attractive, but they belong in the past.

The appeal of something like rakutenbank, sumishin or shinsei is they have very good online support. Does a post office account offer online access?

They do have online access (http://www.jp-bank.japanpost.jp/), but honestly I've never used it. All of my bills are 自動振り込み (gas, elec, cell, credit card) or come out of my paycheck (rent, shakai hoken) and there is a postoffice a 5 minute walk from my apartment if I want to update my bankbook (how quaint, I've never even owned one in Canada ).

I am pretty good at living cheaply and have a lot of savings, so I don't really need to micromanage that much. The only time I ever used my Canadian bank's site is to pay my creditcard, and my Japanese one is on auto here.

I try to put as much on credit card as possible. If you're paying 1man a month for electricity, paying by CC saves you 1200 a year. Repeat for all the other CC-payable bills and it adds up.

As for electronic access, I really appreciate getting an email every time my card is used in some way, and being able to quickly check the month's charges.

I suppose it depends on how much you spend on what and where. The yearly fee on the card really eats into the cashback unless you're regularly taking flights etc.

Even if I switched everything to CC payment, if I had it set to auto-pay then I still wouldn't need net access. That said, the post bank may very well offer the notification service, I've never used the site at all so I can't say.

I hope that 1man elec bill wasn't a real example. I only use 2900Y/mo and I always forget to turn off the light

It got up to 2man in the middle of summer. Running two desktop computers (one was the Anki server) and keeping the room cool really ran up the bill. This month I haven't used the AC at all and the Anki server is hosted these days, but it still easily ran up to 7000yen.

季節を感じて暮らそう

I'm not at home during the day and it's not that bad at night if I leave the windows open, so I don't use AC that much. Usually just an hour on timer when I goto sleep and only in the height of summer. My old apartment was a 和室 so an electric tower fan (which uses much less electricity) was really effective, but I have a 洋室 now so it's not practical anymore.

My gas bill, on the other hand, is always frustratingly expensive (~6000Y), but Nagoya is pretty expensive for gas. I pay twice here by myself than what I paid for two people (exgf always used 風呂 and not just shower) in Osaka.

Hot weather is bad enough, but running computer servers which heat up the room makes it considerably worse. I also lived in a really humid part of Japan. I wonder if you'd have managed 3k/month in Kumamoto...

Yeah, computers do create a pretty big heating effect. Running them and then offsetting their heat probably had more to do with it than anything. I heated my house in (admittedly mild) Victoria in the winter entirely by computers, and my laptop + ext hdds made a noticeable temp increase in Osaka.

Nagoya and Osaka are, on average, more humid than Kumamoto though. (Nagoya has been at 100% humidity for most of the past 48 hours, although it lowered this evening). I was sweating all day at work even though its not hot yet!

Kyoto (and Kansai in general) has a reputation for the worst humidity in Japan. I nearly drowned in my own sweat the last time I went to Gion Matsuri.

Quote:I don't remember that, but perhaps your memory is better than mine. It lists 'open source' in the features section of the page...

Yeh, according to google cache every page had a footer stating "Python Powered · GPL licensed · Valid HTML 4.01". Realised this may have referred to your site's Wiki backend..

So what exactly is the licensing status of Anki now? Have you got a link to the details??

Looks like you were looking at the wiki footer.

Anyway, the desktop client is licensed as GPL, the same as it always was. If you want the details, go look them up. I've got better things to do than spoon feed them to you. :-)