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A pretty darned good trick

by Mel Martin May 2nd 2009 at 5:00PM

When I was a kid growing up in Missouri I used to spend a lot of Saturday afternoons at the magic store. I'd ask to see one trick after another, and after awhile I got a dandy magic show. Of course, I was often shamed into buying something, then running home, practicing the trick in my room, and inflicting my proud possession on friends and family. It was fun, except when I blew the trick and sheepishly left the room for more practice.

That brings me to this particular Saturday afternoon, where I was able to browse the iTunes store for a good trick. It's more of a digital than a tactile experience, but it's fun just the same. If you're a magic buff, be sure to get a look at Magic Compass, [App Store link] a new addition to the collection of tricks for the iPhone and iPod touch.

This $0.99US piece of legerdemain has a spectator put a coin, or any other object to the bottom, top, left or right of the iPhone. A tap of the finger reveals a compass which rather magically determines where the object is. The trick can be repeated. The object doesn't have to be metal, so any thought of some electronic homing device goes out the window. To some spectators, it will look like physics, to some like magic. I think most people will find it hard to explain. The trick has a well produced video tutorial to teach you the secret, and then gives you a way to hide it from prying eyes.

Here's a link to a video from the developer that shows you a demo of the trick. It is easy to learn, and a great thing to just pull out of your pocket when you get together with friends.

For me, it was a great reminder of many happy Saturday afternoons in another time and another place.

Here are some screen grabs:

Magic Compass

  • Splash screen which can be hidden
  • The Compass before it detects object
  • The start of the trick


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When I was a kid growing up in Missouri I used to spend a lot of Saturday afternoons at the magic store. I'd ask to see one trick after...
 

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25 Comments

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Yaschan

First of all, I love TUAW. It's unique and interesting material what cannot be found anywhere else. For those who so keenly criticize others work, how about create something better by yourself?
And I think this trick is funny. Why not? I can't make a decent magic trick by myself, so I might as well buy it. With iPhone, I might be able to do get someone on the same table interested..

May 18 2009 at 7:31 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Catt

Read the interesting news then don't read the ones that are of no interest. Its not like you don't have a choice in what you click on and read or if you come here or not. You're wasting your own time, TUAW is not! Go somewhere else for "serious Apple news..." What's with all the hate folks? Calling people names and such...

This was supposed to be a fun piece it is nice to hear about light-hearted time-wasting apps like this once in a while. All work and no play, no thanks!

May 04 2009 at 3:02 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to Catt's comment
Yaschan

I agree with you. I love TUAW because it has original and genuine content.

May 18 2009 at 7:37 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
twisteddog

Ha ha... you "blew the trick."

May 04 2009 at 10:21 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
EMoShunz

so, i'd like to jump in here with perhaps a less controversial comment/question... call me 12 if you like, but i've always liked trying to figure out (usually unsuccessfully) how illusions are done.
how do you think it works? i'm going to guess either the accelerometer senses the vibration where you put it down, or (if it's iphone only) the mic array triangulates where the sound is where you put it down.

May 04 2009 at 9:17 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Flunky Carter

@MEL
Hey.. I think you need to keep your "opinion" out of our comments. We have no say how you write a story, you should have no say how we comment. I don't agree with the mean comments here, but I don't agree with your bitching and whining about the comments. Swallow your pride and shut up dickwad. The other commenters are dickwads too.

May 04 2009 at 2:08 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Caitlin

Every neat magic trick I see on here, I go and download (provided the price is reasonable). It's just another thing to amaze my 8 year old brother.

The one about the coin getting stuck in the phone? Yeah, they -loved- that one.

May 03 2009 at 3:35 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
D.B. Grady

"They're not tricks, Michael; they're illusions!"

May 03 2009 at 1:38 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Ken Broughton

Mel, joem, etc. - you miss the point. It's not that we hate a 99c app. It's that we don't like having our time wasted with fluff about such crap when we come here in the hope of reading some interesting Apple related news. I first bookmarked tuaw when it used to provide this fairly reliably. I am now very close to deleting that bookmark, mostly because there's so much dross like this posted nowadays that it's literally a waste of time loading this site.

If you can only read this sort of response as negative 'hate' then that's your loss. If you had the sense to read it as positive feedback and up your game, you might not be losing so many people's interest.

May 03 2009 at 12:14 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to Ken Broughton's comment
joe

Ken, I didn't mean literal 'hate.' I was merely using an American colloquial term.

I may be reading too much into your criticism, but you may be interested to know that TUAW offers an iphone-less feed (check up top).

As to the merit of Mel's article, perhaps it would be wise to direct your complaints to the editor, not the author. Editors are the ones in charge of just how much "dross like this" is published, not the authors. And this misdirection of complaints is why I dismissed you (and others) as "haters." I assume that if someone is trying to better an organization like TUAW out of respect (instead of animosity), they would take the time to properly direct their concerns.

May 03 2009 at 10:27 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
joe

Mel, I have news for you... the internet is full of two things: haters and porn. Try reading some comments on the NYT website, and you'll see that TUAW's are pretty much par for the course. And then if you want to feel like TUAW's are totally awesome, try reading some comment threads on a big videogame blog.

May 02 2009 at 7:51 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
SW

I remember the good old days before the iPhone when TUAW had interesting posts.

May 02 2009 at 7:45 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
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