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UK to spend $1.6 billion on the world's fastest weather supercomputer
The UK's weather service, the Met Office, will spend £1.2 billion ($1.6 billion) to acquire the world's most powerful climate supercomputer, the government has announced. That's over ten times more than its current Cray XC40 cost, but it will deliver more timely and accurate forecasts. That could make the difference in knowing whether your flight will be canceled or your street flooded, according to the service.
Weather or Not gives you weather forecasts for events on your calendar
What a clever idea for a weather app! Weather or Not (US$2.99) takes two things important in your daily life -- weather and your schedule -- and blends the two. On its own, Weather or Not is a very nice weather app with beautiful animated graphics. You get the temperature, wind and humidity at whatever locations you set, as well the chance of precipitation. As you swipe your finger on the screen, an animated sun or moon moves to show you predictions for future times. The best part is that the app accesses your calendar and gives you a forecast for future events. You'll get weather seven days ahead; In addition, the app provides you with daily weather reports and forecasts for any upcoming events you have on the calendar, and the app provides a Today extension for iOS 8. It's a complete package, with calendar/forecast integration being the really good idea here. The graphics are first rate, and you won't need any help setting this app up. When you run it for the first time, it will ask for access to your calendar. If an event is in another city, and that location is in your calendar, the app picks that up and gets you the right out of town forecast. With holiday travel upon us, the app should be doubly useful as you make plans away from home. Weather or Not requires iOS 7, but you'll need iOS 8 to use the Today extension. Weather or Not is a well thought out app that works well and looks great. The only thing I'd like to see are sunset and sunrise times. Weather or Not is optimized for the iPhone 5 and 6.
The Crew projected to sell over 2.5 million, Watch Dogs forecast unchanged
Ubisoft expects the The Crew to sell more than 2.5 million units, while Watch Dogs is still projected to exceed the 6.2 million first-year sales of the first Assassin's Creed. In an investors' conference call, CFO Alain Martinez said Ubisoft is "still in line" with its Watch Dogs projections despite the publisher delaying the formerly next-gen launch title to spring 2014. In the case of The Crew, pushed back to mid-2014 at least, Martinez noted a "more limited potential" compared to Watch Dogs because it's a racer. "We generally have spoken to about over two-and-a-half million units" said Martinez. "We'll see where we go and we believe that we have a nice potential for the future." Ubisoft Reflections' open-world multiplayer racer was previously slated to arrive on Xbox One, PS4, and PC in the first calendar quarter of 2014 (January to March 2014). In Ubisoft's press release regarding both the Watch Dogs and The Crew delays, co-founder and CEO Yves Guillemot stated, "In a context of growing successes for mega-blockbusters, the additional time given to the development of our titles will allow them to fulfill their huge ambitions and thus offer players even more exceptional experiences." When pressed on the Watch Dogs delay during the conference call, Guillemot said that Ubisoft was playtesting the game until the last minute before making the decision: "What we saw in the playtests is that we were very close to the quality we wanted but not exactly at the level, and we saw that with more time we could give it a far bigger potential. So we think it's the best way to take care of this brand, is to make sure it has everything ... it can supply to the customers who are expecting it."
Capcom adjusts forecasts, cancels games, revises overseas strategy
Capcom revised its financial forecasts in light of a "special loss" of around $73 million due to game cancellations, with the studio partially placing the blame on projects outsourced overseas. The company said it's making more of its game development internal due to a drop in quality from an "excessive" outsourcing of projects, this leading to the cancellation of certain games in development overseas.Capcom also said it's aiming to "strengthen digital strategies" via increased DLC output. The company also wants its development and marketing divisions to be more in sync after noting "insufficient coordination" overseas.Despite the restructuring loss announced today, Capcom forecasts a net profit for the fiscal year (which ended March 31) of ¥2.9 billion (around $29.5 million), thanks to strong sales from its Resident Evil 5 slot machine. The company also noted its shipping forecasts are largely in line with the revisions announced earlier this year, with DmC: Devil May Cry expected to come in at 1.15 million, and Resident Evil 6 at 4.9 million.
MeteoEarth is a high-end weather app for iPad with a catch
MeteoEarth is a US$4.99 weather app with enough visual treats to makes your iPad's screen look like something from a TV weathercast. In fact, much of the display tech in the app was adopted from professional weather applications. The app offers high-resolution animated graphics of precipitation, temperature, wind, cloud cover and isobars that show barometric pressure. You can add each item as a layer on the screen, and set up your favorite cities. In addition, the map shows what parts of the globe are in daytime or nighttime, moon phases and country borders. You can also create custom set ups and save them for later viewing. Zooming is done with common gestures. %Gallery-179459% I spent some time using the app and found it powerful, but I have a few complaints. First, it could use a help function though, because its many powerful features aren't immediately intuitive. Also, MeteoEarth provides a one-day forecast, but access to long-range forecast information requires a subscription, which is available via in-app purchase. Three months is available for $1.99 and a year is $5.99. Frankly, I think those extra charges are ludicrous. The app is not overpriced, but having to buy the extended weather forecast strikes me as over the top. There are lots of free weather apps that give you an extended forecast. To not have it in a paid app is, in my view, just plain wrong. MeteoEarth is an advanced, slick weather app. It is iPad-only at this point, and requires iOS 6 or later. I would put it in the top echelon of weather apps if it wasn't for the stingy forecast info and lack of any help screens. If you are satisfied with real-time displays of worldwide weather conditions, MeteoEarth is first-rate. I would also suggest weather mavens take a look at WeatherHD which is $0.99 and Windscape, which will give you beautiful animated views of wind flow for $0.99.
