By Kyle Petersen
We all know that the iPhone allows you to figuratively juggle (talk on the phone, send an e-mail, check your account balance and find a good mechanic), but did you know the iPhone can help you literally juggle as well? Since it was first unveiled in 2007, a small handful of juggling-related applications have been released. Here’s a look at three of the most popular:
iJuggle
The iJuggle application is nifty, but isn’t really anything new. It is basically a siteswap simulator which allows you to program different siteswap combinations and watch them in animated form. While there are a couple of programs with similar functions, this one appears to be the best. Some cool features: it allows you to switch between synchronous and asynchronous patterns, and even lets you animate any siteswap as a mills mess pattern. We hope Steve Mills is getting royalty payments for this! Best yet, it’s 100% free! Definitely worth downloading, but by no means a “must have”.
Juggling Progress Tracker
We, like just about everybody, love Vova Galchenko. Not only is he one of the best jugglers on the planet, but he’s also a heck of a nice guy. We’re just not sure what to make of his newest venture, the Juggling Progress Tracker application for the iPhone. The app allows you to set goals for yourself and track your practice sessions. For example, if you are practicing 5 ball mills mess, it allows you to set a goal (say, 50 catches), and update your progress into a database. It then makes a line graph for you. Then, when you set a new personal record, it lets you update your followers via Twitter. We like the concept and the ingenuity, but we also think learning 5 ball mills mess is complicated enough without adding Twitter into the mix.
Juggle!
Ok, this is only loosely associated with juggling, but it sure is cool. It’s a game, similar to pong, where you use a paddle to keep balls in the air. The more balls you keep in the air, the more points you get. It sounds simple, but… the colors! There’s something soothing, almost hypnotizing about this game… Brian got addicted just watching me play. This game will not help you learn to juggle, but it will help you find a warm, happy place if you’re having a bad day. Must have.
Is there an app we left out? Please, let us know!
