Craic Design

Pocket Universe has been one of my favorite astronomy apps for the iPhone. Take it outside to easily identify what's up using the charts and the built-in augmented reality features. With an update that hit the app store yesterday, you can now talk to Pocket Universe, using Siri speech recognition by tapping on the microphone icon on the built-in keyboard. You can say things like "Where is Jupiter?" or "What is the phase of the moon?" and so forth. I tried several queries like, "What time does Mars rise?" and "Find M42 in Orion." It all worked very well, and certainly beats typing in a dark backyard. If the app needs to talk back to you, it does so in a synthesized voice. The voice quality is a little rough, but it's slated to be improved. Author John Kennedy says he hopes to add voice-driven weather forecasts and other astronomical tidbits soon. Without the new voice commands, the app has a lot of features, including a 10,000 star catalog, as well as lots of deep sky objects. You can track the International Space Station and contains updated news sections and links to topics via Wikipedia. If you have the app, you'll get a free update with the voice functionality. If not, the app is US$2.99 and well worth it. Pocket Universe requires iOS4.2 or later and is a 43 MB download. Read More

Posted 01/17/2012 at 10:30am | by J Keirn-Swanson Readers in the Pacific Northwest and certain portions of the midwest will understand: You hear of an awesome celestial event, set your alarm, wake at 3am, run outside, and it's all clouds as far as the eye can see. Galileo saw moons orbiting Jupiter with just his crummy telescope, but you can't even make out Orion with all the light pollution. Where the heck do you look when you want to even try to find a constellation? You look in the App Store, silly. Star Walk from Vito Technology Inc. is what immediately comes to mind for most people when you discuss astronomy apps. One of the first to arrive on the scene with this kind of app, Star Walk is still the one to beat whenever the topic comes up in conversation.  Lots in the sky, little on the app's controls With the goal of keeping the interface as clean as possible, Star Walk fires up with four visible buttons and tiny ones at that. The rest of the screen is given over to the black recesses of space with brighter larger and smaller objects. Stars get white captions, satellites and planets get orange. Move your phone about and as you do, Star Walk tracks the stars in the "sky." Tap the screen at any point to freeze it in that view, then to restart the scanning just tilt your phone upwards. If you tap upon an object, a new button appears in the upper left, a lowercase "i." Tap that to be taken to an informational page about that particular object. Today's calendar of events Overlaying the screen, the minuscule green circles hug the corners of your screen. In the lower left, a magnifying glass takes you to a search screen where categories of celestial objects are broken down into five groups: Constellations, Solar system, Deep Space, Stars, and Satellites. Tap any one of these to be taken to back to the sky view. A green arrow will direct you which way to turn and tilt your iPhone until you are taken directly to the object of your search. In the upper right corner, a camera bracket button turns on your camera, overlaying the heavenly view with the world around you. Aim your iPhone to the sky when the stars won't accommodate you, and against the cloudy gray heavens you'll see Read More

By Kyle Flanigan on February 13th, 2011 A summary of the happenings in the week, dated February 6 - 13, featuring the App Hall of Fame February inductees. This week, the to be featured for the month of February, including Street Figher IV, currently #1 on the App Store (more on this later). The list is voted for by way of a specially created, independent committee, which seeks out the best applications out there and available to download now. You can see this month’s list, as well as all the other’s since its inception last October, right here. The App Hall of Fame is an initiative launched by 148Apps, whereby an independent committee collectively votes for twelve applications to be featured in the Hall of Fame each month. The committee is comprised of over forty members from app-related sites across the globe. “We’ve got a new champion” writes Jeff Scott, Founder of 148Apps, in relation to Street Fighter IV‘s phenomenal sales. “Capcom has taken over the much coveted number one overall app spot [from Angry Birds]” – though for how long it is anyone’s guess. The position is certainly a feat and an achievement, with the number one spot potentially requiring over $60 000 worth of sales. Per day. The game was awarded 4.5 stars by 148Apps last year, with reviewer Jason Fanguy writing “it is money well spent. I highly recommend this game to any/all lovers of the Street Fighter franchise or anyone who enjoys a quality 2-D fighter.” $4.99 Released: 2010-03-10 :: Category: Games In other news, Japanese corporation Namco, creator of the best-selling arcade game in human history, Pac-Man, has announced that its popular racing title Ridge Racer will drive its way into the iPad App Store sometime this month, to compliment its iPhone counterpart released last year. “The interesting thing about Ridge Racer Accelerated for the iPad is that it will be released as a freemium app” writes Carter Dotson, referring to an application type whereby users pay to unlock new features as they go along. “It will be free to download, include 3 cars, one course, with Time Attack and Game Center ranking modes available for free, and will cost $9.99 in-app to unlock the full app.” If you’re after something a bit sooner, or rather available now, earlier this week the Editor’s Choice badge was awarded to Pocket Universe HD, the iPad-exclusive version of one Read More

