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UK's £97 million supercomputer will predict the weather in your back yard
If someone asks you about UK weather, you can probably say "lousy" with about 75 percent accuracy. But the UK's national weather service, the Met Office, needs a bit more precision than that, so it just purchased a £97 million ($156 million) Cray XC40 supercomputer. With 480,000 CPUs, the 140 tonne (154 ton) machine will run about 13 times faster than its current IBM system. It'll also let the Met provide updates every hour, three times more often than it can now. All that speed will enable forecasts down to a resolution of 1.5km (1 mile), giving UK denizens the weather down to a specific London borough, for instance. It should also provide much better flood and wind warnings, along with more accurate fog, ice and snow reports for airports.
Synthesizer transforms weather into live streamed ambient tunes
What if you could use a locale's current weather conditions to make ambient music? Well, that's precisely what New Orleans-based artist Quintron did. The Weather Warlock is an analog synthesizer that gets its input signals from variations outside, monitored by a collection of meteorological sensors. When employed, the set-up can produce sounds based on changes in temperature, wind, sunlight and rain, using a pleasant E major chord as the base and piping in unique tones for sunrise and sunset. Oh yeah, it's also constantly live streamed over the web so you can get some background noise whenever you like. The goal is to eventually have a handful of stations scattered across the globe so that listeners can enjoy a variety ambient weather-based tunes. For now, you can enjoy the broadcast after the break.
The Big Picture: A massive typhoon as seen from orbit
No, a black hole didn't suddenly open up on the Earth's surface. That's Vongfong, a gigantic storm (then a super typhoon) that has been causing chaos in the Asia-Pacific region for much of October. NASA astronaut Reid Weisman posted this dramatic photo as the International Space Station orbited overhead on the morning of October 9th, when Vongfong was getting close to Okinawa. It had been downgraded to "just" a category 4 super typhoon by then, but that still made it both enormous and dangerous -- the eye alone was about 30 miles across, and it had sustained winds of nearly 150MPH. As beautiful as this orbital view may be, it's comforting to know that Vongfong has since weakened to a tropical storm and isn't posing nearly as much of a threat.
The Tempescope shows you tomorrow's weather by physically creating it
Another very cool item hidden within CEATEC, Japan's biggest tech show, was the Tempescope. The team behind it call it "an ambient physical display that visualizes the weather, inside your living room" -- it's an elaborate lit-up box that shows you tomorrow's weather in a very classy, oddly relaxing, way. To work out exact what kind of weather it should summon, the Tempescope pulls hourly forecasts from a wireless connection from a PC (future models could pretty easily pluck similar information from your smartphone), and once the 'scope knows what's happening, it'll try to create those meteorological conditions inside the sealed cuboid you see above. A combination of water and ultrasonics creates the cloudy vapor inside the box, while water can also be gathered at the top, and dripped down to create rain. LED lights at the top attempt offer up an estimation of either thunder or sunshine, depending on what's going down tomorrow.
Weather Wow probably won't 'wow' you
Weather Wow (free with in-app purchases) has a nice GUI but that's about it. Pop up ads, sometimes full screen, mar the work that went into the graphic niceties. Weather Wow lets you set other cities besides your own location, but the default settings have weather sounds. Since it was raining when I first ran the app, I was greeted by really loud sound effects of rain. It took me a while to be able to find the settings to turn them off, because a settings icon does not appear on the main screen, but it is 'cleverly' hidden and revealed by swiping. I found a couple times that even though I turned the noises off, on subsequent visits to the app the aggravating sounds returned. If I wanted to hear the rain, I'd go outside or open a window. The app also says it features local news feeds, based on your GPS location. When I tried it yesterday the story displayed was one month old. When I tried today, the app confused my location with a similarly named city in California, and loaded me up with irrelevant news. It's a good idea to combine local news and weather, but for me this app was an utter failure at news. The graphics are attractive (when they aren't interrupted by ads). I actually like the look of the screens, and there are in-depth forecasts and accurate local conditions. An in-app purchase of US$0.99 removes the ads, but other free apps like Apple's built-in weather app, or the superior Yahoo Weather have as much information or more, and don't feel the need for cheesy sound effects or ads. Google News and Weather (reviewed yesterday) isn't the greatest to look at, but they have the ads under control and no silly sound effects. Weather Wow is a good idea, wrapped in a flawed presentation. It didn't wow me, and I can't imagine most people getting excited about it. The app annoys with sounds, ads, and for me at least, a failure to deliver timely local news. Pass. Weather Wow requires iOS 6 or later.
