I spent the weekend visiting Salisbury with a friend. The trip wasn’t supposed to be quite so Salisbury-centric, but the weather and the tail end of a cold put paid to our original plans to go walking each day; and in the end all we managed was a five mile excursion round the barrows near Stonehenge.

Stonehenge i’ll come back to: i’d like to start at the beginning with Salisbury Cathedral. I have never thought of myself as the kind of person who enjoys visiting churches – or great buildings of any kind. Architecture is something i prefer to enjoy without analysis and formal gardens generally leave me cold. If i’m honest it was mainly the thought that the Cathedral would be drier – and maybe a bit warmer – than the streets and the hope that it’d have a bookshop that made me suggest to D that we visit it.

On arrival though it was love at first sight. Truly. It was a response that startled me and began even before we entered inside. The Cathedral has… an atmosphere… an ambience… that special something you can’t put into words without gushing or sounding like a ‘psychic’. Was it the proportions? The impression of simplicity? The setting? I don’t know but it had me hooked.

Inside my mood faltered momentarily in the face of a coachload of rude French tourists but was soon restored by the beautiful stained glass windows: blue and red; the light coming through the dark grilles; and the old wooden carvings. I lit three candles to departed loved ones in a side chapel – how rarely i have the chance to do this these days; i watched the workings of the mediaeval clock and i felt strangely touched by the sight of the crumbling 13^th and 14^th Century tombs. These were the kind decorated with a figure of a knight, apparently asleep. Some of them had been severely damaged: one was missing his nose, another his sword. We wondered if this had occurred during the Dissolution or if it had been inflicted by puritans during the Civil War.

What i loved more than anything was that you could touch as well as look. The lack of (refusal to grant) this is what frustrates me about art museums. What is the point of sculpture you can’t touch? I remember going to the Tate Britain just because they had a sculpture by Henry Moore that i was crazy about and being driven mad by the fact that i could walk round it and look at it from nearly every possible angle, but could never run my hands over the stone curves.

By contrast, in Salisbury Cathedral they had a sculpture called the Thornflower* by an artist called Charlotte Mayer. Viewed, this wasn’t anything particularly special to tell the truth, but touched it was a miracle: the abrasion of the thorns contrasting the smoothness of the leaves. Pain and Suffering, pleasure and comfort, beneath your fingers. Even D, who’s a much more practical type of person than me, was affected by it and we both agreed it was the standout experience of the visit.

On to Stonehenge, which we visited on the Saturday morning – the only time i think it stopped raining all weekend for more than a few minutes or so! With Stonehenge you’re back to an art museum type of experience – albeit in the open air. You can walk around the Stones, following a path that’s been laid out; but you can’t approach them and definitely can’t touch them. I can understand this: the henge is 5,000 years old and even the most recently arrived stones are 3,000 years old. Nobody’s going to build another one. Yet out of reach Stonehenge feels like an image of itself rather than the thing itself. Awestruck and disappointed all at the same time i took photo after photo, trying to make contact with it via the camera; then i went inside and bought books, postcards, even a fridge magnet. Still, i came away feeling that i hadn’t quite been there.

*”A bronze and steel sculpture which grew out of the artist’s reflections on the death of her grandmother in Treblinka and ‘man’s inhumanity to man at other times’” according to an article in Inspire magazine.

It is my pleasure to welcome all to the new AppTechStudio iPhone Developer’s homepage, where we aim to keep you up to date with our opinions, news and facts on our current and upcoming games! Favourite this page as in the coming weeks you’ll see much interesting information coming up on these pages!

Thank you,

Robert
CEO of AppTechStudios

With the release of DJ Hero, a whole lot of us want to get our Jazzy Jeff on. Now we can scratch to that wherever we are. Amidio has released Touch Dj, an app for the iPhone that lets users manipulate 2 different mp3 tracks by scratching, mixing, and looping among many other features.  The app will set you back about $20 and is available now in the iTunes app store.

