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Sunday 6 September 2015

Tutorial Video on Hurricanes Overlays in Weather Mate

For those of you following the series of video tutorials exploring the best weather app for iPhone and iPad, it’s time for a new video. The last video focused on the active fires map layers while this one seeks to unfold the Hurricane overlays which portray storms of different categories including invest, tropical depression, tropical storm and categories from 1 to 5. Some of the exquisite features that this video looks into are the Check Past Track Observations, Wind Radius and Cone of Uncertainty. To know more about these features, check the following resources out:



Tutorial Video:

Tuesday 25 August 2015

An Introductory Video on Muslim Mate

Last week, we talked about a recently launched Islamic reference app for iPhone and iPad called Muslim Mate. This week I’m going to share with you guys an introductory video of the app which reveals all the features that we discussed the other day. This is a sort of an orientation video and I’m sure they’ll be back with more comprehensive tutorial videos on Muslim Mate. Here are some links which might be helpful to you:

Blog: http://www.weathermate.net/category/blog/  
 
Video:

Sunday 23 August 2015

Track and Reinforce Your Emotions


I’m back guys but recently I’ve been through a lot emotionally. I’ve had tons of mood swings and been actually on an emotional rollercoaster ride. I tried to turn to my friends and near and dear ones just to vent my highly charged sentiments out. Just to calm myself down. And then I caught glimpse of this nice and new innovative app at the Apps Store called Moodnotes. The app does precisely what you are thinking. It’s a sort of a mood journal or a mood diary that helps you extract your emotions out and even get to know what thoughts really trigger those emotions. I’ve been using it since then and have found it quite good so far. Let me share with you how it actually feels and look like!

Well, the app has a simple interface with a creamy white and beige background while the typefaces are a bit inconsistent throughout the different screens. The developers have used varying icons to represent different feelings and they are pretty simple and yet cool. The Mood Notes section is the main one that is displayed once the app is launched and it contains all your mood related entries with respect to date and time. To add a new entry, simply tap on the Add button in the Mood Notes section and swipe up or down to choose the icon best representing your mood at the moment. Once selected, you can either go for a Quick Save or add some further details.

The app then asks you some basic questions and then provides you with a list of positive and negative emotions to choose from. Just select the one that best suits you and also specify its intensity by dragging your finger across the bar. Another unique attribute that Moodnotes possesses is that it also suggests certain thoughts that might be responsible for your current emotional condition and some measures that can help you get out of it as well. Then, there is the Mood Trends section which can be accessed from the side panel menu. It furnishes some summarized details of your mood patterns over days and weeks through line graphs and can help you determine what actually leads to your mood variations.

Over the past couple of weeks, I found out that weather has also had some tangible effects on my moods. So, I compared my mood trends with the weather patterns using my trusted Weather Mate. The results were quite interesting but I won’t be sharing them with you in this post. Perhaps some other time. But getting back to Moodnotes, it is a pretty good app. It might need a few tweaks but overall you should try it out.

Tuesday 11 August 2015

Muslim Mate: Your Trustworthy Companion

The weather in the recent days has been acting quite abnormally and the climate patterns have seen quite a bit of shifts. You guys must be exploring the best weather app for iPhone and iPad with the help of those lovely tutorials on the weather maps feature in Weather Mate. But it’s been some time since I introduced my loyal readers to any new app for their gorgeous Apple gadgets. Well folks, the wait is pretty much over as I’ll be introducing a very fine quality app to you this week. The app’s called Muslim Mate and is being proclaimed as the most comprehensive and advanced Islamic app around. So, let’s just take a sneak peek into the app.

Being a reference app, Muslim Mate is full of really useful resources for the Muslims; resources which can help them seek the pleasure of their Creator. The app has a very user friendly interface coupled with subtle edge-to-edge graphics. The home screen of the app portrays tons of information ranging from the time remaining in the next prayer to the sunset and sunrise times. Expected weather conditions for the upcoming prayer and the prayer timings for the next prayers are also displayed on this page. All the main features of the app can accessed from the home page which makes the app really easy to use.

