The iPhone and iPod touch have really attracted a lot of interest from the magic community, and we've reviewed some of the tricks you can get at the App Store here, and here, and here.

Now things are getting more serious with the release of a DVD set called 'Magic with the iPhone' ($19.95 U.S.) created by Magic City in California, a large distributor of magic effects to pros and semi-pros.

The 2 DVD set consists of 12 tricks you can do with your iPhone. One disc is a standard DVD which demonstrates the magic, and then explains how it is done. The second disc is a data DVD, which has picture and movie files that will set your phone up to do the trick. The package even contains a gimmick used to turn a penny into a dime.

Like any collection, there are some strong effects, and some weaker ones, but most people will easily find 3 or 4 that are worth doing. In general, the effects are more polished than many of the tricks in the App Store, and the video instructions are more detailed.

Stand out effects in my view were iHotrod, where a spectator chooses a color at random from 6 colored dots, and that turns out to be what you predicted in an iCal entry on your phone for the current date and time. I also liked Telecommunications, where someone selects a card, then calls a contact in your address book, and the person called tells the spectator exactly where the card is in the deck after it has been shuffled. It's a clever diversion, and should stun your audience.

The disc is not sold by Magic City, but they distribute it to magic dealers and novelty shops. Here is a Google search that should help you find a copy.

Magic City has also just released a second DVD of iPhone tricks. I did not think it was as strong as the first volume, and it tended to repeat the same card finding methodology over and over again.

Gerald Kirchner, who created the DVDs says the products will be available at Blockbuster and from Netflix in mid April.

I think the first DVD is worth a try if you are getting more serious about magic. Instead of carrying around a lot of props and equipment, you only need your iPhone and a deck of cards.

It's amazing how a device that was intended as a phone has branched off into specialty areas like magic, medical technology, astronomy, photography and music. That is the true magic of the iPhone.

Two of Apple's rival mobile platforms announced news this week at the 2009 Mobile World Congress, with Windows Mobile 6.5 on the way, and a new Android-based handset from HTC.

Windows Mobile has updated its user interface to more closely resemble the iPhone's. I can imagine the brainstorming session:

Developer 1: "It needs to look, work, and feel like the iPhone, but -- you know -- not be."

Developer 2: "Instead of putting the icons on a rectangular grid, let's do a (one two three four five six) hexagonal one!"

Developer 1: "Brilliant! Book it. Done."

I kid, I kid. I'm sure it was more complicated than that. Anyway, Windows Mobile will also feature two new services, a "My Phone" synchronization service, and a new marketplace that will sell mobile applications from both phones and desktops. It's like I've heard this song before, but can't remember exactly where.

Also at the conference, HTC announced the Magic, a handset to run Google's Android operating system. Unlike the G1, the Magic will not have a slide-out keyboard. It will first be available to Vodafone customers in the UK, Germany and Spain, among other European carriers. Cult of Mac's Ed Sutherland suspects T-Mobile will carry the handset in the U.S. because it can handle the phone's transmission protocols.

Both the Windows Mobile and Android platforms also announced they'll support Flash (along with Symbian and Palm's new webOS) in 2010. And what of the iPhone? No dice: Adobe lobs the ball back in Apple's court, saying during the announcement, "We would love to see it on the iPhone, too, but it's Apple's decision on when and how they support any new technology. So we will continue to work on it."

[Via Hardmac, MDN, and IGM.]

We love the iPhone, you love the iPhone (most of you do anyway) and so do millions of other users around the world. It's a great device that empowers users to do almost anything from making calls to checking email, from updating your status on Facebook and Twitter to sending text messages and running a host of cool applications.

All of this shiny goodness is made possible by the vision and technological mastery of the engineers and designers at Apple. Or, so we thought. Turns out the iPhone's greatness has pretty much nothing to do with vision or the skills and intelligence of Apple's engineers and designers. It's all about the magic.

Click through to see what I mean courtesy of the folks at G4's Attack of the Show.

When I was growing up I used to do magic shows at kids parties to earn some extra money. It was fun for awhile, but those kids could be pretty rowdy.


Here's how the trick works. You launch the app and the phone does some nicely rendered videos with a curtain opening and some show-bizzy music. Screen prompts ask your innocent assistant to pick one of three objects and say the name of the object out loud. Without further ado you hand the person your iPhone and with music, a puff of smoke and some suspense the phone announces the object the person picked. Yes, it can be repeated, and the effect would be pretty astounding for most people. Fun to try around the office cubicle, or at a bar, or anywhere really.

It's $2.99 at the App Store and worth it for the fun and mystification it can provide. My only suggestion is that there shouldn't be an obvious link to the performance tutorial on the application's main screen. If someone is browsing through the apps on your phone, they are only one click and a 90-second video away from the secret.

Try it and see if people are fooled. I predict they will be.

Man, for all of the great games on the iPhone already (I've been really enjoying Lexitron lately), what we really need is a good old-fashioned, both complex and charming RPG. Arcade games are fun and all, and they just keep getting better, but what the iPhone really needs is a sink-your-teeth-in fantasy world, complete with dragons to slay, swords and magic to wield, and XP to earn.

Perilar might just be that. It's based on the old Ultima-style turn-based RPGs, and the tiled graphics aren't much to look at these days, but it sounds like good (Net)hacking, slashing, and exploring fun. We're still not talking about the peak of the iPhone's potential as an RPG machine, but Perilar looks like a good first step.

And the best part is that there's a Java version out right now, so you can try before you smack down the $4.99 price. I'm definitely planning on picking it up. Until we get a great original, and solidly addictive fantasy RPG on the iPhone, Perilar seems like it'll help scratch that itch.

[via Touch Arcade]

I'll cop to being a magic trick geek. I'm no good at performing them, but I love the mechanisms, and used to try to create new tricks and presentations as a kid (and, OK, later in life as well). I'm surprised it's taken this long for there to be a software-based trick for the Mac, or at least, one that really was worth using. But macDazzle is offering one trick now, and another that looks even more promising later.

iPick, available now, is a classic card reading trick. A spectator picks from three distinct cards and you guess their pick. What's neat about this is that the spectator can download the app on their machine, and you can do the trick via iChat (or Adium, but the presentation isn't nearly as cool).

iMath, available "soon," looks just like the calculator widget from Apple, but it again allows you to divine the numbers provided by a spectator. To further enhance the trick, the spectator can perform calculations with the calculator, and you'll still be able to read the number, without ever touching their machine.