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OSXplanet: Live Desktop
When we recently mentioned the release of EarthDesk 4.0 from xeric design, many of the commenters suggested we check out the OSXplanet Project. OSXplanet is a Cocoa port of the Open Source program Xplanet and like EarthDesk puts a "live" picture of the earth on your Desktop. However, like Xplanet, OSXplanet can also display other planets in the solar system (though perforce with not quite as much live data). You can choose from a variety of map projections, see cloud formations, mark cities on the map (and even center the view on one of them), track storms, view earthquakes and volcanoes, and even some satellites (as I write this, the International Space Station seems to be about over Chicago). Surprisingly, it doesn't even require too big of a memory hit (I'm at about 54MB real).OSXplanet is a free download though its author (who is all of 17 years old) requests donations ($20 suggested).
The Weather Channel HD to debut later this year
The Weather Channel finally set a timetable for the debut of its long-awaited high definition broadcast for the second half of this year. The 24 hour network says one of its biggest challenges is redoing all of the weather graphics for HDTV, while still looking good on 4x3 SDTV screens. The channel will be one of DirecTV's new stations, but also expects to hit cable networks very soon. Cable headends will have to upgrade their equipment to allow for HD inserts of localized weather broadcasts which should be deployed next year. If you're a fan of those "live from the hurricane" shots, the Weather Channel plans to convert those gradually, along with all of its studio-based shows making the change to 1080i by mid-2008.
Cleveland becomes first US city with three HD news channels
While New York may have claimed fame for being the first city to snatch an HD news broadcast and beam IPTV content OTA and over cable, it looks like Cleveland, Ohio now has its own boasting to do, as it becomes the first American city to tout three local HD news channels. One particular channel, NewsChannel5, also provides exclusive HD weather and offers up "more than 12 hours of HD programming each day." The station commented that its HD weather capabilities now open up new views of on-scene reports, wider views of radar screens, and can simply keep viewers safer as they see more of what's going on around them. So as you lucky Clevelanders are waking up this morning, just know that you've got more choices than anyone else when it comes to catching the news tonight in crisp HD.
Wii Warm Up: Channels
There was some recent ruckus over the (lack of) functionality of the Weather Channel, but we haven't spent a great deal of time discussing the rest of the Wii channels. Does the browser get much play on your Wii? How about the photo channel? While it doesn't have too many features, a little living room photo manipulation can be fun in a group. How about your Mii Plaza? Is it packed to the max, or somewhat sparse?So today's question is: have you just dipped a toe, or have you gone all out, gathering on the sofa for YouTube videos and checking the weather in the morning? Can you think of any other channels you'd like to see added?
Flapper - the animated, life-or-death weather widget
Is Apple's default weather widget not offering enough excitement? Are you looking for a little more cutesy, life-or death-drama with your ambiguous weather reports? Then check out Flappie, the widget that needs you to both feed and play with it (while also allowing it to sleep) from time to time in order for it to continue displaying generic (read: no actual temperature readings) weather reports. But be careful - if you don't care for Flappie on a daily basis, it could most certainly die. On the other hand, the longer you can keep your little Flappie alive, the better a chance it has "to evolve." Into what exactly is the answer Timothy Breslin, the widget's author, is apparently keeping to himself.
XM vehicle to showcase real-time "infotainment"
Although XM's supererogatory features that compliment the actual music transmissions have been available for awhile, the company is apparently going all out to demonstrate its latest inclusions at CES. Dubbed the "infotainment" concept vehicle, this mysterious whip will reportedly feature the "first personal weather tracking system for GPS navigation," which is intended to compliment XM's real-time traffic service (NavTraffic). The system is designed to focus on weather patterns for your specific route, and also provides short-term forecasts to help you decide whether the scenic route would suit you better. Partnering with Baron Services, XM plans to bring the WxWorx technology already used in "airplanes, boats, and emergency responders" to the comforts of your ride. Additionally, the company is set to showcase "in-car video systems" co-developed by On2 Technologies that can not only receive audio, but even video (sound familiar?) from the same satellites and ground repeaters that XM already delivers tunes by. Of course, we can expect to see a fleshed-out demonstration of the parking locator technology (dubbed ParkingLink) that has been in the works, and XM even plans to demonstrate a voice-recognition control scheme developed by VoiceBox Technologies. Notably, XM suggested that its weather-tracking system should be officially available "this summer," while the other introductions might just hold off until this whole "sorta maybe merger" thing gets ironed out.