UK's new space weather center will help people prepare for solar storms
Met Office, the UK's weather forecast agency, has just launched a new division that monitors out-of-this-world weather conditions -- literally. Thanks to a £4.6 ($7.5) million funding from the government, the agency built a Space Weather Center right out of its Exeter headquarters to keep a close eye on solar flares, coronal mass ejections (CME) and geomagnetic storms. Seeing as the UK's National Risk Register lists space weather as the fourth most dangerous threat to the region's infrastructures, it's not so odd that the government will fund the center's operations. After all, it'll be in charge of issuing early warning signals, so the world can prepare for the the usual effects of solar storms, like GPS or radio signal interruption, satellite damage or even power grid outages and heightened radiation in worst case scenarios.
Google offers a free but bland News and Weather app
Google News & Weather is a free app designed to give you access to more than 65,000 news sources, both globally and locally, as well as weather for your current location and any locations you specify. It's basically a lift from the Google News pages, put into an app format. If you're happy with Google News on the web, you'll like it. If you want something more, Google News and Weather isn't going to cut it for you. When the app launches, you get your local weather up at the top of the screen, and then a sampling of news headlines below. Tap on one and you get the story, and at the bottom you will see headlines for related stories that you can click on. It's easy to re-order the topics and delete subjects you don't want. The app also grabs local news based on your location, and you can add other locations of interest too. My main issue with this app is the formatting of stories. Unlike Zite or Flipboard or the AP app and many others, Google News just gives you a browser-based view of the original story. There's no formatting to fit the iPhone or iPad, and no consistency of text -- it's just not a pleasant experience. There is basic personalization in that you can select topics of interest as noted above, but the app does not learn from your selections. Google News & Weather also fails to take advantage of Apple's new iOS 8 widget feature, which surely would be nice to have. The app delivers news and weather, but other apps do these tasks better and with a bit more flair. This seems like the result of a rush job and could be much better if more thought is put into the presentation of information. The info Google provides is fine -- it just isn't superior to other news solutions. Google News & Weather requires iOS 7 or later. It's universal, and optimized for the iPhone 5, 6 and 6 Plus.
MSN's simpler, mobile-savvy homepage is rolling out to everyone
Well, that was quick -- after just a few weeks in preview mode, the revamped MSN homepage is rolling out to everyone. You should see Microsoft's simple, desktop-like web portal in your browser sometime within the next three days. If you're using Windows devices, you'll also see updated Bing and MSN apps that draw on the site's many services; the Food & Drink app will keep track of your recipes, for instance. Windows Phone users get a few perks on their lock screens in the process. The Health and Fitness app will show pedometer stats if you're using a Lumia 630, 635 or 1520, while Weather will show your local forecast. You'll still have to wait for MSN apps on Android and iOS, but all the other pieces of Microsoft's grand vision are otherwise in place.
WeatherPro adds widgets and more for iOS
WeatherPro has always been a top-flight weather app, and the latest iOS update adds some nice features like widgets, worldwide webcams and customizable info. The US$1.99 app comes from the MeteoGroup in Germany, but I find their U.S. coverage excellent and detailed. The forecasts have been solid in older versions, and I expect the same in this rewritten iOS iteration. The user interface is tunable, letting you view things like the forecast as a graph. There are animated satellite maps of the USA, Austrailia and most of Europe. You can choose an unlimited number of favorite locations, and the app can find your current location automatically. WeatherPro also can interface with personal weather stations via Netamo. Using this new version is simple, but help is included if needed. Different features are available from a menu at the bottom of the screen (weather, maps, favorites etc) and you bring them up with a tap. WeatherPro is incredibly complete, including things like mountain and hiking forecasts, animated radar and cloud maps, UV indexes and water temperatures. Hourly forecast details are there for the next two weeks. New to iOS 8 is widget support. If you pull down your iPhone notification menu, and tap the Edit link, you can see which installed apps support widgets. WeatherPro is among them, so you can get things like current temperatures, wind speeds and and a forecast with a single flick to the Notification Center. Once you get used to it, you will use it all the time. The new for iOS 8 Windtheme feature (part of a premium subscription in-app purchase) lets you change the entire GUI to focus on winds. Wind direction and speed become visible on every app page, along with forecasts for the best times for winds -- perfect for windsurfers, pilot, kite flyers, and more. Webcams that are nearby can be located, but basically the app opens an internal browser and you get images from a third party provider complete with some junky ads. I'd like to see that part of WeatherPro improved. I also think the overall look of the app could be a little more modern and reflective of the best design cues from iOS 8. There is a lot of data to display, but it's not the prettiest presentation of weather data I've seen. Still, WeatherPro is well named. It has more well organized data than any weather app I've seen. It's feature rich, and somewhat customizable. A premium subscription is $1.99 for 3 months or $5.99 for a year. The app requires iOS 7 or later. If I was a real weather buff and could only choose one weather app to have on my iPhone, WeatherPro would be it.
