On Apr. 22, 1500,  explorer Pedro Alvares Cabral first laid eyes on Brazil. I just learned this last week from Today in History, from developer Down-Shift.

There’s no mystery about Today in History iPhone app. The app informs you of the notable events that occurred on any given day, who was born, who died, and holidays that land on that day.

I’ll bet you didn’t know Pope Alexander VIII was born April 22, 1610. My wife claims I’m related to him because I always act so high and mighty.

What I really wanted to know was the events, who was born, who died and so on on Sept. 1, which is my birthday. I already know Sept. 1 is a national holiday, although unfortunately no one else knows that but me and my long-suffering wife. But what about the rest of the stuff?

The problem is, Today in History, only has information for March and April. Down-Shift says it’s working diligently to get the rest of the year’s notable events into the app by the end of April. Personally, I’d hold off buying the Today in History iPhone app until then, just to be on the safe side.

To select a date, scroll through the slot-machine menu—chose your month and day—followed by a tap of the Set button. On the bottom menu bar, you’ll see icons for Events, Births, Deaths and Holidays. Not coincidentally, given Cabral’s discovery, today is Discovery Day in Brazil.

Down-Shit says Today in History shows on average a list of 200 events, births, death and holidays per day. Add it all up and that means 73,000 entries a year, the company says. We’ll have to see about that when the app is fully populated at the end of the month.

All of Today in History’s content comes from Wikipedia, which means that you must go online to fetch more details about any given event.

I like the idea of the Today in History iPhone app, despite its currently shortcomings. I can see how it might take up long-term residence on my iPhone when it’s completed.

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category: Education, Worthwhile Apps