class="align-right" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/2011-11-18-18h58_11.jpg" alt="ios weather apps" /> href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/weather">Weather is one of those things that defy technology. No matter how hi-tech we get, we can’t control the weather. If it wants to rain, it will, and all we can do is find sophisticated ways to forecast it, and convenient ways to stay updated.

Weather apps for href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/ios">iOS are abundant, and there are numerous ways to stay updated on the go with your iPhone. But when the iPad joined the game, weather forecasts became more than that – they became beautiful. Weather doesn’t  have to be boring, and if you can get good and accurate information along with the entire ambiance of it, it makes the whole thing much less frustrating and way more fun.

Note that all the apps were checked on the iPad, but most are available for the iPhone as well. Here is a list of 4 excellent weather apps to make you want to check tomorrow’s forecast.

Weather HD Free

href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/weather-hd-free/id412489722?mt=8">Weather HD is powered by Weather Underground, and provides a soothing yet useful way to stay on top of the weather. The free version only lets you add 2 locations, so if you need more than that on a regular basis, try the paid version or one of the other apps.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/weather-hd-2.jpg" alt="ios weather apps" width="577" height="333" border="0" />

The general mode is a full-screen weather video, describing the current weather. This is actually not a bad thing to have as a screensaver next to you when it’s raining out. On the bottom, you’ll find a weekly forecast, which you can switch to an hourly forecast.

You can also view details such as local time, temp, humidity, precipitation, wind chill and so on. You can choose in the settings which elements will appear and get rid of those you don’t care for.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/weather-hd-13.jpg" alt="best ios weather apps" width="315" height="258" border="0" />

Weather HD Free is ad supported. To make them disappear, as well as get more than two locations and additional videos, you can try the href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/weather-hd/id364193735?mt=8">paid version. It’s only $0.99.

Weatherwise [Free]

href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/weatherwise/id420954273?mt=8">Weatherwise gives a touch of good humor to the weather, which is something we could all use. The current weather is represented by a tranquil Bonsai tree around which the current conditions can be seen. For example, if it’s windy, you’ll see the night lamp that’s hanging from the tree moving in the wind.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/weatherwise-1.jpg" alt="best ios weather apps" width="398" height="599" border="0" />

You can add up to 5 locations, or have the app use your current location to get weather details. On the main screen, you can see an icon-only weekly forecast and the current temp. You can tap the weekly forecast to change the Bonsai tree into that day’s forecast. Tap the hourly details to access hour-by-hour temperatures, wind speeds, humidity, visibility and more.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/weatherwise-2.jpg" alt="best ios weather apps" width="578" height="390" border="0" />

While looking at the Bonsai tree, you can slide your fingers to move between locations, and view all your Bonsai trees. If you want some different themes, you can purchase some for $0.99 each through the app, but I find the Bonsai to be quite enough.

WeatherBug [Free]

If you’re looking for something a bit more serious, href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/weatherbug-for-ipad/id363235774?mt=8">WeatherBug could be it. WeatherBug is a comprehensive map-oriented app, which lets you choose between different map layers (such as radars, temperature, pressure and so on), along with detailed weekly forecast, videos from weather cams (US only) and elaborate current conditions.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/weatherbug-1.jpg" alt="ios weather" width="579" height="529" border="0" />

You can add several locations and then switch between them using the dropdown menu at the top. If you tap the weekly forecast, you can read exactly what you should expect on every day and night of the following week.

WeatherBug’s true merit is the map. Adding set locations is something you can do with any app, but with WeatherBug you can browse the map, and when you see a place you fancy, simply tap it to drop a pin and get a full weather forecast for that location. You can then choose to remove pin, add the location to your saved locations or simply move on in your quest.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/weatherbug-2.jpg" alt="ios weather" width="284" height="227" border="0" />

WeatherBug is ad supported. Get rid of the ads by upgrading to href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/weatherbug-elite/id310647896?mt=8">WeatherBug Elite for $0.99. Also available for href="http://itunes.apple.com/il/app/weatherbug/id281940292?mt=8">non-iPad devices.