Talking about the key features, Muslim Mate contains a lot of them. Al Quran is the most comprehensive feature in the app. The users can read the Holy Quran in Arabic while transliterations and translations in multiple languages are also available. Recitation speakers can be selected while their audio files can be downloaded and managed from within the app. The app supplies a daily verse while its notification centre widget is simply awesome to use. Other features include zakat calculator, Ramadan Timings, Islamic events, Islamic places etc. To get to know all the features, download the app for free at the iTunes Store. All in all, Muslim Mate is an app for all ages ranging from adults to children and for all seasons, festivals and occasions.

Wednesday 5 August 2015

Tutorial Video on Active Fires Overlays in Weather Mate

Last week we had a look at our Go-To Weather App! This week I’m going to share with you guys a tutorial video on the weather maps feature in Weather Mate. This latest video discusses the Active Fires overlays which provide an overview of the wildland fire situation along with information regarding the density of smoke. Moreover, insight is given into the satellite detected fires feature and how various satellite imageries could be obtained. Sounds pretty cool, eh? To know more in detail about this overlay and how you can use it make predictions about the weather in your area, check these resources out:

WeatherMate Blog: http://www.weathermate.net/how-do-weather-maps-work-in-weathermate-part-v/


Tutorial Video:

Tuesday 28 July 2015

Looking for a Go-To Weather App???


The smartphone app market has seen a number of weather apps on its horizon of late. Different users go for different apps in accordance with their tastes and likings. I also tend to keep a weather app always in my iPhone. What do I do with it? Not a lot, honestly speaking. Just to know about what the week’s weather is going to be like. The day’s temperature and its variations during the coming days and that’s it. However, recently I came across an app which totally changed my views about weather apps in fact I would go on to say that it gave paradigm shift to my opinions about the weather. The app is called Weather Mate and I thought why shouldn’t I share it with you guys.




The app’s really cool with a nice, clutter free yet elegant interface with lovely smooth animations to boot. The app on being launched for the first time automatically configures your current location based on which your weather information is displayed on the home screen. I wanted to see the day’s temperature on the app’s home screen. I was amazed to see that WeatherMate does far more than that. My location’s temperature was displayed on the app’s icon and so if I just wanted to know the temperature, I would not have to bear the hassle of even opening the app. An interesting feature that made me into a kind of weather geek was the weather maps with fluid overlays and layers.

You can choose different satellite and radar maps according to your choice and get all the alerts, warnings, advisories and statements right from the app. What’s more the weather forecasts are very accurate and hyper-local as the app makes use of the hundreds of personal weather stations to bring to you the most localized weather predictions. You can even get to plan your holiday while using the Travel Planner feature which can let you know the prospective weather conditions of your holiday destinations.

Overall, Weather Mate is a pretty handy app to be in your iPhone. You can do tons of weather related stuff plus get to know a lot of interesting things about your everyday weather. I would definitely suggest you to go for your WeatherMate!

Wednesday 22 July 2015

Tutorial Video on Fire Risk Overlays (Part II) in Weather Mate


In our last video, we were trying out the Fire Risk overlays in weather maps of Weather Mate and we had a look at a couple of fire risk types. This week’s video sheds light on the remaining fire risk types: Keetch-Byram Drought Index and Dead Fuel Moisture. These map layers can prove to be instrumental in predicting the locations vulnerable to fire risks and help you better prepare for the imminent repercussions of violent weather. To learn more, visit the links below:


Tutorial Video:

Wednesday 15 July 2015

Tutorial Video on Fire Risk Overlays (Part I) in Weather Mate


Last week we had a look at a tutorial video on how to use the Severe Weather Alerts overlays in the weather maps feature of Weather Mate. This week I’m going to share with you another very comprehensive video on the Fire Risk overlays. This tutorial will inform you about the Fire Danger Rating and how it can be used to forecast the behavior of a fire in the event it is started. To learn more, visit the links below:


Tutorial Video:


Tuesday 7 July 2015

Tutorial Video on Severe Weather Alerts Overlays in Weather Mate


Last week, I shared with you a video on the Temperature Gradient overlays. This week I’m going to share yet another tutorial video related to one of my all time favourite apps for iOS: Weather Mate. As you know that Weather Mate is user friendly weather app that provides you access to accurate, reliable and hyperlocal weather information and comes equipped with a number of mind boggling features. Weather maps is one of such features which is full of useful information for the weather junkies. The tutorial for today covers the Severe Weather Alerts overlays in this feature of Weather Mate. Severe Weather Alerts keep you updated regarding all the necessary warnings, watches, statements and advisories from National Weather Service (USA/Canada) and MeteoAlarm (Europe). To learn more, visit the links below:


Tutorial Video:


Wednesday 1 July 2015

Tutorial Video on Temperature Gradient Overlays in Weather Mate


Hey guys! It’s been quite a long hiatus, I believe. I’ve been busy lately with my university pursuits so couldn’t manage much time for my blog. Anyways I’m here now and will be sharing yet another video tutorial on Weather Mate’s weather maps feature. This video focuses on the Temperature Gradient overlays which describe the direction and the rate at which the temperature varies with respect to displacement across a certain boundary. To know more in detail about this overlay and how you can use it make predictions about the weather in your area, check these resources out:


Tutorial Video:



Wednesday 17 June 2015

Tutorial Video on Weather Fronts Overlays in WeatherMate

WeatherMate’s developers have lately been sharing some tutorial videos to help the fans explore its different features and get maximum out of the app. I’ve been posting them on my blog to keep my loyal readers posted with these videos. This week’s video that I’m going to share with you guys is on Weather Fronts overlays. What are Weather Fronts? Well, they represent the boundary between two masses of air with contrasting temperature and/or humidity levels. To know more in detail about this overlay and how you can use it make predictions about the weather in your area, check these resources out:




Tutorial Video:
 

Wednesday 10 June 2015

Tutorial Video on Weather Stations Overlays in WeatherMate

Interactive weather maps in WeatherMate include hoards of fluid animated overlays that give tremendous amount of weather related information to the budding meteorologists. I’ve shared a couple of tutorials for my readers that have explained the radar and satellite maps in the iOS app. The next video that I am going to share with you guys is a tutorial on Weather Stations overlays. WeatherMate makes use of the thousands of weather stations set up in neighborhoods all over the US to forecast local and long range weather conditions. In addition to the video tutorial, I’ll also be sharing with you the link of a walkthrough on this map layer.




Tutorial Video:

Friday 5 June 2015

Tutorial Video on Weather Maps Feature in WeatherMate: Satellite Maps

A couple of days back I shared with you the first in a series of videos on weather maps feature in WeatherMate. Below is the link for another tutorial video on the satellite maps overlay. The video tells how infrared and visible satellite imageries can be viewed in the weather maps and what sort of information these crucial overlays convey to the weather enthusiasts. I hope that you guys will like this video.


Tuesday 2 June 2015

Tutorial Video on Weather Maps Feature in WeatherMate: Radar Maps Layer

You are weather junkie or not, if you want a cool weather app, on your apple gadget, that brings to you hyperlocal, accurate and reliable weather updates, then WeatherMate is a must-have for you. The developers of this app have started unearthing the amazing features that this app offers. Today, I want to share with you the first in a series of tutorial videos striving to explore the weather maps feature in WeatherMate. This video gives a brief overview of the Radar Maps Layer. I hope you guys would like it! Here’s the link to the video:
 
 
 

Friday 22 May 2015

An Innovative Audio Player for Music Lovers

My today’s post is written exclusively for those of you who still follow the old practice of storing songs locally on their devices rather than listening to online music streaming. The app in focus today is Marvis Music Player. Its interface has been beautified by transparency and blurring effects in the background with album art. However, it is quite cluttered which could be a turn off for some of you. Music is stacked in various categories such as playlists, artists, songs, albums and genres. The user can switch between different views of music either by tapping on the category tabs of simply by swiping horizontally.

