Magic for your iPhone

Filed under: iPhone, App Store

The tricks just keep on comin' for the iPhone. Magicard [App Store link] is a good head scratcher that is always ready to perform. Have your assistant cut the cards a few times and select a card. (The method to do this is provided with a built-in tutorial video.) You keep the selected card face down, and place it on top of the iPhone screen. When the card is removed, a mirror image of the card is on the screen. The card can be any number or suit.

The app normally starts up with a screen that includes a clickable link to a video tutorial that shows how the trick works. It wouldn't be good for people to see that, so in your iPhone settings menu you can tell the Magicard not to display any of that information when you are about to perform.

Magicard also lets you select a plain black background for the trick, or you can use something from your photo roll. You can even snap a picture with the iPhone camera and use that. Unfortunately, this menu comes up every time you try the trick, and it is an annoyance. You should be able to set the background from the settings menu and forget it until you want to change it.

The trick does not require a lot of skill, but you will need to do one common thing magicians know how to do. If you don't know how, the video tutorial will walk you through the simple steps. I don't think David Blaine will lose any sleep over you performing this trick around town, but it is worth the US $0.99 asking price to see some surprised faces on your friends when you pull this little effect out.

Note: This trick is iPhone only. It will not work on the iPod touch. You can see some videos of the trick in action at the developer web site, along with some variations on the basic trick.

Continue reading Magic for your iPhone

Magic for your iPhone originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sat, 14 Feb 2009 22:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Magic for your iPhone originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sat, 14 Feb 2009 22:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Apple Being Sued for iPhone Screen Rendering Acceleration

Another week, another iPhone lawsuit or three. If it isn’t American’s complaining about AT&T’s 3G “network” (so bad, it’s made (Giga)Om Malik abandon his iPhone), it’s white iPhone owners complaining about cracks in their plastic casings (which is effecting other, non-iPhones as well, making us suspect someone spike a plastic factory somewhere in China). This time, however, it’s a patent dispute, and it’s not Apple going after Palm, but Picsel Technologies taking it to Apple. According to Apple Insider:

By using particular techniques to speed up panning and zooming for images and other documents, Apple is effectively borrowing Picsel’s own acceleration to make the iPhone work as smoothly as it does, the complaint reads. [..]Unlike many of these suits, the plaintiff already has major customers for its software that primarily include Japanese firms like KDDI and Sharp but also include American phone manufacturers such as Motorola and Palm.

So even though Apple now owns multi-touch(ish), they may not be allowed to show it working on screen? Gotta love patent poker…

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

Apple Being Sued for iPhone Screen Rendering Acceleration

Google Releases Optimized version of Google Books for the iPhone

$99 iPhone coming this summer: Analyst

Apple may be planning a cheaper USD 99 iPhone  sometime this summer, according to RBC analyst Mark Abramsky. It is told that the $99 iPhone will not run on AT&T's faster 3G. The report also says Apple will start selling updated iPhone 3G. The Silicon Alley Insider pointed-out: The main cost reductions ...

Proposing with an iPhone app

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Software, Cult of Mac, Odds and ends, iPhone

Need to propose to someone? There's an app for that. Brian X. Chen at Wired reports that coder Bryan Haggerty proposed to his girlfriend Jeannie Choe this week with an iPhone app of his own making -- he sent her on a video scavenger hunt that marked points on a map drawing out the "<3" symbol (which has a lot of sentimental meaning to the couple -- he also gave her a necklace with the same thing on it), and then led her to a hilltop park, where he popped the question.

Unfortunately, Wired doesn't tell us if she said yes, but it's Valentine's Day, so we'll assume she did. The app must have been distributed ad-hoc, too, because we don't see it on the App Store at all (not too surprising, considering that as cool as it is, it's got some limited functionality). But congrats to Haggerty and Choe -- if they run into any issues at the ceremony, there's probably an app for that too.

Continue reading Proposing with an iPhone app

Proposing with an iPhone app originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sat, 14 Feb 2009 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Proposing with an iPhone app originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sat, 14 Feb 2009 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Apple Owns 51% of Mobile Web… And Growing!

According to Admob (via TUAW), Apple’s share of the mobile Web is big and might just be getting bigger:

Worldwide requests from Apple devices grew 28% month over month to 1.2 billion in January. Building on its strong December, iPod Touch growth outpaced iPhone growth in top markets. The iPod Touch now represents 40% of Apple requests, up from 20% in September.

People like great mobile browsers that can handle HTML, CSS, and AJAX, who’d have thunk it?

Of course, competing devices from Nokia, Palm, and Google, are beginning to use Apple’s WebKit in browsers of their own, Firefox keeps threatening to push their mobile Fennec client to release status, and RIM is inching the Bold towards usability, so can Apple and the iPhone/Safari team maintain their leading edge?

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

Apple Owns 51% of Mobile Web… And Growing!

Apple sued over iPhone screen rendering tech

You've probably never heard of Picsel Technologies, but the Scottish company claims that its technologies are in over 250m handsets worldwide from manufacturers like Motorola, Nokia, Palm, Samsung and Sony Ericsson -- and, if a lawsuit it filed today is to be believed, Apple. Picsel says the iPhone infringes on a patented method of accelerated screen updating, and as usual, the answer is probably going to be for Uncle Steve to open his $25 billion piggy bank and dole out some cash. On the other hand, Apple legal could might take a little batting practice before they start hunting the big game, but honestly, that's just us wishing for a little Friday night drama.

Filed under: Cellphones

Apple sued over iPhone screen rendering tech originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 14 Feb 2009 06:27:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments