SmartGo Books

smartgo · #1

I'm very happy to announce that the free SmartGo Books app is now available on the App Store. Unlike books in PDF, you can replay moves directly within diagrams, and zoom diagrams to see the context. With comments and long figures broken into logical sequences, this is the way Go books were meant to be read.

SmartGo Books starts off with eight books by four publishers; more are in the works. The app contains a free chapter for each book. Buy a book using in-app purchase, and enjoy it on your iPad as well as your iPhone or iPod touch.

The following books are available now:
- "Go: A Complete Introduction to the Game" by Cho Chikun 9 dan ($3.99)
- "Double Digit Kyu Games" by Neil Moffatt ($4.99)
- "Basic Techniques of Go" by Haruyama 9 dan and Nagahara 6 dan ($8.99)
- "Understanding Pro Games" by Yuan Zhou ($4.99)
- "Go Seigen's Ten-Game Matches" by John Fairbairn ($4.99)
- "Catching Scent of Victory" by O Rissei 9 dan ($9.99)
- "The Way of Creating a Thick and Strong Game" by Naoki Hane 9 dan ($8.99)
- "Breakthrough Attacking Power Yamashita-Style" by Keigo Yamashita 9 dan ($8.99)

SmartGo Books offers the full content of the print edition, with a better reading experience, at a reduced price. More info at: http://www.smartgo.com/en/books.htm.

hyperpape · #2

Very cool--I'm looking forward to it.

Board members, I'm expecting a review by the time I get home. That gives you 90 minutes (though I might not look at the internet for another hour or two afterwards).

1986 · #3

Great app I'm still trying to decide which book to get first I never read any of them any recommendations that would be good for sdk's?

imabuddha · #4

1986 wrote:

Great app I'm still trying to decide which book to get first I never read any of them any recommendations that would be good for sdk's?

Of course an sdk won't need "Go: A Complete Introduction to the Game". ;-)

While there are some parts of "Basic Techniques of Go" that you might find useful, I'd recommend "Go Seigen's Ten-Game Matches", "Understanding Pro Games", or any of the Hinoki Press titles.

judicata · #5

This is awesome.

Very odd, though--I downloaded the app to my iPhone, but I can't find it in the App store on my iPad...either in the iPhone or iPad section. Maybe something on Apple's end needs to refresh...

EDIT: Ah! Ran the search again and found it.

1986 · #6

Has anyone had trouble buying a book it says cannot connect to iTunes store when I hit the buy button on books. but that doesn't make sense because I downloaded it from the iTunes store?

smartgo · #7

1986 wrote:

Has anyone had trouble buying a book it says cannot connect to iTunes store when I hit the buy button on books. but that doesn't make sense because I downloaded it from the iTunes store?

There is currently a problem where SmartGo Books shows a "Cannot connect to iTunes Store" error when you try to buy a book. This seems to happen most of the time, but not always,

Sorry about that; I'm working on it. Hopefully, it's a temporary issue due to both the app and the in-app purchases being fresh and not having propagated to all the servers yet. Until I get it resolved, please enjoy reading the free samples.

smartgo · #8

If you had trouble buying a book before, please try again now. Things seem to be working better. If you still get the same error, try Settings > Store > Apple ID > Sign Out, reboot your iPhone or iPad, then launch SmartGo Books and try again.

1986 · #9

It works fine now thank you smartgo

1986 · **#10**

I went with O Rissei's Catching a scent of Victory

Everything is easy to read and it's even easier to follow the diagrams, so I'm enjoying it.

Well I gotta get back to it so I'll c ya around.
I'm in study mode!

rubin427 · **#11**

I spent about an hour tonight studying with the app on an ipod touch (w retna display). I love it! I already have a feeling I will be giving e-books available on SmartGo Books a strong preference over any other format.

daal · **#12**

smartgo wrote:

this is the way Go books were meant to be read.

Sounds like the way I'd like to read them, and I would certainly purchase all of the books that I don't have, and maybe even some that I do...if I had an i-something. Hopefully at some point these interactive books will be made available in a less device-specific format.

Mivo · **#13**

Thank you, guys, for making the wait for the iPad 2 being in stock again (after Easter!) even more painful.

And do I really see a title by John Fairbairn in that list? (cf. the very recent discussion with him about e-books!) I had to rub my eyes to make sure I wasn't seeing things!

This sounds like a fantastic app, and it capitalizes on the strength and potential of electronic books. I also want to say that I'm impressed by the moderate prices for the books so far. Much cheaper than the printed versions, at least over here in Germany, so that'll help with acceptance.

