Meditation Overview and App Guide

I've taken up meditation this year and have introduced it to several people who enjoyed the practice. Below is a list of meditation references for those interested in getting to know meditation through self-practice. To add more color and zen to this post, I've added some photos I've taken around NY and Jersey City.

battery park sculpture

Websites
Equinox meditation (free, great for beginners): I didn't download the app. Right on that website, they have short 10 minute sessions for different times of the day.

• Rise (waking up, early morning) 
• Recharge (refresh, good for late morning or maybe afternoon when you're aching for coffee but should actually take a walk and listen to this instead)
• Unwind (great for coming back from work or maybe a workout)
• Sleep (listen and relax before going to sleep). Once you go through all 4 sessions in some combination for a week, you'll build up good habits to incorporate this practice into your daily routine.

https://plumvillage.org/ this site offers a lot of reading and resources. If you haven't read any books by Thich Nhat Hanh, you should check them out at the library or your favorite bookstore. 

Mobile Apps (Google and AppleStore)
Meditation studio ($3.99 one time fee): they have intro as well as themed collections. so you can quickly pick up a theme like "dealing with stress" or "relax before sleep" or even body scan. You can also filter by type of meditation and length of the session. I like exploring different teachers and then looking up their other meditation sessions. Two teachers I have enjoyed are Chodo Campbell and Elisha Goldstein. This app links to the Mindfulness section of Apple Health.


Calm (free for limited meditation, subscription for more): good background music and some free guided meditation. If you subscribe, you get a nice library of guided meditation as well as a daily themed meditation. I also like their calendar for tracking your meditation time so it's encouraging to keep up with the daily routine. You can add outside meditation sessions to the app by using their "add a session" function. I've been tracking Yoga classes there. This app also links to the Mindfulness section of Apple Health. After trying this for free for a few months, I signed up for an annual subscription when they were running a promotion. If you are interested in signing up, I can send you a referral.

ship near Liberty State Park

Relax Melodies (free for limited sound library, paid for more and also meditations): Mostly music and some free meditation as well. I like the playlists you can build from sound blocks. Enjoy rain and city sounds and the ocean? You can make it into your own sound playlist. Timer for exiting the app is also helpful when you want to drift off to sleep but don't want the app running all night. Unfortunately it doesn't link to your health app for the meditation sessions so you have to track it separately.

In Person Resources
Besides some meditation before and after yoga class, I have not been to a meditation class in person. There are a lot of different resources in NY and Jersey City so feel free to try them and see if they are helpful for you.

• https://meditationinnewyork.org (multiple locations in the boros of NY as well as a few sessions in Jersey City, suggested $10)
• Rubin Museum: wonderful art museum which hosts some meditation classes. Also check out their concert series and cafe too. 
• http://www.shinnyocenternyc.org/ (midtown NY)

Lower Manhattan seen on top of ferry

Where to try meditation (besides your home)

• Neighborhood Park. I love Van Vorst Park for this, especially when it's raining lightly (bring an umbrella) or when it's early morning, right before the crowds get to the playgrounds.
• Beach (or even the waterfront just to hear sound of water)
• Friend's apartment or house. Offer to take a break together if you're doing a game night or cooking food.
• Before, during, and after music practice. Good for clearing your mind, practicing breathing, and reflecting on your intentions for your group (or even playing solo in a practice room).
• Quiet corner of an art museum or botanical garden

Van Vorst Park Fountain

Try it out and enjoy!

Ship and State of Liberty

Governor's Island and Typewriters

Screenshot

Reference
Governor's Island (open until Sept 28,2014)
http://www.govisland.com/html/visit/directions.shtml

Down Under Bakery Pies
http://www.dubpies.com/

Blue Marble Ice Cream
http://www.bluemarbleicecream.com/

Hanx writer app

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/hanx-writer/id868326899?mt=8

Smithsonian typewriters

http://www.smithsonianeducation.org/scitech/carbons/typewriters.html

NYC Welcome Corner

I love bookstores with their themed tables, display corners, and books with handwritten “recommended by staff” notes. I also enjoy well-curated tourist info booths, B&Bs, and coffee shops with guest books. When I started to organize things around the apt today, I thought it would be fun to construct my own welcome corner for visitors and friends. Detailed descriptions after the jump.