Airlines are getting better at spotting and dodging bad weather
Turbulence hasn't gone away, but apparently we experience a lot less of it now than we did a decade ago. The New York Times is reporting that as airlines upgrade their weather systems from telex to tablets, pilots' ability to avoid choppy sky has vastly improved. As well as this, better satellite imaging and weather forecasting has enabled airlines to cut the amount of weather-based delays from 50 percent in 2003 to 36 percent in 2013. In addition, Delta and American Airlines have now outfitted some of their craft with sensors that automatically transmit data to dispatches, keeping subsequent flights out of trouble. The report goes on to say that we're also on the cusp of another big weather resolution, since high-power imaging satellites, due to commence operation in 2016, will massively increase an airline's ability to predict when airports will get shut down - and hopefully, save future generations from trying to catch some sleep on those nasty-ass chairs at Philadelphia airport.
WunderStation iPad app: Nirvana for weather geeks
Weather Underground runs what it calls the PWS (Personal Weather Station) network, a mesh of over 37,000 individually-owned weather stations that send live weather info to the company as often as every 2.5 seconds. If you live near a PWS, you can be guaranteed that you're going to get forecasts from Weather Underground that better represent the actual microclimates in your area thanks to the company's analysis of the PWS data. Well, now there's a way for weather geeks to really dig into that data visually. The free WunderStation iPad app offers an variety of ways to slice and dice local weather information. I've been using the app for about a week, viewing information from my PWS and others around the world. But rather than just being able to look at the current weather and a forecast, the WunderStation app lets me take a look at historical weather from the station as well. The app displays a number of content widgets that each focus on one aspect of the weather. For example, the image at the top of this post shows the current temperature, today's temperature, map, daily forecast, rainfall, wind, current barometric pressure, today's pressure, and sky conditions widgets. Those widgets can be moved around or removed, and other widgets are available for looking at solar radiation and UV index for stations that have those extra sensors. I wondered if WunderStation was going to support the huge weather webcam network that Weather Underground also hosts, and today I was told by the company to expect a webcam widget in the 1.1 release of the app. iPad owners can add a group of PWS network stations to the app and enjoy looking a current and daily conditions. But the real power of the app comes into play when you tap on one of the widgets. That particular widget grows into a pane that takes up the space of four widgets, giving you a more detailed look at that specific weather factor. Often, you can look at the data in an infographic view as well as a graph view. The line charts in the graph view show buttons to display data for the day, week, month, or year. A "layer" button is available for adding other data to a chart. To look at different stations that you've added to your personal list, you just swipe left and right. For stations that are on "rapid-fire" updates and sending data continuously, you'll see the wind direction, temperature, and wind direction/speed change in real time. Not every one will want or need all of this weather data, but if you either run a PWS or just have an overreaching interest in weather, WunderStation is the app for you.
Google News and Weather joins the modern age with Now-like cards
The stock Android faithful have been peering at the same UI inside its News and Weather app for quite some time, but today there's a welcome update. Folks carrying the unskinned version of Google's OS are now privy to Now's card-based organization for recent headlines with the weather forecast for the current location situated up top. You can toggle that meteorology widget off and on, or set it to stay with a locale of your choosing or track conditions in multiple places. Swipe through sections with ease, and as you might expect, those handy home screen widgets got a refresh of their own to match. The update seems to be rolling out to compatible devices now, so if you can't snag it yet, sit tight 'cause it's on the way.
