Did some more iPhone programming. The other day I took some of the maze drawing code and put it into a new MazeParts class. This class will be handling the drawing of the floor and walls of the maze. It will make the renderer file cleaner and easier to work with. Today I rewrote the floor drawing code to use translation calls instead of rebuilding vertex and texture buffer data for each floor tile. Next I will do something similar to draw the walls. I also added a setting to my info.plist file to hide the status bar.

Yesterday I moved the code that draws the walls in my maze app to the MazeParts class. Now it can share memory with the floor drawing code and got rid of the allocating/deallocating memory on each frame rendered. I also enabled the depth buffer and depth sorting, finally the walls are overlapping correctly. I started adding some code to load a plist file into an array. This will help me create levels besides the random mazes it makes now.

The other night while watching a cartoon, I thought of a way to create levels for my iPhone game by scanning an image drawn on graph paper. To do this I need to access the raw pixel data from a CGImage. I already have a method that is loading png images into OpenGL texture maps, so I started modifying it to get the pixel data. I made some progress altering the pixels, which can lead to procedural texture generation later. I am going to try to make a program that detect shaded cells on graph paper and convert them to polygons in my game level.

One of the retaining wall contractors rang me just a short time (kudos to him) after receiving the request for quote. He was strongly emphasizing the need to have the retaining walls installed before the house was built or costs will be considerably higher. This goes completely against what I was told by our builder here. The retaining wall contractor said 'under the act' that we were to be given reasonable time to install retaining walls between levelling the land and preparing the land for laying the foundations.

I need to call our builder immediately and get this sorted out.

So I jumped on the phone and called the builder about having the retaining walls installed before the house is built. They put me through to someone who was a 'project manager'. He basically listened to my spiel, agreed with me, and then said it was up to me to negotiate this with my 'site supervisor' when we were assigned one. Blah.

A new cross cultural tool has been released allowing you to consult the Geert Hofstede 5-dimensional cultural model on the Iphone. From the CultureGPS website: “CultureGPS is a tool for the iPhone and iPod Touch that enables you to analyze behavior differences in intercultural encounters and to predict to a certain degree, which interactions evolve …

Continue reading "Iphone app Geert Hofstede’s 5 cultural dimensions"

I’m convinced that no company out there wants people to be able to use older computers or software, even if they’re still working fine.

I get the money-making angle for software companies. They have to stay in business and in order to do so, most have moved to subscription based models. As software is constantly updated for the latest operating systems, the technology that runs those operating systems (computers, laptops, tablets, smartphones, and even [...]

The post The Conundrum of Old Tech (aka, what do with your old computers, phones, etc.) appeared first on Create + Design + Market.

To make your search easier, we are going to break down some of the best podcasting microphones you can find right now.

complete article

One of the more curious growth areas in media has been the rise - largely under the radar - of podcasting. The simple act of voices telling stories, conducting interviews or teaching weird and wonderful things has made it one of the most important communication mediums of the 21st Century. Around 73 million Americans identify as regular podcast listeners, and that number is only forecast to rise. With that in mind, we want to help you get started making your own with our pick of the best podcasting microphones around.

The popularity of podcasting can be largely attributed to communities that form around popular podcasts. So it makes sense that more and more people are looking to podcasting as a way of telling their story.

The good news is that there is a relatively low barrier to entry.

Best Podcasting Microphones

JD: Podcasting — then and now; what do you make of its evolution?

DC: It has gone from being passive to a very personal on-demand commercial work. We have the ability to totally integrate content and commercials - it’s a good mindset. It went from a Howard Stern read to a re-envisioned, re-engaged conversation. It is the new native, a really positive, advertorial. We have the ability to weave in the right message at the right time and see more organic growth for both the listener and the advertiser. If you can think of a subject, there's a podcast for it and more coming on daily.

A solid, standalone microphone will offer a wider frequency response range than a basic headset mic, letting it pick up all the nuance in your voice for a richer sound. With different pickup patterns they can also make it easier to cut down on the background noise that might be coming from your gaming PC or gaming keyboard. Some microphones can even let you switch between different pickup patterns, so you can focus on just your voice with a cardioid pattern one day while you might try to record you and a guest with a bi-directional pattern the next day.

