Tag: apple

Something uniquely nifty,

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Found a cool place where you could get some awesome iPhone cases, which have some intriguing designs which fit your design needs, they do Geek, wallpaper, Sci-Fi also retro iPhone cases and soon there will be the iPhone 5 cases.

They have some beautifully made artistic cases, and mostly if you’re a Whovian or into the Doctor Who, they have some various designs in there collection, also if you’re into gaming also they have instore as well to of  retro. They also have in their collection various designs of T shirts and hoodies, stickers, posters, postcards and print.  One thing I found the collection is uniquely nifty.

Like to Know more about there collection about Rebubble ?

There’s something about a coffee……….

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There’s always that something about a friend, that’s always can trust on keep you awake during the nights, helping you through the night  of doing  of  work typing away on that soon need to be done assignment, or keeping someone captive attentively talking, sharing in those special moment after a date. It’s also a friend in the morning that lends you helping hand you get you out from a hangover from the night before.  

Your friend coffee comes in different ways of dressing your friend might come  as instant, or coffee-house made in either Latte, Flat white, also depending how you like to wardrobe your friend, they come in different form of many blends.

There’s one way of finding  your friend, is through this Starbucks app. even though the app services  doesn’t work in New Zealand Starbucks stores it works only in the United States stores.

This App does: it’s either in iPhone and on Android.

  • it allows you to customs build your drink.
  • finds the nearest Starbucks store from you geo location from your smart phone.
  • Browse the food menu what they have in place in store.
  • Allows you track your rewards program

Two essential apps!- when the Earth moves?

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Just notice that I received a push notification of an after shock in Japan, of Honshu, measuring about 6.2 magnitude occurring of East Coast Japan today. I’ve been using two apps in recent just in case it hits here in New Zealand, now down at the South Island, Christchurch had a massive one, and the cleaning up still continues to date, plus the Japanese Earthquake, Tusami comes in mind aswell.

One of those Apps are called Earth Watch, and the Other is Earthquake. Both are iPhone Apps, and when events do occur depending on prefered settings, a push notification alerts you. of the condition of the event that just now occurred.

Earth Watch:

Earth Watch is a reliable App, it written by i.code.devices. It which gives you regular updates on the go as data comes from the USGS feeds. this also show you the map and the USGS data of the incident the time in UTC that it happen, plus the depth, the latitude, longitude coordinates, also gives you Tsunami warnings of the Pacific, Hawaii, Alaska and Indian Ocean. also has you enter the more function screen it gives you more data to work around to such as Tornadoes, Storms and Volcanoes, it give you a watch list of what to watch out for.  Plus the App is free from iTunes aswell!

Like To Know more of Earth Watch?

Earthquake:

The Earthquake App is the one that I’ve pretty much used the most, it gives regular push notifications, off Earthquakes, that occurring around Earth, displaying on using google maps, and pinning the locations of events past, present on different coloured pins, green, purple and also markings depending of other severities of the event.

It’s written by mobezio.com, plus they have other various apps included in their library.

when you look at the listings of the Earthquakes that have happen in the last few days and up to now, there are given colours marking in red for above magnitude five, and yellow for below. as you switch to the other menu displaying the Tsunami, it gives you the map of where the quake’s locational center is, by using information gathered by Pacific Tsunami warning center.

You could change the settings on this App, in mind of setting the minimum magnitude that you what a responds to of an event, the distance from the location, near your or all the way encompassing the Earth.  Either having the earthquakes occurring in the last hour, day, and week. Also it sets to you location of finding yourself.  Also the gather information of using USGS, EMSC, GEOnet, GeoScence Australia, British geological Survey, and the Natural resources Canada.

There’s another feature is the send me earthquakes of prefer scale information, which lightens the mind for the serious ones to know about.  Also it’s let you sleep too by giving you sleeping time settings of when the best time to alert you.

One thing I like about this app, its social media based, you could share it with your friends on Facebook, and on Twitter, so it helps you to alert the ones that you care, friends and followers. i would say this has been one of the best Apps that I’ve used crossing align to Star Walk and Solar Walk.

Like to know more of Earthquake?

Plus Two More apps!

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Having trying out two more apps for the night skies, I’ll say this is a definite must! two of the apps in questions are the Star walk   assisted with another app the Solar walk. Both have won the 2010 Apple Design awards.

