Gadgetwise Blog: App Smart Extra: Starry Night

Stars, galaxies, meteors and satellites were the subject of App Smart this week as I tested out astronomy apps to help identify objects in the night sky. These apps typically use your phone or tablet’s sensors to display a view of what you’re pointing your device at in the sky in real time, helping you identify planets and constellations. Here are more apps like this to try out:

Star Walk — 5 Stars Astronomy Guide is a popular iOS app, costing $3. It has the same kind of dynamic star display as other apps in its class, and it’s easy to use. It’s also jam-packed with imagery and data on the 200,000 stars and planets in its database, and has a calendar so you can keep track of interesting celestial events. I particularly like the beautiful imagery it uses to show constellations and detail on the planets.

SkySafari 3 may be useful for more experienced star gazers. It has data on 120,000 stars and 220 star clusters, nebulae and galaxies, as well as detailed information pages written by professional astronomers. The basic version costs $3 on iOS, but there’s a Plus edition for $15 that has data on 2.5 million stars and can control some wired and wireless telescopes. The Pro edition is $40 and has many more stars and features but is aimed at the serious amateur astronomer.

Alternatively, and much more simply, there’s SkEye Astronomy, available as a free Android app. It has a businesslike feel, and is slightly sparing on user interface touches like icons. But it is powerful, and essentially works in much the same way as Star Walk or SkySafari does. There’s a $9 SkEye Pro version that has more stars in its database and can help you spot satellites too. But the free edition is fine for the casual astronomer. The app is not ideal you’re a complete beginner, however, as it lacks the kind of detailed background data on stars and so on that similar apps have.

The benefit to stargazing apps like these is that they also work during the day, or in a city that’s too light-polluted to let you see more than a handful of stars. This means you can turn them on at any time to learn more about astronomy.

Quick call: The Popular instant messaging app WhatsApp has been updated to a new version for Windows Phone 8. It has better support for Windows Live Tile displays and extras like a back-up system.

Chris Brown and Rihanna DATE NIGHT at Jay-Z Concert

Rihanna and Chris Brown aren’t even trying to hide it anymore — ’cause it looks like they were getting cozy at the Jay-Z concert tonight … and, based on Twitter, everyone in Brooklyn saw it.

A pic taken from behind RiRi and Chris at Barclays Center is burning up the Internet — they’re seated in VIP … he’s on the left, she’s on the right.

No physical contact — in the photo, anyway — but Chris’ right arm is stretched around the back of Rihanna’s chair.

This reunion comes the night after Chris and Rihanna were spotted at the same table in an NYC nightclub.

They were also seen leaving the same hotel on Wednesday — and, for what it’s worth, Chris’ blind-as-a-bat GF Karrueche tweeted “Bye baby” … just a couple hours before tonight’s concert. Karrueche Tran@karrueche Bye baby

Rihanna and Chris Brown aren’t even trying to hide it anymore — ’cause it looks like they were getting cozy at the Jay-Z concert tonight … and, based on Twitter, everyone in Brooklyn saw it.

A pic taken from behind RiRi and Chris at Barclays Center is burning up the Internet — they’re seated in VIP … he’s on the left, she’s on the right.

No physical contact — in the photo, anyway — but Chris’ right arm is stretched around the back of Rihanna’s chair. 

This reunion comes the night after Chris and Rihanna were spotted at the same table in an NYC nightclub. 

They were also seen leaving the same hotel on Wednesday — and, for what it’s worth, Chris’ blind-as-a-bat GF Karrueche tweeted “Bye baby” … just a couple hours before tonight’s concert.

