WeatherBug is a program developed by AWS Convergence Technologies, Inc. and it displays live, streaming weather information. In order to provide local weather, WeatherBug and television stations partner together and also involve local schools, which house cameras for WeatherBug. My first introduction to WeatherBug came when a science teacher at my son’s elementary school asked for a WeatherBug station, which apparently could also be used as an educational tool (I love those). I clearly remember the powers-that-be said “no,” but it made me investigate a little further and prompted me to download the WeatherBug app on my Touch.

Having had both, I can say that WeatherBug Elite is worth the price. You still have access to the same features as WeatherBug, including the seven-day forecast, up to five area camera views, weather alerts, and the radar, but with WeatherBug Elite you can do more. You can put the radar into motion and you can also change layers to observe temperature, pressure, humidity, and wind speed. You can change the radar and satellite options and the map has incorporated touch technology to allow you drop a pin anywhere and view the current weather in that location. You can also zoom in and out on the radar before setting into time-lapsed motion.

I use WeatherBug Elite quite frequently to check for weather alerts, check the radar and forecast, and in the winter when we get a lot of snow it’s great for checking road conditions around town with the views from the local cameras. All in all, the enhancements that come with WeatherBug Elite are worth a dollar – easy. If you have frequent outdoor activities, work outdoors, or just want instant access to updated weather conditions and forecasts, then I can think of no better app to have.

• app_name: WeatherBug Elite
• rating: 9/10

© AppCraver, 2009. | WeatherBug Elite is Well Worth the Extra Dollar | Get our iPhone Reviews on Facebook & Twitter!

It has been about twenty years since my last math or physics class, so I looked up fractals on the web. What I sort of understand is that fractals are geometric shapes that are split or repeated, and that fractals can be used to create an image with infinitely changing colors, shapes and light.

The groovy graphics of the Nebula – Relax with Fractals app are created — surprise — with fractals.

Nebula – Relax with Fractals, made by developer Darren McKie, looks like a continually evolving outer space galaxy on your iPhone screen. The user can add stars by tapping the iPhone or dragging a finger across the screen. The stars then slowly fade. You can adjust the rate of color changes, the nebula speed and the smoothness of the nebula, making it more or less pixelated. You can also listen to your own music while you play. The result is a dynamic, mind-altering image that is relaxing.

However, Nebula – Relax with Fractals lacks substance. Compared with a similar app, Galactica, Nebula – Relax with Fractals is in kindergarten and Galactica has a PhD. The multi-sensory Galactica is transporting. Galactica offers phenomenal music and utilizes the iPhone’s multi-touch capabilities so the user can create more complex unearthly experiences.

In comparison, Nebula – Relax with Fractals feels one-dimensional. Math geeks will appreciate the use of fractals to create a visually pleasing nebula, but everyone else should consider purchasing Galactica for a more stimulating experience.

• app_name: Nebula – Relax With Fractals
• rating: 6/10

© AppCraver, 2009. | Nebula – Relax with Fractals is Lost in SpaceNebula – Relax with Fractals | Get our iPhone Reviews on Facebook & Twitter!

I suppose that a social weather app makes a bit of sense from the perspective of talking about the weather, since that is frequently the subject of the most casual conversations. Yet it’s the one aspect of Human Weather that appeals to me the least. Nevertheless, Human Weather will give those who like to view comments from other people something to do besides check the weather.

Human Weather uses GPS location to give users the current weather in their area as well as the forecasted weather for four days. Of course, it’s difficult to say how frequently it is updated or in what means, as on Monday morning, the first day of my four-day forecast was Sunday. Curious — I could already tell you yesterday’s weather without that. However, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday’s weather forecast was inline with the local news.

In addition to current weather conditions and a combination re-cap/forecast, you can also see “Real Feel” comments from other people in your area. Like some users, I have not been able to figure out how to post a comment of my own. It certainly isn’t obvious and I can’t see anywhere that would enable this feature directly from Human Weather. You can log in to your Twitter account by viewing an expanded comment, but I’m not sure what you do from there. I believe you might need to join the Human Weather community from somewhere, but certainly not from the app itself. This might frustrate some users since the premise of Human Weather is social and it’s not a user-friendly aspect.

