T he wonderful world of Open Source. You gotta love it! There are some apps that are so good that you almost feel obligated to pay for them.
This time around we found a real gem for you, and we guaranty that if you are not already using this app you will be. We also believe youill want to take pen to checkbook to offer a donation to the developers; it is just that good. True, this appis roots are not in UNIX -- itis an OS X original -- but it is Open Source, and that means it can find its way onto other platforms if someone took the time to do the port.
Meteorologist is an absolutely stellar Open Source app that fetches weather info and displays it in your Dock or on your menubar. You really have to try this; the information it displays is unintrusive, yet handy and readily available. Itis hard to believe that it is free. The author, Matt Fahrenbacher, will accept donations (to help him pay off his many loans) via PayPal, but you donit have to.
As with most programs, there are a few minor eccentricities in Meteorologist but nothing that we care to pick at, and we think they may not bother you.
Weather information at your fingertips
(Click image for larger view [Link Corrected])
The interface is simple almost to the point where a manual is unnecessary, but the author provides one anyway. In fact, setup is so simple that weill explain the basics right here:
- Start Meteorologist.
- Select the cities and weather server (thereis a pull down list for the weather servers and a search engine for the cities).
- