Pictured: World's first portable ultrasound!

Not even kidding - talk about a revolution in sidewalk pro-life counseling technology:

The Star Trek Tricorder, a device that allows medics to check their patients in the field in the sci-fi TV show, took a step closer to becoming reality today thanks to a new device being shown off by General Electric in the US.

The device, which is a cross between a mobile phone and an iPod was shown at the Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco on Tuesday.

Called Vscan, the clamshell designed gadget is aimed at doctors, and possibly would-be parents who could use it in their office or in the field to check the progress of unborn babies or other medical instances, rather than sending their patients to a specialist department for a scan.

Jeff Immelt, GE's CEO, said that the device, which will be available sometime next year, will be "very digitally capable", coming with a small screen and the ability to save the images. It won't, however, feature Wi-Fi connectivity which would give it the ability to send images to others. (Pocket link)

See a glimpse of it in action after the here.

I'm serious - we need to get this into the hands of pro-life sidewalk counselors.

Science is on our side.

Available: Kindle formatted version of Caritas in Veritate

This is cool, from reader Paul:

Attached is a cleaned up Kindle version of the new encyclical. I went through and standardized the encoding so words like Agape would show up right. The hyperlinks in the footnotes should work too. It's PRC format, so it will work on the Kindle and other readers as well:

caritas_in_veritate.prc

This seems as good a point as any to mention that AmP is available on the Kindle as well:

O;-)

Stunning: New technology allows you to "hold" your baby before birth

This new technology deserves a great deal of attention. I think there is a tremendous opportunity here, as I will explain.

Most of us have seen the amazing 4D photos of unborn children (I've inserted one to the left).

Now a student at the Royal College in Britain has taken the next step of using these photographs to create an individualized, life-size model of the pictured unborn child.

LifeNews:

Stunning new technology is allowing parents to go beyond a 3D or 4D ultrasound to bond with their unborn child in ways never imaginable. A student at the Royal College of Art in Britain has created life-like models based on pictures of unborn children that are the exact shape and size of the baby in the womb.

Fetal models have long been a staple of county fairs and health education classes across the country, but one student has gone further.

Brazilian student Jorge Lopes is a PhD. student at the college and he has pioneered the use of converting data from ultrasounds and MRI scans to form life-size plastic models in a process called rapid prototyping.

"It’s amazing to see the faces of the mothers. They can see the full scale of their baby, really understand the size of it," Lopes told the London Daily Mail newspaper.

The results are breathtaking:

More pictures of the models in action here. 

Technology like this has the potential of re-framing the abortion debate, because this technology does not create an abstract model - it shows, instead, that killing an unborn life is never killing a type of human being, it's killing a distinct, unique human being.

Can you imagine, for instance, if these sorts of models were available to women considering abortion? 

The "other side" of the abortion debate can imagine it. And the prospect scares them:

"Brazilian inventor, Jorge Lopes, figured out a way to use 3-D printing technology to create models from 3-D ultrasound images. The purpose, initially, was for archeological digs. But dinosaur bones? How can you make a fortune from dinosaur bones? You don’t.

But you can make a fortune preying on pregnant women’s fears, hopes and dreams."

See what the author did? Typically, advocates of abortion want to claim that science and technology are on their side. But lo and behold, a technology emerges which brings to mind the true reality of unborn life, and - suddenly - technology is no long neutral to their cause, it is instead "preying" on pregnant women! What can be said about a movement that constantly tries to hide the reality of what happens in an abortion? Are they truly on the side of science, or reason?

Next, the pro-abortionist who has probably accused the pro-life movement of being too preachy gets ... well, really preachy when she doesn't like how things are going. She says (addressing the creator of the technology):

"...don’t set up pregnant women for yet another way to fail in pregnancy and impending motherhood. Surely it’s OK to look deeply into a perfectly formed pair of stark white eyes with no irises and feel nothing."

My question is, how can seeing the human dimensions of your baby make you "fail" in pregnancy and motherhood? Is it not the case that the above author is actually terrified that women, when they see a model of their child, might realize that the real "failed" pregnancy is one where she allows her child to die?

More heartbreaking still, the author's only defense for "feeling nothing" when she looks into the model's eyes ... is that she must ignore the human, beautiful eyes of the real child within the womb. The point of the model is to show what is hidden from our sight. And it's only a guilty conscience that turns away from the truth.