Magical Weather [$1.99]

At $1.99, href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/magical-weather/id396179545?mt=8">Magical Weather is the priciest one of the bunch, but this beautiful and informative app is worth every cent. With a simple yet fetching interface, Magical Weather provides local weather for up to 9 locations, which it presents on a beautiful grid, complete with temperature, weather icon and an image that shows you the weather and the time of day.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/magical-weather-1.jpg" alt="ios weather" width="525" height="445" border="0" />

Tapping one of these squares, you’ll access the full weather forecast for the day, hour by hour, as well as the rest of the week’s. The whole thing sits on a gracefully animated background, which also represents the current weather and time of day.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/meagical-weather-2.jpg" alt="meagical-weather-2" width="472" height="403" border="0" />

Not sure what all these numbers mean? Magical Weather has you covered. Tap the small question mark on the bottom left corner, and in slides a full key for each element of the forecast.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/magical-weather-33.jpg" alt="ios weather apps" width="425" height="293" border="0" />

Magical Weather is simple, provides only useful information, and has one of the prettiest interfaces I’ve ever seen.

Final Thoughts

All of these iOS weather apps will give your weather watching a whole new meaning. With any one of these, checking the forecast is not a chore anymore; I mean, who doesn’t want to check their cute Bonsai tree every few hours?

Fore more ways to stay updated on the weather, check out:

• href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/7-feeds-rss-weather-updates/">The 7 Best Feeds For RSS Weather Updates
• href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/4-web-services-track-earthquakes-storms/">4 Web Services To Keep Track Of Earthquakes & Storms Around Us
• href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/weather-widgets-windows-7/">The Four Best Weather Widgets For Windows 7

Do you know of other awesome weather apps for the iPad? Share them in the comments.

View full post on MakeUseOf

class="align-right" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/screenshot1014.png" alt="" />Come rain or sunshine, Google has brought a little more visual clarity to its online weather app. With class="vt-p" href="http://maps.google.com/maps?lci=weather%20">Google Maps you can now instantly see weather conditions on top of the map. Whether you’re traveling across the state, the country or the world, Google Maps will let you know if you need an umbrella, summer dress attire, or snow boots for your final destination.

When you visit the Google Maps page, hover your cursor over the widget in the upper right corner of Google Maps and select the weather layer from the list of options. When zoomed out, you’ll see a map with current weather conditions from class="vt-p" href="http://www.weather.com">weather.com for various locations, with icons to denote sun, clouds, rain and so on.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/screenshot997.png" alt="Screenshot997" width="580" height="311" border="0" />

Tapping on a particular location, such as “Denver Colorado” will provide a pop-up window of the weather forecast for the entire week, with detailed data like current humidity and wind conditions. There are links to get hourly and 10-day forecasts, as well as traffic and transit information.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/screenshot996.png" alt="Screenshot996" width="435" height="279" border="0" />

Also in the left-hand panel, you can change the units of wind speed and temperature and enable or disable the clouds.

The navigation widget is interesting to use, but I find simply searching for a particular location is more precise. You can also click on “My Places” to create and save a map or to review a recent history of your searches. In addition, map information can be printed out, e-mailed, and linked to.

Source: class="vt-p" href="http://maps.google.com/maps?lci=weather%20" rel="nofollow">The Official Google Blog

View full post on MakeUseOf

class="align-right" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/sunlikely-icon.png?54167" alt="weather report" />Check the weather in your area, including the forecast, in a few clicks, then get back to what you’re doing. That’s the idea behind Sunlikely, a weather website so simple and so complete you’ll wonder why you ever used anything else.

The site’s own about page sums up everything: “Sunlikely is a weather application designed to give you instant access to the weather around you, without the clutter of other sites”. It’s that lack of clutter that makes Sunlikely stand out, at least to me.

We’ve profiled a variety of class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/weather/">weather services here at MakeUseOf. A year ago I myself called Wunderground class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/weather-underground-weather-site-web/">the best weather site on the web. Since discovering Sunlikely six months ago however, I haven’t used anything else.

Quick Access to Forecasts

To get started, visit class="vt-p" href="http://www.sunlikely.com/">Sunlikely. The main thing you’ll notice is simplicity. When you start, for example, you’ll only see this:

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/sunlikely-location.png?54167" alt="weather report" width="580" height="174" />

You can type in your city or ZIP code manually to get the forecast you’re looking for. Alternatively, you can click the auto-locate button. Either way you’ll quickly see your local weather conditions:

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/sunlikely-main.png?54167" alt="weather report application" width="580" height="238" />

Like I said: it’s simple. That’s the point. Your location will be remembered from now on, so you’ll only need to enter it once.

Below the current weather summary you’ll see the forecast for upcoming days. Click a given day and a drop-down will show you how the weather will evolve during that day:

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/sunlikely-forecast.png?54167" alt="weather report application" width="580" height="249" />

Some might be looking for more information than this, but I like the rough overview. It’s simple in a way that the Internet seldom is.