The Trouble with Sync

Previously I’ve mentioned that I have finally joined the Apple crowd and gotten myself an iphone [blog entry]. Most of the initial fears from the transition has largely gone away. However, my biggest annoyance was around google calendar sync feature.

Finally figured it out today:
http://support.google.com/mobile/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=139206

So if you have multiple google calendars like me and want to figure out how to set it up to work with iphone, take a look at the instructions above. I was able to select multiple calendars to sync for my iphone and ipad and can use the native calendar app (even the colors carried over). For the longest time I’ve been searching various calendar apps and instructions for overcoming this issue.

If I get new devices again I can go back to this page and remember how I resolved it.

Tech Review – Update on Ipad Reading Apps

Back in 2010 and 2011 I’ve written some initial reviews for ebooks (blog entry link) and Ipad first gen (blog entry link). Since many of the apps and devices have changed, thought it would be a good idea to provide an update.

This list of apps are reviewed based on my own experience with them on my ipad2 (Wifi with 3G capability on AT&T plan, version 5.0.1, with red leather smart cover). Whether or not you’re new to the Ipad/Ipad2 experience, hope you were able to find something interesting on this list.

Reading/Books (ordered by most used and most recommended)
1. Overdrive:
Probably the most used reading related app on my ipad2. Basically it hooks up to libraries’ digital book/audio book collection and works the same way as checking out books. No late fees because the ebooks automatically “return” to the library. The selection is not as large as the physical library but still pretty impressive. You would need your library card # and pin (visit your local library!) to login and you may have to do a one-time setup of the adobe ebook permission thing. Once you figure it out though, it’s a handy app to have for travelling. Just load up your Ipad with a bunch of books when you have WIFI, and then read everything offline.

2. Zite:
I’m kind of obsessed with this aggregator of news. You can subscribe to different categories “world news, business, art, etc” and also by keyword. The easy share function basically means I send a ton of articles to my friends almost daily. Here’s a screenshot of today’s front page and you can see my categories:

3. Various Magazine Ipad versions:
Until I figure out the News Stand/other Magazine services, I’m continuing to use the individual magazine apps. BusinessWeek is the only one that automatically jumped to Ipad2’s News Stand and it reads just fine. Economist app and Time app have different setup/layout but I would say are quite comparable to their print editions. Time use somewhat more interactive functions for certain sections, i.e. pop culture or quotes and charts. Economist keeps pretty true to the stories and the section breakouts (region, business, indices, etc). I don’t think I would need all the interactive stuff there. 

Just so you know, I didn’t order the electronic versions of the magazines on Itunes. I already have the three magazines in print subscription, and you can use the barcode/etc to set up digital subscriptions/Ipad editions for free. Each week I can download the old issues and read them on the ipad. Pretty useful, and you won’t miss an issue if you’re out of town when they deliver the print edition. For now, this is still cheaper than getting rid of print all together.

4. GoodReads: Not an ebook reader but rather an app to keep track of all your books. You may already know the website http://www.goodreads.com/. This is an extension and makes it more mobile. Next time you go to the bookstore and gets inspired, add the books. Unfortunately not a lot of my friends use this, so I’m keeping track of books myself. If all of them read and used this service, you can get ideas by browsing their bookshelves, too. I am happy to report that since I’ve signed up for this website, I’ve read quite a number of books (also helpful to have the library Overdrive app mentioned above.) I would recommend revising the “to-read” list though, otherwise it becomes impossible to decide what book is next.

