Tag: Universe »

Star Walk, which holds the title of official Apple Design Award (iPad Developer Showcase) 2010 Winner, remains the top-paid application in the Education section of the App Store, based on its ability to show the true workings of the Heavens above through the iPhone and iPad's in-built GPS in an easy to use interface. View constellations, stars and planets in new ways by holding your device up to the sky. It's a very impressive application - awarded 4.5 stars by 148Apps - and was marked by Apple in the Best of 2009 Applications.

Version 5 of the application, available soon, offers four new major features and a plethora of updates, including compass calibration and a new "general catalogue" that adds even more deep sky objects, galaxies and nebulae. Augmented Reality becomes a reality in version 5 of Star Walk for the new iPod Touch, as does a new "big screen" feature which allows you to connect your iPad to a second display through VGA, just in case the iPad's 9.5" screen wasn't big enough. In addition, over 150 satellites including the International Space Station can be tracked in live time. Finally, a new feature called Telrad can "help you measure angular distance between nearby stars" in order to gauge the true extent of deceivingly small distances in the universe.

There's more birthday celebrations, too. Prices for VITO Technology's entire "Walk" series (Solar Walk, Star Walk and Geo Walk) have been dropped for 24 hours, and some lucky commenters today will receive free promotional codes that allow you to redeem these applications for free. In order to be in for a chance, just make a comment below. We have six codes available - 2 for Star Walk on iPad, 2 for Star Walk on iPhone and 2 for Star Walk (universal, iPhone and iPad compatable natively).

So happy birthday Star Walk!

Redshift looks somewhat similar to Star Walk, but don't be fooled: this new planetarium app provides much more than a view of the stars. Redshift instead presents a 3D model of our slice of the galaxy, complete with major and dwarf planets, constellations and bright stars. You can travel on 3-D "flights" to the Moon and other planets in our Solar System, too. Meanwhile, its "Follow Sky" mode lets you track the current sky through Redshift—so you can identify the stars you see in the real sky. (This feature relies on GPS positioning, positioning sensors, and the compass.)

There's more to the feature list, of course. Redshift has won awards on other platforms for good reason. The developers claim that there are over 100,000 stars and other celestial objects in the catalog, and a lot of functionality is crammed into the app. Talk about taking astronomy apps to a new level.

If you've got a taste for astronomy, check out Redshift on the App Store. It's a universal app, meaning that one purchase covers both iPad and iPhone owners. Redshift is currently on sale for $11.99. (A premium price, perhaps—but knowledge is worth something, right?)