There’s one more feature – access to radar. This can be very useful if you want an idea of how conditions are evolving, or if you intend to travel.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/sunlikely-radar.jpg?54167" alt="weather report" width="580" height="300" />

As you can see, the radar is a Google Map that pops up within the tab you have open. It loads quickly; you can also close it quickly to get back to the forecast.

Wondering where the information is coming from? It’s directly from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or class="vt-p" href="http://www.noaa.gov">NOAA.

The Web Needs More Simplicity

I’d tell you more features of this site but there really aren’t any. With Sunlikely you get the weather, and that’s it. Services like Wunderground are great, but they do tend to overwhelm their visitors with the sheer amount of information they offer. Most of the time a simple overview is all you need, and Sunlikely delivers.

That, I think, is why I’ve been faithfully using Sunlikely for months now. It tells me what I need to know in order to decide how I’ll get to work (bike or bus?) and nothing else.

Conclusion

It’s not a perfect service. It currently only works in the USA, which is of course a letdown for the vast majority of Internet users. But I think there’s something here that will resonate with people. Hopefully we see more focused sites like this pop up all over the world as people strive to simplify their online lives.

Do you have any other examples of sites like this? Share them in the comments below. Also feel free to share your thoughts on Sunlikely, because we love hearing from you. />
/> Hey Facebookers, make sure to join href="http://www.facebook.com/makeuseof" target="_blank">MakeUseOf on Facebook and get access to some exclusve stuff. Over 105,000 fans already!

/>

href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/sunlikely-fast-simple-indepth-weather-report/">Sunlikely: Fast, Simple & In-Depth Weather Report [Currently US Only] is a post from: href="http://www.makeuseof.com">MakeUseOf

More articles about: href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/radar/" title="radar" rel="tag">radar, href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/tracking-tools/" title="tracking tools" rel="tag">tracking tools, href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/weather/" title="weather" rel="tag">weather />

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View full post on MakeUseOf

class="align-right" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/sunlikely-icon.png?54167" alt="weather report" />Check the weather in your area, including the forecast, in a few clicks, then get back to what you’re doing. That’s the idea behind Sunlikely, a weather website so simple and so complete you’ll wonder why you ever used anything else.

The site’s own about page sums up everything: “Sunlikely is a weather application designed to give you instant access to the weather around you, without the clutter of other sites”. It’s that lack of clutter that makes Sunlikely stand out, at least to me.

We’ve profiled a variety of class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/weather/">weather services here at MakeUseOf. A year ago I myself called Wunderground class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/weather-underground-weather-site-web/">the best weather site on the web. Since discovering Sunlikely six months ago however, I haven’t used anything else.

Quick Access to Forecasts

To get started, visit class="vt-p" href="http://www.sunlikely.com/">Sunlikely. The main thing you’ll notice is simplicity. When you start, for example, you’ll only see this:

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/sunlikely-location.png?54167" alt="weather report" width="580" height="174" />

You can type in your city or ZIP code manually to get the forecast you’re looking for. Alternatively, you can click the auto-locate button. Either way you’ll quickly see your local weather conditions:

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/sunlikely-main.png?54167" alt="weather report application" width="580" height="238" />

Like I said: it’s simple. That’s the point. Your location will be remembered from now on, so you’ll only need to enter it once.

Below the current weather summary you’ll see the forecast for upcoming days. Click a given day and a drop-down will show you how the weather will evolve during that day:

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/sunlikely-forecast.png?54167" alt="weather report application" width="580" height="249" />

Some might be looking for more information than this, but I like the rough overview. It’s simple in a way that the Internet seldom is.

There’s one more feature – access to radar. This can be very useful if you want an idea of how conditions are evolving, or if you intend to travel.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/sunlikely-radar.jpg?54167" alt="weather report" width="580" height="300" />

As you can see, the radar is a Google Map that pops up within the tab you have open. It loads quickly; you can also close it quickly to get back to the forecast.

Wondering where the information is coming from? It’s directly from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or class="vt-p" href="http://www.noaa.gov">NOAA.

The Web Needs More Simplicity

I’d tell you more features of this site but there really aren’t any. With Sunlikely you get the weather, and that’s it. Services like Wunderground are great, but they do tend to overwhelm their visitors with the sheer amount of information they offer. Most of the time a simple overview is all you need, and Sunlikely delivers.