Forecast channel under casual fire
IGN's Matt Casamassina, the world's crankiest Nintendo fan, is complaining again. We'll bet the sky is blue. This time, however, Matt may be correct; his latest rant regards the Forecast Channel's outdated reporting and with that, we have to agree. This morning, we compared the Forecast channel to the local news reports and to the Weather Underground, and the Wii was off by 14 degrees. Considering the current temp was from midnight, however, that's not too suprising.Matt C.'s final statement is that if they can't get it right, they shouldn't bother, and to hell with the fact that the Forecast Channel is interesting, pretty ... and new. He doesn't want to be tempted by something that isn't up-to-the-minute correct. We can see that point, but pose one in return: how often do you check the weather to get the current temperature and conditions? We usually just, y'know, walk outside for that. When it came to the daily high and low temperature, as well as condition and the extended predictions, the Forecast Channel was spot on with the other guys. It was only the current temperature that was incorrect. While that's certainly mind-boggingly annoying, it's probably also fixable.Canadian commenters at IGN noted that they weren't having the reporting problems that Matt (and we) seemed to have, and we'd be curious to hear about how up to date the Forecast Channel is elsewhere. For instance, is it on the money in Japan? As the provider is headquartered there, we'd guess so. So what do you guys think? Is it a big deal to you whether (heh) or not the current displayed temp is accurate? Is it accurate for you? Do you think the system will change over time? We say yes to that last.
Today's hottest game video: Wii forecast channel
What's the Wii weather forecast? Chili today, hot tamale! HO HO HO! Sorry, that's stuck in our head from some really flimsy joke book we read during our childhood. Apparently the joke doesn't really hold up, but it's about the only weather-related joke we've got at the moment. Today's hottest video covers the newly released Wii Forecast channel now gracing screens everywhere. If Nintendo would just release a Murder, She Wrote and a Matlock channel, they could really market this thing to seniors everywhere.Check out the video after the jump, and then look up the Wii-nter weather on a console near you.
How's the weather?
Need to know how it is out there? Just check your Wii. The Forecast channel is now live and active for all your weather-announcing needs. Now you totally have a good reason to stay inside and throw down with some Elebits. "Look! There's a 12% chance of rain -- the Wii told me. How could I brave the outdoors?" We understand.That's not the only update excitement this week for your Wii channels, either -- this Friday, the free trial version of the Opera browser will be available for download. Next June, it'll cost five bucks, but for now, you can check out all the YTMNDs and special photos you want, from the comfort of your Wii. Ain't the Internet grand?[Thanks to everyone who sent this in!]