Video showing you how it’s done after the break.

HOLLYWOOD’S search for a successor to the Harry Potter goldmine has led to the top of the Empire State Building, where a 12-year-old boy named Percy Jackson is ready to unleash magical powers on cinema audiences across the world…. From The Australian. Full story

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Mark 7:25b-30
A woman whose little daughter was possessed by an evil spirit came and fell at his feet. The woman was a Greek, born in Syrian Phoenicia. She begged Jesus to drive the demon out of her daughter. “First let the children eat all they want,” he told her, “for it is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to their dogs.” “Yes, Lord,” she replied, “but even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.” Then he told her, “For such a reply, you may go; the demon has left your daughter.” She went home and found her child lying on the bed, and the demon gone.

I wonder if I would have the wisdom of the Syrophoenician woman when Jesus speaks to me in parables because I consider myself very dumb when I read passages like this one selected above. This lady came to Jesus in pain and had a desperate need for Jesus’ miraculous touch on her daughter who was demon possessed. However, she was not Jew and Jesus was there to save the lost sheep of Israel. Would she have any place before a foreign God whose objectives seemed different? In times of desperation, do we seek anything that will give us a solution to our problems?

What Jesus asked her was whether it was right for him to turn his attention to the gentiles before he was done with the Jews and her response showed him that she knew Jesus was here to save sinners, not just a race of people. She must’ve noticed it in the sarcastic language Jesus used to describe gentiles or in his manner of speaking but her answer was apt. I often feel like a servant before Jesus, my Lord, whose crumbs I am not fit to take. In Christ, we have victory from the dominion of sin and suffering because through his death and resurrection, we have the hope of eternity. We all have needs and I know today the Lord speaks to me as clearly as he speaks to you that he wants for us to put our faith in him and know that he will answer our pleas in an amazing way!

In His Loving Service,
Vineet

Man Made Beauty or A Concrete Jungle?

Item: USB 2.0 Cable for Charging, and Syncing your iPod to a PC. Supports USB 1.1 or USB 2.0
Compatible With: iPod Nano 1-3, iPod 1st-5th Generation, iPod Video, iPod U2, and iPod Mini, iPod Classic, iPod Touch, and iPhone
Condition: New. I never used it.
Price: $4.00 (includes shipping & handling)

Author: Kitty Hill
Source: ezinearticles.com

We are obliged to admit that the society is getting more fantastic than before. If it has something that make iPod Touch unlike from other media player, it is the typical function of surfing online. It is not just considered as a common player which can enjoy the music, see videos and play games. It is also a device that can get into the internet no matter where you are and whenever you want. That is a typical trait that gains a high reputation from wholesale iPod Touch shops and other buyers.

iPod Touch is the unique iPod with 802.11b/g wireless access to the website.It builts in Safari, the most innovative web explorer ever on a light device. With built in Wi-Fi and the Safari website explorer, you join in the web at, “iPod touch“, your finger tips, and web pages seem that they do on your computer. You can easily guide your favorite internet pages utilizing the bookmarks feature, which also makes you to synchronize your bookmarks from your Mac or PC. In addition, the onscreen touch keyboard permits you to make by yourself to enter the website, with convenient explorer buttons at the bottom of the screen to cut down the time in inputting. You can also make use of the onscreen touch keyboard to search using Google or Yahoo! to make things even quicker. Whenever you are entered from Wi-Fi, you can watch your favorite websites to look at news, pay bills, and shopping.

The iPod Touch makes use of a peaked version of the “OS X” operating system utilized for Apple’s Macintosh computers. The Mobile Safari browser is on account of Apple’s desktop Safari browser, nevertheless, the user interface is absolutely different. Its UI is created from the bottom-up for finger tips and small screens rather than the mice and associated large screens of desktop and laptop computers, and every other iPod Touch wholesaler has been combining to catch up with it. The 2nd iPod Touch contains more Apple applications than the prior device did. E-mail is now put in, with providing for IMAP, POP and Microsoft Exchange servers. MobileMe subscribers, Exchange users and Yahoo, “iPod touch“, Mail consumers can get “push” e-mail note, so email arrives on your iPod Touch as quickly as it arrives at the server.

