Katrina Cain, Author at Universe Today

September 5, 2013December 23, 2015 by Katrina Cain

Giveaway: Star Walk: the Stargazing App for the iPad

Once again, we are giving away 10 promo copies of Star Walk by Vito Technology. Whereas we provided 10 free copies for the iPhone, this contest is for 10 free copies for your iPad. What a great teaching tool this app can be: as parents, many of us are looking for interesting and educational activities to do with their kids. What better way to support family learning than by looking at high resolution, beautiful images of the night sky while learning the properties of various celestial objects? Vito Technologies have recently launched Dino Walk and Geo Walk. Look for a promotion in the coming weeks for their other app, Solar Walk.

More information can be found on Vito’s website.

From the developer:

Let’s find out more about our neighbouring planets in the Universe, play around with them determining the speed of circulation, time, choosing a particular planet to become the centre of the Universe, seeing the moons of Saturn, Jupiter, Mars and Uranus. The 3D model in the Solar Walk app is the scaled reproduction of the real Solar System and the Milky Way galaxy.

Improved high resolution interface and textures of planets make the exploration of the Solar System breathtaking and true to life. Each planet is portrayed in detail including the internal structure.

Here is how you enter to win a free copy of Star Walk for the iPad:

In order to be entered into the giveaway drawing, just put your email address into the box at the bottom of this post (where it says “Enter the Giveaway”) before Thursday, September 12, 2013. We’ll send you a confirmation email, so you’ll need to click that to be entered into the drawing.

August 12, 2013December 23, 2015 by Katrina Cain

Giveaway: Star Walk: Stargazing App for the iPhone

We have another great app giveaway for you, our valued readers. Star Walk is an app that allows you to point your iPhone at the night sky to provide names and descriptions of all the objects you are seeing. Furthermore, you can click on any individual star, satellite, planet or constellation and an in depth description will conveniently pop up on your screen. Whether you live in the city with lots of light pollution or in the country where there are more stars than black, this app will fill you in on all of the celestial objects you can (or can’t) see.

From the developer:

Star Walk is an award-winning Education app that allows users to easily locate and identify 20,000+ objects in the night sky. The 360-degree, touch control star map displays constellations, stars, planets, satellites, and galaxies currently overhead from anywhere on Earth. Highly praised and the winner of a 2010 Apple Design Award, the latest update allows users to enjoy unprecedented eye candy and interactivity of the star map, achieved with the new camera and high resolution of the new device.

Enter to win one of 10 free copies of this app for your iPhone. How?

In order to be entered into the giveaway drawing, just put your email address into the box at the bottom of this post (where it says “Enter the Giveaway”) before Monday, August 19, 2013. We’ll send you a confirmation email, so you’ll need to click that to be entered into the drawing.

July 26, 2013December 23, 2015 by Katrina Cain

Giveaway: “New Frontiers of Space: From Mars to the Edge of the Universe” by Jeffrey Kluger and Michael D. Lemonick

You know that friend who’s hopelessly confused about science news, the one who asks classics like “didn’t we just send an SUV or something to Mars?” Are you that friend? Regardless of who it is, you’ve just found their next birthday present.

In TIME‘s newest book, New Frontiers of Space: From Mars to the Edge of the Universe by Jeffrey Kluger and Michael D. Lemonick, readers learn just what’s been going on in our universe lately. The book seeks to “explore the latest scientific discoveries within our solar system and beyond,” and it does so with an approach that is unique and interesting for a number of ways – this is not your typical science read.

Continue reading the complete review here.

Enter to win one of two free copies of New Frontiers of Space: From Mars to the Edge of the Universe. How?
This Giveaway is now closed. Thank you for your interest!

In order to be entered into the giveaway drawing, just put your email address into the box at the bottom of this post (where it says “Enter the Giveaway”) before Friday, August 2, 2013. We’ll send you a confirmation email, so you’ll need to click that to be entered into the drawing.

July 22, 2013December 23, 2015 by Katrina Cain

Giveaway: The Universe in the Rearview Mirror by Dave Goldberg

It’s not every day that you find a Physics book that is both wonderfully thorough and wildly entertaining – but, then again, it’s not every day that Dave Goldberg publishes a book; he’d be quite the busy boy if that was the case. But as writer for the fantastic Ask a Physicist column on io9.com (seriously, check it out), professor and director of undergraduate studies at Drexel University, Slate and LA Times contributor, husband and father – he’s plenty busy already. As an avid reader of Ask A Physicist, I was already familiar with his entertaining writing style – but getting to enjoy it in a full-length book was quite the treat. Read the full review here.