Wrestling Wrap Up: Night of Champions Recap

For those of you who don't follow me on Twitter or haven't checked around for news since last week's Wrap Up, Jerry Lawler's on the mend and has managed to miraculously recover from the massive heart attack he had live on RAW last Monday. The CT scan showed no sign of brain damage, which is amazing considering that Jerry was down and dead for 15 to 20 minutes backstage before the EMTs could revive him. But Lawler's up and about, making bad jokes and touting out touts to his fans. If you ask me, that last part wouldn't normally go hand-in-hand with a positive prognosis, but I'll take it. Last Tuesday, we all knew Lawler would live, but we still didn't know if he'd wind up having serious, lingering mental issues. Now, everthing's come about-face and we can all breathe easier. Until the next time something horrific happens live on RAW. Which will happen. Someday. We just don't know when. But WE WILL HAVE SEX IN YOUR CAR! IT WILL HAPPEN AGAIN!

With Lawler out (which he was for the past couple weeks anyhow due to storyline reasons) we actually got some awesome fill-in help from JBL at Night of Champions, and from JBL and Jim Ross on RAW last night. What a foil-wrapped treat! Yes, it was strange to hear Cole immediately assume his old role as a babyface announcer, but after all the good will that got heaped upon him last week after RAW, it's probably a good idea not to have him saddle back up on the heel horse right away. Or at all, if you ask me. Yes, I know my whole "GDYC" shtick actually started back when Cole was a good-guy announcer, way before he turned heel, but I stated a while back that heel-Cole had driven us all to such extreme madness that we'd gladly welcome back plain old sucky down-the-middle Cole. We had to know things could get way worse before we could accept things being medium-awful. It's reverse spoiling.

Now, JBL wasn't back in top form, but he was still good enough to liven things up. He was for the heels, so Cole had to default to being a face anyhow. And not all of their give-and-take banter was gold, but my favorite part of JBL is that when he doesn't want to talk about something (usually something off-point from the match they're watching) or doesn't have an opinion on a trivial matter, he'll just bash Cole outright for bringing up such an absurd topic to begin with. If he doesn't want to talk about something, he won't engage at all. And much in the way he used to when he and Cole called matches on Smackdown, he constantly called Cole out on the fact that, to fill time, Cole repeats and reiterates the obvious in a very "If you're just tuning in" sort of way.

That being said, I was very thankful, due to Cole's immediate change in style, that Jim Ross could announce on RAW last night without Cole being a dips*** Jim Ross-hater. Because, I don't know about you, but I felt that was always the worst part of heel Cole. It made me extra Deathstroke-y.

It was a good thing that JBL and JR were out for RAW last night too because...it was a bit of a snoozer. Nothing new was introduced into the mix at Night of Champions, either in the Cena/Punk world or the Del Rio/Sheamus world, so last night was all about keeping the stories going and moving onto the next PPV. Yes, there was "controversy" that stemmed out of the Punk/Cena match at NOC, but when you just get down to it, Cena's still chasing Punk's title and they'll face each other again in a month. The leg on the bottom rope thing last night was a way for Cena to get a questionable ref call fall on his side of the playing field. The funny thing about the end of the Night of Champions match though was...we all just naturally assumed Cena was doing a crappy-looking German suplex pin. That his shoulders were on the mat because there was no way that he'd be able to do that move without it looking like total garbage.

Exhibit Q: Just look at Cena selling the crossface What's he thinking about here? A DIY kitchen cabinet project? Is he trying to reorganize his Netflix queue in his head? Because if he is, tell him to watch Up in the Air already!

Most of the finesse moves Cena tries to pull off look like ass. So why wouldn't a German off the top rope be any different? So yeah, I thought he'd won. Yes, it was odd for the match to have ended without a standard finisher, or finish that we'd seen before, but I never thought that Cena's inability to bridge his Franken-neck would actually become part of the storyline. Plus, Punk vs. Daniel Bryan at Money in the Bank also ended unconventionally and with a move that neither man had done on WWE TV before. And in a similar fashion, it was a belly-to-back suplex off the top rope. But, in all may weary years, I've never seen a ref actually reverse his own decision, realizing that both guys had shoulders on the mat.

More from Punk vs. Cena at Night of Champions, plus Randy Orton's a grouch, on page 2...