That is to say, iPod Touch is not a Walkman-like, simple-ideal media player. It is an developing, public purpose computing platform that uses to the palm of your hand with conveniently surfing online.

Kitty Hill has been in the wholesale business since 2000. She became one of the largest wholesale dvds importer in China.

Just when you thought you could forget about the elusive bugger, rumors about an iPod Touch with a built-in camera start up again. The latest report points to a Spring 2010 refresh that will finally include a video camera.

The latest rumor reads like it’s August all over again, but it does have one particularly disappointing aspect. According to the source, the iPod touch camera will match the not-so-hot quality of the nano’s.

Here’s to hoping the engineers can somehow stuff the iPhone’s camera into an iPod Touch. Sure, there’s not much space to work with in the Touch, but we can believe. [The Examiner via 9 to 5 Mac]

Send an email to Chris Jacob, the author of this post, at cjacob@gizmodo.com.

Which of your five senses (touch, taste, sight, hearing, or smell) do you value the most?

…What should one say? or do for that matter… lying alone in the head of it all. Watching. It seems completely out of your mind yet, you know it isnt real, you know it isnt actual… and sometimes it is that much too weird or wonderful.. and you know.

I can’t help but feel that this time it told me something. I felt it right there, across the surface of my skin. her hair and arms… stretching for something, it seemed professional, purposeful… and then it just happens, unplanned… but you want it.. and you see the real in it, and you know.. pushing it away… that was the real – pushing it away. This reality that know’s it’s something you can’t quite achieve at this time.. something that can’t be erased in a split second. .. and even the unreal is regulated and stopped… even the unreal is limited…

Then you see the figure… lit by a shaft of light… connected to someone or something by a phone… thin… bare… nearly completely bare… different… and like some old film stuck on a loop it plays over and over.. caught in the light between the curtains by the window… talking… pushed away from me… but immediately wanted and desired… standing in the light… completely revealed… they were perfect… different… they brought fear… but it was then that you knew that it wasn’t completely wrong… that there caught in the light was the answer… not a direct answer but a suggestion of one…

and i can’t remove that loop… i am still waiting to wake up…. i don’t want to let go of it…

Wake up.

Just when you thought you could forget about the elusive bugger, rumors about an iPod Touch with a built-in camera start up again. The latest report points to a Spring 2010 refresh that will finally include a video camera.

The latest rumor reads like it’s August all overagain, but it does have one particularly disappointing aspect. According to the source, the iPod touch camera will match the not-so-hot quality of the nano’s.

Here’s to hoping the engineers can somehow stuff the iPhone’s camera into an iPod Touch. Sure, there’s not much space to work with in the Touch, but we can believe(via Gizmodo)

Here we go with the ipod rumors. Reportedly there is supposed to be a spring refresh for the ipods and one of those refreshes is going to be for the ipod touch, that apple is going to add a camera which that was supposed to happen in back in september and instead we saw one on the nano(which. Still don’t know why they did that). Some people said that apple had pushed back the ipod touches with cameras cause of some issues well this may be that push back you never know but I think that it’s going to happen maybe not in spring but he ipod touches are going to get a camera.

Con el anuncio de Microsoft de que su nuevo sistema operativo Windows 7 se centraría en tecnologías de interfaz táctil multipunto e interpretación de los movimientos, puede que los ratones tengan fecha de caducidad.

Cuando vimos el interfaz dirigido por movimiento de la película “Minority Report” (y en menor medida en series como “Star Trek: La Nueva Generación”), todos quedamos maravillados por la sencillez de uso y la ergonomía del sistema, pensando “me gustaría poder trabajar así con mi ordenador”.