A few of my favorite Widgets
When my machine was a rickety little 800 MHz iBook, crusted with too many hacks, apps and utilities, I just gave up on Widgets. Dashboard was a system hog on an already dog-slow machine, and I just killed it off. My MacBook Pro is another story. While I've eschewed the volume of Widgets a true power-user may install, I have my fair share. Of course, until we're able to safely and securely swap our sets of Widgets around, I just keep a certain set loaded. Yes, I've tried MultiDash, primarily to swap around when I plug in to my 24" external monitor. I would have included a link to the MultiDash page, but going there today either crashed Firefox or made Safari eat up processor. Gotta love that...Anyway, as a Widget, it was too wonky for production use, so here's what I've settled on for daily use: Apple's own calendar, weather, iTunes, calculator, and search Widgets (Dictionary, White Pages, Yellow Pages, and Address Book). The unit converter is tucked behind the sticky note Google search-- pretty much never use it since Google is built-in to every browser but Flock, although sometimes I use the Blogger one too Radar-in-Motion-- massive kudos to the poor developer who makes this, as NOAA keeps changing the protocols, formats, etc. I love this thing, but I love weather. WeatherBug-- this one has a bunch more features, but ironically doesn't work as well as R-i-M iClipLite-- what would I do without this? Very handy for storing form letters, the very ones I use every day iStat nano-- surely everyone is using this or its older sibling by now, right? Often I use it to check my IP address, but I really wish I could have it quit bugging me about updates, that is really annoying Slothcam-- I have it always tuned to the TGIFriday's camera in Times Square, great for people-watching! (You will see me on there once in a while too) Web Translator widget (uses Google)-- handy for quick language lookups, as my Spanish vocab stinks sometimes Airport Radar-- handy for checking signal strength PackageTracker-- from Monkey Labs, where they make a terrible TV Tracker... only terrible because every week they want me to update it, but it never gets faster or better, yet PackageTracker never bugs me about it iCalEvents-- super-fantastic for glancing at my hard schedule for the day Backpack widget-- from Chipt.com, this Widget has saved me so many times it is scary. If you are a serious GTD nut, you must have a Backpack widget for simple ticklers, and this does the job better than almost anything. Plus, I can access my Backpack reminders from anywhere via web, so I have a constant backup. Combined with floating reminders via Growl, and you can really tame your to-do list. an obligatory digg widget-- because I'm addicted, I'll admit (where's that Netscape widget?) Veronica Belmont-- she's not a Widget, but a spunky tech pundit for CNet and of course, I have a TUAW widget! So what's in your Dashboard?
Wii channels not yet fully operational
Most of the online functions of the Wii will not be ready when we start bringing the consoles home this weekend. According to a recent press release, the forecast channel will debut on December 20, while the news channel will debut next year, in late January. The shopping channel will be up and running, however, with twelve Virtual Console titles ready on launch day. The Virtual Console will be updated every Monday with new content, though the release did not specify if that would begin November 20, or the following Monday -- not that we have long to wait until we find out.The press release included no information about the forthcoming Opera browser other than that it would be downloaded to the console via the Wii Shop channel. [Via Joystiq]
Honda nav system offers weather, user-submitted POI deets
So you're a tech-minded Honda driver that enjoys tooling around the mean streets of Japan? Surely what you've been pining after for years is a way to know the barometric pressure at your exact location as you drive. Ok, Japanese meteorology enthusiast road warriors, welcome to the future: the InterNavi Premium Club will not only gather precise weather conditions outside your car and help route around road closures (say, due to snow), but also functions with an added "social networking service" so that you can leave a virtual comment about a particular GPS location. So while others are busying themselves waiting in traffic you've successfully routed around, you'll know how likely it is for the sky to close up and pour down rain as you jump out and grab a bowl at that awesome ramen joint geotagged by other salarymen InerNavi users.
Melitta ME1MSB Smart Brew Coffeemaker gives you the weather
There are often days when we get up in the morning, stare down our coffee machine and think: "You know what would work really well on this thing? A weather display." Thank goodness, because Melitta has just announced its ME1MSB Smart Brew Coffeemaker with MSN Direct. The $250 MSRP coffeemaker (Amazon's got a pre-order for $200, ships on November 15), as you can imagine, brews a mean cup o' joe (perhaps not as strong as this espresso maker), but also displays up-to-the-minute weather information via MSN's FM sub-carrier broadcast network without requiring a subscription -- just plug it in wherever you can get a radio signal (most of the continental US is covered), and off you go to caffeinated meteorological heaven. We think that the ME1MSB will be a fine addition to our kitchen, because it would finally fulfill our dream of adding another way to getting the weather without peeking outside, bellying up to our computers, or reading that archaic RSS reader known among certain scholars as a "newspaper."
