Now for a semi-regular column that I am titling: Weird Crap in Mike’s place. Because, I have a whole lot of weird crap, nice crap, but still rather odd. So the first installment rolls the clock back to 2010. It was that fateful day that makes all Mac-heads go squeeee! April 3, 2010, launch day for the iPad 1.  Naturally I had to go and make the pilgrimage to the Palo Alto store and join the happy throngs waiting to get their collective mitts on...

Gosh, where does one begin. A couple of days ago I received word that Distant Suns (max) was a finalist for the Tabby Awards as best Family oriented tablet application. Nice to see 28 years of work pay off. And what company! This humble one-man and 16 tablet shop is competing against the likes of The Learning Company and Nickelodeon. And my second favorite app (after mine of course), is History Channel’s Civil War Today is in the...

On  July 19, the Cassini probe currently orbiting Saturn will image Earth from nearly a billion miles away in true color. It is asked that all “be sure to smile, knowing that others around the world are smiling too, in the sheer joy of simply being alive on a pale blue dot.” And of course, aimed towards Saturn. Even if the earth is less than 2 pixels across. From the Cassini imaging team: “Straighten up, brush your hair, go outside,...

First Light Designs announced today that they’ve licensed the real sky from the Almighty for use in the award winning astronomy program Distant Suns. Mike Smithwick, the author of the popular iPad app, says that the Lord will help integrate his unique ReST technology, Real Star Technology technology, into his own software over the next era. “While Apple’s devices have terrific capabilities on their own, it became necessary to reach out and find...

In the next couple of weeks you will likely hear much about a comet with the decidedly unglamorous name of “Pan-STARRS” (or technically: “Comet C/2011 L4 Pan-STARRS”). The first significant naked eye comet since Comet McNaught in2007, Pan-STARRS is already visible to the southern hemisphere and brightening steadily each day. Dozens of comets are discovered each year, most quietly anonymous, meekly shining at magnitudes that require very good...

Now it can be told: I am very proud to announce today that Distant Suns has joined forces with Astronomy Magazine, the world’s largest magazine on amateur astronomy and now in its 40th year  (I was a charter subscriber. Yes, I am that old). You can see the first fruits of this arrangement in the most recent release of the iOS version as it powers the news ticker. Over the next few months, I hope to be able to link Distant Suns with ever...