That, I think, is why I’ve been faithfully using Sunlikely for months now. It tells me what I need to know in order to decide how I’ll get to work (bike or bus?) and nothing else.

Conclusion

It’s not a perfect service. It currently only works in the USA, which is of course a letdown for the vast majority of Internet users. But I think there’s something here that will resonate with people. Hopefully we see more focused sites like this pop up all over the world as people strive to simplify their online lives.

Do you have any other examples of sites like this? Share them in the comments below. Also feel free to share your thoughts on Sunlikely, because we love hearing from you. />
/> Hey Facebookers, make sure to join href="http://www.facebook.com/makeuseof" target="_blank">MakeUseOf on Facebook and get access to some exclusve stuff. Over 105,000 fans already!

/>

href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/sunlikely-fast-simple-indepth-weather-report/">Sunlikely: Fast, Simple & In-Depth Weather Report [Currently US Only] is a post from: href="http://www.makeuseof.com">MakeUseOf

More articles about: href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/radar/" title="radar" rel="tag">radar, href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/tracking-tools/" title="tracking tools" rel="tag">tracking tools, href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/weather/" title="weather" rel="tag">weather />

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View full post on MakeUseOf

class="align-right" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/sunlikely-icon.png?54167" alt="weather report" />Check the weather in your area, including the forecast, in a few clicks, then get back to what you’re doing. That’s the idea behind Sunlikely, a weather website so simple and so complete you’ll wonder why you ever used anything else.

The site’s own about page sums up everything: “Sunlikely is a weather application designed to give you instant access to the weather around you, without the clutter of other sites”. It’s that lack of clutter that makes Sunlikely stand out, at least to me.

We’ve profiled a variety of class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/weather/">weather services here at MakeUseOf. A year ago I myself called Wunderground class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/weather-underground-weather-site-web/">the best weather site on the web. Since discovering Sunlikely six months ago however, I haven’t used anything else.

Quick Access to Forecasts

To get started, visit class="vt-p" href="http://www.sunlikely.com/">Sunlikely. The main thing you’ll notice is simplicity. When you start, for example, you’ll only see this:

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/sunlikely-location.png?54167" alt="weather report" width="580" height="174" />

You can type in your city or ZIP code manually to get the forecast you’re looking for. Alternatively, you can click the auto-locate button. Either way you’ll quickly see your local weather conditions:

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/sunlikely-main.png?54167" alt="weather report application" width="580" height="238" />

Like I said: it’s simple. That’s the point. Your location will be remembered from now on, so you’ll only need to enter it once.

Below the current weather summary you’ll see the forecast for upcoming days. Click a given day and a drop-down will show you how the weather will evolve during that day:

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/sunlikely-forecast.png?54167" alt="weather report application" width="580" height="249" />

Some might be looking for more information than this, but I like the rough overview. It’s simple in a way that the Internet seldom is.

There’s one more feature – access to radar. This can be very useful if you want an idea of how conditions are evolving, or if you intend to travel.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/sunlikely-radar.jpg?54167" alt="weather report" width="580" height="300" />

As you can see, the radar is a Google Map that pops up within the tab you have open. It loads quickly; you can also close it quickly to get back to the forecast.

Wondering where the information is coming from? It’s directly from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or class="vt-p" href="http://www.noaa.gov">NOAA.

The Web Needs More Simplicity

I’d tell you more features of this site but there really aren’t any. With Sunlikely you get the weather, and that’s it. Services like Wunderground are great, but they do tend to overwhelm their visitors with the sheer amount of information they offer. Most of the time a simple overview is all you need, and Sunlikely delivers.

That, I think, is why I’ve been faithfully using Sunlikely for months now. It tells me what I need to know in order to decide how I’ll get to work (bike or bus?) and nothing else.

Conclusion

It’s not a perfect service. It currently only works in the USA, which is of course a letdown for the vast majority of Internet users. But I think there’s something here that will resonate with people. Hopefully we see more focused sites like this pop up all over the world as people strive to simplify their online lives.