Claro que no fuimos los únicos, porque los ingenieros de Apple y Microsoft ya llevaban tiempo trabajando en la siguiente generación de sistemas de interfaz táctil multipunto.

Apple convirtió un teléfono mediocre en un fenómeno social gracias a su interfaz. Ampliar una imagen con dos dedos, rotarla, pasar de canción de manera totalmente intuitiva… el iPhone es claramente una muestra de lo que nos espera.

Surface

 Pero Apple no era la única compañía que estaba trabajando en sistemas táctiles, ya que Microsoft como compañía, y Bill Gates en especial, creían que el interfaz táctil era el futuro (Gates siempre ha sido un defensor a ultranza de los Tablet PC, cuya falta de éxito puede atribuirse a la falta de un sistema operativo que saque el máximo provecho de su pantalla táctil).Así, esta apuesta se plasmó en una mesa-ordenador llamada Microsoft Surface que, a posteriori, podemos considerar como un demostrador tecnológico de lo que la compañía estadounidense piensa incorporar a corto plazo en sus sistemas operativos.

Surface es una mesa cuya superficie táctil multipunto nos permite interactuar con el contenido de una manera muy parecida a la que vimos en “Minority Report”. Desde utilizar nuestros dedos como punteros de ratón, realizar agrandamientos de imágenes estirándolos como si se tratase de una superficie elástica, hasta utilizar una gran cantidad de accesorios como pinceles, láminas transparentes, y un largo etcétera.Pero aún hay más: Surface interactúa con cualquier objeto que pongamos en la mesa, detectando su forma y ofreciendo información contextual. Si ponemos dos teléfonos móviles, puede ofrecernos de inmediato información comparativa entre ambos, podremos descargar y cargar fotos y música en ellos, o transferir una ruta desde el mapa integrado en el sistema hasta el navegador de los teléfonos. Y si lo que ponemos es un vaso, iniciará una animación como “posavasos virtual” o también (si se trata de un bar o un restaurante) nos ofrecerá sugerencias de la carta.Obviamente, todo esto es un concepto, ya que para que esto funcione, los teléfonos han de tener un sistema operativo o un programa residente que se sepa comunicar con “Surface”.Windows 7

 Pero la principal baza de Microsoft en lo que a tecnología táctil se refiere todavía está por llegar. Según anuncios de la compañía, los nuevos sistemas operativos Windows 7 (sucesor de Windows Vista) y Windows Mobile 7 estarán centrados en el control mediante tacto y gestos.En el mundo móvil no es ninguna novedad, y no sólo por el iPhone. Compañías como Nokia y Sony Ericsson ya han incorporado acelerómetros en algunos de sus modelos para detectar movimientos efectuados por sus propietarios. Así, podemos cambiar de canción con sólo “agitar” el móvil (Shake Control de Sony Ericsson) o controlar los juegos de móvil inclinándolo (próximamente en móviles Nokia).

 Pero el hecho de tener un sistema operativo orientado a la interacción táctil y gestual en un ordenador “normal” puede cambiar la manera que tenemos de trabajar con el ordenador. Ya en Windows Vista hemos apreciado como se incorporaban otros métodos de interacción alternativos, como el reconocimiento de voz (otra cosa es cómo de efectivo sea).Es posible que, si hacemos caso a lo que anuncian desde Microsoft, que en un futuro no muy lejano (el lanzamiento de Windows 7 se prevee para 2010) nuestro ratón se vea sustituido por una superficie táctil o directamente pantallas táctiles superfinas con tecnología OLED encima de nuestros escritorios.¿Y el teclado? Además de poder tenerlo en la propia superficie táctil, si la tecnología de reconocimiento de voz sigue avanzando, puede que Windows 7 cuente con un sistema de reconocimiento de voz lo suficientemente avanzado como para que podamos dictar por voz todo el contenido que antes tecleábamos.

