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<channel>
	<title>Guidance</title>
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	<link>http://guidanceapp.com</link>
	<description>prayer times for your mac</description>
	<pubDate>Fri, 18 Apr 2008 23:38:55 +0000</pubDate>
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	<language>en</language>
			<item>
		<title>A look at Guidance 1.1</title>
		<link>http://guidanceapp.com/blog/24/a-look-at-guidance-11/</link>
		<comments>http://guidanceapp.com/blog/24/a-look-at-guidance-11/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 18 Apr 2008 23:38:55 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>ameir</dc:creator>
		
		<category><![CDATA[Guidance]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://guidanceapp.com/?p=24</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Work is steadily being made on Guidance 1.1. As you can see from the screen shots below, one of the features in Guidance 1.1 is a unified location field. This will help alleviate a lot of the problems I think international users are having and becoming confused what to enter for state and so forth. [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[Work is steadily being made on Guidance 1.1. As you can see from the screen shots below, one of the features in Guidance 1.1 is a unified location field. This will help alleviate a lot of the problems I think international users are having and becoming confused what to enter for state and so forth. You will also be able to see the new feature of being able to select your own adhan file.<br />
&nbsp;<br />
<table cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" border="0">
<tr><td><a href="http://guidanceapp.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/guidance_1_1_location.png"><img src="http://guidanceapp.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/guidance_1_1_location-thumb.png" alt="" title="Guidance 1.1 Location Preferences" /></a></td>
<td><a href="http://guidanceapp.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/guidance_1_1_select_adhan.png"><img src="http://guidanceapp.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/guidance_1_1_select_adhan-thumb.png" alt="" title="guidance_1_1_select_adhan" /></a></tr></tr>
</table>

So far all the features I mentioned in my earlier post (see &#8220;<a href="http://guidanceapp.com/blog/3/the-status-of-guidance/">The Status of Guidance</a>&#8220;)are slated for this release except for an Arabic version. My Arabic, while fluent, is not good enough for translation. If anyone would like to volunteer to translate Guidance into Arabic please <a href="http://guidanceapp.com/contact">contact me</a>. Also, automatic update installation (using <a href="http://sparkle.andymatuschak.org/">Sparkle</a>) is on the fence as to whether or not it will make it into this release or the next one.]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://guidanceapp.com/blog/24/a-look-at-guidance-11/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Guidance iPhone Wallpapers</title>
		<link>http://guidanceapp.com/blog/10/guidance-iphone-wallpapers/</link>
		<comments>http://guidanceapp.com/blog/10/guidance-iphone-wallpapers/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 03 Apr 2008 05:13:07 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>ameir</dc:creator>
		
		<category><![CDATA[Guidance Mobile]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://guidanceapp.com/blog/10/guidance-iphone-wallpapers/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I&#8217;ve made two iPhone wallpapers featuring the Guidance logo for anyone who wants them.
&#160;









&#160;
To put the wallpapers on your phone, just follow the steps below
	Create a folder on your computer to store your iPhone wallpapers.	Download the wallpaper.	Save the wallpaper to the previously created folder.	Open iTunes and plug in your iPhone.	Go to the &#8220;Photos&#8221; tab and [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[I&#8217;ve made two iPhone wallpapers featuring the Guidance logo for anyone who wants them.<br />
&nbsp;<br />
<table cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" border="0">
<tr><td>
<a href="http://guidanceapp.com/images/guidance-mobile-wallpaper.png"><img src="http://guidanceapp.com/images/guidance-mobile-wallpaper-small.png" style="width:230px;border:1px solid #555;" /></a>
</td>
<td>
<a href="http://guidanceapp.com/images/guidance-wallpaper.png"><img src="http://guidanceapp.com/images/guidance-wallpaper-small.png" style="width:230px;border:1px solid #555;" /></a>
</td>
</tr>
</table>
&nbsp;<br />
<strong>To put the wallpapers on your phone, just follow the steps below</strong>
<ol>	<li>Create a folder on your computer to store your iPhone wallpapers.</li>	<li>Download the wallpaper.</li>	<li>Save the wallpaper to the previously created folder.</li>	<li>Open iTunes and plug in your iPhone.</li>	<li>Go to the &#8220;Photos&#8221; tab and select your newly created folder.</li>	<li>Once the photos are synced up with your iPhone, open the photo gallery and select your image.</li>	<li>Tap the icon in the bottom left of your photo and select &#8220;Use As Wallpaper&#8221;.</li></ol><br />
<div style="padding:0px 0px 0px 20px;">
<strong>Download Links</strong>
<div style="padding:0px 0px 0px 8px;">
<a href="http://guidanceapp.com/images/guidance-mobile-wallpaper.png">Wallpaper 1</a><br />
<a href="http://guidanceapp.com/images/guidance-wallpaper.png">Wallpaper 2</a>
</div>
</div>]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://guidanceapp.com/blog/10/guidance-iphone-wallpapers/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Getting the prayer times just right</title>
		<link>http://guidanceapp.com/blog/9/getting-the-prayer-times-just-right/</link>
		<comments>http://guidanceapp.com/blog/9/getting-the-prayer-times-just-right/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 27 Mar 2008 19:34:32 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>ameir</dc:creator>
		