5. Kindle/Nook: Both Kindle and Nook lost their storefront connection so I have to do an extra step of finding the books on Safari to download them. This is an inconvenience created by Apple (and I suppose that’s only fair, as they’re allowing you to even use Nook/Kindle on the device). As far as display functions, Kindle continues to have quite minimal settings for font/background etc. If you like your kindle, you should just continue using it, as the ipad version is quite different. Nook still has the wide range of font/margin/spacing customization and ability to have many colors as background (even if I don’t see myself wanting hot pink, it’s cool to have it as an option?). Since they’re making the Hunger Games series into movies, I’m going to re-read the series on my Nook app (that’s where I first bought them). I’ve actually never used a Nook device so not sure how the Ipad version compares.
 

6. iBooks: I’ve only used this for browsing and to download Beatles Yellow Submarine. A cool feature I did find was sheetmusic with enhanced media. Instead of a book with just Star Wars sheet music, the ebook comes with its own audio track (with full orchestra). pretty cool. The downside you can’t make your notations (add these pesky flats/sharps, modifications to a melody, etc).

Other Apps
Fruit Ninja:
I know everyone probably has this game already (even people who don’t like to buy apps has decided this game is worth buying the full version for). I love this game. Beautiful graphics, simple play, fun unlockable items (blades, backgrounds, etc), and replay value. I also like the little things they add in the updates (new fruit and more blades/backgrounds). I wish they had better integrated the Puss in Boots version, though. Both have unique modes and it’s just strange to have complete stand-alones instead of one as an add-on or something. The challenge mode in Puss in Boots would be good for the main game. Maybe for the next update?

Shutterfly:
I love how I can just share my shutterfly photo albums on the Ipad now. Also do uploading/downloading from the Ipad itself.

Forgotten Colours:
I’m not sure why this book/app doesn’t get more press attention. So well made, a series of stories with gorgeous illustrations and interactive part. They call it children’s book but I think everyone can appreciate good art.

Tech Review–eBook Apps and Readers

Half a year ago I wrote about the various new gadgets I’ve added to my life: kindle, ipad, and htc incredible smartphone [relevant entries near end]. A lot has happened since then, in technology and in my personal/work life. For one, I have my regular commute back, and it involves a lot of reading, sometimes paper, sometimes electronic.

This past Christmas I was also surprised to find out that many of my friends had gotten into the ebook trend. I knew it was going to be more accepted but didn’t realize just how quickly everything moves! I’ve reviewed a bunch of the more common ebook applications below, mostly focusing on the user experience.

eBook Apps on HTC Incredible (all from google android market):

1. nook [best display and web friendly]:
1. display: 5 font sizes, 4 colors for background (gotta love the one named “butter”), half a dozen or more fonts to pick from, brightness setting, margin settings, line spacing etc.
2. app home page: I really like the “reading now” button, which takes you straight to wherever you left off. “All Settings” button has most of the display related stuff.
3. in-book menu: very cluttered. kindle has all display related settings in one button. nook has 3 (font, brightness, all settings which has more). lookup works fine, includes search in dictionary/google/wiki.
4. shop/store: store front not quite as good as amazon but does its job. after you download sample you have to manually return to your library section to read it. amazon has one button from the store that takes you straight to the book you just bought.
5. web ebooks: project Gutenberg worked the best with nook on my phone. I’m talking about going to the site with my phone’s browser, then downloading the specific ebook file into my nook drive. Then I open up my nook app and there is it! it was more difficult with kindle and google books.
2. kindle [best store]:
1. display: 5 font sizes, 3 colors for background, and brightness settings. no option for different fonts
2. app home page: just shows a list of books, no menus unless you press menu button on phone.
3. in-book menu: relatively simple. you can look up words in dictionary and wiki.
4. shop/store: one click from menu takes you to kindle store and one click to buy/read. has a section for free classics.
5. web ebooks: project Gutenberg works with kindle but for some reason from the phone, it was a more tedious effort.
3. google books [app can use more tweaks]:
1. display: 3 font sizes, a few font choices, line spacing, only black and white color background options (what? no sepia? what a crime!), brightness.
2. app home page: similar to kindle, just a list of books
3. in-book menu: no lookup, highlights, or notes. I don’t personally used those functions that much, but nook and kindle both have them, so it seems strange that google doesn’t.
4. shop/store: simple to use.
5. web ebooks: I’ve tried but it’s not as smooth process.