Tonight is the first-ever International Observe the Moon Night. If you have an iOS device, you can get even more out of observing our nearest neighbor and learning about what its made of, how it came to be, and how to observe it. Free apps like Moon Globe will allow you to explore the lunar service in detail tonight, or any night. If you're a social, rather than a solitary backyard astronomer, then here's a map to help you find local public observing groups all over the world. Expect to find some telescopes to get you a live close-up view. Since you'll already be outside, don't forget some of the great astronomy apps that help orient you to the visible planets and constellations. I like Star Walk, Pocket Universe and Distant Suns. Happily, the author of Distant Suns has put version 2 of the app on sale for US$0.99 today only in honor of the lunar event. If you have an iPhone, or iPod touch, it's a good night to look up. Read More

With the news that the Sun has sent a blast of plasma towards the Earth hitting the headlines this week, thanks mainly to the prospect of the famed Northern Lights potentially being visible from parts of the UK and North America, we thought it was a good time to highlight the wealth of astronomy-related applications that are available for the iPhone and the iPad. Here are ten which standout: You can purchase an iPhone app for the iPhone 3GS and iPhone 4, but we’ve linked to the iPad-specific version, simply because we think it benefits from the increased screen size.  The night sky is still rendered on your iPad, with the positions and names of stars and planets, plus outlines of constellations and lunar phase information.  It’s easy to use too.  $4.99/£2.99. Well-known and beautifully designed, this is perhaps aimed more at entertaining the casual user than the hardcore enthusiast, but that’s OK, it’s just means it’s slightly more accessible.  An iPad version is available alongside the popular iPhone version, which lets you watch the sky pass in real time, aided by your phone’s digital compass, identifying stars and constellations as you go.  $2.99/£1.79. A perfect companion app to Star Walk, this is an interactive learning application based on the planets in our solar system.  The 3D view is very impressive, there is a wealth of information in several different languages and a clever ‘Time Machine’ setting that shows how the planets were aligned at a given time.  Suitable for the iPhone and the iPad.  $2.99/£1.79. If some of the more expensive astronomy apps seem like overkill when you’re just a keen amateur, give Planets a try.  It’s compatible with both the iPhone and the iPad, has a 2D or 3D view of the sky, names of constellations, planets and stars and a database with moonrise times.  Free. One of the best ’suitable for all’ astronomy applications, which remains accessible for the hobbyist but contains enough information and detail to keep the experienced astronomer happy too.  Available for the iPhone and iPad, the app uses the digital compass, GPS or 3G connection to ensure the view on screen is the same view you see from the sky.  $9.99/£5.99. You can select this pay version or a free, cutdown Lite version of iEphemeris, which provides data related to the Sun and the Moon, with everything from sunrise/moonrise times, day length, maximum altitude Read More

Pocket Universe has always been one of the best of the astronomy apps, and I reviewed the earlier version positively. I like the use of augmented reality to overlay a star chart on the real sky, and there are lots of features like astronomy news, a planning module for any particular night, and quick and easy guides to finding visible comets and other nighttime events. With some nice clear summer nights there are plenty of things to see and appreciate. The app has now been updated, and is one of the first science apps to use the iPhone 4 gyroscope. According to John Kennedy, who wrote the program, using the gyroscope speeds up orienting the phone position, because the internal compass is a bit slow and prone to interference. The app doesn't need internet access, except for astronomy news and linking to Wikipedia articles. All the star charts and graphics are contained in the app. Pocket Universe supports a night vision mode, which turns the stars and object labels red, keeping bright glare away from sensitive eyes. The app displays 10,000 stars, but I'd like to see more. I'd also like to see more deep sky objects (nebula, galaxies, star clusters) highlighted, with pictures of those objects visible as you zoom in rather than in a pop up window. Finally, for some inexplicable reason, Uranus and Neptune have been left out of the planet information panel. I knew Pluto didn't make the cut, but as far as I know Uranus and Neptune are still planets. Both planets are visible in the sky charts, but they didn't make the screen where you get detailed information. I like Pocket Universe. It was first out of the gate to use the compass, and to use augmented reality. At US$2.99 it is hard to beat, but as I've mentioned, I'd like to see even more. This app works with the iPhone, iPod touch, and the iPad. You'll need an iPhone 4 to take advantage of the gyroscope feature. Check out the gallery for screen grabs. Read More