And you were right, this is a very good reason to pick up an iPad2.

kirkmc · **#14**

I have to say that I've been beta testing this for quite some time, and I remember the flash of amazement when I saw the very first example of a book. This is exactly what go books should be: the ability to move through diagrams just makes so much sense that I will find it hard to look at other books in the future. Granted, I like to play out commented games on a goban - I find it more interesting, and more tactile - but for books with diagrams that are explaining techniques, I can't think of any way I would rather read them. I hope other publishers come on board, and we see both new books - unlimited by such things as printing costs - and reissues of out-of-print books in this format.

Kudos to Anders, and a bonus tip-of-the-hat to imabuddha!

Mivo · **#15**

You may also want to post to the Announcements section. The audience is larger there, and I feel this is really big news for the Go community.

For me the perhaps most exciting part is that multiple publishers joined in.

grillapa · **#16**

If I buy a book on my iphone, can I also sync that book to my ipad?

judicata · **#17**

I'm having a blast with this. :clap:

I have both an iPhone 4 and iPad 2. grillapa--yes, your purchases will transfer across devices (just go to "Restore Previous Purchases" in the settings button on the "Store" screen.

If I hadn't been convinced to buy an iPad 2 yet, I would probably do so based on SmartGo Kifu and SmartGo Books alone.

Is there a way to click through moves one by one or adjust the pause between moves? I see that I can hit play and pause for each move, but it seems a bit tedious. Also, is it possible to play out your own variations? The app is fantastic--I've purchased one book and will certainly buy more.

This app has shown the pretty stark contrast (no pun) between the iPhone 4 "retina" display and the iPad 2. As I've mentioned elsewhere, letters and words are MUCH clearer on the iPhone 4 and easier to read. And while the books are certainly readable on the iPhone's smaller screen, I'd much rather read on the larger screen

. Of course, this is not the app's fault--this is an issue for me with reading anything on the iPad--it just means Apple will successfully convince me to give them more money and be grateful for the opportunity (assuming an iPad with a retina display is forthcoming).

Redbeard · **#18**

<obligatory when will it be available for Android post>
When will it be available for Android?
</obligatory when will it be available for Android post>

Thx,
:mrgreen:

John Fairbairn · **#19**

iI certainly don't want to rain on anyone's parade (although iApple people do tend to inspire such desires), and, as has been observed, iI am actually part of the parade and so am definitely not against e-books. But on behalf of not just iAndroid people but also people who don't even want to contemplate the latest gizmos, let me recall that I can remember when personal computers first became widespread (e.g. iTandy iTRS-80) and iIshi iPress were convinced their new iIshi iFormat was "the way iGo books were meant to be read".

They issued a series of discs with iGo iWorld commentaries that could be read on a computer. I also remember the excitement when a 1 iMB floppy came along. This was big news also for iGoGoD (even then we went with the flow). We could even get 300 games on a disk. iT iMark even managed to transcribe all the 800+ iGo iSeigen games then available (since copied many times without acknowledgement, thanks to the same technology).

iWe thought then that that was a lifetime's achievement. iSeveral lifetimes later, we see that computers and go are now indeed in a symbiotic relationship, but the iIshi format virtually disappeared, game commentaries on computers never really took off (iBob iMyers a few years ago tried a version with flashing stones and fancy arrows and even that didn't catch on), and of course the expected accompanying upsurge in people joining national associations (or go markets) never materialised. iThe reality was that, as ever, the iLaw of iUnintended iConsequences took over and the symbiosis took unexpected turns. iSome, such as the development of go servers, seem to be entirely benign. iI hope I can say the development of the iGoGoD database was also unexpected and benign.

iThe development of go e-books will, iI expect, take equally unexpected twists. iLooking back in ten years time, iI suspect iApple and iPad will just seem as inconsequential as iTandy, iRadio iShack and the iTRS-80 do now. iBut I was as bowled over by my iTRS-80 as iPad people are by their new toy, and iI hope they get as much pleasure as iI did. iStill, it might be as well to remember this is a public forum, and a little less hype might be more tasteful. iIt would surely be more rational.

iGrumpy

imabuddha · **#20**

My iEyes hurt after reading that. :shock:

I had a trs-80 "back in the day" and while I liked it, it was the Apple II I really wanted. Unfortunately at that time the Apple was more than double the cost and beyond my means. The trs-80 has long since passed into history, but Apple is stronger (and more affordable) than ever…

Of course nothing lasts forever, but I think Apple will still be viable in 10 years. Also, the foundation of SmartGo Books is an enhanced version of SGF, which has had far more staying power than the Ishi go format. I'm pretty sure SGF will still be commonly used in 10 years too. :study:

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