eBook Apps on Ipad [need to update once I get the ipad in front of me, may even separate out the entries]:

1. iBook: best on ipad. beautiful page scrolls, display, and web integration with project Gutenberg. i.e. you literately click on a book’s link on there, and it gives you the option to open up with iBook. too bad you can’t seem to do that with the other readers. and since I can’t look into folder drives on Ipad, I can’t use the save in drive approach either that I’ve done with my phone. Not sure if iBook will have apps on multiple devices. While the iPad app is great, if you can’t transfer it to your phone to finish reading your novel, what’s the point? Clearly I just need to get an iphone...
2. nook: close second. display is fantastic and I find it dazzling the amount of display customization/settings built in. a lot more than just sepia and butter. I love earl grey setting (gray). you can really pick any color of the rainbow though, but why would you want lime green as a background color?
3. kindle: sleek enough to compete with iBook, especially since you can use it to sync to your kindle on phone and your kindle reader. When I first played with the Ipad I thought it was clever for Amazon to make this app. At the end of the day, books are usually cheaper on kindle, and the storefront is much better than iBook’s.
4. google books: I honestly can’t remember this one. Need to get in front of an ipad…

Kindle Reader:
As far as I’m concerned, I don’t see too much kindle use in my future. NYTimes app on both the ipad and incredible are amazing. I can read and get most books on the kindle app on phone or ipad. Now I’m starting to see why people all got the Nook this past Christmas. When the price for a book is the same on both, and Nook has some “share” '[lend me link] capabilities for selected books, of course people want the more colorful and more sharing friendly reader! update: of course, as I’m looking up more info on nook to include in this entry, I find out they’ve started to allow "lending” on kindle as well. [amazon lending link] Well, the nook already has an advantage of being colorful though, although I’ve never actually used one, just the various nook apps.

Further Comments:
You may be wondering if I’ve actually managed to finish any books in the eBook format, and that is actually a “yes”. I’ve finished books on the ipad, the kindle, and even on my phone (not 1000+ paged book, but still, 300 is substantial). Maybe that’s why I pay so much attention to display settings on all of the applications. If the reader can’t customize the reading environment (font, margins, line spacing, colors), it will make the experience just more difficult. I also think syncing is a must, especially in New York. As much as I love the iPad, I don’t feel safe with it on the trains/subways. And as light as the kindle is, it’s still one extra thing to carry with me. I can just as easily read on my phone. No bookmarks required!

So put on some music, and enjoy reading some eBooks!

kindle: http://azuleteats.blogspot.com/2010/05/tech-review-kindle.html
ipad: http://azuleteats.blogspot.com/2010/05/tech-review-ipad.html
htc incredible: http://azuleteats.blogspot.com/2010/05/tech-review-htc-incredible.html

Tech Review – HTC Incredible

J has been trying to convince me to get a smart phone for the past two years. I didn’t take the bait because his “smartphones” really weren’t that great (looking at you, palm, blackberry) and I didn’t want to pay extra just to twitter and email. For the record I had a LG chocolate before I got the Incredible. The Chocolate phone didn’t have a qwerty keyboard or anything fancy. I was mad fast with text messaging anyway though. and my camera (although smaller res) took better photos than the storm2. Why did I finally do the switch? Well, my contract is up and I actually found a legitimate reason for being connected 24/7.

