Happy new year to all!


It has been a while since our last blog entry.  The Christmas period was a very busy one, which meant the releases over the last three months have mainly been bug fixes to Cyman Mark 2 for Android.  Thank you to all who have been sending us email, Google+ posts, Facebook posts, Tweets, YouTube comments and reviews on Google Play! They have really helped us nail down the bugs we have been able to fix.  Even if you do not get a response, rest assured that we read all the messages and act on them.

Aside from the fixes, we have also brought to you:
- A hang man game you can play by voice with Cyman
- The ability to plan journeys based on time: for example, "I need to get to London Victoria by 4pm"
- Use of the more natural sounding British voice for Jelly Bean Android users, which Google Voice also uses

So what will 2013 bring? We are approaching a year since Cyman Mark 2 was released, and we want to make sure you get something new this year.  The inspiration for Cyman came from the JARVIS System from Iron Man, and given Iron Man 3 will be released this year, we will be gathering a lot of fresh ideas!

This year we will bring to you (among other things):

- An updated Cyman Mark 2 with many more widgets
- A more teachable Cyman
- A more proactive Cyman
- Cyman Mark 3 for Google Chrome, bringing Cyman to the masses on the web, and allows you to use Cyman on your home PC's before Cyman Mark 1 is released!

Please keep providing feedback, give us reviews and star ratings on Google Play, and spread the word about your favourite digital butler!

Many of you over the past few months have requested widgets.  Widgets is a direction we have always wanted to go.  (Just take a look at the screens Tony Stark looks at).  Cyman Mark 3 (Cyman on Chrome) will come with web widgets too when it is released.

To that end, in Cyman version 2.4+ we released not 1, not 2, but 3 new widgets to summarise bits of information Cyman has been keeping for you:

• Speech button widget - for direct access to talk to Cyman
• Alarm notice widget - to let you know when Cyman will next wake you up
• Impending reminders widget - which lets you know the next few reminders only up to 24 hours in advance.

There will be many more widgets to come, not to mention improvements on these existing ones.

Other improvements include:

- Cyman wakes you up with the same volume as your alarm volume setting on your device.  So there is no problem putting your phone on silent before bed.

- Cyman can help you plan your journeys.   Simply tell Cyman "journey to London Bridge by car", or ask "how long is it to Sheffield by public transport" for example, and he will let you know how long your journey might take.

You have been very good in sending your bugs and suggestions to our email address or through our contact us page.  Keep this up, and we will ensure you have a better product!

We have been busy with other things for the time being and will be on a break soon. But thought we would leave you with a few updates based on popular feedback.

You can now call the app Jarvis - or any other nickname!
- For example: "change your name to Jarvis"
Set reminders for your friends!
- For example: "remind Rhodey to pack my dvd tonight"
Send quick texts in one sentence
- For example: "text Pepper saying I am going to be late again"
The option to have Cyman use your browser for every web link
- Say "set browser to external" to always open in an external browser.
- Say "set browser to internal" to open web pages within the Cyman application (in most cases)


All these updates have made their way into your system without having to update your app... enjoy!

We have been silent for a while - no updates in the last 3 weeks and no blog posts.  But that does not mean we have not been busy! We have been reading all (and I mean all) of your feedback through our website, Facebook, Google+ and YouTube sites and figuring out the features you want the most... and indeed the features you like the most which we can improve.  Not to mention thinking about the Desktop Cyman Mark 1 platform along with integration with the Android Cyman Mark 2.  Let us not forget we are thinking about an iPhone app for the Cyman Mark 2...

Add to that our regular day jobs and life changes, and what you have is a long period of silence.  But we will be back with awesome innovation - a lot of which comes from your own suggestions!

So please don't stop giving feedback, do give us a good rating on Google Play (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.cyman.android) if you feel we deserve it, +1 the app and our website, and if you have it in you - please donate using PayPal!

In the meantime, we will be getting some fresh ideas for Cyman from Iron Man's JARVIS in the new Marvel's Avengers Assemble movie!