Additionally, the comments I received in my area were a mix of relevant and non-relevant comments. The comments are no more than 24 hours old and I found one from my local paper, a meteorologist on a local news station, and then a bunch of random comments like “leaving work early to enjoy the weather,” or “feeling under the weather.” I think it might somehow search out keywords (like weather) in posts and automatically assume relevance. Regardless, if social networking about the weather is somehow of interest to you, perhaps you can figure out the end-user confusion for making your own posts.

Another feature of Human Weather that completely baffles me is the “clothing advisory.” You are supposedly viewing what other people are wearing. Why would anyone care? Not to mention, how useful is it to know that beezleBub21 isn’t wearing a belt with his pants today? (And yes, I viewed a comment almost verbatim to that, which filed itself under “belt” and “pants.”) That’s just weird.

In the end, Human Weather is an under-a-dollar purchase that does give you current weather conditions as well as forecasted ones. You can use the search function to search out weather in other locations as well, so it serves the purpose of a quick weather check. There are no dopplar radars for those of you who like to view the bigger picture, but for those who like to read random comments and get wardrobe updates from other users while checking the day’s weather, it’s a one-of-kind app for that.

• app_name: Human Weather
• rating: 7/10

© AppCraver, 2009. | Human Weather is Odd Mix of Weather and Social Networking | Get our iPhone Reviews on Facebook & Twitter!

I can’t begin to describe all the topics WeatherCyclopedia covers, but its chapters include how weather is created, the elements, climate zones, geographical and seasonal variances,  weather forecasting, history of meteorology, nonscientific ways to predict weather and on and on and on.

I never knew just how much I never knew about the weather, or something like that.

WeatherCyclopedia is exceptionally well organized too. Here’s a quick example: To read about precipitation, you’ll start at The Creation of Weather and then go through a nest of sub-chapters (Weather Builders, Elements) and then finally to Precipitation, where you find everything you might want to know followed by links to how clouds form, formation models, precipitation measurements and more.

Every topic is linked to every to other related topic in a way that allows you to branch out in any direction to explore a topic in depth. In addition to text, you’ll have the option of hyperlinking to animation, photos, charts and a glossary that provides even more detail.

Animation, photos and charts also are organized into indexes, but rather than the conventional list of text, you get thumbnails representing each subject. Thumbnails in the index are not labeled, however, and are organized for browsing rather than to find a specific topic, which you do from the page you’re reading.

WeatherCyclopedia tends to run slowly when you try to access content-rich images and animation. It’s either the app is not as well optimized as it could be or overly ambitious given the platform’s limitations.

Telemet’s main line of work is to provide weather services to companies around the globe. If you’re a petroleum company with offshore drilling platforms, for example, you would rely on Telemet to give you a head’s up if there’s a hurricane brewing. I assume the company has taken the wealth of data it has on hand and shoehorned as much of it as it could into WeatherCyclopedia. What also makes me think that’s why Telemet titled this app “WeatherCyclodpedia” but throughout the app, it’s titled “Didactio,” which I believe is one of it’s products.

Regardless, if you tend to be impatient, you’re not going to like waiting as much as 20 seconds for some animations to load.

It’s truly an interactive encyclopedia that’s capable of taking you wherever you would like to go in the world. WeatherCyclopedia is $10 but a true weather enthusiast shouldn’t object to the price.

• app_name: WeatherCyclopedia
• rating: 9/10

© AppCraver, 2009. | WeatherCyclopedia Is a Nearly Perfect Storm of Information | Get our iPhone Reviews on Facebook & Twitter!

The Pocket Express iPhone App from Handmark Inc. is an information-based app, which has been used by smartphone owners for quite some time. The app is designed to make it easy for you to access news, sports, weather, entertainment and other information quickly. According to Handmark Inc, the Pocket Express app for the iPhone is designed specifically for the functionality and features of the iPhone.

Pocket Express seems to deliver as promised. Upon opening the front page, you’ll have a choice of nine icons to choose from.