It's official: Brits love weather apps
In days past, you couldn't call yourself a true Brit unless you'd waited for the six o'clock news to end in order to catch the weather forecast for the coming week. These days, however, more people than ever are pulling out their phone and launching an app. The BBC is keen to reinforce our obsession with unpredictable climates and mobile phones, announcing today that the BBC Weather iOS and Android apps have become its fastest-growing mobile properties, with over 8 million downloads since their launch just over a year ago. According to the Beeb, users love to whip out their mobiles first thing in the morning (7am being the most popular time), with Friday the most popular day, as people attempt to plan for the weekend ahead. In the near future, the BBC says it will add detailed weather warnings to the app, giving you an even firmer excuse for staying indoors with the cats.
H1Z1 graphics programmer hints at other weather types
SOE Graphics Programmer Ryan Favale is the target of a new H1Z1 video. In it, he discusses the games that he's playing, notable bugs, and his role on the upcoming zombie sandbox. Favale said that he's primarily working on the dynamic weather system. "That's my main job on H1Z1, to bring as many weather conditions and effects and environmental immersion as possible," Favale said. He teased the possibility of hurricanes, tornadoes, and dust storms, but didn't promise that they'd make them into the game. You can watch the video after the break.
SOE teases H1Z1's dynamic weather
We all know that the most important thing to your MMO immersions when you're neck-deep in zombies and dastardly corpse-looting player-killers is whether you can wear a t-shirt in a blizzard with impunity. Worry not, roleplay fiends, for SOE has today teased its dynamic weather system for upcoming survival MMO H1Z1 via a septet of screenshots that show the effect of changing seasons on the environment. Enjoy!
Climendo's weather app compares forecasts to deliver the most accurate
Sure, your favorite weather app might look good, but can you really tell how accurate it is? Instead of relying on just one weather source to provide you with an overview of the week's weather, Climendo wants to do things a little differently. It compares and combines data from the most popular and/or accurate providers to give you the most precise forecast possible. On top of that, it'll also match predictions with historic data from professional weather stations, letting you know exactly which provider you can trust.
AlertsPro will keep you on top of bad weather
Here in the US we're gearing up for hurricane season, and that means severe thunderstorms and other violent weather. Of course, sever weather isn't restricted to those in hurricane zones. Hail, thunderstorms, severe wind and more happen across the world. With a that in mind, AlertsPro for iPhone (US$1.99) offers some piece of mind and early warnings before severe weather hits. The app pushes alerts based on a severe weather event's distance from a custom location (you can add unlimited locations). For example, if you have a summer home or are keeping track of family and friends around the world, AlertsPro will let you know of severe weather at those locations up to 48 hours in advance (non-severe weather doesn't get as advanced a warning). The app uses weather maps with color-coded alert locations, and layers that depict satellite data. Alerts can be shared via social media. I gave the app a try and it worked well. Functions were obvious, and as soon as I allowed it access to my location and allowed it to send me alerts I was ready to go. Although my area of the country (Arizona) was pretty calm today, I could see alerts around the country and in Europe that were of interest, so I set up some favorite locations. The color codes for severity are useful, and you can customize them to suit your needs. Some apps display warnings as a feature, but that's AlertsPro's main function. Other apps that I like for alerts include WeatherBug, and the free Weather - Local Forecasts and alerts. AlertsPro also has a subscription service which is a $5.99 in-app purchase for a 12-month subscription. It offers customized alerts by type of storm or risk level, and it includes more detail on the weather maps. I don't find it a compelling offering. AlertsPro is not universal, and it requires iOS 7 or later. It's optimized for the iPhone 5.