With all that in mind, we will help guide you through a variety of quality microphones that can fit in a range of production environments. So, whether you just want to stream games on weekends or plan on making a half-dozen podcast series, you'll be able to find a microphone suited to the task.

For those of us who are iPhone users, I asked Jimmy Atkinson at Edu-Tastic to share a list similar to the one I posted for you yesterday but for the iPhone. Here it is! (The link to the webpage is: http://toponlineuniversityreviews.com/2009/25-essential-free-iphone-apps-for-lifelong-learners/

by Miranda on July 14, 2009

11. Speeek!: Contains over 1,500 useful phrases while traveling overseas. By simply talking into your iPhone in English, Speeek! will find the phrase and speak it in Chinese.
12. Events Finder: Provides events from multiple event sources, such as Upcoming, Eventbrite, and TicketStumbler, all in one application.
13. iSayHello: Speak German, English, French, Portuguese, Italian, Spanish or Polish. Choose your language course and off you go with the language travel guide. This easy-to-use talking travel dictionary with superb audio output is more of a vocabulary trainer and dictionary than a translation program.
14. New York on Tap: New York on Tap was designed to help people find great bars in New York City. It’ll also help you locate the nearest subway and help you figure out where to go next.
15. Payless Car Rental: Rent a Car using your iPhone. Travelers can view, modify, or cancel their reservation using the iPhone. "Call to Book" button connects the customer directly to Payless Car Rental’s call center.
16. Bell Hop: Find photos, information, rates and more on this fast, easy-to-use lodging mobile search.
17. London Travel Guide: Packed full of cool features our London Travel Guides are everything you that would expect from an electronic tour guide, only it’s free.
18. Good Food: GoodFood by Goodrec is the best way to find great places to eat! See what other users love and hate.
19. TripIt: Use your iPhone to access your TripIt itineraries whether you’re online, offline or in airplane mode. TripIt is the best way to organize and share your travel plans. Forward your travel confirmation emails to plans@tripit.com, and TripIt automatically creates a master itinerary for your trip, with detailed information about flights, hotels, rental cars and much more. It also includes maps, driving directions and local weather.
20. SushiGuru: Take SushiGuru with you to sound like a pro when you order sushi. SushiGuru provides you with a searchable database of over 200 entries of Japanese and English names of sushi and sushi rolls.

21. Art. Learn all about great artists and their works with this factbook app that also lets you quiz yourself to see how much you are learning.
22. Art Gallery Premium. With over 7,500 works of art in their database, you can bring up your favorite famous work of art on your iPhone or browse to learn about artists you might not know.
23. Art Envi Deluxe. Like having a giant museum in your phone, this app contains works by famous artists as well as specialized categories such as Japanese art.
24. Kaleido. While not high on boosting knowledge, any art lover will appreciate taking photos and creating kaleidoscope effects with them.
25. Photo Lab Daily. This free version allow you to take a photo with your iPhone and once a day you can use the Photo Lab tools to enhance your photos. There is a version available for a fee if you want to do more than one a day.
26. MyPaint Free. Finger paint on a blank canvas or use one of your photos from your photo roll to find your artistic talent with this app.
27. Pencil Pusher. This app allows you to draw as if with a pencil. Write, erase, choose from a variety of backgrounds, choose colors, and more.
28. Bonsai. Learn the traditional art of bonsai care with this app that provides you the opportunity to adjust water, trim the tree, and monitor its overall health.

