The May snippets are now ready!

• I'm adding some new stand-alone pages to Grey Matters. The first two of these pages are already set-up: Downloads (both free and commercial!) and Social Links. Click on either of these pages, and then click the [+/-] icon to open up the contents of the page. Many of these are new or updated links. Eventually, these will replace the accordion menus in the rightmost column.

• Jack Dutton, of irontree software, has just released ForeDate through Lybrary.com. ForeDate is highly-customizable Windows software that allows you to practice the Day of the Week For Any Date feat.

• While I'm discussing memory feat-related software, there are a few iPhone/iPod Touch apps I've recently discovered. First, there's MnemeCards (iTunes Link) to help training in competition-style deck memorization. Next, there's Tweeti Pi (iTunes Link), which tests your ability to memorize pi, then allows you to tweet your results. We wind up this section with How To Memorize Anything (iTunes Link), which is an app with memory tips and games.

• There's an upcoming online magic event called the Essential Magic Conference. There are numerous benefits to signing up, but at the moment, I'd like to draw your attention to their videos. Many of these focus on the psychology and presentation in magic on a scale I've rarely seen before.

I'd especially like to point out the interview with Apollo Robbins, of istealstuff.com. Among other things, he discusses the question of whether your magic is giving or taking from the audience. With a pickpocketing act like Apollo's, it would be all too easy to turn it into a show-off type of routine. Memory and mathematical feats, like the ones here on Grey Matters, could also easily suffer from the same type of presentation. Thankfully, Apollo discusses the process of overcoming this potentially fatal flaw.