Do you have any other examples of sites like this? Share them in the comments below. Also feel free to share your thoughts on Sunlikely, because we love hearing from you.

href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/sunlikely-fast-simple-indepth-weather-report/">Sunlikely: Fast, Simple & In-Depth Weather Report [Currently US Only] is a post from: href="http://www.makeuseof.com">MakeUseOf

More articles about: href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/radar/" title="radar" rel="tag">radar, href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/tracking-tools/" title="tracking tools" rel="tag">tracking tools, href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/weather/" title="weather" rel="tag">weather />

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View full post on MakeUseOf

class="align-right" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/weather-icons.png" alt="ubuntu weather indicator" />Put the current weather where it belongs: in Ubuntu’s panel. If Unity’s left you without your favorite weather panel applet, worry not: you can install an indicator applet that’s just as good, and in some ways better, to the antiquated Gnome weather applet of old.

Okay, we get it: most of our commenters don’t like href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/ubuntu-1104-unity-big-leap-linux/">Ubuntu’s new Unity interface. I still think it has huge potential, but any transition is going to cause some frustration.

The lack of a customizable panel will doubtless be a problem to many, which is why I’m glad to see many developers are starting to design various indicator applets. href="http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/tag/indicatorapplets/">OMG Ubuntu’s in-depth reporting on indicator applets is probably the best found anywhere on the web, if you want to find more applets right now. But by far the most useful thing I’ve seen is this indicator for the href="http://www.makeuseof.com/dir/tag/weather/">weather, probably because I spend as much time outside as I can.

Being able to see the current temperature, along with an icon representing conditions, at a glance is awesome, but there’s more than that here.

Using the Ubuntu Weather Indicator

Using this application isn’t any more difficult than it needs to be. Like I said, you can see the current condition, represented by an icon, by default. Click this and you’ll get more information.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/weather-panel.png" alt="ubuntu weather indicator" width="283" height="348" />

As with all indicator applets, the information is presented in a clean manner. Wind speed, humidity and sunrise/sunset times are all provided for you. There’s also a forecast, but you have to click to bring it up. When you do you’ll see a simple rundown:

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/weather-forcast.png" alt="weather weather applications" width="580" height="254" />

A rare rainy week in Boulder. I’m looking forward to it.

Configuring The Program

You can configure the program by clicking “preferences”, of course. There are three tabs of options: General, Units and Locations. Units and Locations, of course, are self-explanatory: you can change the units of measurement used to present information.

Under General there are a few things you might want to change. For example, I highly recommend adding the temperature to the panel with this checkbox:

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/weather-configuration.png" alt="ubuntu weather indicator" width="581" height="256" />

You can also decide whether or not you want to have notifications, which is useful if you need to be reminded that there’s weather outside. I turned this off.

Installation

Want to install this indicator applet? Time to add a PPA! Run the following code in the Terminal:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:weather-indicator-team/ppa

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install indicator-weather

Not using Ubuntu 11.04 yet, or using a different Linux distro?  Weather Indicator will only work on desktops that support indicator applets, but you can head over to the href="https://launchpad.net/weather-indicator">project’s home page to potentially find installation instructions. Source code is all that’s offered, so you might need to compile this; sorry about that!

Conclusion

I really do prefer indicator applets to Gnome’s old panel applets. They’re better integrated – move your mouse from side to side to switch the applet you’re using – and they bring a polished feel to Ubuntu that it was lacking. As time goes on, more quality indicator applets like this will make Unity increasingly useful for home users. I’m looking forward to writing up a list of other indicator applets in the week to come, so stay tuned.

For now, feel free to recommend your favorite indicator applets below, or to comment on the value of the weather one. Also feel free to talk about how you personally dislike Unity, and why this means Ubuntu is now crap. That’s a very productive thing to add. />
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class="align-right" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/0_meteointro.jpg" alt="weather software with alerts for the mac" />I never used to be too concerned with the weather when I would wake up in the morning, usually because I would be getting into my car regardless of whether it was rain or shine. Since I moved to New York City, however, I take public transportation and walk everywhere, so the weather is very much a factor in my daily routine. In fact, checking the weather has become one of the first things I do after waking up in the morning.

There are a lot of apps and websites out there dedicated to forecasting href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/weather/">weather. Some are better than others, and on a Mac, Meteo is one of the best I’ve seen. Meteo, or Meteorologist, is a free weather program for OS X. It allows users total control over their weather viewing, with support for multiple cities, interlaced weather reports, weather alerts, and much more.

How Do I Start Using Meteo?

