4 iOS 7 Cydia Tweaks That Block Ads

Ads are annoying and they take up space on your screen. Plus, since mobile devices have smaller screens, users need all the screen space they can get, and if most of it is taken up by ads, it can be a real bummer. Here are a few iOS 7 Cydia tweaks that block ads on your jailbroken iPhone or iPad.

We’ve already discussed a ton of iOS 7 Cydia tweaks that dramatically improve the iOS 7 experience, but advertisements on iOS can get a bit out of control, whether it’s in games or browsing the web in Safari. Since ads are something that everyone can get annoyed with, we figured that listing some jailbreak tweaks that block ads could be a good topic to talk about.

We all hate it when we accidentally tap on ads in games that we’re playing, especially when they’re placed strategically so that it’s almost impossible not to tap on them. Even if that isn’t the case, flashy ads can take away your focus in a heated game, and that’s the last you probably want.

So here are four iOS 7 Cydia tweaks that you can download from Cydia that will remove ads in various apps across iOS.

StreamEnhancer

Video streaming apps usually come with all sorts of restrictions, from ads playing to age restrictions to no HD availability without paying for it. However, a tweak called StreamEnhancer aims to fix this.

StreamEnhancer works with a wide variety of video streaming apps, including YouTube, Twitch, Hulu Plus, as well as a couple of television network streaming apps like NBC and Comedy Central.

The tweak can remove ads and get rid of age restrictions depending on the app. You can even use this tweak to get by cable provider requirements in order watch video content. There’s arguably a lot you can do with the YouTube app with the tweak installed, blocks ads, remove age restrictions, and stream HD without having WiFi.

Also read: 50 iOS 8 Cydia Tweaks for iPhone

AdBlocker

Ad blockers aren’t a new jailbreak tweak by any means, but one of the more popular options, called AdBlocker, has been updated with iOS 7 support. The tweak blocks any and all ads in mobile web browsers like Safari and Chrome, as well as apps that have ads in them (such as the free version of paid apps, etc.).

AdBlocker by itself doesn’t block iAds or AdMob, unfortunately, so you’ll need an extension for the tweak that will block these. Luckily, AdBlockerNetwork is the one you’ll need and it’s free. You’ll have to add a new repo to Cydia in order to get the tweak (http://repo.yllier.net), so to do that, open up Cydia and tap on theManage tab. Then navigate to Sources > Edit > Add and type in the repo web address.

After you add the repo address, return to Cydia and search for the AdBlockerNetwork tweak to download and install it.

NoRedirect2AppStore

This one isn’t necessarily strictly about advertisements, but NoRedirect2AppStore does get rid of a redirect annoyance for a lot of users.

Once installed, whenever you click on a link in Safari or other mobile web browser that would normally take you the App Store without warning, you now get a pop-up that asks you whether or not you want to be redirected to the App Store.

You can also choose to copy the App Store URL to that app in case you want to share it with a friend.

NoSocialAds

If you’re sick of seeing promoted tweets in Twitter or other sponsored posts in social networking apps, NoSocialAds is a tweak that gets rid of these annoying posts.

It’s still a tweak that’s a work in progress, since Facebook isn’t yet supported, and Zuckerberg’s social network is perhaps the worst offender when it comes to advertisements.

However, the developer of the app does a good job of constantly updating his tweaks, and he’s even said himself that he’s working on an update that will include blocking various Facebook sponsored posts.

FOR MORE INFO YOU CAN VISIT MY WEBSITE   http://guideofcydia.com/

iPhone 5C hands-on: $99 price on contract, 5 colors, small spec upgrade- http://techsmashit.com/iphone-5c-hands-on-99-price-on-contrac/

iPhone 5C hands-on: $99 price on contract, 5 colors, small spec upgrade
http://techsmashit.com/iphone-5c-hands-on-99-price-on-contrac/

« How to cut the Google cord

iPhone 5S hands-on: September 20 release date, 3 colors, new specs »

iPhone 5C hands-on: $99 price on contract, 5 colors, small spec upgrade

  

Apple today officially unveiled the long-rumored iPhone 5C, a stepdown, less-expensive model to the flagship iPhone 5S,
which was also announced. The iPhone 5C will be available in five
colors — white, green, blue, pink, and yellow — with the 16GB model
priced at $99 and the 32GB version costing $199 (with two-year
contract). Sadly, yes, there is no supercheap contract-free version.

