Touch Press Launches Dazzling Gems and Jewels App for iPad

Champaign, IL/London, UK (PRWEB) May 04, 2011 

The University of Chicago Press and Touch Press in collaboration with The Field Museum are proud to announce that Gems and Jewels for iPad is now available on the App Store. The Gems and Jewels app is a dazzling adaptation of the printed book Gems and Gemstones: Timeless Natural Beauty of the Mineral World (The University of Chicago Press) written by Lance Grande, Senior Vice President of The Field Museum and curator of the Grainger Hall of Gems where the gemstones and jeweled pieces in the app physically reside. Gems and Jewels was developed by Touch Press, creators of The Elements and Solar System for iPad.

Gems and Jewels allows you to hold in your hands hundreds of priceless objects, including: an Etruscan Gold necklace from Italy, a 20-carat natural diamond crystal, and the Aztec "Sun-god Opal" carved in the sixteenth century. Zoom in to see details on these multifaceted objects from a perspective that, before the iPad, could only be experienced by handling the actual objects. 

Watch the surface of an amethyst with 58 facets sparkle as you spin the gem with a touch of your finger on the iPad's gorgeous Multi-Touch display. Users can also view the reverse side of 37-carat tanzanite necklace set in a sea of diamonds. Use Touch Press's new zoomable rotations technology to marvel as 30-million-year-old insects trapped in amber fill the screen.

Detailed captions accompany each gem and stone, as well as scientific data from Wolfram|Alpha, which includes classification, group, hardness scale, and chemical compound. Accompanying book-length text explores the roles of particular gems in human culture, geographic origins, histories of particular jeweled pieces, and economic value. Additional features include a field guide to gems and a tour of the Grainger Hall of Gems, which is the most popular room at The Field Museum.

Gems and Jewels is available for $13.99 from the App Store on iPad or at www.itunes.com/appstore.

Note to Editors:
Touch Press is a new digital publishing venture whose UK and US founders have a distinguished 20-year track record of interactive software development. Partners include Wolfram Alpha LLC, Wolfram Research, Inc., Faber and Faber, and The University of Chicago Press. Wolfram Alpha LLC is the creator of the Wolfram|Alpha computational knowledge engine. Its parent company, Wolfram Research, is a software company founded in 1987 that is the creator and developer of Mathematica.

Mathematica is a registered trademark of Wolfram Research, Inc.
Wolfram|Alpha is a registered trademark of Wolfram Alpha LLC.
Apple is a trademark of Apple Inc.

For the original version on PRWeb visit: www.prweb.com/releases/prweb2011/5/prweb8379566.htm

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