If you’re ready to start using Meteo, the first thing you should do is navigate over to href="http://heat-meteo.sourceforge.net/">the homepage, located on SourceForge, and click on the 1.5.2 (latest version) link at the top of the page.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/1_meteo.png" alt="weather software with alerts for the mac" width="523" height="546" />

When you first run Meteo, you’ll be on the Cities tab, where you can remove the default city (Cupertino, CA), unless you live there of course, and add the cities you would like to track the weather in. To do that, just click the Add City button, type in your desired city, state, or zipcode, and click Search. Your city will be displayed at the bottom for you to select.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/2_meteo.png" alt="weather software for mac" width="435" height="481" />

You can also select which weather and forecast items you would like to display for your searched city with the tabs at the top. You can select anything from Temperature and Forecast to Visibility and UV Index. Just click Confirm when you’re done.

On the Updating tab, you can select how often you would like active locations to update. By default, this is set to 15 minutes. Also by default, Meteo will be displayed in the Menubar at the top of your Mac’s screen, but you can change this to “Dock” or “Both” if you like as well.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/3_meteo.png" alt="weather software for mac" width="524" height="547" />

If you would like to receive alerts about the weather, you can set that up on the Alerts tab. Weather alerts can be in the form of an email, beep, a song you select, bounce, or message.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/4_meteo.png" alt="weather software with alerts for the mac" width="264" height="124" />

Once you have Meteo set up, you can click on your city in your Menubar and click Weather to be taken to Weather.com for an updated forecast, or simply mouse over Current Conditions to see what it’s currently like outside or Extended Forecast to see that information for over the next 3 days.

Conclusion

If you’re really into weather forecasting and would like to include this type of information on your blog or website, whether for your own reference or if it pertains to your readers, you should also check out this article by John entitled href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/top-5-sites-to-download-weather-widgets-for-your-blog-or-website/">Top 5 Sites to Download Weather Widgets For Your Blog or Website.

Meteo is a simple program that can give you as much in-depth information about the weather as you want it to. For my purposes, checking the weather every morning, it does the trick. Are you impressed with Meteorologist for Mac? What other apps/websites do you use to keep track of what’s going on outside? />
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class="align-left" style="border: 0px none; margin-left: 20px; margin-top: 5px; float: right;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/weathervane.jpg" alt="rss weather" width="300" height="200" />These days, there are a lot of really useful ways that you can use RSS feeds. They are the fastest and most efficient way to receive alerts and updates from anywhere. You can serve those updates up on the sidebar of your website or blog, in your RSS reader or on your mobile phone. So, it’s easy to see why receiving RSS weather updates is the quickest and easiest way to be prepared for whatever mother nature is getting ready to throw your way.

In general, there are two categories of RSS weather updates. In the one case, you can get weather alerts or warnings for a general area, including an entire country or a region of the country. In the other case, you can sign up for RSS feeds that give you today’s weather as well as weather predictions for a specific area.

id="more-64904"> /> This isn’t the first time we’ve covered ways to access weather information at MUO. We’ve covered href="http://www.makeuseof.com/dir/zazu-wake-up-to-weather/">Zazu, a useful Android weather app, and Justin covered a very cool weather website called href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/weather-underground-weather-site-web/">Weather Underground.  So, to help you get even better access to weather information, and to show how useful these RSS feeds can be, I hand selected the top 7 RSS weather feeds and then plugged them into my href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/rss-bandit-feed-online/">RSS Bandit reader to show you what those feeds look like.

Receiving Current RSS Weather Updates

One of the most common uses for RSS feeds when it comes to weather is simply to receive a daily update on the weather. This is usually a simple feed with today’s current conditions, and a short blurb about the immediate forecast. In the better feeds, there’s also a little image that reflects something about the current weather. Believe it or not, the first RSS weather feed I’d like to cover comes from none other than Yahoo.

If you visit Yahoo Developer, you’ll see a breakdown of the parameters you can use in the RSS feed address in order to customize the feed for your area. But before you do that, first visit href="http://weather.yahoo.com/">Yahoo Weather, plug in the area you want to monitor, and make note of the numeric code for that area at the end of the URL address.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/yahooweather1.jpg" alt="rss weather" width="413" height="161" />

When you insert the URL feed address into your reader, you just use the following syntax: “http://weather.yahooapis.com/forecastrss?w=xxxxxxx” and replace the code at the end with the one for your region. You can also set the temperature for either Celsius or Fahrenheit by following the instructions at href="http://developer.yahoo.com/weather/#request">Yahoo Developer.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/yahooweather2.jpg" alt="weather rss feed" width="506" height="394" />