Enter to win one of two free copies of The Universe in the Rearview Mirror: How Hidden Symmetries Shape Reality. How?

In order to be entered into the giveaway drawing, just put your email address into the box at the bottom of this post (where it says “Enter the Giveaway”) before Sunday, July 28, 2013. We’ll send you a confirmation email, so you’ll need to click that to be entered into the drawing.

We’re only going to use these email addresses for Universe Today giveaways/contests and announcements. We won’t be using them for any other purpose, and we definitely won’t be selling the addresses to anyone else. Once you’re on the giveaway notification list, you’ll be able to unsubscribe any time you like.

May 21, 2013December 23, 2015 by Katrina Cain

Giveaway: “Space Chronicles: Facing the Ultimate Frontier” by Neil deGrasse Tyson

Neil deGrasse Tyson’s new book, Space Chronicles: Facing The Ultimate Frontier, at times, reads like an updated version of some of Carl Sagan’s classic work about the history of astronomy and our place in the Universe. You can read our full review of Tyson’s new book here, but we also have two free copies of this book to give away.

In order to be entered into the giveaway drawing, just put your email address into the box at the bottom of this post (where it says “Enter the Giveaway”) before Tuesday, May 28 2013. We’ll send you a confirmation email, so you’ll need to click that to be entered into the drawing.

But if you are feeling unlucky, then you can buy the book from Amazon.

May 7, 2013December 23, 2015 by Katrina Cain

Giveaway – Sky Guide App for your iOS device.

“What is that constellation up there – it is right on the tip of my tongue,” is not something you will be saying if you win one of 10 free copies of this app for your iOS device. We are so excited to be working with Fifth Star Labs to bring this promotion to Universe Today.

Simply aim your iPhone or iPad at the sky to identify stars, planets, galaxies and more. Sky Guide lets you experience the wonders of the night in ways you’ve only dreamed of. Now available as a universal app for iPhone and iPad.

In order to be entered into the giveaway drawing, just put your email address into the box at the bottom of this post (where it says “Enter the Giveaway”) before Tuesday, May 14, 2013. We’ll send you a confirmation email, so you’ll need to click that to be entered into the drawing.

Price – In case you don’t want to wait to see if you win!!

$0.99 for a limited time through the iTunes Store

Features
– Elegant and simple: Unobtrusive controls and gestures free up the screen for the best sky view yet.
– Realistic: Composed of over 37,000 real photographs, Sky Guide shows millions of stars, not just a few thousand simulated points.
– Rich content: Loads of stunning Retina-quality graphics and original artwork.
– Soudscape: Designed by Mat Jarvis, an electronic composer featured in the award-winning soundtrack for the game Osmos. Stars have sounds based on their temperature and size.
– Useful anywhere: Works even without a GPS or data signal. Built in access to hundreds of cross linked articles no matter where you are.
– HDR brightness gestures: Dynamically control how bright the sky is to match your surroundings.

About Nick Risinger
Nick Risinger is a photographer and designer living in Seattle, Washington. His work has received honors from the Advanced Imaging Conference, the Cartography and Geographic Information Society, and will be featured at the top of the Royal Hotel Clock Tower in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. He has made appearances on Wired, BBC Horizon, and Public Radio International’s The World.

About Chris Laurel
Chris Laurel is a software developer from Seattle specializing in interactive 3D graphics. He is the creator of Celestia, a popular open source application for astronomical visualization. Chris has worked at Microsoft and NVIDIA, and has consulted for NASA and the the European Space Agency.

About Fifth Star Labs
Fifth Star Labs is a software development company that creates apps for science education and discovery. We blend design with technical expertise to fashion software that is beautiful, intuitive, and illuminating.

April 30, 2013December 23, 2015 by Katrina Cain

Giveaway: Pocket Universe App for Your iOS Device

The name says it all – Pocket Universe answers every question you have and never knew you had about the great beyond – astronomically speaking. Pocket Universe also has a feature that speaks to the trivial in me – the need to fill my brain with interesting factoids that I can regale my friends with at parties.

Universe Today and Craic Design are giving away 10 free copies of Pocket Universe to our readers.

If you don’t want to wait for the win; you can purchase this app through the iTunes Store.

This giveaway will run for a week starting today, so get your entries in! How?