Once a song is played, a small music player is triggered which contains music controllers. If one taps on this player, full playback screen can be accessed. However, even the smaller music player displays basic information such as the name of the song being played and full album information. The app can be synced with a third party lyrics app as well since it fetches its lyrics data from that app. A built-in lyrics trove would have been a splendid addition in the app.

While listening to music on Marvis Music Player, long-pressing a song displays a pop up with detailed information of the song and the user can also select when to play it, up next or at the end of the queue. The app also provides search functionality which can accessed by tapping on the magnifying glass in the upper right corner. The app also allows the users to customize its certain features such as display of songs in varying number of rows, search filters and other such options.

All in all the app is a pretty cool one if you are into listening to stored music in your iPhone. I’ve been using the app for listening to music while using the best weather app for iPhone and been enjoying my travels. You should give it a try too!

Monday 18 May 2015

Horizon 3: Your Weather Based Event Scheduler

Time flies, they say and as I have sat down on my study table for my new blog post, I feel as if it’s been decades since our last contact. So, let’s just not waste too much time in the salutations and stuff and better get down to the business. Today, I’ll be introducing you guys to this new weather based event scheduler called Horizon 3 that packs your schedule and weather forecast into one single app. To start off with the app review, let’s discuss its design and interface. The app has a minimalistic design with decent colorful backgrounds.


The app, on being launched, has your schedules stacked in front of you in the shape of agenda lists with the start and end timings of a single event towards its left while the temperature and weather condition expected during that timeline presented towards right. The most immediate event is highlighted in the header bar while new events can be added using the “+” button in the bottom right of the screen. The app derives its data from the iOS’s inherent calendar app which can be accessed from the cog button in the bottom left corner. The user can also get access to the month’s view via the Month button stationed near the cog button.

The app has a built in smart search functionality with natural language input. In order to add a new event, tap on the “+” button and type in the relevant details using natural language input into the popped up menu. The app fetches the associated weather forecasts in addition to providing an option which makes the app inform the user about any change in the forecasted weather. All in all, it’s a pretty decent app which is able to achieve its targets. However, with regard to the accuracy of weather forecasts and travel planner feature, Horizon 3 is not able to dethrone weather app which is best for iPhone and iPad from my preferences. If you want to learn more about this multipurpose weather app, just go through my previous post on the blog.

Tuesday 12 May 2015

A Multi-Purpose Weather App

Dealing with the unpredictability in the weather conditions is not an easy task by any stretch of imagination. With all the hype around the buzzword “Global Warming”, there has been a lot of hue and cry about the adverse repercussions of the greenhouse gas emissions on climate in different regions of the world. The situation seems to be getting out of hands with every passing day as the weather conditions continue to become more and more unpredictable. One wishes to get hands on a source which provides access to reliable information about the changing weather.

As you know, I’m always on the lookout for innovations in the world of computing. Weather apps in the recent times have flattered to deceive with promises of delivering highly accurate weather forecasts. My disappointment in such apps continues to grow and grow. But there’s one free weather app for iPhone and iPad which is the best. It is called WeatherMate which has proved to be my trustworthy mate for quite some time. Never has its predictions and updates gone wrong. The weather data it presents is highly localized and reliable.