29. Taber’s Medical Dictionary. Touting 30% more medical terms than other medical dictionaries, this one offers definitions, photos, Patient Care Statements, and more.
30. Registered Nurse. Any nurse studying for the NCLEX exam will love this app that provides a practice exam that tests you in over 20 different subjects.
31. Normal Lab Values. Medical professionals or anyone interested in learning more about laboratory results will appreciate having normal values readily available.
32. Medical Drugs. This app provides detailed information on hundreds of pharmaceutical medications.
33. Diagnosaurus DDx. With over 1,000 diagnoses, anyone can perform differential diagnosis quickly and easily with this app.
34. MedCards. This app replaces the laminated cards physicians carry around and also allows anyone interested in learning to have instant reference to such things as EKG values, Mental Status Exam guide, Snellen chart, and more.
35. MedAbbreviations. Get over 13,000 medical abbreviations with definitions, explanations, a search feature, and more.
36. Skyscape Medical Resources. Find all kinds of medical information such as drug information, evidence-based clinical information, medical calculator, and a med-alert based on a specialty of your choosing.
37. Human Atlas. Geared for medical professionals, patients, and consumers, get a 3D explanation along with over 150 common medical treatments and conditions.
38. Medical Exam. Whether you are studying for your medical exam or just want to have a profound knowledge of medicine, this app helps you learn from 14 different categories.

39. Where to Golf: Gives golfers all the information about a golf course and how to get there. Whether on business, on vacation or in your home town, you’re only a touch away from finding the course you’re looking for.
40. Tetris: Take Tetris for a spin on your iPhone and iPod Touch to experience new twists and enhanced graphics. Drag, Flick and Poke your way through 15 challenging levels.
41. Sudoku: This application has more than 10,000 puzzles. So enjoy one of America’s favorite games, but try to get some work done, too.
42. Crossword: This is a very thorough Crossword application with various levels of difficulty.
43. Word Warp: Make words out of the six jumbled letters provided at each game’s start.
44. Cube Runner: Think eSnakei for current generation telephones. Boatloads of fun, just don’t run your boat into the cubes.
45. Topple: Topple is a quick, tower building game that is theoretically simple yet surprisingly addictive.
46. Trism: A little bit like Bejeweled meets Tetris, Trism stands alone as a distinctive, fun and brain-taxing challenge.
47. Wurdle: a Boggle-like word game available in the iTunes app store. The game is jammed-packed with features, challenging, and most of all, it’s fun.
48. 400 Free iPhone Games: The perfect cure for boredom. This go-to site has 400 free games, from logic cames to old-school arcade games.

49. USA Factbook Free: This reference packet is great for anyone in a civics, history or political science course that covers the U.S. Access key documents, lists of the flags, state capitals and other stats.
50. Stars: Anatomy students can use this tool as a resource when studying constellations.
51. The Chemical Tough: Lite Edition: View the periodic table when you download this free app.
52. Formulas Free: This app brings you free calculus formulas.
53. iQuotations: Look up quotes to use in papers or just as general inspiration.
54. Math Ref Free: Get free reference packs for geometry, algebra, trig, derivatives and more.
55. AllTheCountries: Get facts about literacy rate, economy, population, area and more for every country.
56. Your Rights: Use this app for political science courses or just as backup when you get into trouble at school.
57. iTranslator: Study abroad students and panicked foreign language students can use this tool to connect to Google Translator, Babel Fish or Free Translation.
58. Quickpedia Lite: This app makes it easier and faster to use Wikipedia.

59. Jourist Visual PhraseBook English. Use this visual aid with 20 different languages to help you show the person what you mean. It also include the written phrase in both English and your target language.
60. iTranslate Ultimate. Translate words between English, Spanish, German, French, and Italian, then have the words repeated back to you in the target language with this app.
61. Translator with Voice. Get translations in 34 different languages with voice support on most of them.
62. DragonDian. Use this dictionary to draw Chinese characters to quickly and easily find an English translation.
63. WordPower Lite – Italian. This free app gives you one Italian word a day to practice and master by listening to audio, recording and playing back your own voice, and using flashcards.
64. iSpeak Spanish. Translate between Spanish and English with this app that also allows you to hear words spoken in high quality English and Spanish voices.
65. Gengo Flashcards – French. This app uses visual cues and the voices of native French speakers with flashcards to help you learn French. Take a picture of any object, then add the French and English words to it, and you have created your own flashcard to add to the stack.
66. Lonely Planet Japanese Phrasebook. Whether traveling or learning Japanese, use this app to get over 600 written and spoken Japanese phrases.
67. Byki German. Learn German in no time with this app that includes native speakers, quizzes, and a phrasebook.
68. WordPower – Thai. Listen to 2000 Thai words for proper pronunciation and see the words and phrases in three versions–original Thai, Romanized, and English.

