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Still More Quick Snippets

Published on Thursday, November 19, 2009 in , , , , , , , , ,

LinksThis is one of largest editions of snippets yet, so let's get right to it!

• If you liked the native app iSensor (iTunes Link), which was mentioned in my iPhone and iPod Amazement post, there's a new program that take the routine to the next level. It's called iForce (iTunes Link), and it uses the same basic idea as iSensor, but allows you to customize it to any sort of routine you want!

iForce comes disguised as a simple drawing program, but has hidden features that allow you to perform impressive mind-reading that limited only by your imagination. Even more ingenious, the drawing program as which it is disguised is available separately in the iTunes store, so if anyone tries to discover your secret, they'll be looking for the wrong program. The drawing program isn't even posted under the same company name, so it's all the more difficult to accidentally run across the real program. Ordinarily, I'd mention the name of this program, but I'm doing my part to keep it out of search engines to avoid exposure.

• Alan Rorrison has another trick out called Google App. You ask the spectator to name any playing card, and then type “what is my card?” into Google, and hit the Google search button. The Google search results then displays results containing the name of their card! This may sound similar to boondoggle (method here), but the difference is that your spectator is the one who types in the search question, not you.

• So many magic iPhone/iPod Touch apps are now available, that the Magic Café has decided to give them their own forums! They now offer APPS-alutely (for general discussion of apps), APPealing or APPalling? (for app reviews), and APPearing Soon... (for discusing app announcements, rumors, and marketing).

• Over at the Magic Café, user MemDeck329 has posted a great five-part approach to learning a memorized deck effectively. It's called Memorized Deck Made Easy, and is posted in 5 parts:

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5

The approach does use Nick Pudar's Stackview program, which is a Windows-only program, but Intel-based Mac users can run it by using either Darwine or WineBottler (I prefer the latter, but both are good).

• Ever had a great idea for a trick involving specially-designed cards, but couldn't perform it because it wasn't available? While there are places that will make custom cards for you, such as Make-A-Deck.com and Card-Shark, Lybrary.com offers up a different approach: the ability to make them at home! The best place to start is with their article, How To Make Your Own Playing Cards. You'll need:

• A color laserjet or inkjet printer with a straight paper path (the article recommends the Brother HL-4070CDW)
• The right cardboard, which you can find at Lybrary.com in sets of 10 sheets, 20 sheets or 40 sheets
• A poker-size card cutter
• A corner rounder
Vector playing card images and software for your system that can load, save and edit vector files (free software is available to do this).

Obviously, for 1 unique gimmick, this may be a little much. But if you're planning to turn this into a business or an income-producing hobby, this may be just the way to go.

• One of Grey Matters' favorite magicians, Werner Miller, has released several works, old an new, through Lybrary.com. Mr. Miller's available books at that site include: Enigmaths 1, Enigmaths 2, E-Z Square, and Symbolics. Although it's not the same method or routine, if you missed out on Chuck Hickok's Diagonal Magic Square, you'll want to check out E-Z Square. Werner Miller's book Ear-Marked is also still availble, just not through Lybrary.com.

• If you enjoyed Mind Blasters, which I reviewed last year, you'll be glad to know that Mind Blasters II has just been released! It's full of more awesome mentalism, and similar original thinking that made the other one such a big hit.

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1 Response to Still More Quick Snippets

Jay
3:05 PM

Great post, makes me wish I had an iphone or app using device. I don't know if I should mention it here, but this post got me thinking of the best way to practice a stacked deck. Once you have the stack memorized (For this to work preferably with a peg system) My idea was to use the cards themselves as a peg list and use them to memorize a list of other information. For example if in my stack the queen of diamonds is number twelve than I would use the queen of diamonds image to memorize a word in the twelfth position. Once you practice with this you will find that you instantly associate a card to a number without having to translate from mnemonic images. Didn't know where else to mention it but this post got me thinking for some reason. Keep up the great work and the great site Mr. Cram

Sincerely,
Long time reader and commenter Jay