Once you’re done, the feed update will always read current weather conditions for your area. Whenever the feed is refreshed, it is updated with the latest temperature and any weather updates. It’s a very cool way to stay on top of the current weather.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/yahooweather3.jpg" alt="weather rss feed" width="561" height="478" />

Another excellent resource for a weather data feed is the href="http://www.accuweather.com/rss-center.asp">AccuWeather RSS center. This website lets you type in the location where you live (U.S. only) and it’ll give you the RSS feed link for your weather updates. rel="attachment wp-att-64908" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/7-feeds-rss-weather-updates/accuweather4/"> />

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/accuweather5.jpg" alt="weather rss feed" width="482" height="545" />

In addition to standard weather updates, you’ll also get additional weather news feeds like “Weather Matrix”, “Weather Teams” and “Global Warming Blog”.

By far, one of my favorite weather RSS Feeds comes from href="http://rss.weatherbug.com/">Weatherbug.  This website really has everything you could want when it comes to weather, and the coolest thing is that it lets you customize your blog by filling out a simple form.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" style="border: 1px solid black;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/weatherbug11.jpg" alt="free weather rss feeds" width="343" height="331" />

When you’re done, the page gives you your customized RSS URL, which you can load into your reader or anywhere else you use RSS feeds. In my case, I wanted the photo feed. Today, WeatherBug sent out a “Hall of Fame” photo taken by a member in 2008.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/weatherbug12.jpg" alt="free weather rss feeds" width="547" height="476" />

I think one of the most useful sources for RSS weather updates from any point in the entire world is href="http://www.rssweather.com">RSS Weather. This site lets you drill down starting by Country, and then all the way to a specific area. At that point, you just click the RSS link on the right side of the screen to get the RSS feed.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/rssweather6.jpg" alt="free weather rss feeds" width="193" height="386" />

The best way to make use of these individual location feeds is to group them by area in your reader. For example, if you want to see current weather conditions for several regions in the United Kingdom, just create a category and individually add each of those feeds. In the example below, I included weather feeds from throughout Europe.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/rssweather7.jpg" alt="" width="463" height="451" />

Receiving Weather Alerts

If you’re in the U.S., the National Weather service provides feeds for weather warnings and advisories for every State. The feed provides the alert title, as well as specific details about what weather conditions you can expect in that area and any public warnings, such as whether people should evacuate due to a hurricane, for example.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/nweather8.jpg" alt="" width="547" height="520" />

These alerts are best suited for your mobile phone, where you’re most likely to receive them the fastest. These alerts can really help you with planning your travel when you know conditions are just too dangerous. As you can see below, the list of specific feeds offered by the National Weather Service is pretty impressive.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-64913" style="border: 1px solid black;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/nweather9.jpg" alt="rss weather" width="442" height="379" />

No matter where you are, there is a RSS weather update that’s tailor made to protect you from the forces of nature. Information is power, so why not bring that information directly into your hands as quickly as possible through RSS feeds. It’s fast, it’s easy, and you can receive them anywhere.

Give some of the feeds above a try and let us know what you think. Do you know of any other useful weather feeds? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.

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class="align-left" style="border: 0px none; margin-left: 20px; margin-top: 5px; float: right;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/wundergroundmap-icon.png" alt="" width="299" height="240" />Get your directions, with information about the weather on your route. That’s Wunderground’s excellent Road Trip tool, which shows the temperature of the places you’re going at the times you’re going to be there, as well as any extreme weather you might want to be aware of. You can even print it all out!

If you’re about to take a road trip, you’re probably about to fire up class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/google-maps/">Google Maps. That makes sense; the service is just about the best there is when it comes to quickly finding directions, no small part of the reason it’s the default map program on the iPhone.

But good as Google Maps is, it doesn’t do everything. Or, at least, it doesn’t do everything on its own. There are numerous class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/9-awesome-useful-google-maps-mashups/">awesome and useful Google Maps mashups out there that do just about anything you can imagine. So it should come as no surprise that class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/weather-underground-weather-site-web/">the best weather site on the web offers a Maps mashup of it’s own. This is particularly useful in the winter months, when heavy snowfall can make driving dangerous or impede progress.

id="more-62745"> /> There’s only one catch: the application is currently US-only, which made it slightly less useful during my recent drive from Colorado to Ontario. Still, the idea is solid enough that it’s worth knowing about if you ever think you’ll be in the States.

