Remember The Glif? The 3D Print has arrived!

If you don’t want to look for the earlier post… The Glif is a iPhone 4 tripod mount. It is unique for a couple reasons. It holds the iPhone 4 by gently applying pressure around one side and a corner and it was done by a couple guys completely funded on Kickstarter.

The updates have been talking about the ‘real’ product rolling off the assembly line. For those that wanted to have a collectable and something in their hands early, there was an option to get a 3D ‘print’ of The Glif. Well, mine showed up in a nice padded envelope and a hand written Thank You. These guys have got a lot of class!

Here are a couple images, just for fun.

Even this ‘printed’ version is a precision created item. The Glif is designed to hold an iPhone 4 with no case. You can see that mine with the ‘thicker’ no-scratch vinyl on it made enough of a difference that it wouldn’t go into the mount without forcing… which I refused to do.

Off to get my stop motion software loaded back up. Fun stuff!!

Texas overrun by Augmented Reality Star Wars fighters!!!

It started as any ordinary day. Picking up my iPhone and looking through the view finder of Star Wars Falcon Gunner I could see things are going to get ugly fast!! Blasting my way through wave after wave of TIE fighters and Star Destroyers.

Star Wars Arcade: Falcon Gunner app allows for Augmented Reality play where the ships are all around you whether your in town or out in the back yard. Yes, that included below and above you. To successfully play you will need to twist all around. In the Arcade game play, the gyroscope and compass comes into action as tipping and twisting the iPhone to change views rather than you doing all the turning.

Starting the game and returning later gives you a splash screen of game options. The lowest button is for switching Augmented Reality view on/off.  Due to the power of the game, it’s best suited for the newer iPhones and iPod Touch… the current version wont install on the iPad.

The settings area of Star Wars Arcade is a quick way to tune the game to your liking. Highlight Enemies is pretty important when playing outdoors so you can see the ships bracketed like in the real Millennium Falcon’s gun views. ‘Auto-Aim’ is a good place to start until you get a handle on how far things move on the screen when you tip and turn around.

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Sharing your fun with pictures and video for free

I take a lot of pictures of fun things I see and fun events that I want to share with friends. While sending those pictures via email or posting on a blog is fine, both carry limitations. Emailing means your friends aren’t able to comment on the image as a group. And, posting up to a blog carries charges and has ongoing management that must be done.

There are a couple ‘free’ options for sharing pictures and videos taken with your iPhone with your freinds and family.

For pictures, the Clixtr service and iPhone app are both free. Original released as a way of multiple people being at an event and sharing their own views. Clixtr is now a great way of posting pictures grouped by location or event that can then be shared with friends or everyone. Images can be used taken with the Clixtr app or from the camera roll. If posting to the Clixtr service isn’t enough, you can also share out through Twitter and Facebook.

Sometimes a picture doesn’t tell the whole story so a video is needed. Justin.tv offers a free app and a free online service to share with friends and family. In the case of Justin.tv, it does not have to just be recorded video. The Justin.TV iPhone app supports live streaming of everything your camera is grabbing. Your friends are able to ‘chat’ live with you to let you know what they think or give you tips what they want you to stream. A lot of fun, and actually handy for business meetings too!

Store your Justin.TV videos online for free:

Friends and family can comment while your streaming video:

Finding local businesses that accept PayPal though the iPhone

When PayPal started, it was financed through a Palm ‘beaming’ money to another Palm. Now, you can transfer funds via acct or ‘Bump’ your iPhone with another to transfer funds.

In the most recent free version of PayPal for the iPhone is a new ‘beta’ feature that lets you search for local companies that will let you pay via PayPal. No need to carry your money or credit cards to these stores.

This service is still in ‘beta’ so don’t expect to see a lot of spots on the list yet. From the Categories list the PayPal app shows, they are expecting a lot of businesses to jump on board.

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