Use Ubiquity to Read the Bible
It is now even easier to search, read, and even listen to the Bible online.
A much improved upgrade to Ubiquity has been released, making this ground-breaking Firefox plugin prettier, more robust, and exceedingly versatile. More to the point, the ESV command for this plugin has also been updated, and the update allows you to listen to the Bible as you browse. You can watch the video at the end of this post for a full demonstration and how-to instructions.
If you are already familiar with Ubiquity, then download the latest version and install the ESV command. If not, read on for a short introduction.
What is Ubiguity?
Ubiquity is a plugin for the Firefox browser. You can read the full introduction, complete with an excellent video demonstration, here. In a nutshell: it gives your browser a basic understanding of language. You can use Ubiquity to type in simple commands in order to make Firefox do things that it would normally require several clicks and minutes to do.
Check the weather with Ubiquity
Take checking the weather as an example. The old way: (1) open up a new tab, (2) type in the URL of the weather site, (3) type in your zip code, (4) scroll past adds and other useless information. The Ubiquity way: (1) Type in “Weather”, (2) Wait while ubiquity does everything for you (it uses your IP address to automatically determine your location, check the weather site, and output todays weather in the same window).
Ubiquity Commands
Ubiquity includes a number of built in commands, such as “wikipedia” to search the site with that title, “calculate” to crunch numbers, “add-to-calendar” to add an event to your Google calendar, or “twitter” to change your twitter status. You can see all available ubiquity commands by using the command “command-list.”
The true awesomeness of Ubiquity, however, lies in the fact that any web page or service can generate a set of commands that allow you to interact with its services. You can add these commands to Ubiquity by “subscribing” to the page in question. You can find a large list of commands here, but be warned that these should all be considered beta-at-best.
How to Set Up Ubiquity and the ESV Plugin
The good folks in charge of the ESV Bible have provided a ubiquity command that allows readers to search, read, and even listen to the ESV Bible. I have written a small screen cast that shows you how to set this up and also demonstrates some of Ubiquity’s best features.
You will need to go to the following sites in order to set things up.
Below is a brief screencast demonstrating how to get Ubiquity set up, how to install the ESV plugin, and how to use both to do a number of interesting things while you browse the Internet.
Update:
Don’t miss the official video from ubiquity! It’s truly amazing:
Ubiquity for Firefox from Aza Raskin on Vimeo.
Related posts:
There is also a ESV insert command available. Find that here: http://www.duncanandmeg.org/projects/ubiquity-esv...
[...] Vote Use Ubiquity to Listen to the Bible Online [...]
Thanks for the post, Tommy. Great stuff. It looks like Ubiquity is finally coming of age. Guess it's time to give it a try.
Ubiquity is still Beta, but I have not encountered many bugs—none with the basic set of commands, and no show-stoppers even with a whole lot of subscriptions. It is very promising stuff; if it ever gets voice-command integration or touch-screen support it will change the way we interact with the Web. Exciting stuff, I think!
I love the range of experiences people like you are enabling. Keep up the good work. P.S., we are certainly excited to experiment with voice-command integration
[...] those who found this post interesting, there are a whole host of additional Ubiquity commands available to you. If you have [...]
Thanks for the encouragement. I have received a good deal of feedback about Ubiquity from my students at Westminster Seminary, and we all think your work is exceedingly useful and important. Thanks for your contributions.
Wow.. Amazing site to get all details about Best Art Websites
Ah, but can you get it to read the bible with an English accent?
Good question. The ESV folks seem keen on the idea that everyone should have a Bible that speaks to them. Perhaps they could get Ian McKellen to do it?
[...] And anyone interested in a quick and handy tool for searching and listening to the Bible online should read my Ubiquity guide. [...]
[...] The best part: you don’t have to read it at all. There is a “Listen” link on each item. This is a real nice feature, one which I have already praised in my Guide to Using Ubiquity to listen to the Bible online. [...]
[...] If you know all about Ubiquity, and already have it installed, then simply add the wtsbooks command by clicking “Subscribe” in the drop down notice on this page. Once you’ve subscribed to the command, activate Ubiquity and type in “wtsbooks”, then your search. To highlight and search, just select text on any web page (try it now on the word bavinck), activate ubiquity, and then type “wtsbooks” and return. So easy (and you may also be interested in this post)! [...]
[...] If you know all about Ubiquity, and already have it installed, then simply add the wtslibrary command by clicking “Subscribe” in the drop down notice on this page. Once you’ve subscribed to the command, activate Ubiquity and type in “wtslibrary”, then your search. To highlight and search, just select text on any web page (try it now on the word bavinck), activate ubiquity, and then type “wtsbooks” and return. So easy (and you may also be interested in this post)! [...]