Getting Started

Head over to the class="vt-p" href="http://www.wunderground.com/roadtrip/">Wunderground’s roadtrip page to get started. You can enter the various co-ordinates in your trip, as well as the time and date you intend to leave.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/wundergroundmap-main.png" alt="" width="578" height="233" />

Once you’ve entered your co-ordinates and times, you’ll see a map outlining your route. This isn’t that different from your standard Google Map, and even includes the standard turn-by-turn directions. The main difference is that the map also includes weather, showing the temperature and conditions along your route.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/wundergroundmap-route.png" alt="" width="580" height="249" />

Other Features

There’s more to this, though. Checkboxes below the input dialogue allow you to display severe weather on your map, and even to highlight areas of heavy traffic. While the traffic is obviously a lot harder to predict than the weather, it’s a great tool to check how conditions are right now.

The severe weather display, on the other hand, is extremely useful if you plan on taking a long trip. Snow storms in Minnesota, for example, probably mean that stopping outside that state rather than driving all night is a good idea.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/wundergroundmap-print.png" alt="" width="580" height="232" />

You can also print your entire route, in a manner similar to Google Maps but with weather information. Nice.

Similar Services

There are other services like this out there, of course. The Weather Channel offers the class="vt-p" href="http://www.weather.com/activities/driving/interstate/">interstate forecast, which focuses on America’s main routes. WeatherBonk also offers a class="vt-p" href="http://www.weatherbonk.com/weather/routeWeather.jsp">route weather tool, though I personally find it a great deal less useful than Wunderground’s offering.  I’ve yet to find a tool like this that works outside of the United States, but am very open to suggestions.

Please let me know about any and all similar services in the comments below, because sharing is awesome and so are you.

 

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TV weather is for old people who don’t know how to use the Internet. In a world where you can get the weather with a quick Google search there’s really no need to wait for your local television station to get around to talking about the weather.

But what if you want more detail than that simple Google search can provide? Simple; just check out the Weather Undergroundweb site. This site gives you far more information than you could ever actually need, and provides it in any number of ways depending on your preference. Best of all, you can get to it’s page quickly via the Google search demonstrated above; for most regions there’s a link to Wunderground right below it.

Wunderground, as it’s sometimes called, has been around for a while but is still worth taking a look at because it’s very net friendly and, unlike many similar services, not tied to some massive media conglomerate.

The Main Page

Loading up Wunderground’s page reveals not just the weather but any weather-related information you could possibly desire. There’s the standard five-day forecast, an hour-by-hour breakdown of what the weather will do, a wide choice of satellite images to take a look at and even various webcams from around your region. There are many more tidbits to check out, so be sure to take a look around.

But Wunderground goes beyond just being a weather web site with a dump of useful information; it’s also a source for information you can use in interesting ways. For example, every location Wunderground provides weather for also comes with an iCal link. This is an easy way to add weather to your calendar application of choice, whatever that might be.

There’s also a really nice RSS feed, seen above. This can plug into Google Reader or whatever your RSS reader of choice may be. Neat, right?

Fullscreen Weather

If you don’t like the data dump that is the main Wunderground page, I highly recommend you check out their alternative service Full Screen Weather. This web site provides weather from Wunderground mashed up with Google Maps. Every local weather station’s temperature is revealed, as is a simple five-day forcast. You can also enable live radar, clouds and precipitation here. This is a great overview of the weather without any clutter, so check it out.

Plugins & Apps

Because of Wunderground’s very open API there are some great Wunderground-based plugins and apps out there. For example, see this great extension for Google Chrome:

Find this extension here.

There’s also a pretty awesome Wunderground app for Boxee, called Boxee Weather. Here’s what it looks like:

Find more information about Boxee Weather.

There are more, of course. Here’s a quick list featuring just a few:

• Wunderground for iGoogle
• Wunderground for iPhone and Android
• Tweet Weather, mashup of Wunderground and Twitter
• Wunderground for Vista/Windows 7 Sidebar

Know any more good plugins, apps or mashups featuring Wunderground? Share in the comments below!

Conclusion

Wunderground’s been my favorite source of weather since my wife introduced me to it many years back. I hope you appreciate it too, because it’s not always easy finding the best sites on the web for a particular task.

If you, on the other hand, know a better site for finding weather you should probably share. Unless you work for that site, because I think it’s really lame when people do that. Also, could you please share your thoughts on this site, and what you’ve used it for? Thanks.

Finally, if you guys want to discuss how the weather is where you are this is as good a place as any. As for me: today here in Boulder it’s much cooler than days past but I still can’t wait for fall. I love cold weather.

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