Talking Weather Alarm Clock: Wake up to a personal weather forecast
A few years ago I looked at the Talking Weather Alarm Clock app and liked it. It's had lots of updates and added many new features since then, so I'm taking another look to see how it has progressed. The latest Talking Weather Alarm Clock is a US$0.99 app with a nice bag of features. Set an alarm time, which can repeat weekly or set individual days, like weekends, with their own wakeup times. The app wakes you up with a choice of included sounds, or with music that is already on your iPhone. At the time you set, you hear your chosen alarm sounds, followed by a personal greeting including the current temperature and the forecast. There is a snooze button, support for multiple languages, and the app also reads news from a variety of selected sources like the New York Times. There are also some built-in sounds like rain and the sea to get you to sleep. You just pick the sound and the duration, and let Talking Weather Alarm Clock lull you to sleep. The app worked well, and it's a good way to start your day. The menus are clear, and the app is easy to set up. One thing I did not like is that there are a whole series of in-app purchases that -- even when purchased in discounted packs -- can make the total app price tag approach $10.00. That's too much for an alarm clock app, even though some of the features are quite attractive, such as choosing different backgrounds for the screen. There are in-app purchases for more voices, custom weather, more news options, and different weather interfaces. I think it would be better for users and the developer alike to make the app $1.99 or $2.99 and include all the functionality. Talking Weather Alarm Clock also needs a preview function so you can hear what you are going to get at wake-up time and find out how the news reading functions work. The basic app works just fine, and I think that's what most people will opt for as it has lots of features, works well, and it is reasonably priced. Similar apps include BedBuzz Talking Alarm Clock, which is free but is saddled with overpriced options to really get you the features, and Talking Alarm Clock Free, which has lower priced ($1.99) in-app purchases to add all the features. Talking Weather Alarm Clock requires iOS 7 or later. It is not a universal app, but I think it should be as people may be about as likely to have an iPad on their nightstand as their iPhone.
Weather Traveler Pro is a nice alternative to the free weather apps
Why get a paid weather app when there are some really nice free ones with the layout, weather provider, and/or specific data you may want? Weather Traveler Pro is a US$1.99 app with an attractive layout and a good degree of customization. Of course, you can choose any cities you like and get a variety of weather data sourced from Weather Underground. You get current conditions as well as a UV index. A ten day forecast that can be shown in either hourly or daily increments is also on hand. The app provides a "feels like temperature", based on the humidity and temperature readings, as well as sky conditions and predicted highs and lows. A particularly nice feature is that like the Yahoo Weather app, you get a photo background that reflects the current weather and time of day, and the image can change based on your preferences every minute or down to every ten seconds. If you find a Weather Traveler Pro image to be especially attractive, the photos can be downloaded to use as your own wallpaper. Weather Traveler Pro allegedly provides local photos for each city, but I'm in Arizona and saw a lot of photos clearly not taken here, like New England fall leaves. I think the localization algorithm might need a bit of fine tuning. Those background photos did work for other cities I checked in Europe, Asia and other places in the US like San Francisco and Seattle. The only major pieces of data I found missing were sunset and sunrise times, information I personally find useful. I wouldn't mind if links to satellite images were included too. Still, Weather Traveler Pro is an attractive app, with nice customization features that let you control the layout and amount of data you want seen. A tap on the screen expands and contracts the information. Each city you enter will display its local time. Most people will be happy with Yahoo Weather and the Apple weather app, but I like the concept of Weather Traveler and think it will appeal to people who want a little something more. If you'd like the Lite version of the app, it's free. It allows only limited downloading of photos, which won't be a big deal for many people, and it limits your stored locations. The Lite version is ad supported. Weather Traveler is not a universal app, and it requires iOS 5.1 or later. It's optimized for the iPhone 5.
How The Weather Channel supplanted Yahoo as the source of weather data in iOS 8
It may fly under the radar for most folks, but weather data in iOS 8 will no longer be powered by Yahoo, being supplied by The Weather Channel instead. Seeing how Yahoo has been providing weather data for iOS devices for years, it's only natural to wonder how it lost such prominent placement within the iOS ecosystem. To that end, Kara Swisher of Re/Code has the scoop, writing that Weather Channel CEO David Kenny helped affect the change: To convince Apple to make the shift and cut Yahoo out of the middle, the Weather Channel added a lot more technology and information to the offering that it does not provide to Yahoo. That includes more weather specificity related to the location of a user, a nine-day forecast (up from five), a weather-conditions summary and more. "Yahoo had been renting ocean-front property for years and did not realize the lease was up, and the Weather Channel slipped right in and took it," said a Yahoo exec, who said the company acted too late to save the deal. "It's a high-profile loss." All in all, this can't be good news for Yahoo given that the company, according to reports from earlier this year, was hoping to work more closely with Apple to get Yahoo properties more prominently featured within iOS. Yahoo's alleged desire to pitch Apple on the idea of making its search engine the default within iOS now seems more laughable than ever.