AccuWeather launches for Windows 8, lets you know if it's dry outside the Metro
So you're finally getting that Surface tablet (or a Windows 8 PC of choice) and have decided that a basic weather app just won't do it justice. AccuWeather agrees with you -- after months of supporting the Windows 8 preview editions, it's formally launching a weather app that takes advantage of Microsoft's completed Metro Windows 8 interface in all its widescreen glory. The title both provides near-obsessive detail about the climate as well as the requisite live tile for an at-a-glance check. You also won't have to resort to the web to find out if it's raining in your neighborhood: a Bing Maps radar overlay shows if it's safe to leave the umbrella at home. The app is free to download, which makes it entirely too easy to check the weather through Windows instead of the window.
Put stunning weather info on your iPhone or iPad
We've praised Weather HD many times here at TUAW, and now the folks at Vimov have outdone themselves with Weather HD 2 (US$0.99), making a gorgeous app even prettier. Weather animations have been completely redone, with 3D maps you'll be proud to have just sitting on the screen when your iPad or iPhone isn't doing anything else. You can see the weather in multiple locations at once, and get push alerts (USA & Europe) for severe weather. The weather data comes from Weather Underground. Weather HD 2 adds some social features so you can share your weather with friends or see what's happening in their cities. There is also a multi-paneled display showing animations of all your saved forecast locations on one screen. %Gallery-161541% You can customize detailed info for each location, adding things like dewpoint, sunset and sunrise times to make the information as dense or as simple as you would like. There are nice little touches like animated waves on the coasts and animations that put radar in motion. If you could only choose one consumer based weather app I think this should be the one. Of course, there are a few things to nitpick about. For example, one mode of the display shows weather-based Twitter comments that pop up at random on the map. I personally can't think of a more worthless feature. Happily, it can be turned off, because it's just a distraction. The app also allows you to buy forecasts from additional services like Accuweather and Meteogroup. I really dislike in-app purchases, but fortunately you are not forced to do so, as I think the Weather Underground data is just fine. Weather HD 2 improves upon an already excellent weather app. The price of the app is reasonable considering the wealth of data it contains and the sharp presentation. There's also a free ad-supported version that limits the number of cities and omits push notifications. I'd skip it and invest the buck.
Daily iPhone app: Rain Aware
There are dozens of weather apps for the iPhone, and most are variations on a theme. Not Rain Aware, an extremely interesting weather app that will tell you when it is going to rain, and when it is going to stop. It does it in very plain language, and as near as I can tell it does it pretty well. The app figures out where you are, and after invoking some smart algorithms, it tells you about the weather not for your general area, but for where you are. It updates every minute, and also gives you a forecast for nearby points of interest, like airports, golf courses and sports stadiums. This is a very different approach to weather, and a very personal one. I couldn't test the rain forecast as I am in the Arizona desert, but I looked at some other cities and even called a friend in Texas and asked him if it was raining at his location. It was, and I could clearly see that on the map, and told him when the rain would end. The app lists 1100 cities, and has a forecast, plus real-time radar so you can see what's coming, or going. The app will also give you information on sleet and snow. My only negative is that the GUI is pretty ugly and cluttered. The developers are aware of this, and hopefully it will improve. The app sells for US $4.99, which is a bit higher than the run-of-the-mill weather app, but this app does a lot more, and behind it is a rather large server farm that spins up these custom forecasts. I'm very impressed with the fresh thinking that went into Rain Aware, and if weather is really important to you, I suggest you take a look at the developer web site to learn about the science that is behind this app. %Gallery-152742%
Cisco: mobile connections will hit 10 billion by 2016, helped by tablet boom
That Cisco's always been prescient. Three years ago, the networking giant predicted a 66-fold increase in worldwide mobile data traffic -- a surge that was expected to dovetail with the spread of 4G networks. With us so far? Sounds pretty obvious sensible, right? Well, the company's got more wisdom to share from its crystal ball: the outfit's just released its annual mobile data traffic forecast, and the marquee stat is that there will be an estimated 10 billion mobile connections by 2016. And though Cisco expects the bulk of these (8 billion) to take the form of cell phones, it also foresees a rise in tablets: there will be 5 billion of them, the company says, and that's not even counting all those WiFi-only models floating around (Cisco tallies WiFi traffic in a different forecast, released later in the year). If the market does indeed swell to 5 billion cellular-connected tablets, that would represent a 25 percent jump over today's global figure. Moreover, Cisco estimates that by 2016 21 percent of those 5 billion tablet owners will be relying solely on mobile data to get their internet fix. All told, whatever the mix of smartphones and tablets, we're going to be chugging down an insane amount of data: 10.8 exabytes per month, worldwide, or 130 exabytes annually -- a lofty sum that breaks down to 33 billion DVDs, among other cutesy equivalents. One last figure before we sent you off into a statistic-laced coma: 4G will account for only six percent of mobile connections by 2016, but is expected to generate 36 percent of mobile data traffic. We'll let you newly minted LTE adopters chew on your piggy data-hogging habits; the rest of you can find more numbers in the PR after the break.