STAR WALK

Via vitoTechnology.com

Having trying out the Star walk, at first I found it was relative smooth to used, it follow where ever you go base on you location, and when you decide to see the night sky in a different location you could change the geo settings.

when you start you are greeted by a skylive screen of what’s up  in  you geo location dependant on you iPhone GPS. at the moment using it right now, it shows the planet’s time of rise, and setting with the angle of elevation where you can expect to see during the night  sky horizon.

The App, Star walk incorporates many items in the four must apps have, but in even more, it shows up the constellations in the night skies,  it gives you most of  views of Constellations, Solar system, Deep Space, Stars, and Satellites in the night sky. when you in need to have a search of an object it directs you with a cursor to the intend object. also it gives you photos of the day of beautiful stunning astrophotography images taken.

When you zoom in on that particular object, in the stellar field, it shows up the particular detail statistics. One interesting thing to note it has a timeline which you could manipulate the field of view in the night or day sky, whether it’s back, forward, or in just real time. also It comes to show that it does it any direction with using the gyro of the Apple iPhone series, but using it on the iPhone 4 or an ipad will give you a much greater user experience.

In sense of Star Walk App, it’s great, the experience is pleasant. It’s zen like feel gives you controls of knowing, learning more about the night sky humbling.  

Like to know more on Star Walk?

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/star-walk-5-stars-astronomy/id295430577?mt=8

http://www.youtube.com/user/VITOiPhone#p/u

http://vitotechnology.com/

Solar walk

I began using this app right after when I’ve start using Star walk, finding it very useful at night, and as a quick reference to  all the nine planets of the Solar System, yes that includes Pluto! The experience of using the app is amazing, it gives you the selection of selecting what type of planets that you like to visit, and give you real-time, or timeline back or forward in time to see a different position in time.

When selecting you Planet it, show up with the general  details, it’s mass, dimensions, whom has been visiting it,  plus its inner self, yes you’ll get to see the planet’s inner.  One thing like is the way how you could manipulate the directions viewing positions, by pitching, rotating around, and seeing the best view around.

When you get to used both Solar Walk, and Star walk  they work side by side.

Like to know more?

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/solar-walk-3d-solar-system/id347546771?mt=8

http://vitotechnology.com/

Four must apps for the night sky!

kevinjamesng5 Comments

When I prepare to show people the night sky outdoors, or the backyard astronomy to the patrons of the Stardome observatory in Auckland. Sometimes I need a little assistance from a couple, or a few helping apps, or friends. In some case the night sky do change monthly or seasonally. In some case in Auckland it rains weeks on end till the whole night sky changes it’s direction, like finding your way again. and some times using a Planisphere doesn’t help either in the dark. but a red lighted torch does help in finding and reading the Planisphere.

There’s always the ones that I, figure to know my way around with the common ones in the Southern Hemisphere. Like down South, the Southern cross, which is found by using the pointer stars of Alpha and Beta Centauri, other stellar objects in the night skies, two diamond pave clustered set like global clusters Omega Centauri (NGC 5139) the larger of the two of to 47 Tuc (NGC 104), the Orion Nebula in the Orion constellation, right next to the ever protector Taurus the bull with its eye full watching the star Aldebaran protecting the group of seven sisters Pleiades (Greek), or known as Subaru ( Japanese), over here it’s natively called Matariki ( Maori).

Other observational stellar objects in the night sky during the summery season, there are few which inspired JK Rolling’s Characters out from the Harry Potter series, the two armpits of the Titan Hunter Orion, Bellatrix also the faithful pet companion Sirius the dog, hence Sirus Black Harry’s Godfather. Or in the night sky the constellation is just called Canis Major followed by the little dog Canis Minor.

As for the cold wintery crispy nights, there are few of which to be seen, in the unstrangness of all nights, the constellation Scorpio finally battle it out with Orion in being the deputy to the fallen sheriff Taurus. to warrant in defense of Pleiades and her seven sisters. Also as to witness this is the timely arrival of Saturn and it’s companion moons.

As for the trusty Apps, or the four must when you’re lost for words, or in your thoughts in trying to figure that stellar object out!

Stellarium

Stellarium is a very easy App to work around as I’ve explain in my previous blog ” Lost” this got to be one of the easy Apps used for the iPhone.