Design and feel
As expected, the phone has a polycarbonate (plastic) back. Jony Ive,
Apple’s senior vice president of design, described the iPhone 5C as
“beautifully, unapologetically plastic. Multiple parts have been reduced
to a single polycarbonate component whose service is continuous and
seamless.”
How does it feel in the hand? Remarkably solid and
dense, more like a candy-lacquered metal phone than a “plastic phone.”
The 5C has a steel frame under the polycarbonate, and the smooth finish
feels very hand-friendly. Hopefully it’ll stay scratch-resistant.
The
curved edges are a bit of a return to the older plastic iPhones, but
the phone’s squarer design still comes through: it has a flat back. It’s
a shinier, smoother, thicker device than last year’s fifth-gen iPod
Touch.

Specs: iPhone 5-esque

If you’re wondering what makes a 5C different from the now-discontinued
iPhone 5, it’s basically this: new colors and feel, better front-facing
FaceTime HD camera, and a slightly larger battery. Oh, and there’s no
64GB version: you’ll have to get an iPhone 5S for that.

Some of the specs Apple is highlighting include an A6 processor,
an 8-megapixel camera with a 3x video zoom in-camera app, an improved
front-facing HD camera, and 802.11 a/b/g/n dual band Wi-Fi, as well as
“more LTE bands for world coverage.”

The iPhone 5C weighs slightly more than the iPhone 5 but seems to offer slightly better battery life.

From a specs standpoint, the iPhone 5C appears to be a slight upgrade
over the existing iPhone 5. However, at 4.65 ounces, the iPhone 5C
weighs slightly more than the 3.95-ounce iPhone 5.

A first look at the colorful iPhone 5C (pictures)

            

         

         

            

         

         

         

The iPhone 5, which also runs on an A6 processor, will be discontinued,
but the iPhone 4S will stick around in an 8GB version that will be free
with a two-year contract.

Apple also introduced a new line of $29.99 cases
for the 5C, with multiple six color options available. The cases have a
“soft, matte” finish to contrast the glossy finish of the 5C’s back.

Apple said the 5C has “impressive battery life” and from a first glance
at the numbers, it appears to offer better battery life than the iPhone
5, particularly for Internet browsing on LTE (10 hours vs. 8 hours on
the iPhone 5). Standby time is rated at 250 hours compared to the iPhone
5’s 225 hours.

In all, this is pretty much what we were expecting the iPhone 5C to be
— a cheaper-to-produce version of the iPhone 5 that’s been jazzed up
with an all-new, colorful and shiny look. Those colored backs should
appeal to younger consumers, though it’ll be interesting to see whether
iPhone 5C owners choose to protect their phones with cases — made by
Apple or other accessory makers — or leave them exposed.

Did Tim Cook say ‘no’ to Apple?

One of the humblest, sincerest, most  transparent and utterly firm statements this year came from Tim Cook, the CEO of one of the world’s most valued  companies. Cook has been for more than three years in arguably the most challenging chair in the corporate world, which he was allotted by his friend and part-mentor, the bizarre genius Steve Jobs. Naturally, much of his work style, corporate handling, product development and marketing strategy is like his predecessor’s. The  market success has been sustained, and this time there was  three to four weeks of waiting in most of Asia for the new iPhone 6.

But why this public declaration, including acknowledgment of this particular “gift from God”, at this moment? It is a personal matter, it must have been known to many in his circles, and he was under no pressure to make a declaration. No, certainly not in the US. He probably was humbled by his success, must have analysed its attributes, including his life’s most personal attributes, and thought he was convinced enough and strong enough to make a statement, even on behalf of others — a statement that may just echo many times in the corporate world. He goes on to say:  “It made me thick-skinned to take the sort of tough decisions my job demands.”

This requires some further explanation. To be “gay” is an accepted phenomenon in the west. It is a gentle existence, aggression hardly heard of, though there are cases of unusual possessiveness, and jealousy. The incidence is higher in the gentler professions such as design, arts, poetry, music and writing. The association of a certain corporate mental tenacity, coming from a personal preference in life, by someone as Tim Cook, would make one think. Is he more forthright in ticking off a man not aligned to the company’s interest because he suffered mental trauma and discrimination by men earlier, or is it a subconscious acceptance of denial of a woman’s charms, which often weaves and shapes decisions (many CEOs gladly accept it as a requisite perk, ending up with a second or third marriage with their secretaries). Does he remotely, internally express this as his “thick skin”, for being undeterred, where other CEOs could be coaxed to take off to Las Vegas on the weekends and settle matters with mutual delight?

