By Rene Ritchie, Tuesday, Aug 30, 2011 | TiPb’s developer spotlights are like DVD/iTunes Extras for the App Store — a weekly look behind the scenes at the programers and designers that bring you the iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad apps and games you love. This week Rene talks with Mike Smithwick of Distant Suns. What’s your name? Mike Smithwick What’s your company’s name? First Light Design, LLC, I was hoping to name it something like “Apple,” I know, dumb name, but someone already had it. Where are you located? San Jose, CA. Within walking distance of Cisco (really!), Intel, eBay, and only a few miles always from the Mother Ship. What’s your website address? www.distantsuns.com What’s your Twitter name? @distantsuns for any hot breaking news about, uh, Distant Suns (duh!). And @lazyastronomer for general space and astronomy geek stuff. Why @lazyastronomer? When people ask me why I wanted to write Read More

Posted 06/23/2011 at 2:00pm | by Susie Ochs Some people venture into the outdoors to “unplug.” To leave technology behind…to stop and smell the roses, if you will. And if that’s your thing, that’s great. But some of us are allergic to roses and break out in hives if you try to pry our gadgets out of our hands for a minute, let alone for a whole weekend in the woods. That said, we’re not suggesting that you bring an iMac camping, and thanks to the power of iPhones and iPads, even toting a MacBook Air seems like overkill. With the right case, some portable power, and some other goodies, you and your iDevice along can have a blast in the great outdoors. Geocaching will help you identify nearby geocaches and then lead you right to them. See that blue box in the picture? That represents a geocache, which is a Read More

It was 50 years ago today that the son of a Russian farmer rocketed into space and became the first man to orbit the earth. Yuri Gagarin's 108 minute trip in his Vostok spacecraft ushered in the era of manned space flight, as the US followed up with the Mercury, Gemini, and later the Apollo missions to the moon. In 1975 the US and Russia stopped competing and began the Apollo-Soyuz missions. Joint missions continue today on the International Space Station. To celebrate the event, Distant Suns 2 for the iPhone and iPod touch is free today only. The app is a pretty complete star map, with 130,000 stars, 88 constellations and the Messier catalog of galaxies, nebula and star clusters. I've reviewed the app in the past and found it a worthwhile purchase. It's even better for free. Author Mike Smithwick produced one of the first computerized star map programs Read More

...Price Drop: "Distant Suns for the iPad: Astronomy for the Rest o" just dropped from $9.99 to $4.99 http://bit.ly/9K3tqW... Read More

...Price Drop: "Distant Suns for the iPad: Astronomy for the Rest o" just dropped from $9.99 to $4.99 http://bit.ly/9K3tqW... Read More

...Price Drop: "Distant Suns for the iPad: Astronomy for the Rest o" just dropped from $9.99 to $4.99 http://bit.ly/9K3tqW... Read More

...Price Drop: "Distant Suns for the iPad: Astronomy for the Rest o" just dropped from $9.99 to $4.99 http://bit.ly/9K3tqW... Read More

Distant Suns 3: Space Travel for the Rest of Us is a universal iPhone & iPad application that puts the universe in your hands: In anticipation of the Perseid Meteor Shower on Thursday, August 12, the folks over at First Light have provided us with 14 promo codes to give away! Winners will be able to use the app to assist in their stargazing for the event. How do you win? Head on over to the forums and let us know your favorite planet/constellation. The contest begins now and ends Thursday, August 12 at 3 PM EST. (A US iTunes account is required to win. Apple’s rule, not ours!) Read More

With the news that the Sun has sent a blast of plasma towards the Earth hitting the headlines this week, thanks mainly to the prospect of the famed Northern Lights potentially being visible from parts of the UK and North America, we thought it was a good time to highlight the wealth of astronomy-related applications that are available for the iPhone and the iPad. Here are ten which standout: You can purchase an iPhone app for the iPhone 3GS and iPhone 4, but we’ve linked to the iPad-specific version, simply because we think it benefits from the increased screen size.  The night sky is still rendered on your iPad, with the positions and names of stars and planets, plus outlines of constellations and lunar phase information.  It’s easy to use too.  $4.99/£2.99. Well-known and beautifully designed, this is perhaps aimed more at entertaining the casual user than the hardcore enthusiast, but Read More

...want a free Distant Suns Promo code, let me know! more about the app here - http://bit.ly/chHuj6... Read More