MIT Media Lab’s fluid interfaces research

MIT tangible media reserach

“Tangible Web” wikipedia

Designing with RFID

Visual Representation of Tangible Interaction

Touch

plug and play RFID peripherals

RFID game

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1229744/Stroking-dog-helps-patients-halve-number-painkillers-take.html

I came across this article about the healing power of touch when it comes to patting and stroking dogs. How the health benefits of keeping a dog help people with chronic pain reduce their painkillers, and how visits from Patting Dogs at hospitals bring cheer and warmth. This is something so human and deep within us. My own 2 dogs, a Chihuahua and a Jack Russell, are absolutely my best friends; it’s just a shame that dogs don’t have a longer life span.

Sugar enjoying her massage

]]> http://forte44.wordpress.com/2009/11/21/cool-flight-simulation-apps-for-iphone-os-3-0/ Sat, 21 Nov 2009 12:35:40 +0000 forte44 http://forte44.wordpress.com/2009/11/21/cool-flight-simulation-apps-for-iphone-os-3-0/

Everyone secretly loves flight simulation. Soaring above (or below) the clouds is a great experience, however it is generated. The iPhone and iPod touch devices, despite their small screens, are great for this sort of activity. The computing and graphics power is quite great and the accelerometer makes it quite hard to crash.

Here are my top flight sims in no particular order… unfortunately none are free, although Lite or Trainer versions might exist or become available…

X-Plane is a simulator that is absolutely physically realistic to the extent that a mobile phone can be. It presents serious options to practise or try out “proper” manoeuvres, including using excellently developed navigation on beautiful aircraft. There are terrain options, other aircraft (occasionally) and challenging runways. It uses the accelerometer to great effect. Multiplayer or not.

F.A.S.T. is an aerial combat game that is, again, very realistic, although less so. There is a social club, a multiplayer mode and an option to fight against enemies in planes with blackout-causing g-force. The satisfaction of this one can be immense – after all, it is designed to be challenging, with a name like “Fleet Air Superiority Training”. If you like missions, this is one for you.

Flight Control is about moving aircraft of various sizes and speeds to their correct helipads and runways. It’s a 2D setup but don’t be fooled – co-ordinating movements of planes of different speeds and requirements is tricky. There are several terrain modes, and the game itself is easy to use. A good value item that interacts with others over Bluetooth, WiFi or even Facebook (although that’s not live). Enjoy dragging aircraft around with your finger, then…

I would like to particularly thank the developers of these apps for their great work. Keep it up, guys!

Samsung Corby

The colour- Very bright, young, and possible appreciated only by these kind of people

I had the Yellow. Bright, almost offensive (to some, not me!) yellow- though I clearly supported Pink in the Corby Colour wars on Twitter .

The look- Oh la la!

My first impression about Corby was that- it is a darn good-looking phone. And I think I’ll still stay by that first impression. I might’ve my sister in the background flashing her iPhone like iPod, but given the price point, Corby to me was a stunner at just the right price. I must also admit, that when I looked at it, it looked fine with/without the price. The preloaded themes were a far cry from what other phones in the market come with, and this I mean in a pretty good way. I loved them. They felt funny, warm, and went along perfectly well with the sunny look. It’s also got an iPod like cartwheel for sound adjustments. On a quick dip-stick survey of my cousins (17 and 21), my sister (24), my colleagues (both 24) and boss (38) – all of them loved the way it looked. I guess Corby’s got the look just right.