What renders its weather forecasts accurate is the Weather Stations feature in the app. You can get access to the weather observations generated in your neighborhood by virtue of this feature. In addition to presenting localized weather conditions, WeatherMate interprets and displays them using extremely simple and user-friendly mechanisms to portray the information required by the end-user. Simplicity of the app is one  of the greatest attributes that makes it a tremendous utility for even the most novice of users in addition to the advanced ones. So, whether you are a meteorologist, a scientist, an environmentalist or just a common-place rookie weather watcher, precise, consistent and accurate weather data is now at your disposal!

Thursday 7 May 2015

Enhance Your Calendar Experience with Streamline

After being away for almost a week, I’m back. I was just not feeling well and in fact spent almost my whole last week lying in my cosy bed due to the severe throat infection I had caught. But thankfully I’m up and running and hale and hearty. Hey tell you something, you guys must be wondering if I’ve brought a new app for your Apple gadgets. HELL YEAH!!! Streamline is a new app that promises to give a new shape and outlook to your schedules and is quite successful in what it promises. So, let’s just get on with it and not waste any more time. Because TIME IS PRECIOUS! You know :)
 
As the name would suggest, the app places the schedules in a timeline view which can be seen in terms of hours, days and weeks. This allows to have a look at more information at a single glimpse. The app does not provide much leeway in the realms of customization and sports a simple interface without involving a lot of complexities. On being launched for the first time, the app requires permission to access the iOS’s inherent calendar app to retrieve data. By tapping on to the button in the top left of the screen, the user can select the calendar to be displayed.

The timeline view breaks the hours, days and weeks down in varying intervals interspersed with schedules. Events can be added via the “New Event” button and the user can enter the credentials of the event in the respective fields. The app, however, lacks reminders for events and other such things. Overall, it is just a calendar which provides a different perspective to your schedules. I’ve been impressed by its minimalistic design and simplicity. If you want a lot more customization options, then Streamline is not for you. However, for those who want a simple calendar app to avoid the monotony of the inherent iOS calendar app, then it is the way to go!

Thursday 30 April 2015

Pacemaker Makes Your Heart Beat Faster with its Fine Music Mixes

Everyone likes music and with the modern day technological developments, one can get access to different shades and genres of music using various tools and platforms. Disk Jockeying has emerged to be an art performed by the most skillful and novices such as me wouldn’t have even imagined of trying their hands on the complex maneuvers pursued by these experts in another world. Pacemaker is a new iOS app that gives you this wonderful opportunity to carry a pocket DJ wherever you go. So, let’s just get to know the app a bit and discover what it has to offer to music junkies.

The app’s interface is nice and subtle as it blends seamlessly into the iOS aesthetics. With its dark colored backgrounds, your multi-colored album art is highlighted vibrantly. Overall, the app’s design is quite attractive and the developers seem to have put in a lot of hard yards in making the look and feel of the app fascinating. How does the app work? Well, it’s very simple and you wouldn’t have to do a lot of playing around with the app. Just choose a song of your liking from your iTunes song collection or from Spotify if you have a premium subscription available. The app then goes onto display a host of other songs (from among your collection) that could be added in the mix. Once, the mix is ready, off you go with your DJ mashup. As simple as that!

The app also allows you to add different sound effects via the “fx” button in the middle of the album artwork. Tapping onto it leads you to a circular dial where you can customize Bass, Middle and Treble frequencies. If you want additional effects, then you will have to purchase the pro version of the app. All in all, a nice app to have for your iOS. I enjoy listening to my music on Pacemaker. What about you?

Sunday 26 April 2015

Keep Your Time Tracked with Rewind!

It’s been a long time since my last post. Just been a bit busy with the hectic university schedules and my personal as well as family pursuits. Anyways here I am striving to review a new iOS app. My last post was for the weather enthusiasts (in search for the Best Weather App for iPad) such as me but considering my busy engagements, I thought it better to introduce you to a new app that I’ve been using lately to keep track of my time, where I tend to be spending most my time. This is a handy app that I found quite fascinating, so here’s its brief overview.


