weather

It's a good day for pinning photos, protecting privacy and paying your taxes:

Yet another social network joins the billionaires club. The social photo-sharing network Pinterest has been valued at $1.5 billion. The valuation comes after it received a $50 million investment from a Japanese e-commerce site. Pinterest makes no money, but you can bet that investors will push to change that by integrating e-commerce tools. And if you want to see what all the fuss is about, here are some tips and tricks to getting started on Pinterest.

Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin is under fire for dropping … Read more

A group of sunspots 11 times wider than the Earth turned to face our planet, raising the possibility of solar flares and auroras tonight.

More than 60,000 miles wide, Sunspot Region 1476 became visible over the weekend and two coronal mass ejections (CMEs), where a portion of the sun's atmosphere breaks off, erupted on Tuesday.

The CMEs blasts could arrive on Earth later today and cause moderate geomagnetic storms later and auroras in the higher latitudes, according to NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center.

The CMEs are traveling at 1.5 million miles per hour but, since they … Read more

WeatherInfo is a simple application that keeps the current conditions and five-day forecast at your fingertips. It's not the most feature-packed weather app we've seen, but if you're looking for a program that can hang out unobtrusively in your system tray and provide you with weather info when you need it, it's not a bad choice.

The program's interface is straightforward and easy to navigate, with tabs dividing it into screens for Current, Forecast, and Options. The Current tab shows a thermometer with the current temperature down the left side, and a text box displays … Read more

Space forecasters said today's solar storm is having relatively weak effects this morning, lessening the chances of disturbances to satellites or the grid. The event, however, is ongoing and still could cause problems.

A solar flare from an active spot on the sun Tuesday caused a coronal mass ejection (CME), where high-energy gases from the sun break off and hurtle off into space. This morning, this blast struck Earth in a storm which could last until tomorrow.

NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center yesterday had forecast it to be a strong geomagnetic storm but so far it's been … Read more

You may be having a typical Thursday, but the Earth is currently being blasted by a wave of radiation from a huge solar flare.

NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center said the solar storm hit the Earth at about 2:45 a.m. PT. The solar storm is one of the strongest in years and could cause disruptions in satellites, affect radio communications in polar areas, and even slightly decrease the efficiency of solar panels.

This solar storm follows a similarly strong one only two months ago. Here's a short primer on what's going on.

First, are these … Read more

Weather is one of those things you pay attention to during the more extreme climate seasons like summer and winter. You'll want to see if it's going to be cold in the morning when you wake up or really hot in the afternoon so you can dress appropriately for your day. You may find one of these apps suitable by itself, or you can try combining a couple of them to get the most information.

One of the most popular weather apps by far. The daily information is excellent in this app because it includes … Read more

Eric and Donald run though the latest in desktop haptic devices, including a weather forecaster you can feel, and a USB kissing robot cow.

"Tron"-inspired electroluminescence makes a comeback with some neat shades and an eco-friendly charging cable. And in Geek News, we take a longer look at "The Avengers" and a preview of the upcoming "Amazing Spider-Man."

Subscribe in iTunes SD Video | Subscribe in RSS SD Video … Read more

Weather forecast icons can be cryptic. There's only so much that can be communicated by a picture of a gray but-not-too-gray cloud with some raindrops and a sun poking out behind it.

All you really want to know is, "Am I going to freeze my nuts off out there?"

Enter the Cryoscope, an invention that allows you to feel the temperature of tomorrow's forecasted air.

Created by Robb Godshaw, an industrial design student at Rochester Institute of Technology, the Cryoscope uses an aluminum cube to house a heat sink, a thermoelectric-cooling Peltier element, and a cooling fan, all operated by an Arduino controller that receives forecast data from a Web-based app. … Read more

The Wt360 app uses weather trends from the past to predict future weather up to a year in advance.

Obviously, you can't expect the app to be terribly accurate at predicting the exact temperature for a date eight months from now. But you can expect it to give you a good general idea of the weather on any given date within the next year. It's a handy tool for anyone planning a major event, like a wedding or birthday.

When you first open up Wt360, the first thing you'll notice is that it's decidedly unattractive. The … Read more