HTC Incredible
bottom line:
sleek multi-task unit that has great phone (talk) abilities

pros:
interface, touch screen, keyboard (horizontal mode only), apps, speed, camera, wi-fi, works well with most websites (supports flash, yea). Sharing website/photo/file is a breeze. calling people while surfing the net/gchat/twitter is pretty fun too.

cons:
the phone calling app is really messy, causing me to accidentally dial people. thankfully I set up my speed-dial right away. The built-in apps are not always the best and having both the HTC and Android versions of the same app, you get really confused. and if you use all of the phone’s functions (well, that’s why you got the phone right?) it’ll kill your batteries. Don’t forget your charger, ever! And it really bothers me that the calendar app doesn’t have horizontal orientation. The vertical keyboard is nearly impossible for typing. horizontal wallpaper setting makes it hard to use regular pics as your background.

notes:
ok, so it’s not the most intuitive phone but better than all the smart phones J tried to push on me (pretty sure he’s making the switch soon, since he’s always had a better phone than I had, haha). Will I make the jump to iphone when it comes to Verizon? who knows. Right now I’m very satisfied with my phone. I’m not a gamer so I haven’t tried too many games. I use it primarily for surfing, social media, text messaging, talking, photos, etc.

unexpected effect:
I managed to forget about my kindle and laptop for days…It’s only when I wanted to blog that I thought I really needed to go back to a real keyboard again. There are a lot of nice apps for the phone so it gets quite addictive.


apps/widgets:
some are fun and some are quite useful. I wish the market had a better sort (most downloaded, best rated, etc). I’ve put the ones I have and a brief description. If you love widgets you won’t find too many there. I just find them annoying and takes up space. I think I have two widgets and a dozen or so shortcuts on my screens.

Updated June 3, 2010. Come back for more updates or recommend an app here!
Productivity

• Note Everything: Add a note in text or paint form. Pretty useful for reminders etc. Fun for doodling!
• Smooth Calendar [quarter screen, horizontal]: better widget than the built in calendars. it shows today’s date and a compact list of upcoming events.
• iStockManager: for TD Ameritrade account owners. they did a great job for this. You get balance info, buy/sell, and news. what else do you really need?
• NYC Bus & Subway: I’m sure there are better ones out there, I just found this one useful for when I’m trying to look for the map in a subway. And it works without any of the fancy GPS stuff.
• Hanping Chinese English dictionary: Well, this is always useful.

Photo

• FxCamera: features cool filters for your photos like Warhol effect, Polaroid, fish eye, colors, etc.
• Comeks Fun Photo Blogger Free: Add stickers and speech balloons to your photos. Hilarious and adorable!
• Vignette (demo version): This one has so many options for frames and colors that you’ll just love exploring it! The paid version allows for higher resolution but I just have the demo for now.
• PhotoFunia: Allows you to put a photo in a fun setting (billboard, book cover, etc). More of a photo editing than camera app. A bit slow but fun nonetheless.

Music

• Tone Picker: allows you to set your own music as ringtones. I didn’t get the ringtone editing app in the market because I already had my ringtones on sd card.
• Pandora: if you have an account you know the deal. If not, create an account and you can create radios based on your favorite band/song and the system will figure out what you like and play it.
• Shazam: Don't know that song on the radio? Just use this to tag it and figure it out.

News

• SportsTap: best sports app ever. great layout design and gives you score updates etc. The ipad app for this is nice too and has a bit more customization (you can pick sport).
• Mobee [in Chinese and some English]: RSS feeds selected by author. You can pick from a list of different categories such as news, cars, culture, fashion, etc. I love the jokes and news feeds. Only thing is it doesn’t share as easily. You end up having to go to original source and then sending it that way.
• Congress: Get to know your congressman/woman and learn about new bills

Phone Tweeks

• Power Control [quarter screen, horizontal]: Default built-in widget, probably one of the most useful. Lets you toggle wi-fi, bluetooth, location, sync, and screen brightness. I think they ran out of space when they designed it because it would have been nice to include airplane mode and mobile internet mode. (I have those two widgets separately on the same screen as the power control widget.
• Power Monitor Battery Widget: let’s see your % battery remaining. I’m not sure why this was missing from the default…
• Task Manager (Apollo software): Kill apps easily. You can also add some apps to a list to prevent it from being closed.