The touch- Delicate though very responsive

The second reason for not getting an iPhone (which I almost use as a cliché for a touch phone) is that I felt it would get my typing speed slowed down. Of course I never used an iPhone due to the first reason that it is obscenely overpriced in India (for what it provides). But I could see why data usage surged with the “touch”. Corby has a multitouch interface, which responds very quickly so that, I felt with the dictionary on, I was up to speed very very quickly (this is quite a deal, as my Fringe/ Gtalk speeds are not easily discernable, i.e. I type just as fast on the phone). It did feel a bit weird to use an all touch phone from my regular all button phone, but it was a great experience. Very quick. However, the one thing that was bugging at times was that one has to lock the phone/ screen even if one is holding the phone, as it is too responsive, so if you’re not locked, you’re sending messages and calling people randomly. Locking isn’t that tough, however, it is darn delicate.

Inserting address “kink”

On my current phone if I have people in a group e.g. School A, School B, School C etc., I can type A, B and reach the people easily through my address book. However the Corby doesn’t quite recognize A, B separately and only searches for ‘School’. I guess it’s the inability to recognize “groups”. And since all my contacts have a prefixed group, it’s slightly bugging.

Deal maker or deal breaker?- No Wi-Fi

I think Samsung got it right, however, my provider Vodafone (and all not just them) need to come up with better data plans. I do not know which data plan would meet the needs of the Corby phone, as I am pretty much on a Wi-Fi network on my regular phone. This to me was the biggest hindrance in say buying a Corby as I would want to access data with it on my Wi-Fi- which is a space Corby keeps away from. Is that how they keep an ASP of 7,900? Apparently, there are some good data plans with Airtel. Vodafone- anyone listening? Sigh!

Widgets? Useful, but not the most intuitive to get going

Corby has widgets on the home screen which point to social networking sites like Twitter/ Facebook etc. These I didn’t think were overly intuitive to use (without the manual i.e., considering I had a demo model).

Battery? Low, low!!

Considering it’s a big phone with a huge screen, I already felt battery would be an issue. But with my limited phone usage (I am not so much of a talker, though I have my share of data- not exhaustive, but still) it lasted me just less than a day. Now if college kids is what their target is, Corby massively falls short of the battery levels they need. As those kids text, and click pictures ALL of the time.

Pictures? 2 Mp- decent, but hey Video recording- awesomeness!

I use a 5Mp camera- which I pretty much think rocks. I was slightly (not overtly) shocked that 2 Mp was also decent. And the video recording was fine too, just that the sound recorded is low- but that’s a case with most phones.

Price? Perfecto!

This is where I feel Corby has got it perfect. It the right price for the model. Going by what Samsung had said on the launch of Jet, guess touch leadership is still in sight!

Well then, let’s have more rolling!!

P.S. Picture credit, Google images

©Upasna Kakroo, 2009

For many seniors, the caring for an animals helps maintain self-esteem. The idea that they are still able to help another living being makes a difference. The benefit of the pet/owner bond is well documented. Yet when a senior begins to have mobility issues, a pet companion can become one of them. Whether you are an aging adult, or caring for one who has a pet, take the time to do a safety check. Is it difficult to clean the cat box? Does bending over and lifting it jeopardize safety? Does the animal respect the personal space of its owner or is there a tripping/falling hazard when the beloved pet wants to lovingly rub on weakened legs while its owner tries to move from room to room? Is the dog so large or energetic that it might knock over an unsteady owner? If any of those questions start to resonate with you, look for solutions. Perhaps the cat likes to climb and the box can be moved off the floor. Perhaps the dog can be taken for training classes to learn to avoid walkers and wheelchairs. Just saying, “Mom, the dog has to go,” may not be the answer. It’s certainly not the sensitive response. Take time to look for and discuss possible solutions. If they’re not available in the living situation you and your loved one are dealing with, then perhaps the pet can find a new home with a friend or relative and come for visits. Or, the “inside” cat can become an “outside” pet. Acknowledging the value of the relationship, even if the nature of it might need to change, will help make transitions more manageable.

i don’t need
but i want
your nipple
in my mouth
smooth wamth
let me
please
touch
yes that’s it please
i will touch you
yes

Chelsea fans might be celebrating being top of the Premier League but they are struggling to give smoking the red card…. From BBC News. Full story

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