• News
• Sports
• Weather
• Finance
• Entertainment
• Movies
• Travel
• Horoscopes
• Assist

After choosing an icon you’re quickly directed to a page of multiple information choices. News, for instance, takes you to ten current news stories. Also on this page, you’ll find several additional options on the bottom to select from. Those options help you find stories in a more specific fashion such as World News or U.S. news. The More tab allows you greater selectivity with choices such as Politics, Strange News or Health and Wellness to name a few.

All of the other icons work similarly. The Weather will need to be set up to obtain weather information for cities of your choosing. Within the Movies section you’ll be able to locate a theater, obtain show times, read movie description, reviews, and purchase tickets from select theaters. The Assist icon directs you to the knowledge base and customer support.

The only problem I found with Pocket Express was the Travel icon. This service isn’t currently operational so you are offered the opportunity to be redirected away from the app and onto the web to obtain travel information.

The Pocket Express is loaded with information and all of it is easily accessible. I like the ease and use it quite often for a quick update or to check out a news story. The Pocket Express succeeds in placing the world in the palm of your hands.

• app_name: Pocket Express
• rating: 8/10

© AppCraver, 2009. | Pocket Express — Placing The World In The Palm Of Your Hand | Get our iPhone Reviews on Facebook & Twitter!

Unfortunately, this app couldn’t tell you where it was snowing unless you put your iPhone outside and let the white stuff cover it.

WeatherX purports to give you data and maps about hurricanes, storms, airport delays, tsunamis, earthquakes and I don’t know what else. The data and maps are pulled mainly from public-domain databases at the National Weather Service and the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration.

I say “purports” because the maps are so distorted they’re difficult to make sense of. They’re scrunched up in portrait mode and it’s hard to fathom why anyone would think that’s acceptable over landscape mode.

When you zoom in, it’s difficult to get your bearings, even when WeatherX uses your own location — which undoubtedly is familiar to most people. When you finally figure out where you are on a map, the image is often pixelated beyond recognition.

As one reviewer said: “This app is more like Weather Hex.”

Save your $4.99.

• app_name: WeatherX
• rating: 1/10

© AppCraver, 2008. | Forecast for WeatherX is Cloudy with Low Visibility | Get our iPhone Reviews on Facebook & Twitter!

Snow Reports – I have been an avid snowboarder since I was a little boy. Through out the entire time that I was developing into the snowboarder that I am today, I discovered that snow reports are a snowboarder or skier’s best friend. Now with the iPhone it’s easy to check the snow report and you can look it up whenever you want. OntheSnow.com brings you the iPhone application Snow Reports.

Snow Reports allows you to check the current snow conditions at anytime, right from your phone. When you add a mountain — and you can get any mountain you want — it shows you the amount of snowfall in the last 48 hours as well as the base depth. It even shows you the conditions so you know whether it is powder or groomed snow. Also, there is a large “we’re open” sign so you don’t waste a trek up to the mountain.

Snow Reports acts as a browser when you want to the see a more detailed report or even check out the weather at the mountain. Once directed to the actual OntheSnow.com website, you can check out the full snow report which includes the base depth at different elevations on the mountain. It also shows the surface conditions of both the top and bottom level of cover. An example would be if the bottom level of the snow is hard packed and the top level is machine groomed. The full snow report also shows how many trails and lifts are open as well as lets you know the status with the terrain parks.

You can also use Snow Reports to check out the weather on the mountain. It gives you the current weather on the mountain and what is predicted for the next 5 days.

With the Snow Reports app, OntheSnow.com is doing for snowboarding what Surfline did for Surf Reports.

• app_name: Snow Reports
• rating: 9/10

© AppCraver, 2008. | Snow Reports Brings the Mountain to You | Get our iPhone Reviews on Facebook & Twitter!

If you’ve heard it never rains in Southern California you may get your proof once you download The Weather Channel App. By default this geo-location weather app gives you information based on your current locale. If you want info on a place you’re traveling to simply type in city, state, or zip code. You’ll have instant local weather information including current conditions, hourly conditions, all the way through to a 10-day weather forecast.