69. Inquisitor: This super fast search tool also makes suggestions for your searches.
70. Last.fm: Search music, artists and more with Last.fm for the iPhone.
71. Repairpal: This app will help you find auto repair shop and support.
72. Job Search: Indeed.com’s search application lets you find jobs by location and job description.
73. SearchMe: SearchMe is a new way to search the web on your phone. Unlike all other search engines that return a bunch of links, SearchMe lets you see a "coverflow" of pages that match your search results.
74. U.S. Historical Documents: U.S. Historical Documents contains over 100 of the most influential documents in U.S. history and they will be stored directly on your iPhone/iTouch. Quickly and easily find any text from any document with the fastest and most powerful search engine available on the iPhone.
75. 3GPS OS 3.0: 3GPS OS 3.0 tells you how fast, high and where you are. Whether you’re climbing a hill, touring or running a marathon, with 3GPS OS 3.0 your iPhone shows your current altitude, speed and course.

What if you could synchronize the contacts in your Apple Powerbook’s Address Book to your cell phone? What if your car could use the same contacts in your phone to make calls with Bluetooth? That would be cool!

What if you could use your Mac Powerbook to check your email and get on the internet wirelessly. Yea sure, you can drive around looking for wireless hotspots, or pay to use the wireless service at Starbucks. But what if it did not matter where you were.

Dial into your office computer using your Bluetooth phone and MacWise terminal emulation.

Use Your Mac Powerbook to Connect to the Internet using your Motorola Razr V3xx Bluetooth Phone and a 3G High Speed Internet Connection .
(Browse the Internet and check your email)

A very easy and convenient way to record and email a voice message
from your iPhone or iPod Touch to yourself or to others.
http://www.carnationsoftware.com/SayitMailit.html

Say it & Mail it version 1.4 was submitted to the iTunes Store today. It should be released in a couple of weeks and will be a free upgrade. You will be able to send a voice memo, picture and map location to an iPhone as an instant message. Pretty cool!

Leo Laporte is a Radio and TV Personality.
He hosted Tech TV for many years and now is host and producer of the TWiT Netcasts at http://twit.tv

You can take a look at Apple's web page to see their featured business apps for iPhone and the current top 10 selling apps.
http://www.apple.com/iphone/apps-for-everything/work.html

It is very cool to use your iPhone from anywhere and post to your blog. All you need to do is record your audio, take a photo or movie, turn on the map location switch and send your email to your blog.

Record and email voice memos using your iPhone or iPod Touch.
Use it to email reminders to yourself or email messages to anyone.

There have been several requests to create a MacWise iPhone app. Unfortunately, that would require a jail-broken iPhone and a year of programming time. But the next best thing is actually very cool and has advantages over a limited-function iPhone app. It uses Virtual Network Computing (VNC) to let you see and control your Mac screen from anywhere on your iPhone. It's just as if you were sitting in front of your Mac using MacWise via your iPhone.

Say it & Mail it is the quickest and easiest way to email a voice memo from your iPhone or iPod Touch to yourself or to others.

This new version lets you 'Shake it & Mail it'. You can optionally shake your iPhone or iPod touch to start and stop recording. Then just one tap to email a voice memo.

MindFull List is a simple checklist program that syncs your checklists with devices on your iCloud account including other Macs, iPhones, iPads and the Apple Watch.

Create a checklist on your Mac and it will magically appear on your iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch.

Call it laziness. Call it busy-ness. (As opposed to busi-ness. Which is actually true... I love words...) But as much as I love to produce audio posts (which stems from back in the days of my poetry site, circa 1999-2003), it takes way too long to really do it well. Once a week I can commit myself to doing a full-fledged radio broadcast on some type of a continuous basis. But most of the time

Ninjalane Podcast: In this episode the duo talk about the current state of mobile devices and how they have really become more of a fondle device and less of a communication tool. Later they update us with the games they have been playing including some that aren’t so good.