		<category><![CDATA[Guidance]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://guidanceapp.com/blog/9/getting-the-prayer-times-just-right/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[First off, I would like to apologize to everyone who has been waiting for an update to Guidance. I&#8217;ve been busy in the last month or so writing the Prayer Times web app for the iPhone and playing around with the newly released iPhone SDK in preparation for developing Guidance Mobile.

However things are now back [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>First off, I would like to apologize to everyone who has been waiting for an update to Guidance. I&#8217;ve been busy in the last month or so writing the Prayer Times web app for the iPhone and playing around with the newly released iPhone SDK in preparation for developing Guidance Mobile.</p>

<p>However things are now back on track for releasing Guidance 1.1 which brings me to the topic of this post. Getting the prayer times just right. No matter how many cool features you put into a prayer times application, the one feature that has to be perfect is calculating the prayer times correctly (this of course being the point of the application in the first place).</p>
<span id="more-9"></span>

<p>Now this is sometimes difficult to do since there no hadiths giving us the equation to use. In fact, the different madhhabs have different standards, which in turn have different calculation methods based on location. So without going too much into the technical details, what I (and the majority of prayer time calculation programs) do, is use a universal equation and then allow you to somewhat customize it to your location and madhahb by changing the way Asr is calculated (for those who follow Hanafi) and by changing which angle to use for the sunrise and sunset.</p>

<p>One mistake I believe I have made is by forcing you to select Fajr and Isha settings together. While this works great for most of the madhabs, there are some that have these angles different. Inshallah one of the features of the new version will be the ability to separately select an angle for Fajr and one for Isha. I will also include all the different angles that any madhab uses, giving the user the ability to customize their prayer time calculations just right for their location.</p>

<p>It&#8217;s also important to mention that because Guidance (like all other prayer times application) uses a universal calculation algorithm, which works well for the majority of locations, but sometimes even after adjusting the Fajr, Asr, and Isha settings you will notice that the prayer times are off by a minute or two from what the local Mosque uses. Theres really no way to see which time is more correct as these can depend upon many different factors, but the right thing to do is to follow the prayer times of your Mosque, and to help you do this while continuing to use Guidance I am also adding a feature that will allow you to set a prayer times adjustment. This well let you add or subtract a set number of minutes from a prayer time to help you sync up Guidance perfectly with your Mosque.</p>

<p>One thing you may notice about Guidance thats different from a lot of prayer times applications is that when you choose your prayer times calculation method, you are asked to choose an angle instead of picking a method from a list such as University Of Islamic Sciences, Karachi or North America. I really find these names to be ambiguous and can often be misleading. There are many people in North America that don&#8217;t use the methods that fall under the &#8220;North America Method&#8221;. Instead, I think that a user should be able to know exactly how their prayer times are being calculated and customize it to fit their locality as much as possible. The only possible downside is that picking an angle may leave some users confused as to which one is right for them. The way I would hope that most users set their prayer times is to keep on changing settings until the prayer times in Guidance are as close as possible to the prayer times at their local Mosque, and Allah knows best.</p>]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://guidanceapp.com/blog/9/getting-the-prayer-times-just-right/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Prayer Times iPhone Web App Released!</title>
		<link>http://guidanceapp.com/blog/8/prayer-times-iphone-web-app-released/</link>
		<comments>http://guidanceapp.com/blog/8/prayer-times-iphone-web-app-released/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 06 Mar 2008 01:47:25 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>ameir</dc:creator>
		