He states that though no discrimination was meted out to him by Apple. He, in fact, applauds the company for elevating him to the extremely coveted post and helping him learn empathy towards the minorities. That is his conclusion and connection to preferences in his private life. Empathy is a much-admired human virtue, and has dissertations in management and organizational behaviour. Not to criticize anyone on a sensitive topic, but so many people belonging to the “majorities” possess it in plenty!

Just to take a light-hearted excursion, are we seeing, in the statement a corporate indifference towards the charms, manners and mannerisms of womanhood that make the world go round? The phenomenon accepted, does being “gay” bring about a certain amount of indifference towards the opposite sex? (Women were not mentioned as a “minority”.) And though acceptable it may be, should this component be socially attributable in a section of cases?  Is the counterpart argument also  true? Can lesbian bosses, in spite of their brilliance and corporate success, be more than usually excessive on the “majority” men employees?

And here comes the question of the primordial “Apple”, half bitten, and a reminder and acceptance of the story of Eden. Finally, it was God who carved Eve out of Adam’s rib, to give him company, and put the rest of creation in an auto mode, providing the progeny land, light, water and fruits? We are after all mostly dwelling in the realm of belief! The insignia of Apple Inc could have been a random thought, a spark from the subconscious, but may make someone find it as compelling as the original sin! In fact the prices to the third world are pretty sinful, though the product twice as desirable. Beyond a status symbol, it has even become a sign of literacy!

The concept of “gay” and “lesbian” has been understood and accepted at the genetic level. The “male”, or “female” signified by “XY”  and “XX” chromosomes respectively, may at times not have a full formation in an individual, which may be evident in the habitus. Going a step further, the brain too is primed as “male” or “female” by the respective hormones. As a chance, a man’s or a woman’s brain, with the millions of receptors that are primed seamlessly by the hormones, may be primed such that it may have sexual preferences for the same sex. Therefore, though the percentage may be small, there is scientific evidence to counter the social stigma, and allow an existence in parity as anyone else. There are other hypotheses, but I would let this one suffice for the moment.

There are professions where an accepted  variance of human behaviour may lead to deficiency of conduct. Two decades ago, President Clinton, when faced with the problem of “gay” soldiers in the army, which literally flared up into a disciplinary issue (in the army, even an undeclared affair could be unacceptable, and punishable), put forth the version “Don’t ask, don’t tell”.

The self-declaration of one’s very personal preferences, particularly by people of great standing, cannot be denied to them. Unsaid, his feelings would have still been in order, for the law prevents publishing anyone’s personal life, particularly in such matters. The law is not so much the restraint. Opinions travel. The common man still is under the influence of the church, or whatever be appropriate for his sect. If four more CEOs and three heads of state confessed the same, it wouldn’t be a war, but so many war-like debates would erupt at every street corner, for a personal preference well understood, protected, and re-protected.

But every now and then there is a spark to the discussion, which is of little consequence to the society that has come to terms with it.

To thank God for having been made such  is everyone’s prerogative. Paradises are lost. Paradises are regained.

Is there a psychodynamic workout in being “gay” that adds inner strength and gives an excellent corporate temper? I pay heed to a rather honest and humble acceptance, “… that it made me thick skinned to take the sort of tough decisions one has to take at this position”.

Are there borderline cases where homosexuality spurts out of rejection? Can this be interpreted as a brewing gender bias of a different kind?

It’s Tim Cook, so I won’t doubt it. It’s Tim Cook, therefore there must be something to it!

Becoming Jobs is not an easy exercise

Who was Steve Jobs? Half-genius and half asshole? A new book, Becoming Steve Jobs: The Evolution of a Reckless Upstart into a Visionary Leader by business journalists Brent Schlender and Rick Tetzeli (published by Sceptre; distributed by Hachette India, pages 447, Price Rs 699) grapples with the question again.

The earlier, the authorized biography of Jobs by Walter Isaacson was an intense portrayal of the man. Becoming Steve Jobs, however, is blessed by the Apple management. A quote from Apple CEO Tim Cook which authors Schlender and Tetzeli have included in the book reveals what Becoming Steve Jobs is all about: “I thought the Isaacson book did him a tremendous disservice. It was just a rehash of a bunch of stuff that had already been written, and focused on small parts of his personality. You get the feeling that [Steve’s] a greedy, selfish egomaniac. It didn’t capture the person. The person I read about there is somebody I would never have wanted to work with over all this time.”