Choose a clear night and hold your phone skyward, and the heavens suddenly make sense — that is, with the help of a stargazing application. If ever there were a type of mobile software guaranteed to elicit a grin, this is it. These apps — like Starmap, Star Walk, Pocket Universe, Google Sky Map and others — are part of a category known as “augmented reality.” The idea is to point a mobile device toward an object and let an app show you more about what you’re seeing than your own eyes could. At the moment, the category is in its nascent stages, with one exception — the stargazing apps. As for which app you should buy, it depends on your level of astronomical expertise, and what device you have. Pocket Universe ($3) and Star Walk ($3) offer great experiences for beginners with an iPhone. Google Sky Map (free) will do the same for Android users. Starmap ($12) and Starmap Pro ($19) will probably appeal to more experienced astronomers. IPad owners, meanwhile, can download Star Walk for iPad ($5). You don’t even need a starry night — or, for that matter, a view of the night sky. Open the app in your bedroom and point the iPad skyward, and it will show you whatever you would have seen if you were looking through a telescope in that very direction. Even better, it will label stars, planets and constellations, and offer up details about them in terms that amateurs will easily absorb. Ever wonder about the constellation that’s tied to your astrological sign? Search for Gemini, for instance, and it will display the constellation as it currently looks in the sky, even if it isn’t visible from your particular vantage point. Touch “Pollux,” Gemini’s brightest star, and then tap on the information icon. A dropdown box displays a brief description of the star — which, it turns out, is a mere 34 light years from Earth. The box also includes data that few people other than telescope owners will need, like the RA positioning and the object’s visual magnitude. Such people will find this app useful, but these users are better suited to the Starmap apps, which offer a depth of astronomical information that others lack. For serious astronomers, Starmap Pro can be a great source of help. Use it as a remote control for pointing a telescope to distant objects, or Read More

Augmented reality. It's definitely a buzz phrase, but what is it, exactly? How do you experience it? Is there an app for it? Oh, most definitely. Here are 10. True to their title, augmented reality apps add something to what you see, using a combination of camera, GPS, and sometimes, in the case of the iPhone 3GS, a compass. The result is something like a real-life heads-up display on your phone, and it's spectacular. It's been a few months since Apple enabled AR apps in the iPhone's firmware, and as you might expect, there's been an explosion of new takes on the concept. Here are ten of the best: Note: Most of these apps will work best with the iPhone 3GS, and some explicitly require it. It's worth checking into exactly what you lose without the compass before downloading. Also, here's the article in one page. Read More

In this International Year of Astronomy we're seeing a small explosion of astronomy apps updated both for the Mac and the iPhone. One of my favorites, Distant Suns [App Store] has updated the build that runs on the 3GS iPhone to include some augmented reality features. This means that if you point the phone up to the sky, the program figures out the direction you are pointing and your elevation and slews to the proper view of the star map, giving you a view that should match what you are seeing in the sky. This greatly enhances the usefulness of this program, especially for novices who want to get outside under the summer stars and quickly figure out 'what's up?'. This new version is only for 3GS iPhones, and an update with some additional features for all the earlier models is on the way. Of course older phones won't have the compass feature. Other changes include some UI tweaks, and setting the sound effects default to 'off.' Pocket Universe [App Store], which I reviewed last month, has a similar feature and also works very well. Pocket Universe sells for US$2.99 and Distant Suns is $5.99. Check reader reactions to both and go into details on the features to decide which one is right for you. Distant Suns has a long pedigree in the star mapping world. It first ran on the Commodore Amiga in 1987, then was ported to the PC, the Mac, and now your favorite cell phone. When you look up at the moon this summer to celebrate the Apollo 11 landing 40 years ago, be sure to investigate the thousands of other points of light with a software app that will literally point you in the right direction. Read More

Today's iPhone app reviews are all about stretching the boundaries of your iPhone. With TED, you'll have access to the genius talks right from your iPhone. PDF Expert does just what you'd imagine, but better. Pocket Universe allows you to browse the night sky right from your 3.5 inch screen, and 3D Contacts reinvents the way you browse through contacts.   TED by .willflow limited Category: Eduction Price: Free App Store Link PDF Expert (Professional PDF Documents Reader) by Readdle Category: Business Price: $4.99 Say hello to the best PDF app in the whole iTunes Store. The application essentially puts the full Adobe reader on your iPhone. This app is intended for professionals, who read PDF files frequently as part of their job. First of all, it's the first app that allows you to read password protected PDF's. You can also save PDF email attachments, search text, navigate through bookmarks, handle very large files, and more. It's worth five bucks. Pocket Universe: Virtual Sky Astronomy by Craic Design Category: Education Price: $2.99 App Store Link 3D Contacts by Abide Development Category: Utilities Price: $0.99 App Store Link Read More