		<category><![CDATA[Prayer Times Web App]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://guidanceapp.com/blog/?p=8</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[
I am pleased to announce the release of the Prayer Times iPhone Web App. Prayer Times allows you to view the prayer times for your current location in an iPhone friendly format. Simply go to m.guidanceapp.com in your iPhone to make use of this web app. Rest Assured that this is not the iPhone version [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<a style="padding: 0px 10px 0px 0px; display: block; float: left" href="http://m.guidanceapp.com"><img src="http://guidanceapp.com/images/prayertimes-icon-small.png" border="0" width="60" /></a>

I am pleased to announce the release of the Prayer Times iPhone Web App. Prayer Times allows you to view the prayer times for your current location in an iPhone friendly format. Simply go to <a href="http://m.guidanceapp.com/">m.guidanceapp.com</a> in your iPhone to make use of this web app. Rest Assured that this is not the iPhone version of Guidance, for that I am still waiting for the iPhone SDK. The iPhone version of Guidance will be a fully featured prayer times program with lots of features. I don&#8217;t want to say anything just yet, I want to see what exactly the SDK allows before making that announcement. Anyway, please use the Prayer Times web app in the meantime.<br />
<img src="http://guidanceapp.com/images/iphone-screenshot.png" alt="Prayer Times Web App" height="364" width="304" />]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://guidanceapp.com/blog/8/prayer-times-iphone-web-app-released/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>iPhone web app now in beta</title>
		<link>http://guidanceapp.com/blog/7/iphone-web-app-now-in-beta/</link>
		<comments>http://guidanceapp.com/blog/7/iphone-web-app-now-in-beta/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 29 Feb 2008 21:13:35 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>ameir</dc:creator>
		
		<category><![CDATA[Prayer Times Web App]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://guidanceapp.com/blog/?p=7</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The iPhone web app I have been working on is now in beta, you can view it here http://m.guidanceapp.com/

I hope to finalize it over the weekend and then get back to working on version 1.1 of Guidance. If you have an iPhone or iPod Touch please test it out and let me know if you [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[The iPhone web app I have been working on is now in beta, you can view it here <a href="http://m.guidanceapp.com/" title="Prayer Times Web App">http://m.guidanceapp.com/</a>

I hope to finalize it over the weekend and then get back to working on version 1.1 of Guidance. If you have an iPhone or iPod Touch please test it out and let me know if you have any issues with it or suggestions. I&#8217;m particularly interested in having people from various time zones try it out.

If you do manage to try it out please post your thoughts in the comments. Thanks.]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://guidanceapp.com/blog/7/iphone-web-app-now-in-beta/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>iPhone Prayer Times Web App</title>
		<link>http://guidanceapp.com/blog/6/iphone-prayer-times-web-app/</link>
		<comments>http://guidanceapp.com/blog/6/iphone-prayer-times-web-app/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 25 Feb 2008 22:08:13 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>ameir</dc:creator>
		
		<category><![CDATA[Prayer Times Web App]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://guidanceapp.com/blog/?p=6</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Well, I went ahead and ordered an iPhone. It came in on Friday and I&#8217;ve already begun writing a web app to allow you to view the prayer times for any location. The web application will not have any reminders or play the adhan, I&#8217;m waiting for the developer kit to come out before that [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[Well, I went ahead and ordered an iPhone. It came in on Friday and I&#8217;ve already begun writing a web app to allow you to view the prayer times for any location. The web application will not have any reminders or play the adhan, I&#8217;m waiting for the developer kit to come out before that will be possible. I expect to have the web app finished up in a few days. Stay tunedfor more news on that front.]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://guidanceapp.com/blog/6/iphone-prayer-times-web-app/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Plans for Guidance iPhone</title>
		<link>http://guidanceapp.com/blog/5/plans-for-guidance-iphone/</link>
		<comments>http://guidanceapp.com/blog/5/plans-for-guidance-iphone/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 19 Feb 2008 03:52:19 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>ameir</dc:creator>
		