Schlender and Tetzeli have a written this book for the business community, with its focus on products and how Job’s leadership changed over the years. Isaacson’s effort, which was commissioned by Jobs himself, was focusing less on business and more on the man’s life, his struggles, tussles and triumphs. Schlender and Tetzeli have stayed away from ‘the reality distortion field’ but Becoming Steve Jobs is an equally interesting and important book that one should not miss out.

The book’s value lies in its argument that Steve is a great object lesson in someone who masterfully improved his ability to make better use of his strengths and to effectively mitigate those aspects of his personality that got in the way of those strengths.

Becoming Steve Jobs notes that Jobs’s negative qualities did not go away, nor were they replaced by new good traits.

The strength of the book derives from the fact that Schlender has been a kind of a tech industry insider having covered Apple and Jobs over the years for Fortune and The Wall Street Journal and having a working relationship with the man himself. Becoming Steve Jobs has relied on a series of interviews with people who worked with Jobs at Apple, NeXT and Pixar. May be one significant voice that is missing from here is that of the other Steve—Wozniacki.

The authors bring in—not that it is something new—Jobs’s spiritual life. They write that “the spiritual sensibility contributed greatly to the unusual breadth of his intellectual peripheral vision, which eventually led him to see possibilities—ranging from great new products to radically reinvented business models—that escaped most others.”

Jobs, who came to India seeking spiritual awakening during his under graduate days, was tempted by Buddhism. Schlender writes that Buddhism made Jobs feel justified in constantly demanding nothing less than what he deemed to be perfection from others, from the products he would create, and from himself.

Then explaining the book itself, he writes: “In Buddhist philosophy, life is often compared to an ever-changing river. There is a sense that everything, and every individual, is ceaselessly in the process of becoming. In this view of the world, achieving perfection is also a continuous process, and a goal that can never be fully attained. That’s a vision that would come to suit Steve’s exacting nature.”

And the book is an effort in telling how Steve became from an upstart to visionary leader—from setting up Apple to getting kicked out by his own recruit—CEO John Sculley, the Pepsicola man—and moving on to create NeXT and owning and backing Pixar. And finally returning chastened to Apple first as iCEO and then taking full control and coming up with a whole new range of products.

Schlender goes back to Joe Nocera’s Esquire profile of Jobs to tell us how he felt about getting ousted from Apple. “Apple is like an intensive love affair with a girl you really, really like, and then she decides to drop you and go out with someone who is not so neat.” At 30 you won’t blame Jobs for thinking that. The conclusion is that the Steve Jobs of 1986 was too raw, too self-centred, and too immature to successfully pull off the balancing act required of a big-time CEO. And that again explains the need for this book.

The NeXT did not bolster Jobs’s image but acquiring Pixar, a company of outrageously talented creative people, changed him. Pixar became the place where he really learned, albeit slowly and reluctantly and against his natural instincts, that sometime the best management technique is to forgo micromanagement and give good talented people the room they need to succeed. The authors make the conclusion that without the lessons at Pixar there would have been no great second act at Apple in 1997. May be then the best thing that could have happened to Jobs was getting kicked out by Sculley in May 1985.

So, what did Jobs learn at Pixar? His negotiating style gained new subtlety without losing its ballsy brashness. It is at Pixar that he started to develop patience—without losing any of his memorable, and motivating edge. Jobs also understood that true artists “keep risking failure just as Bob Dylan and Picasso did.”

But, then, I’m left with this question. As India Inc tries to kick start itself, I repeatedly wonder would a Jobs’s story be possible here? An abandoned baby at birth [more than an orphan]—not a teaboy—building from scratch one of the world’s most successful tech companies without any help from the government (land handouts and other freebies, licences) and the family?

How to fix any computer

Would the iPhone Exist If Steve Jobs Did Not Take LSD?

Nearly two months ago I took my first hit of acid.

The most profound experience I remember from that day was how blown away I was with the apps on my iPhone. How different, how beautiful and yet oxymoronically, how similar they were to each other compared to my pre-acid perception.

I also remember having this child-like sense of awe with the phone itself; its internal and external design features, a lucid dream behind a glass screen. It was the mirror-image sensation of the awe I had when I laid eyes on the first iPod Touch.

Upon unboxing the iPod Touch, I had nothing else in the world to compare it to. Yes, there was the Nintendo from my early childhood, the PlayStation, the computer, the cell phone, the internet, but as sufficiently advanced as those technologies were, to me, their magic was meager to the Touch.

