CLZ for Android, Core for Comics and other news

Hectic times here at the CLZ office in Amsterdam. We’ve completed some big releases and started on a couple of huge other projects. Some of which I will disclose in this newsletter (we’re back on Android!!), but others I have to keep quiet about for now.

First, here’s the new stuff we’ve launched this month:

• CLZ Barry for Android version 1.1
• Book Collector NINE for Mac OS X
• Core for Comics / Comic Collector 5.4

And this is what we’re working on now:

• CLZ app updates for Android ( join our CLZ Android Club! )
• Further improvements for the iOS apps
• Improvements to Connect software and cloud-syncing
• …. ?

Let me go over these in more details (warning: it’s lllloooonnnnnggggg).

As I said, we’ve returned to our Android apps and the first result is this version 1.1 update of our most popular mobile app: the CLZ Barry barcode scanner.

This update gives Barry a more native Android interface and introduces new features:

• New Manual Entry option: Add barcodes to your list by entering them manually
• Scan in Portrait Mode: It is now possible to scan barcodes in Portrait Mode.
• New Inventory Mode (useful when using Barry as a general purpose scanner):
  • Enter a Quantity after scanning a barcode.
  • Send barcode lists with quantity values to your desktop computer.
  • Configure delimiters between barcodes and quantities.

The 1.1 update is free and can be downloaded from the Play Store now.
A similar update for the iOS edition of CLZ Barry will be released in a few weeks.

Over 700 Book Collector for Mac users have already upgraded to version 9 (live on May 1).
Version 9 introduces automatic Author images and Wikipedia links, Author born/died
information, Core for Books integration, integrated CLZ Barry support,
plus a full cosmetic overhaul: Virtual Shelves, new icons, new templates, etc…

For the full list of What’s New in V9, go here.

Remember: Core is our new system for reporting missing entries and data errors in our online central databases. Core editions for movies, books and music are live already.
This month we finished Core for Comics and integrated it into Comic Collector in v5.4.

The new web-based Core for Comics system *replaces* the old “Submit to Collectorz.com”. Core gives you more insight in the data we have and more control over the data you submit. And: Core for Comics now finally lets Mac users join in the fun of submitting comics!

To use the new Core for Comics system, you need Comic Collector 5.4 for Windows or Mac. To get this update, just use Check for Update in your current version (free for v5 users).

I know, I know, it’s been way too long since we last updated our CLZ Android apps.
But this is all going to change now. All maintenance and future development of the
iOS apps has been transferred to our Mac developer Patrick.
Which has freed up our main mobile developer Pim to work on Android *full-time*.

The plan for the rest of the year (at least):
Improve our Android apps, with an optimized tablet interface, more fields, syncing
through Connect, adding and editing capabilities and an integrated barcode scanner.
And we’re going to do all this step-by-step, in multiple smaller updates, not one huge
update. This way you can enjoy the first improvements in a shorter time-frame.

If you own one of the CLZ apps for Android OR are interested in them …
then please join our CLZ Android Club.

Members of the CLZ Android Club will receive regular emails (not too often, I promise)
about the progress of our Android development, about new updates, etc…

As indicated above, our Mac developer Patrick has taken over all iOS development.
Patrick is currently working on updates for all apps with better looking templates (based on the Book/Movie Vee Nine templates), backdrop support (for movies and comics) and automatic YouTube trailers (for movies and games).

If you’re using an iOS device (iPhone, iPad or iPod touch), I recommend to join our CLZ iOS Club for news about these updates.

Currently, over 19 thousand users are enjoying our free cloud-syncing and cloud-storage service “Connect Sync & Share”.
On top of that, 6 thousand users are using the paid Full Connect service ($19.95 per year), a fully standalone cataloging tool with online adding and editing capabilities.

So it only makes sense that we are spending more and more time to improve this service. At the moment, both Robbert and Sven are working on Connect, now focusing on improving the syncing features, then later on the software itself (e.g. mobile adding & editing). Keep an eye on your inbox in the next few weeks for more details.

That’s all for today. Come check us out on Facebook for more frequent CLZ updates!