I hope pro-lifers figure out ways of getting these models into the hands of the women who need to see them most. The truth of the human person and human development is on our side, now let's use the tools of science for the right end - to better the plight of unborn children who need mothers to see them as God sees them.

YouTube: Catholic iPhone Apps

An amusing info-parody of Apple's advertisements for the iPhone:

Via Paul (and son) at SQPN (<-- visit this site!).

AmP now available on Amazon Kindle!!

This is just so cool!! The blog content of American Papist is now available on the Amazon Kindle. That news deserves two exclamation points.

Some details of the service:

--> Kindle Blogs are auto-delivered wirelessly to your Kindle and updated throughout the day so you can stay current.
--> It's risk free: all Kindle Blog subscriptions start with a 14-day free trial. You can cancel at any time during the free trial period. If you enjoy your subscription, do nothing and it will automatically continue at the regular monthly price.
--> Don't have a Kindle? Get yours here.

Hmm, my birthday is in a few weeks... ;-)

{My thanks to John Norton of OSV for helping me get AmP enrolled in the program.}

Too cool: Arch. of STL will TXT U w/ New Abp. Deets

Or, in plain English, the Archdiocese of St. Louis is offering a service on its website which will send your phone a text message when their next archbishop is officially announced! (which, as I've been hinting, will probably be very soon). The archdiocese also tweets.

Too cool!

Ph/t: AmP reader Angie.

For all you Twitter peeps

I'd like to see my twitter follower count push past 300 tonight.

This recent tweet of mine will show you why it can be useful.

iBreviary for your iPhone!

iCool! A digital vade mecum:

Ph/t: Cellphone9 via IntoMobile.

Jeff Miller has the authorized St. Blogs' review of the program.

While it's been widely claimed the iBreviary is "Vatican approved", there isn't in fact any congregation in charge of approving/endorsing software programs. Jeff claims, however, that the Vatican's Council for Social Communications has mentioned it. I'd imagine that if the program simply faithfully transposes the text of an authorized Breviary, the approval carries over with it.

Gee, all I need now is an iPhone. *sigh*.

update: a clarification directly from the creator of the program, Don Paolo Padrini, who says representatives at the Vatican have mentioned and appreciate the application.

Advent on your iPhone: Introducing "iHabitus"

Not a gag post!

More details from Fr. Z.

And this would be just as good as any to ask, do you have any Catholic software for mobile devices tips? What about a Facebook Advent application? I've heard of such a thing existing but this one appears to be the only one updated for 2008, and it does not appear to be particularly Christian.

Anyway, I'd love to promote these sorts of things to other AmP readers. Spread the Good News (online)!

Text Messages from Pope Benedict to WYD pilgrims

So Cool.

The first one:

"Young friend, God & his people expect much from u, because u have within u the Father's supreme gift: the Spirit of Jesus - BXVI"

The second:

"The Holy Spirit gave the Apostles & gives u the power boldly 2 proclaim that Christ is risen! - BXVI"

And while we're on the topic of "iReporting," a confirmed picture of Pope2008 blogger Tim Drake!

Bible applications part of iPhone 3G's software offerings

The Christian Post has a story talking about the latest Apple gadget, and mentions some cool Bible software that can be downloaded for it:

In addition to the games, social networking apps, and sports programs, a surprising number of Bible software were also made available for the App Store’s launch.

“While other faiths seem left in the dark, Christian software design firms showed up in large numbers to repackage what is pretty much the same thing, the Bible,” commented Mark Wilson, the weekend editor for Gizmodo Australia, an online technology blog.

In his report, Wilson highlighted six different Bible software including Bible Xpress, Bible Verse, BibleScope, Holy Sword, Universalis, and Bibles2GO.

“At the moment, no other religious texts appear to be represented on iTunes,” Wilson commented. “That is, if you don't count the ‘Attaining Zen’ rock garden app.”

Okay, so that's what the Protestants are up to. What applications would Catholics be interested in besides the apps mentioned above? Are they easily accessible? Please contribute your tips!

Of course, I don't want to see folks get carried away either....

Pope Benedict talks Humanae Vitae on its 40th anniversary

And he discusses its prophetic teaching within a new, broader framework prompted by the developments of technology, and how they are to be related to true human fulfillment. CWNews and CNA provide coverage.

Related: "For the Clergy, Obedience to Church "Requires Preaching About the Moral Evil of Contraception says Archbishop" (LifeSiteNews).