Back to the acid:

The LSD did not take me on a “trip,” but to take my metaphor further, it let me unbox the world for the first time. Acid didn’t allow me to “think outside the box,” it allowed me to “live outside the box”; to hold the world and feel the world hold me.

It doesn’t surprise me that Jobs put “i” in front of most of Apple’s product names. After all, “i” is an effective way to symbolize both perception through “eye” and individuality through “I.” It also doesn’t surprise me that the first iPod Touch was essentially the world’s first “touch” technology. A sensory amalgamation of sight and kinesthesia; shifting realms of reality, like those that envelop the first time acid takers ego, their “I”.

Interestingly, when being asked how Steve Jobs reacted to LSD during a government security clearance, he answered that he had “no words” for it. He did, however, share that:

“It was a positive life changing experience for me and I am glad I went through that experience.”

The full quote from Walter Isaacson’s book, Steve Jobs.

If someone had asked me how I reacted to the iPod touch, I would have answered similarly. Words like “magical,” “erotic,” “profound,” and “beautiful” all fall short. It’s not that language itself is the limiting technology, but our capacity to synchronize it effectively with our emotions.

Where am I going with this?

Well, I came to the conclusion, a self-realization I should say, the Steve Jobs would not have invented the iPhone had he not taken LSD.

I arrived at this realization by examining my feelings about the iPod Touch when I had first “taken” it, as one would an exogenous substance. The feelings I felt about the world, people, myself, beauty, and everything else, after taking LSD, showed me the former was an expression, a containment, a symbol, a vessel, a carbon copy, of the latter.

My belief is that Steve Jobs, at some point in his life, decided he would give as many people across the world access to a connection, a love, an experience, so deep, as deep as he had with LSD, but through his work.

Whereas a musician might write and sing for the same purpose, to create, express, connect, and evolve further with his audience, the iPhone was made as a synonym, of sorts, to the experience of psychedelia.

Nine hours after my first dose of acid, I fell asleep at 6AM. Later that day I was interested to see if anyone else had made the same connection between LSD and Steve Jobs’s creation as I had. There were two interesting articles. The first was from Times, and it was titled ‘Steve Jobs Had LSD. We Have the iPhone‘:

“The paradoxes of love have perhaps never been clearer than in our relationships with Apple products — the warm, fleshy desire we feel for such cold, hard, glassy objects. But Jobs knew how to inspire material lust. He knew that consumers want something that not only sparkles and awes, but also feels accessible, easy to use, an object with which we want to merge and to feel one and the same.

Not coincidentally, that’s how people describe the experience of taking psychedelic drugs. It feels profoundly artificial yet deeply real, both high-tech and earthy-crunchy, human and mystically divine — in a word, transcendent. Jobs had this experience. He said that taking LSD was one of the two or three most important things he’d ever done. “He said there were things about him that people who had not tried psychedelics — even people who knew him well, including his wife — could never understand.

As attested by the nearly spiritual devotion so many consumers have to Jobs’ creations, the former Apple chief (and indeed many other top technology pioneers) appeared to have found enduring inspiration in LSD. Research shows that the psychedelic experience is, in fact, long lasting: a new study published last week found that people who took magic mushrooms (psilocybin) had long-term personality changes, becoming more open, more curious, more intellectually engaged and more creative. These personality shifts persisted more than a year after taking the drugs.

– John Markoff reported for the Times.

The second was from Metro News and it was titled ‘The Apple that Steve Jobs built based on sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll‘. Mr. Dormehl told Metro:

“You have Jim Warren, the creator of the West Coast Computer Faire. In the ‘60s, he was a full-blown hippie. He joined anti-war protests, he joined a commune — the whole shebang. He was also hosting naked house parties and dropping acid.’

Jobs certainly grew up in the thick of the 60s revolution. Allen Ginsberg wrote his seminal poem Howl, one of the most popular of the counterculture generation, only a few months after Steve Jobs was born in 1955, in a coffee house just one hour away from where the future Apple CEO enjoyed his childhood in California.

Mr Dormehl said: ‘Certainly, if we didn’t have this revolution which went on in the 1960s and 1970s, which was largely fuelled by drug use and LSD exploration, giving people new ways of looking at the world, personal computer technology wouldn’t have developed along the same lines that it did.

‘Before Apple, computers were seen as these sinister government mainframes that regular people wouldn’t have access to.