Official Wii site launches
We told you earlier tonight that the official Wii site had appeared, and was so new we could smell the fresh code from here. During the press event, the site updated with loads of goodies. To get to the goods, click the Japan link at the top. We assume the other links will go live during their events, so the English version should be available within several hours. There's a lot to discover, even though the site has a few open slots that simply read "coming soon." Joystiq's semi-live coverage should include some translations soon. In the meantime, enjoy the video demonstrations.
Lunar Knights take to the skies
The protagonists of Lunar Knights will hunt vampires wherever, whenever -- even if it means taking the fight to the depths of the final frontier. To fight vampires.Space vampires. Indeed.There's a second video as well which features Aaron and Lucian keeping their feet (mostly) on the ground in the fight against the undead. Check it out.
Pod2Go becomes Life2Go, adds WeatherBug, other improvements
Pod2Go, the versatile information manager for your iPod, has updated to v1.6.4 with various improvements and a name change to Life2Go (Did Kevin get a call from Apple about his choice in application names?). A v1.0 is also available for Windows (traitor!), though I don't know if that is a recent development with this name change.Updates to the application itself including switching to WeatherBug for all weather information, significant changes to the Notes output and Mail storage, more specific syncing progress and more.A demo of Life2Go is available, while a full license runs for $12.99.
Seasonality 1.3
If you are serious about weather Seasonality is an application that you should have on your Mac. This killer weather app from the fine folks at Gaucho Software has recently been updated to version 1.3 which makes it a Universal Binary. Univeral goodness is not the only added feature in 1.3, other additions include a new weather journal and improved radar images.When I first tried Seasonality I was impressed, and slightly overwhelmed, by the amount of information that this application gives you about the weather. If you're just looking to see if you need an umbrella this is overkill, but if you are truly interested in weather I can't imagine a better way to spend $24.95.
Kojima's DS game touts vampirism and meteorology
If you spend a good deal of your time watching classic Dracula movies or, uh, the Weather Channel, you would no doubt be interested in Hideo Kojima's new DS game, Lunar Knights. Featuring loads of snarling vampires and weather effects, Gamespot notes that the game follows the adventures of two warriors looking to spill the blood of some blood-suckers. The stylus is used for plenty of actions in the game, just as you'd expect, but the interesting part comes in with the use of the DS' top screen. As your characters traverse the bottom screen, the weather above them (so to speak) will change and affect their abilities to successfully fend off the vampires plaguing the planet. If the thought of umbrella-wielding heroes slaying in the rain doesn't appeal to you, you are most likely dead inside.
Cellphone towers beat radar at detecting rain, say researchers
Proving once again that wireless technology isn't all bad, researchers from the University of Tel Aviv have determined that cellphone towers are as good as, if not better than, traditional meteorological techniques at measuring rainfall patterns. The team took data already documented by the carriers about each tower's signal strength over time and compared it to information that had been collected by radar and rain gauges, and found that not only did the towers accurately detect the electromagnetic disturbances inherent to storms, but that the degree of change in signal strength was directly proportional to actual rainfall. While widespread utilization of this data could probably have an immediate effect on forecasting if combined with current methodology, the researchers have an even more ambitious goal of detecting signal variations from the end-user -- that is, on consumers' handsets -- for aggregation into even more precise and localized reports once weather-related changes can be teased out from among the many other signal strength variants.[Via Slashdot]
More Rumblings About the Weather
Well, I still haven't seen one single snowflake. not a raindrop...nothing. I've been running around Ellwyn Forest & Stranglethorn Vale all week, and it's been dry as a bone the entire time. And I even bought a nice, new umbrella for the occasion...I guess there really are weather effects in there somewhere now, though, because MTV.com has a lengthy article on the new weather system, with some interesting bits of behind-the-scenes trivia about it from the devs. Five years in the making? Great, but can I just see it for five seconds, please?
