AyeTides – World tides with iPad

AyeTides XL, tides prediction application of Hahn Software LLC, is available since 2 nd August on AppStore. Issue of the software AyeTides for Mac and AyeTides for iPhone, the iPad version offers a completely new user interface to take advantage of the size and definition of the screen.

With more than 12.500 tides and currents stations around the world, dont 160 stations in France, the app presents times and heights of tide level based on the US public software XTide (*) using harmonic data and tidal predictions from the National Ocean Service (NOAA). Numerous corrections have been made in order to obtain predictions with an average of less than 3% deviation from the predictions of official bodies, like the SHOM for France, and database updates are frequent and always free.

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Bad news from Apple !

In an October post 2009, I headlined “Good news from Apple” mentioning the price drop of the Mac Mini which had just been renewed. This time it’s quite the opposite. !

In the media frenzy surrounding the arrival of the iPad, iPhone 4 and iOS4, the presentation of the Mac Mini unibody 2010 seems to be (nearly) unnoticed… except for the purse. Read more …

iNavX and iOS4

ios4You are probably aware that the release of the new iOS4 operating system for iPhone and iPod Touch will be available today during the day, via synchronization of your (s) devices with iTunes. For the iPad, We will have to wait until the autumn.

About iNavX, Richard Ray has just written :

iOS 4 should be available tomorrow (21/06/2010). Only apps that are specifically built for iOS 4 will be able to take advantage of multitasking or toggle switching. iNavX 3.1.0 and later will support this feature.

Patience, therefore…


[Update September 01/07/2010] iNavX 3.1.0 is available on the AppStore.

iPad , a Chartplotter Killer ?

ipad-inavxWith iPad 3G finally in hands, featured iNavX and the (beta) version AyeTides XL in testing, I'm going to give you my first impression, previously to perform an extended test at sea.

Regardless of the fact that the iPad can be used for many other things than shipping, I am now totally convinced of its utility on board, Here are the reasons. Read more …

Reading : "The Swordfish Reef" by Arthur W. Upfield

Historical

Published in 1939, " The Mystery of Swordfish Reef was not published in France until the year 2000 by Editions 10/18, translated from the English by Michèle Valencia.

Arthur Upfield, born in England in 1888, was sent at the age of nineteen years by his parents in Australia. He would spend his whole life there, except the period of the 14-18. war. He will discover the wildlife outback Australian outback, will cross for years throughout the continent, living off odd jobs and makeshift jobs. He will meet in 1927 a mixed aboriginal, Queensland Police "tracker", who will inspire the character of Detective Napoleon Bonaparte, and reveal with him a great talent for writing novels. He will publish its first thriller in 1928, and would not cease until his death in 1964, at the rate of nearly one novel per year. He is now recognized as the father of the "ethnological thriller" (*).

With 30 detective novels written by Arthur Upfield, a single has the action at sea, far from the outback and aborigines : it is " The Swordfish Reef ”. Read more …