How many times that, when you look up the stars and wonder which is which. Well few weeks ago I’ve download a very useful app from the iTunes store. It’s very, well so very useful. I practical use it when I’m outdoors viewing the stars at night with the very helpful assistance of manually use a Meade telescope.

The app is call Stellaruim, I’ve used in the past, the PC version, it’s very easy to use. When you use the Pc version it’s best to locate your position first, so the Stellaruim knows where you are so it can best find you the viewing positions for you to view the stars and other stella objects in the night and day skies. the program is very easy to use it has time-lapse so you could see the motions through out the night and day sky forward and back in time as the sky motions around.

One of the many features around it, it has settings menu, which allow you to customised your background,scripts into the software, like changing the background sence, the amount of information that you like to see on, like, star lines, constellations grid lines. Other features that I like about stellaruim is the information about the stella object that you’ve lock on, when using the app it does the same but with the an extra feature which utilities the GPS features on the iPhone. which give you more exact viewable location.

With the iPhone app it’s a much nice feel, your astronomy friends will probably envy for the abilities it does, it’s portable than using a laptop, and you can utilize the touch features of the iPhone, and it’s quite sassy!

For like to know more?

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/stellarium/id382624365?mt=8

http://www.stellarium.org/

Planets

Planets is another iPhone app, it very least complex than the Stellarium app to work around with. Such features are it runs on the same type of goto platform with the iPhone GPS system gyro system to figure out where you’re  in the world, and where you’re pointing at too in the night or day sky. Also it has features that let you go explore that object in within the App in either in two or three dimensional vieiws. Also an extra plus the App is free too! are you excite!

when viewing in 2D, it show’s up the objects in real-time in a stamp set reference, with compass bearing points, to suit your directional location. This gets even more fun when you switch to the 3D screen on, it gives you more of the encompassing view in your present surroundings above and below the Horizons. A few advantages that it has that Stellaurim doesn’t have it’s the light spectrum which you could see, it allows you to switch between X-Ray, Visible, Hydrogen alpha, infrared, Microwave, and Radio spectra Background back into time.

Another brilliant aspect which I like mostly best with this app is the optimum best viewing times of each planets that shows up in the night sky, it’s rising, it’s setting, but the experience is uniquely to your geo positioning of your iPhone, which gives you a great advantage. 

Also there’s a globe slides for different planets, but unfortunately it doesn’t comes with Pluto, Sorry Pluto! it’s interactive with the iPhone touch screen you could slide it, finger pitch to go near and  a far, and even more to rotate the planets around to. I would say this app is practically diversity  which its abundance of features it has just to get you going and start for the night sky. but one good thing though it comes in free, but it’s only for iPhone, and iPad.

For like to know more?

http://itunes.apple.com/nz/app/planets/id305793334?mt=8

http://www.qcontinuum.org/planets/

Moon Globe

This app is basically straight forward it’s ever so like one of your maps that you find on one of your lonely Planet travel guides, but it’s less hasten in a way of carrying that actual moon globe with you all the time. This one is great, it shows you the main points of  seas craters,  of the moon. also for the space historians out there there’s landing positions information and other NASA lunar landers, Apollo lunar modules landed on the moon. Plus the details of the moon is amazing detail also changing the aspect lighting.  It has another feature by  switching to the globe mode on you could pitch orientated the position of the Moon, look in closely in the awesome surface details like you peering, outside the window of your Spacecraft or Starship in that manner.  This Moon Globe is will keep you guessing of what you might expect in Google Moon, but even better, it’s mobility, and the iPhone’s intense 960 by 640 resolutions Retina display. but the only thing it still does have yet it’s Astronauts Neil’s Armstrong’s timeless boot print.

For like to know more!

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/moon-globe/id333180321?mt=8

Mars Globe

I have a friend whom adores the topic  planet Mars, I’m pretty sure this This App is right for her. she loves talking about the rovers whom are exploring the Martian surface which it shows the locations doing there studious reportings, also it shows the density depth by showing in different various colours, another option that it has  is the back and forward in time in years or months of the availble  sunlight, the darkest it gets.  The details are Awesome, you could see the large Mountain Everest high volcanic regions mounting  up on the surface  to  also the large city-wide encompassing craters. to it’s legendary white polar north and south  ice capes.

For like to know more!

http://itunes.apple.com/app/mars-globe/id324185998

There been an updates following  that there a further two more apps which are highly recomended which I’ve reviewed after now using them constantly.  star walk  also Solar walk.