‘After Apple, suddenly personal computers are these tools of freedom fighting and tools of personal creativity.’

In their 1991 profile of Jobs, the FBI noted: ‘Mr Jobs may have experimented with illegal drugs, having come from that generation.’”

Is All Acid Corrosive?

Before taking LSD I thought the experience would be mostly visual, and if anything, very confusing. When I thought of an acid experience, I thought of people sitting in the corners of rooms for days, thinking they’re oranges and scratching their skin off. I thought of things like MKUltra and A Clockwork Orange. I thought of things like hallucinogen persisting perception disorder and being arrested.

Two or three weeks after taking acid for the first time, I compared these notions to what I actually experienced. There was a glaring disconnect between what I expected psychedelics to be and what they actually were. After doing some digging on LSD research, I stumbled across an article titled ‘Dr. Robin Carhart-Harris is the first scientist in over 40 years to test LSD on humans — and you’re next‘.

Here’s an extract:

Professor David Nutt, the director of the Neuropsychopharmacology Unit where Carhart-Harris is doing the research […] has written extensively about the wrong-headedness of the current drug laws. “It is absurd to treat LSD and psilocybin as more dangerous than heroin,” he tells me. In a 2010 study published in The Lancet, following on from the work that led to his controversial sacking from the chair of the Government’s Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs the year before, Professor Nutt ranked the 20 most commonly used drugs according to the evidence for the overall amount of harm they do to the users and to society. Psilocybin came last, with an overall harm score of six, and LSD came 18th with a score of seven, compared with alcohol’s 72 and heroin’s 55.

When I ask why LSD was prohibited, he has a surprisingly simple three-word answer: “the Vietnam war”. Essentially, when its use spread to the general population in the mid 1960s, “Young Americans realised they didn’t want to fight any more. That brought a huge tension into society. So they had to create reasons for banning the drug. Everyone knew the arguments were totally specious. But no one stood up.”

Carhart-Harris has a further explanation: “Psychedelics are scary because they reveal the mind, and people are scared of their own minds. They’re scared of the human condition, really.”

LSD is banned from medical research in the U.S. due to its classification as a Schedule I substance under the Controlled Substances Act of 1970. A Schedule I substance is defined as having no safe dose with any medical supervision (such as one that would be conducted under a strict research experiment), and as having no accepted medical use.

Just like marijuana, LSD is non-addictive, but both substances continue to be categorized as Schedule I substances. Furthermore, today in 2015, it is still not possible to research LSD or mushrooms in the U.S., whereas addictive substances such as methamphetamine can not only be researched, but also prescribed for treatment of ADHD and weight loss under the name of Desoxyn.

I don’t consider myself knowledgeable enough to provide an argument for the legalization of psychedelics, and I probably never will if LSD and mushrooms remain unavailable for medical research. This has to change.

Compared to cocaine and heroin, I know absolutely nothing about the short-term effects, long-term effects, benefits, or downsides of psychedelics; and that’s all because it’s legally not possible for researchers to administer experimental doses (of substances that entrepreneurs, musicians, artists, scientists, “trippers,” and everyday people have been taking for hundreds of centuries combined) to willing volunteers.

What little research there is seems at odds with the mainstream taboos:

“In Johns Hopkins’ ongoing program of psilocybin research, scientists have treated over 150 volunteers in 350 drug-trial sessions. Although many participants experienced at least some type of anxiety reaction while on the drug, none of them reported lasting harm, and 70% rated the experience as one of the top five most meaningful events of their lives, comparable to the birth of a first child or the loss of a parent.”

There is plenty of anecdotal evidence all over the internet, by people of all walks of life:

“Based on my own LSD experience I would concur, second only to the birth of my son (which wouldn’t have happened if not for my earlier LSD experience).”

Then there’s also the experiences of some of the best musicians of our time:

“The Beatles, Santana, Jimi Hendrix, Grateful Dead, Eminem, Green Day, Jefferson Airplane, Pink Floyd, the Moody Blues, Fatboy Slim, Suede, the Doors, Cream, and Janis Joplin are just a few of the artists known to use acid as part of their creative process.” — Hijacked

Not to mention that the most interesting experiences shared might not even come from musicians and entrepreneurs, but from people online having “documented” their thought process while taking acid for the first time:

“Why am I here? I dont belong. Work my life away for essential worthless? and IOU from a personal bank? in comparison to spending time with my faimly and friends creating memories instead. Why can’t I find my meaning? Is it staring me in the face? Is it happiness? how do I achieve this? 2.) Society, I don’t understand, I don’t belong to this. The majority of people I see only care for their personal comfort. Not the senseless war and killing of human beings so long as it doesn’t interfere with their personal comfort. There’s always something to fight and die for? Why? Why can’t we as a society catch on to the meaniless cycles we keep repeating. Over and Over again. Work, work, work, war, war, war. Followed by distractions to keep unfocused.”