		<category><![CDATA[Guidance Mobile]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://guidanceapp.com/blog/?p=5</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[After careful thought, I&#8217;ve decided that accepting donations for the iPhone in order to write the iPhone version of Guidance is not the way I want to go. Instead I am going to go ahead and write the iPhone version and then offer it for sale.  Rest assured that if you have donated any amount, [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[After careful thought, I&#8217;ve decided that accepting donations for the iPhone in order to write the iPhone version of Guidance is not the way I want to go. Instead I am going to go ahead and write the iPhone version and then offer it for sale.  Rest assured that if you have donated any amount, at any time in the past then you will receive a free copy of the iPhone version. I have not yet decided on a price for the iPhone app. I will keep you updated on the status of the iPhone app.]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://guidanceapp.com/blog/5/plans-for-guidance-iphone/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Guidance for the iPhone</title>
		<link>http://guidanceapp.com/blog/4/guidance-for-the-iphone/</link>
		<comments>http://guidanceapp.com/blog/4/guidance-for-the-iphone/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 04 Feb 2008 21:00:35 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>ameir</dc:creator>
		
		<category><![CDATA[Guidance Mobile]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://guidanceapp.com/blog/?p=4</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Inshallah  when Apple releases the developer kit for the iPhone (currently scheduled for some time in February) which will allow developers to actually write applications for the iPhone (without it having to be hacked) I plan on writing  a version of Guidance for the iPhone. The only problem is that development will be [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[Inshallah  when Apple releases the developer kit for the iPhone (currently scheduled for some time in February) which will allow developers to actually write applications for the iPhone (without it having to be hacked) I plan on writing  a version of Guidance for the iPhone. The only problem is that development will be slow since I do not actually have an iPhone myself (funds are a bit low at the moment).

So here is my proposal, all  <a href="http://guidanceapp.com/donate">donations</a> I receive from now, I will add to the iPhone fund posted on the front page, and inshallah when it reaches $399, I will get an iPhone and will make sure that the iPhone version of Guidance is continually developed and updated as much as possible.]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://guidanceapp.com/blog/4/guidance-for-the-iphone/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>The Status of Guidance</title>
		<link>http://guidanceapp.com/blog/3/the-status-of-guidance/</link>
		<comments>http://guidanceapp.com/blog/3/the-status-of-guidance/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 31 Jan 2008 02:26:00 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>ameir</dc:creator>
		
		<category><![CDATA[Guidance]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://guidanceapp.com/blog/?p=3</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Well, to be honest, the amount of attention Guidance has received is both very surprising and very pleasing. To date, Guidance has received over 6,000 downloads. Since the initial release of version 1.0 (which was hurriedly followed by version 1.0.1 the next day to fix an embarrassing time zone bug that affected everyone east of [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[Well, to be honest, the amount of attention Guidance has received is both very surprising and very pleasing. To date, Guidance has received over 6,000 downloads. Since the initial release of version 1.0 (which was hurriedly followed by version 1.0.1 the next day to fix an embarrassing time zone bug that affected everyone east of Greenwich), a lot has happened. I got married and Matt graduated from college, so the project had to be put on hold until everything settled down again. Now that things have settled down, I&#8217;m eager to get back to working on Guidance and release version 1.1, which should include some cool features and a more organized code base to make updating Guidance easier. 

Some of the features currently projected for version 1.1:
<ul>
	<li>The ability to select an audio file from your computer to use as the Adhan (mp3, m4a, wav, etc.)</li>
	<li>Tahajud (night prayer) option, similar to the shuruq option, that lets you set Guidance to play the adhan a set number of minutes before fajr to wake you up for Tahajud. This feature should be quite useful in Ramadhan so you can wake up for Suhur.</li>
	<li>The ability to set the prayer time calculation method for Fajr and Isha separately</li>
	<li>Updater will now automatically download the new version and install it for you</li>
	<li>Arabic version!</li>
</ul>
For the long term, I hope to eventually implement the following features:
<ul>
	<li>Ability to wake the computer up from sleep to play the adhan</li>
	<li>Ability to set adhan volume separately from the system volume (actually more complicated than it sounds, trust me)</li>
	<li>Continued localizations for different languages (if anyone would like to volunteer their services as a translator please <a href="http://guidanceapp.com/contact/">let me know</a>)</li>
</ul>
Thank you everyone for all the donations and emails, I love hearing from people who enjoy using Guidance, it really makes my day. A big thank you to abdullafx for the awesome thread he posted on macarabia.net (<a href="http://macarabia.net/showthread.php?t=5592">http://macarabia.net/showthread.php?t=5592</a>).]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://guidanceapp.com/blog/3/the-status-of-guidance/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
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