Messages

286

Everything Else TWC / Re: TWC Acquires....Wunderground!?!?!?!

« on: July 03, 2012, 12:23:07 PM »

I think most of you guys are taking this a little too personally... It's just an acquisition... It's not the end of the world.

Well said.



I think the rather interesting question that comes from this discussion is if APIs for Weather should be free in the first place. In the early days of the net and weather.com it may sense to try and get developers to use your data. The more of it out there, the more your band was distributed. Now it doesn't make sense to do so from a cost-benefit ratio. The web is increasingly becoming the primary source for weather data. Any sensible company would realize that it can't keep offering free services to apps/sites/etc that draw traffic away from their own site.

287

General Discussion / Re: Happy birthday Kyle (wxmediafan)!

« on: July 02, 2012, 10:59:24 PM »

Thanks guys!  I had (way too much) fun!

Good it was your 21st You are supposed to. Hope it was awesome

288

General Discussion / Re: NWS website redesign

« on: July 02, 2012, 10:58:54 PM »

The NWS has officially launched their new design, but as predicted, it is only for the main weather.gov page and the forecast pages at this point (from what I can see).  Right now, a lot of links seem to be broken on the forecast pages.  I know this is always a problem when launching a new website design, but hopefully they will be fixed soon.

Also, I am noticing on the forums that none of the weather observations are working.  Could this be a result of their new website design (b/c I know the information comes from the NWS)?

Its a big job and I'm not annoyed with the issues but you would think after months and months of the "preview" status they would have worked the bugs out.

This for example is just dumb. The homage of the NWS/Weather.gov shows the big map with all the warnings that we are used to. To get your area you have to go from the new layout to the old layout and then back to the new layout. 

289

Everything Else TWC / Re: TWC Acquires....Wunderground!?!?!?!

« on: July 02, 2012, 10:50:20 PM »

This is a surprise to me. xD In my opinion this is going to improve TWC. I just hope with this purchase they can like... do more weather and maybe more awesome forecasts?

Like the guy above me said....let's hope they don't come up with Roker-ish ideas.

I agree I think this is going to be great for both sides! If many of you actually read the blog post you would see that Wunderground will continue to operate independently. TWC has a lot to gain from this including ingesting the tens of thousands of personal weather stations around the country which can then be put into their forecasting algorithms. I would love to see HiRad with this data in it!

290

General Discussion / Re: NWS website redesign

« on: July 01, 2012, 01:41:18 AM »

So is the new design just going to be for the forecasts and will revert back to the old layout for any local NWS office data?

291

General Discussion / Re: Disliked Companies

« on: June 30, 2012, 02:05:37 PM »

Viacom is missing here too And US Airways #9? It should be #2. US is the worst airline. Period. We don't fly out of PHL anymore unless it's a non USAir flight because US's hub is in PHL. I don't think United is that bad though. I flew them to San Francisco years back and found it to be an enjoyable flight.

US airways: overpriced tickets, always losing our luggage (everytime we fly it's always US that loses our luggage), delays for no reason, rude flight attendants and not so good in flight service is what we've experienced on our flights.

Thank you! US Airways is by far the worst airline I have ever dealt with. Not to mention there entire fleet looks like it was build in the 80s and about to fall apart. I was surprised Delta made the list actually. They generally have been very good when I have flown them

292

General Discussion / Re: Disliked Companies

« on: June 30, 2012, 05:25:13 AM »

No AT&T on that list?

293

General Discussion / Re: The Front Porch

« on: June 29, 2012, 09:37:05 PM »

I would be beta testing iOS 6 now... but I don't have the $99 to cough up for the dev program.

Developers get 99 devices i believe per account so someone decided to setup a system in place to sell the leftover spaces. Its only 7 bucks

http://www.udidz.com/

294

Everything Else TWC / Re: General TWC Discussion

« on: June 29, 2012, 09:34:14 PM »

Is anyone else annoyed with the non weather travel segments added to last week TWC?
Why do we need segments on friends, families and couples traveling?
They have nothing to do with weather.
This is one of them airing on every broadcast,
http://www.weather.com/travel/hit-the-road/main

The segment is airing because of a deal between TWC, Toyota and Allstate
Press Release: http://press.weather.com/press_detail.asp?id=401

I don't think its a bad segment. Ive found them interesting

295

General Discussion / Re: The Front Porch

« on: June 29, 2012, 06:31:05 PM »

How's everyone holding up in this heat? It sure is brutal outside!

296

General Discussion / Re: The Front Porch

« on: June 29, 2012, 11:18:45 AM »

Wow time sure does fly! Its been a fun five years   

297

General Discussion / Re: President Obama Threatening to cut NWS budgets

« on: June 27, 2012, 10:44:14 PM »

BUMP and Double Post - does this constitute an automatic ban?

An update on the story - looks like Congress finally agreed on something. Great news for NWS.

House Approves Funding of NWS
http://www.govexec.com/pay-benefits/2012/06/panel-approves-funds-avoid-weather-service-furloughs/56499/?oref=river

Ban!

It is amazing that an organization as huge and as important as the NWS runs on a budget of 2 million a day. Thats pennies compared to most government run programs
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/congress-to-allow-national-weather-service-to-reconfigure-budget/2012/06/20/gJQAG8jVrV_story.html

298

General Discussion / Re: The Front Porch

« on: June 27, 2012, 10:40:36 PM »

It won't be long until 2012 is halfway over, and it looks like we're in for a real heat wave this weekend.

Bring it on! I'm ready for it.... for a couple days at least

299

Forecasting / Re: Weather Models

« on: June 17, 2012, 09:22:44 PM »

I highly recommend using this site. 

http://instantweathermaps.com/

Oh thats a great site! Ive used it a lot in the past! Thanks for posting

300

General Discussion / Re: The Front Porch

« on: June 17, 2012, 09:21:26 PM »

I'm glad that school is finally over for me as of Wednesday.

Also, unless you've been putting on a blindfold when seeing my posts, you should have noticed my new username. Points for creativity, amirite?

Nice username I hope you enjoy your summer break Any cool plans?

Folks, this is just a reminder that if you're posting a lot in the game room that you need to also post elsewhere in the forum as well.  The limit rule is still there, and a couple of you got close to it last night.  What in the world happened to have the "Which Would You Prefer?" game suddenly get 34 posts in 3 1/2 hours?

I wasn't aware of a limit rule on posting in the game room. Sorry.

No worries. The rule was put in place when several users excessively commented only in the game forum. It took away from the other parts of the forum. If you go over once in a while its no big deal Just keep it in mind

Out of curiosity, anybody watching that guy walk across a tightrope over Niagara Falls tonight?

That was crazy!!

I wish I could go to the Phish concert today (roads are gridlocked) but I'm not sure if a $75 ticket is in my budget

I'm always amazed at the price of concerts! I suppose its an awesome experience but the price is hard to justify sometimes!