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[Capital FM] Nairobi -- President William Ruto has congratulated U.S. President-elect Donald Trump on his recent election victory during a phone call, where the two leaders discussed strengthening bilateral relations and areas of mutual interest.

January 9, 2006 - On Friday, Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich announced that he wants to ban the unauthorized sale of phone records within his state. The practice, know in the industry as “pretexting”, occurs when someone pretending to be the phone company’s customer calls the phone company and gains access to all of the call information available for the actual customer. Surprisingly, no state currently outlaws this practice. And disturbingly, this lack of regulation has seen the birth of a new cottage industry that allows nearly anyone the purchase the phone records of any person they desire.

With the Corona virus not far from everyones minds and the precautions that individuals took to protect their health. It is not a far stretch to consider the possible germs and bacteria that have potentially taken up residence on our cell phones. Mobile devices are never far from most individuals. They are constantly being touched, placed down, picked up and placed near the face. A study published in 2017 found that cell phone screens were host to multiple viruses and bacteria including: E. coli, Staphylococcus aureus, and Streptococcus.  Depending on the temperature and relative humidity, cold and flu viruses can survive from a few hours to up to 9 days.

How to Clean Cell Phone Screens

How to Conserve and Make the Most of Your Data Usage?
Mobile data usage on a cell phone refers to any information the cell phone exchanges using a cellular network.  Almost every application on a cell phone uses data, in some way. Arguably some applications use more data, than others.

There are a number of steps you can take to make sure you do not exceed your mobile data limit that comes with your cell phone service.

Adjust Wi-Fi Settings
It goes without saying that when you are located near a secure/safe Internet hot-spot you should use it to connect via Wi-Fi. Using Wi-Fi rather than your cellular connection will preserve your mobile data usage for when a wi-fi Internet connection is not available.

What Uses Data on a Cell Phone?

Cell phones are now very common in the Western world and have become increasingly more important in a crisis. There are a number of different ways that cell phones can be  extremely helpful in an emergency situation, as a result it is important that the cell phone be operational and have power in the event it is needed.

During a crisis the battery life of a cell phone is crucial. A cell phone may be the only source of communication available.

Prolonging the battery life of a cell phone can be very important and should be considered a priority in an emergency situation. Regardless of whether you have an iPhone or an Android phone there are a number of things that can be done to extend the life of a cell phone’s battery.

Cell Phone Use in Natural Disasters and How to Conserve Battery Life

How to Conserve and Make the Most of Your Data Usage?
Mobile data usage on a cell phone refers to any information the cell phone exchanges using a cellular network.  Almost every application on a cell phone uses data, in some way. Arguably some applications use more data, than others.

There are a number of steps you can take to make sure you do not exceed your mobile data limit that comes with your cell phone service.

What Uses Data on a Cell Phone

Whether your cell phone has a broken screen, is no longer the latest technology, or you are simply itching for the latest cell phone model, it is important that you take appropriate care in disposing of your old cell phone.

How to Dispose of Old Cell Phones

Six years on from the first iMicro smartphone microscope, the team has unveiled its latest: the iMicro Q3p, a fingertip-sized, lightweight device that makes microscopy inexpensive, portable and accessible to anyone with a camera on their phone. What's more, this new model features polarization, allowing you to see (and photograph) incredible detail in the structures of materials such as crystals and minerals – all for less than 1% of the cost of the equipment normally required to view these structures.

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Category: Technology

Tags: Kickstarter, smartphones, Microscopes, Gadgets

Astropad has introduced Bookcase, a unique smartphone case that transforms your phone into a dedicated e-reader.

Many people plug in their phones before bed without a second thought, but experts say it's best to avoid overnight charging.

Apple is reportedly preparing a new feature that could bring a highly anticipated improvement to the iPhone charging experience.

The latest iPhone iOS update is nearly here, these are the new features, bug fixes and general improvements that you can expect to see in December.

(Telecompaper) Dutch online marketplace Bol.com has started selling refurbished smartphones, tablets, laptops and smartwatches, with the Refurbished quality certification...

(Telecompaper) New Ugandan operator Talkio Mobile has launched a festive campaign giving over 10,000 customers who book a Talkio SIM online automatic entry to a...