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iMuscle is a must for exercise aficionados
I've raved about 3D 4 Medical's apps in the past. They are so well designed that I can't think of better apps to show off the power of the iPad. Apple even used one of 3D 4's apps in an iPad commercial. The company's latest app, the awkwardly titled iMuscle - (NOVA Series) - iPad edition, lives up to the reputation established by previous apps. With iMuscle, users can select virtually any muscle in the human body and see a list of exercises and stretches for that muscle. However, that feature in itself is nothing new or groundbreaking as many apps do the same thing. What is unique about this app is that it uses the 3D Nova engine to show users animations of the exercises using a model with exposed musculature. Think Body Worlds brought to life. In addition to more than 450 high-quality 3D animated exercises and stretches, you can create custom workouts and the app even supports multiple users. Anyone who is into sports training or rehabilitation science will immediately see the usefulness of this app. After all, instead of telling a client they need to work on their butt muscles, it's a lot more helpful to tell them that they specifically need to work their glute med and be able to show them a 3D model of its anatomical location and what it looks like in action. iMuscle is a steal at US$4.99.
Flexible displays created by stretching crystals
As researchers continue to forge ahead in their quest to create commercially viable flexible displays, a new team from Canada has apparently unearthed a breakthrough of sorts. Reportedly, the crew has been able to conjure up a full-color display which boasts pixels made from photonic crystals, and by "bonding them to an electroactive polymer that expands when a voltage is applied to it," the colors of the pixels change. According to André Arsenault of the University of Toronto, the newfangled devices "can be viewed just as well in bright sunlight as in indoor light," and if all goes as planned, we could be seeing a whole lot more of these promising units "in as little as two years" when the startup Opalux looks to fit these bendable creations into billboards, handheld gadgetry, and anything else it deems fit.[Image courtesy of MSNBC, thanks Alan]