If tracking the weather is your interest, The Weather Channel app has a complete map to explore the weather patterns in your area. It also includes local and international video forecasts. For locations with severe weather alerts the app has a dedicated information button. Visually it’s easy to read and the information buttons are easy to navigate. Those unfamiliar with reading weather in Celsius can change the temperature scale to Fahrenheit to feel more comfortable.

There are a few drawbacks. If you’re not into ads in apps you might think twice about this one. The Weather Channel has a couple of advertisements for programs on its television channel splashed at the bottom of a few of the information pages. It’s static and unobtrusive but never the less it’s still there.

The app’s map is a great resource however on some occasions it did take a while to completely load. And there isn’t an animated radar function on the map a feature that seems pretty standard. The video forecasts seems like a great added feature, but at 9am the forecast from the day before was still playing. The font is also pretty small so anyone with who has trouble reading tiny type will have problems.

Overall, the The Weather Channel app is free and seems to do a reasonably good job of providing the most up to date weather information based on location. It consistently loaded pretty quickly in all areas except the map. The videos are a nice touch but not entirely necessary if you can read. The Weather Channel app is only slightly more functional than the pre-loaded weather app on the iPhone. In fact, some might consider the pre-loaded one better. Sometimes simple is better.

• rating: 6/10
• app_name: The Weather Channel

© AppCraver, 2008. | The Weather Channel: Tons of Info for Weather Junkies | Get our iPhone Reviews on Facebook & Twitter!

Surf Report has dazzled our editors here at AppCraver and instantly entered the Editor’s Picks with a perfect 10 — it’s an honor we rarely bestow and we think Surf Report deserves the high score.

Surf Report is an app put out by the collaborated efforts of SurfLine.com and Oakley Sunglasses. These two surf industry giants joined forces to provide the most comprehensive surfing app to date for the iPhone. With Surf Report, you get accurate swell reports, water temp updates, swell direction, tide levels, wind speed and much more. And that is just the tip of the iceberg.

Users have access to full bios of featured surfers from the Oakley Team — including interviews and favorite surf spots! Surf Report will even use GPS to provide directions to the surf spots. If that isn’t convenience, I don’t know what is.

Surf Report seems to have more man-power behind it than any other app we’ve encountered. With worldwide reports updated every single morning, surfers receive the most up-to-date surf and weather conditions straight to their iPhone or iPod touch.

Some cool features include wave height, tide times, water safety, sunset/sunrise times, even a 2-day weather forecast. Surf Report includes everything you’ll need to know when planning a dawn patrol surf session, and puts it right at your cold wet fingertips. And best of all, Surf Report’s free.

We really have no criticisms for Surf Report. We are just eagerly awaiting for iPhone to be Flash-compatible so that SurfLine.com’s shore web cams can feed live video of each surf spot directly to our iPhones.

We must hand it to the designers at Oakley and Surfline for designing the most useful surf forecasting tool ever created for surfers around the globe.

• rating: 10/10

© AppCraver, 2008. | Surf Report – Surfline and Oakley Team Up | Get our iPhone Reviews on Facebook & Twitter!

A couple of improvements I so humbly suggest:

1. Two of the critical piece of information displayed grayed out 8 point or smaller type, namely the visibility and the cloud cover. These should be in the same typeface and intensity as the winds. I hate that programmers are all under 30 and have good eyesight.

2. The temperature/dew point is important information for a pilot. It is missing from the main screen. It would be easy to display as 12/-3 C on the main page.

3. I like the green vfr, mvfr indicators but they should be larger. These are really fluff but good fluff.

4. For “Nearby Stations” I expected I’d be able to check the weather at nearby airports; instead this function adds these airports to my main display list. I just want tot see the weather at these airports on a selective, one time basis.

Overall Aero Weather is a great tool. I love it.

- Jim Willenborg

• app_name: Aero Weather
• rating: 9/10

© AppCraver, 2008. | Aero Weather is a Must for Pilots | Get our iPhone Reviews on Facebook & Twitter!