HTC 're-evaluates' S3 Graphics deal following patent defeat by Apple
Just four months have passed since HTC announced its amorous intentions towards S3 Graphics and already the romance seems to be going sour. S3 lost its battle against Apple at the ITC a couple of days ago, devaluing its patent portfolio and subsequently forcing HTC into a "holistic re-evaluation" of its $300 million acquisition of the company. S3 can still appeal the ITC's ruling, however, so this fling might be far from finished.
IDC fails to learn from previous mistakes, issues 2015 smartphone predictions
The stat guardians at IDC are among the most reliable sources for keeping track of the latest developments in the smartphone market, but we've got to say their forecasts haven't always benefited from the same accuracy. It's with this disclaimer that we present you the world of 2015 as seen through the IDC prism. In just four years' time, says the data, Windows Phone 7 (or whatever version it reaches by then) will have ascended to occupy a fifth of the market and second spot overall behind Android, whose leading position is expected to stabilize somewhere around the 45 percent mark. Apple and RIM are projected to hold steady with shares close to where they are today. It has to be humbling for the IDC, which predicted Symbian would continue to dominate all the way into 2013, to now have to foretell of its almost complete extinction (a mere 0.2 percent) and total irrelevance in the smartphone market. Alas, while the new prediction sounds very reasonable today, four years of unknown unknowns is a mighty long time to try and forecast through, and we have a feeling we'll be looking back and chuckling at this within a few short months -- probably (hopefully!) in the midst of a massive webOS revival.
A look at Weather+ and more weather apps for your forecasting pleasure
There are dozens of weather apps available for iOS. Most of us are pretty interested in the weather, no matter where we live. It can affect our schedules, our driving and our recreation. In my case, I do both landscape and astronomical photography, so I'm all over the latest weather information and forecasts. It's probably the same for many of our readers. Weather+ is on sale for US$0.99. It's a universal app, and a big one, at over 265 MB. The app's huge size comes about because there are a lot of videos that provide a background and give you a visual clue to the current conditions. As weather apps go, it's very pretty, but you have to decide if you want to let it gobble up all that storage. The app has an impressive list of features. There's no limit to the cities that can show a forecast. You get the usual temperature, wind, humidity, precipitation and visibility details, a five day forecast, and the current time at each of your selected weather locations. You also get some control of how much detail to display. %Gallery-119709%
When it comes to forecasting Apple's earnings, amateurs are better than the pros
The Challenge: predict seven key metrics of Apple's fiscal success over the past quarter -- such as sales numbers, profit margins, and gross revenue -- with the highest accuracy. The Competitors: In the blue corner, a bunch of amateur finance bloggers, and in the red corner, a cabal of professional analysts making mad dough at banks and trading houses. The Conclusion: whatever you're paying for your "expert" advice on the future financial wellbeing of Apple, or any other tech stock for that matter, stop. Just... stop.
A tale of two iPad weather apps
Since Apple stripped the iPhone weather app from the iPad, it left the door open for 3rd parties to do their thing. They've done just that, and I'd like to spotlight two apps that come at weather from very different places. We've looked briefly at both these apps. Our Victor Agreda Jr. used and liked WeatherBug Elite, and Erica Sadun took a quick look at Weather HD in April. Let's start with WeatherBug Elite for iPad and look more closely. The app is free, and has a compelling display on the iPad screen. It is the more conventional app of the two, with radar and cloud cover overlays, animation, severe weather alerts from the National Weather Service, Extended 7 day and hourly forecasts, and webcams for most locations that show you a semi-live view of the current weather. You can save multiple locations, and get to them with a tap. As I do a lot of landscape photography, I really appreciate the infrared and visible satellite maps, that show you cloud cover down to the street level. The app works in portrait or landscape mode, and it can cache weather data for off-line viewing. I think this app is for serious weather consumers, and I have found it reliable and up to date. There are also versions for Windows and Macs, and an iPhone version. Strangely, the iPhone version sells for $0.99, while the iPad version is free. You can also get a free version for the iPhone, but it has ads.
