white noise posts

Jay's Favorite iPhone Apps: Shush

by Jay Hathaway Oct 14th 2008

I don't know how I ever lived without Shush. It's an algorithmic white noise generator you can keep in your pocket, and it shows how versatile the iPhone is. I first gave it a shot because it was written by one of my favorite developers, Daniel Jalkut of Red Sweater Software, but I quickly found I needed white noise everywhere.

My neighbors were throwing a noisy party that kept me awake. I hit "start shushing," adjusted the volume slider, and drifted off. On an airplane, a baby started crying loudly. I hit "start shushing" and made him disappear. Not only is this useful, it gives you a satisfying sense of control over your own life.

With one button, you can sleep better and make all kinds of annoyances vanish, and nobody ever has to know your secret. As an added bonus, this is the smallest -- in terms of disk space -- white noise app out there. Because it uses an algorithm instead of a recording, it weighs in at around 100kb. That's worth way more than this app's 99 cent pricetag, and that's why Shush is one of my favorite iPhone apps.

Tags: favorite-apps, iphone, iphone apps, IphoneApps, Shush, white noise, WhiteNoise

Filed under: Productivity, Web services, web 2.0

Noise of the white variety, right on the webernets

by Drew Olanoff Jul 3rd 2008

Have you ever been working somewhere and needed to focus on what you were doing, writing, saying, but there was too much ambient noise around you?

You know, peoples iPods crankin' or chitter chatter chattin'.

SimplyNoise is about to become your best friend.

At desk jobs (ewwww), they sometimes pump in "White noise" to push out sound and give you a bit more privacy, but you can't control how much of it you get.

SimplyNoise works kind of like an air conditioner in that you can amp it up to as much as you need. SimplyNoise's site states that white noise can help get you in a zen state, give you more privacy while on the phone, help you fall asleep, and even ease migraines.

Since we're all writers, and some of us have annoying construction going on outside of their condo during the day, we'll put it to the test and you should too.

Let us know in the comments if white noise is the right noise for you.

Tags: simplynoise, white noise, WhiteNoise

Featured Time Waster

Civiballs is a beautiful, soothing physics puzzle Time Waster

I have an absolute weakness for physics games, and while Civiballs isn't the strongest physics-based game, what it lacks in the physics department it makes up for a few times over in style and fun.

In Civiballs, you are presented with a few colored balls, and your goal is to get those balls into the same-colored urn on the level. The "civi" part of Civiballs is that there are 3 sets of levels to play, each representing a different civilization. While the civilization doesn't affect gameplay, the artwork for each level is beautifully themed to it's appropriate era.

To play the game, you are given only one tool - a sword with which to cut the chains that are holding the balls. The puzzle part of the game is in figuring out what order, and with what timing to cut each chain. Do it right, and all the right balls end up in the right urns, with no stray balls entering an urn (a no-no). Do it wrong, and you get to start over again.

Civiballs is not terribly deep on gameplay; the entire game can be completed in about 15 minutes. But if you enjoy this type of game, it will be a very enjoyable 15 minutes.

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