The app’s called Rewind and it’s user interface gels in quite nicely with iOS 8. White is the predominant theme of the app while the other objects and graphs including both the bar and pie graphs appear to be vibrantly colored against the white background. The gestures and transition animations are smooth and fluid. `As the app’s purpose would suggest, the user adds places giving them different names, colors and choosing between monitoring and or calendar export. Area radius can also be set up in metres which would let the app know when to start tracking time and when to stop.

There’s a slight downside to the app, however. With Rewind’s free version, the users can save up to just one place for which the app will track time. To add more places, the users are required to upgrade their app to Pro using the in-app upgrade feature. Monthly, weekly or yearly reports can also be extracted through the app can also export your time reports to iCal.  The time spent at every distinct location is shown as disparately colored blocks while diagonal lines appear on the block/bar currently being pursued.

I’ve quite liked the idea of the app as it helps me know the time distribution of my activities at various places. It’s minimalist design makes the app any easy-to-use product as well. It’s a definite YES from me for Rewind!

Friday 17 April 2015

Weather Maps: A Handy Utility in WeatherMate


Sitting idly on my couch in my room, I was casually exploring the different features of the Best Weather App for iPad. The app is overloaded with such amazing features that never cease to amaze you. And it promises to offer a lot to a weather enthusiast like me. While I was rummaging through the app, I happened to find myself toying with the weather maps feature of the app. Like many of you, I haven’t quite enjoyed a lot of affinity for the weather maps because of their apparent complexities but the fluidity and smoothness in these maps somehow magically overpowered me into play with them.



Consequently, I decided to do a bit of research on what these maps could do and what sort of information could be extracted from them. Luckily, I ended up on a series of tutorials that comprehensively explained the might and capacity of the weather maps. The app allows the user to choose from a variety of maps such as standard, satellite and hybrid maps. Map layer settings enable you to get access to a wide range of information by selecting the appropriate overlays and customizing their various settings. The user can also set animation speeds, total number of frames and other relevant attributes.

What sort of information do these maps portray? The information regarding the weather conditions is quite diverse as the user can get to know about hurricanes, tornadoes, storms, active fires, sea surface temperatures, sea surface anomalies, radar detected storms along with severe weather alerts, advisories and statements. Using the pinch to zoom and other intuitive gestures, the users can explore the maps more deeply. These are some of the weather maps features that I was able to explore in my short sitting. However, I’m expecting to get a lot out of it in the time to come. The app has certainly ignited the urge to know more about weather maps and their usage in me. It’s time you tried out as well!

Tuesday 14 April 2015

Forget Your Forgetfulness with Due

I remain so pre-occupied in my day-to-day pursuits that more often than not I happen to forget the one-off tasks that are not part of my daily routine. I am habitual of looking for the day’s temperature whenever I get up in the morning on my iPhone’s home screen. The Best Weather App for iPad helps me greatly in this regard as the temperature is available on the app’s icon and I do not even have to wait for the app to load and open. But that’s my habit guys and you kind of unintentionally tend to keep doing things you are habitual of without forgetting even once. Don’t you? It’s the things that aren’t a part of your daily calendar that you can forget. Do you get worried? Well, don’t be now!


Due is an iOS app that has been designed to set reminders and help you to complete them well within the designated time slot. Due makes use of the uncanny snooze settings that make it next to impossible for you disregard any alert as unimportant. The distinct feature of the app is its alerts creation screen which includes a grid of varying time durations that you can simply tap to add/subtract time to/from your reminder. The time durations range from minutes and hours to even days. New reminders can be set as well as edits can be rendered to the old reminders by a simple tap while the newly created or edited reminders can be saved simply by swiping in any direction on the screen.

Due is a minimalist app not intended to perform a number of complex tasks simultaneously but does efficiently what it has been designed to do-remind you of your one-off tasks. If you are wary of yourself forgetting any stuff, then this is definitely the app you must try.