In order to be entered into the giveaway drawing, just put your email address into the box at the bottom of this post (where it says “Enter the Giveaway”) before Tuesday, May 7, 2013. We’ll send you a confirmation email, so you’ll need to click that to be entered into the drawing.

Here are some words from John Kennedy, developer of Pocket Universe:

Pocket Universe is one of those apps that re-affirms your belief in modern technology. Take it outside on a dark, cloudless night, hold it up at the sky, and you’ll get a real-time 3D rendered view of the heavens – complete with star and planet names, constellation images, as well as bright satellites, comets and more. If you ever wanted to know what it was you were looking at, this is the app for you. To help with new stargazers, there is also information on what you should be looking out for every month, and a list of interesting things visible on that very night. The app will also pop-up reminders when something interesting is happen – a meteor shower perhaps, or a flypast of the International Space Station – so you don’t miss out.

April 29, 2013December 23, 2015 by Katrina Cain

Giveaway: Weird Life: Search for Life that is Very, Very Different from our Own by David Toomey

A new book, Weird Life: The Search for Life That is Very, Very Different from Our Own, looks at the bizarre life we know about, as well as the potentially countless undiscovered forms of very weird life that we can’t even begin to imagine. You can read our full review here.

But we have two free copies of this book to giveaway.

This giveaway will run for a week starting today, so get your entries in! How?

In order to be entered into the giveaway drawing, just put your email address into the box at the bottom of this post (where it says “Enter the Giveaway”) before Monday, May 6, 2013. We’ll send you a confirmation email, so you’ll need to click that to be entered into the drawing.

April 25, 2013December 23, 2015 by Katrina Cain

Giveaway: Luminos App For Your iOS Device

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to stand on the surface of Mars, or stare up at one of Saturn’s rings from the mountains of Titan? The Luminos App by Wobbleworks affords you the opportunity to give your friends a guided tour of the universe from the convenience of your iOS device. You can examine deep space objects, track satellites and fast forward or reverse time to understand the orbit of planets around the sun. If disaster movies don’t scare your pants off, you can view Near Earth Asteroids to see how many near misses the Earth has every year!

Wobbleworks provides an excellent user guide to this app complete with pictures and tutorials on how to create your own Observation Lists, log the date and time that a celestial body was viewed and keep track of satellites. It is really quite interesting to note the pass of the International Space Station.

Wobbleworks and Universe Today are giving away 10 free copies of Luminos!

This Giveaway is Now Closed

This giveaway will run for a week starting today, so get your entries in! How?

In order to be entered into the giveaway drawing, just put your email address into the box at the bottom of this post (where it says “Enter the Giveaway”) before Thursday, May 2, 2013. We’ll send you a confirmation email, so you’ll need to click that to be entered into the drawing.

Words from Brian Albers – Luminos Developer:

Luminos, Astronomy for iOS, combines powerful features like telescope mount control, satellite tracking, and a five thousand year eclipse catalog with fun activities such as landing on remote bodies and tracking orbits in accelerated time. The Luminos data set includes two and a half million stars, tens of thousands of small bodies, up-to-date planet and moon surface features, and more. The design of the app emphasizes highly-tuned performance, with detailed models and an interface designed to maximize your view of the sky.

Luminos includes built-in help and online video tutorials, and keeps a frequent update schedule with new features introduced regularly. More information is at http://wobbleworks.com

April 24, 2013December 23, 2015 by Katrina Cain

Giveaway: The Rocket Company

A few years back, when we were all a little younger and less jaded – okay – when I was younger and less jaded (!) Universe Today reviewed the book The Rocket Company. This book speaks to the need of bootstraping our way into funding massive space projects privately, using our own gumption, connections and personalities, and doing so without the help of big governmental organizations because, let’s face it, there is less and less of the proverbial pie to go around.

This fictional book is becoming more lifelike as time goes on with companies like Deep Space Industries, Planetary Resources and many, many others, looking to explore the infinite possibilities our Universe has to offer. On April 30th, this title will be available for free on Amazon.

For Amazon.com

For Amazon.co.uk

But for those of you who like the feel and smell of a book in your hands, Patrick Stiennon is giving away 3 free print copies of this book to three lucky Universe Today winners.

This giveaway will run for a week starting today, so get your entries in! How?

In order to be entered into the giveaway drawing, just put your email address into the box at the bottom of this post (where it says “Enter the Giveaway”) before Wednesday, May 1, 2013. We’ll send you a confirmation email, so you’ll need to click that to be entered into the drawing.