So why the disconnect? Conspiracy? Illuminati? Aliens? I think it was much simpler.

Carhart-Harris’s believes LSD was originally banned because:

“Psychedelics are scary because they reveal the mind, and people are scared of their own minds. They’re scared of the human condition, really.”

Before taking LSD for the first time I was afraid, putting myself through a state of consciousness I had never experienced.

What if I kill myself? What if I say something really absurd because of the acid and people think I’m crazy? What if I say something really absurd because the acid lets me, and I convince people that I actually believe it, because I actually do, and people think I’m crazy? What if I run outside or yell or get arrested? What if I get in a car and start driving?

It is clear to me now, that everything I was afraid about doing on psychedelics, was not a fear of what I would do differently, but a fear of what I might truly want to do in normal life. For example, in the past I’ve suffered with suicidal thoughts, and I was worried I would hurt myself because that’s what I may have wanted to do all along. Needless to say, even this wasn’t worth fretting over.

A poem I wrote in my room while on LSD

As a kid I wasn’t the best at not letting my curiosity or patience get the best of me. You’ve probably done the same thing yourself before: need to be at least 13 years or older to join Facebook? Click, 1990, next. Need to read a 100-paged terms of agreement that says your location, habits, and personal information can be stored and shared with just about anyone if you sign up? Click agree, next.

If acid had a terms of agreement, I’d imagine they would look something like this:

WAIVER OF LIABILITY FOR THE ACID OR MUSHROOMS YOU ARE ABOUT TO EXPERIENCE:

Possibilities are as follows: profound life experiences, paranoia, life-long perception altering realizations, unrealized life passions and goals, acute anxiety, depression, flashbacks, suicide, distortion of time and space, movements and patterns of people and surfaces, belief that you’re an alien, belief that you’re an avatar, kissing floors, painting, drawing, watching videos and feeling like you’re in them, long-lasting psychoses such as schizophrenia or severe depression, fear of insanity, death, terrifying thoughts and feelings, hearing colors and seeing sounds, rapid emotions, new emotions, high blood pressure, low blood pressure, sleeplessness, dry mouth, tremors, nausea, weakness of the limbs, inability to speak, weakness of the lips, paranoia of choking, sweating, high body temperatures, hallucinations, delusions, desire to be naked, desire to be clothed in multiple layers, desire to drive, desire to ride a bicycle, desire to have sex, desire to learn something new, desire to engage in marijuana smoking, feeling as amazed by the world as the psychedelics wear of as when they first kicked in, hoping that psychedelic patterns and thoughts remain throughout your life at least at one percent intensity, and many other possibilities. Not to mention that any psychedelic experience is often 100% unpredictable, and no matter what you think about “tripping” before putting such a substance in your body will prepare you for anything that you’re going to discover once it kicks in.

I know I don’t regret reading those long terms of agreement pages or waiting until I turned 13 to make an email account, play RuneScape, or play teen-rated video games. I also know I don’t regret doing barely any research into what acid was before placing a little white piece of paper on my tongue, holding it there, and waiting to experience something I had no idea of what to expect going in, simply because it was available, non-addicting, and promising.

If someone made me sign a waiver of liability like the one written above before taking acid, I would have done so without reading it, as I did with the CoSM entry ticket papers and various other important papers I should have read in my life before signing.

I don’t know how Steve Jobs would have reacted to a similar waiver had it been placed in front of him before embarking on any of the things he did in his life, but I like to imagine he would have shared my frivolity.

“Here’s to the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, the round pegs in the square holes… the ones who see things differently — they’re not fond of rules… You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them, but the only thing you can’t do is ignore them because they change things… they push the human race forward, and while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius, because the ones who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world, are the ones who do.”

– Steve Jobs

ACiD

Steve Jobs said “You can’t connect the dots looking forward, you can only connect them looking backward.” When I connect the dots I see a clear line between the iPhone and LSD.

“You’re born alone, you’re going to die alone,” he said. “And does anything else really matter? I mean what is it exactly is it that you have to lose Steve? You know? There’s nothing.”

