Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Who Needs a Weatherman? People-Powered Meteorology !!
Weather conditions are most often defined in terms of temperature, humidity and wind factor. New iPhone application Weddar [iTunes link] challenges this notion with a system that gives users the ability to submit reports based on how the weather feels.
“We wanted a very simplistic approach for all people,” explains co-creator Ricardo Fonseca, “so that they could express their feelings about how they feel the weather.”
Simplistic it is. Weddar presents the user with nine different weather report selections that take the form of color-coded clouds — think Perfect, Hot, Good or Hell — and four optional modifiers so users can specify whether it’s cloudy, rainy, windy or snowy.
Reports are added to the map according to the user’s location, and then visible to other app users in the map view. That’s pretty much all there is to it, though users can also request weather reports by pressing on a place on the map for a second. That action will produce a white cloud on the map and will signal other users to add their reports.
Weddar’s greatest quality is that it’s hyper-local. Because weather reports are tied to a user’s location, they reflect the current feel of an exact locale and offer users more data — as fuzzy as it may be — on the area’s conditions. This means that Weddar can account for microclimates far better than the local TV weatherman.
Of course, that depends on whether anyone is actually using Weddar. The application, released Monday, is seeing some traction, according to Fonseca. He won’t share specific numbers, but he does say that users in 63 different countries have submitted weather reports via Weddar. The app has reached the number two position on the Free Apps chart in Portugal, where Weddar parent-company 96HP is based.
The startup won’t be putting any weathermen (or weathergirls) out of business anytime soon. Sometimes we need a real temperature reading and a bit more to go on than, say, “Fresh”. But the app’s crowdsourced and mobile nature could give it an edge if the idea takes off with enough iPhone users.
Weddar is currently self-funded. The startup plans to introduce new features such as photo uploads in the months ahead.
Most of India is having a clear day today ... T.showers seen over N-W Orissa and Chatisgarh .. http://ow.ly/i/aPli
RT @akshaydeoras: 29th April to 4th May - moisture shall again arrive over Nagpur leading to some more cloudy days . http://fb.me/Aj26bt0h
3 circulations... one over Madhya pradesh, Another over N. Bay and another over S-W Bay ... http://ow.ly/i/aPe8
Westerly system may stray into North-West by Thursday
India Meteorological Department (IMD) has said that a western disturbance would stray into northwest India from Thursday onwards.
But the system is not seen drastically changing the weather parameters over the region, which would continue to witness mainly dry weather.
Isolated rain or thundershowers would occur over Jammu and Kashmir from Friday onwards.
Strong surface winds are expected to prevail over Gujarat, Rajasthan and the Indo-Gangetic plains during this period.
Meanwhile on Tuesday, an upper air cyclonic circulation persisted over northwest Madhya Pradesh and neighbourhood.
This, in turn, triggered the formation of a southward-bound and weather-making trough that passed through Marathwada, interior Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.
The trough then “telescoped” into a counterpart upper air cyclonic circulation over southwest Bay of Bengal.
A third upper air cyclonic circulation was on view over Gangetic West Bengal, presiding over local weather.
A weather warning from IMD said that isolated thunder squalls would break out over Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa, West Bengal, Sikkim and the Northeastern States until Thursday.
The 24 hours ending Tuesday morning saw fairly widespread rain or thundershowers break out over Gangetic West Bengal, Orissa, Meghalaya, Kerala and Tamil Nadu.
It was scattered over sub-Himalayan West Bengal, Sikkim, east Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, south Karnataka and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
It was isolated over Jharkhand, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Telangana and north coastal Andhra Pradesh.
Satellite imagery in the afternoon indicated the presence of convective (rain-triggering) clouds over parts of south and central Bay of Bengal, southeast Arabian Sea and the Comorin area.
A short-term outlook valid until Friday said that fairly widespread rain or thundershowers would unfold over coastal Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
However, the rainfall over Tamil Nadu would weaken in intensity from Wednesday as the clouding spreads out in an east-to-northeast direction into the sea.
Scattered rain or thundershowers is likely over Lakshadweep and south interior Karnataka.
Chennai faces an-hour-long power cut while other parts of the state it will be not less than 3 hours a day ... http://ow.ly/4HONq
If DMK loses polls, blame their Renewable Energy policy in Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu had finally voted on April 13th though counting is on May 13th. In what is seen as an extremely tight contest with tempers rising high during the campaign, among the major poll issues was the acute power shortage faced by the state. With voting over, Tamil Nadu is set to face longer power outages following a decision by the Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation (TANGEDCO) to increase the load shedding period from two hours to three hours every day.
Chennai faces an-hour-long power cut while other parts of the state it will be not less than 3 hours a day. The TANGEDCO decision comes in the face of an increasing power deficit in the State, combined with rising deficits in other States.
Chennai faces an-hour-long power cut while other parts of the state it will be not less than 3 hours a day. The TANGEDCO decision comes in the face of an increasing power deficit in the State, combined with rising deficits in other States.
As an energy consultant observed "Tamil Nadu has put too many of its eggs in the wind basket."
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