However Mr Jobs’s views softened after he became ill, Mr Isaacson told a CBS 60 Minutes programme marking the release of the book ‘Steve Jobs’ on Monday.

“Maybe it’s ‘cos I want to believe in an afterlife,” he recalled Mr Jobs saying. “That when you die, it doesn’t just all disappear. The wisdom you’ve accumulated. Somehow it lives on.

– (Steve Jobs refused on/off switch for iPhone because he hoped there was an afterlife)The Telegraph

Whether LSD really was responsible for the development of the iPhone, to me, is a moot point. Of course, genetics, environment and randomness played a huge part. The point of this post is the question, not the answer: Would the iPhone Exist If Steve Jobs Did Not Take LSD? If this question can be legitimately asked, analyzed, and considered plausible then surely that says as much about the potential nature of LSD as any small-scale study could.

Can LSD enrich the world? I don’t know. But I’m not gonna stop asking until I do.

10 Best Apple Watch Apps

After much anticipation, the Apple Watch is finally available to the public. Now you too can talk to your wrist like James Bond. It wouldn’t be an Apple product without the ability to download apps. A smartwatch would seem silly if you couldn’t check your Facebook or find cool restaurant nearby. There aren’t a ton of apps out yet for the device but these are the ten that look promising. After you’ve stood in line for eight hours at the Apple store, head home and download some of these new and exciting apps.

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1. Adobe Creative Canvas

Often creative ideas come when you’re on the go, not sitting in an office. Adobe formatted three of its apps to work with the Apple Watch so you can make your ideas come to life while you’re on the bus or eating lunch. Behance allows you to look through people’s portfolios on the go. Now get daily notifications, stats and control a presentation via Apple Play all from your wrist. For those looking for color, use Color CC. Walk down the street and the app will display color profiles around you. Add these to your library so you can access them and use them later. The last one is Creative Cloud. Monitor activity in the commons, talk to clients and respond to comments on the go.

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2. Nike+ Running

The biggest problem with the Nike+ Running app on the iPhone is that you still need a sensor to pick up on your movements. Pair it with your watch and get distance, pace and duration information as you’re running. Holding a phone can hinder your movements, but now you can keep it in your pocket and glance down at your wrist. You can even connect with Bluetooth and listen to music wirelessly, freeing you up completely to run your best.

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3. ESPN 

Never miss a score or big play with the ESPN app. Select your favorite teams and get real-time updates on who is up to bat or who made that last three-pointer. Taking your phone our of your pocket to look at updates can be frustrating, but glancing down at your wrist makes for an efficient and easy way to stay in the know.

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4. Expedia

Traveling is stressful but being able to access your itinerary directly from your watch will make it easier. Expedia will show you terminals, gate numbers and if your flight is on time. You’re also covered when you land at your location. The app will give you hotel ratings, locations, phone numbers and check-in and out times. You’ll always be prepared if you have your watch on hand, no pun intended.

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5. Citymapper

Expedia gives you information about airports, but Citymapper will help you get around on the ground. The app uses your location to figure out where you are and what public transportation is around you. Receive step-by-step instructions on how to get to the nearest bus stop, as well as the next three arrival times. It doesn’t just let you get on the bus and fend for yourself, it will send you a reminder when you are approaching your stop.

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6. Twitter

Twitter is meant to be used on the go, and nothing makes it as easy as the Apple Watch. Check what’s trending, look at notifications and even write tweets using dictation. You won’t have to take your phone out to stay on top of what’s trending in the world.

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7. Sky Guide

If you are interested in the cosmos and space, download Sky Guide. Look at a calendar at upcoming astrological events so you never miss an eclipse or meteor shower. You can set up notifications about when the International Space Station is flying over your area and even get the chance to tweet an astronaut.

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8. PayByPhone

Running to plug your meter from a restaurant or shop is extremely stressful. Download PayByPhone and get notifications ten minutes before you’re meter is about to run out and pay directly on your watch. You’ll never risk getting a parking ticket again.

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9. BoxPop

GPS apps are great and very helpful, but you have to have some fun in your life. Download this easy but addicting game and never worry about sitting in a waiting room with nothing to do. Pop boxes in L-shaped configurations and go through up to 40 different levels.

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10. Fandango

Though you can’t buy your ticket from the watch app, it will help you get to your movie on time. After you’ve purchased it, the app notifies you when you’re movie is starting as well as the theater’s address and phone number. Never miss a movie again.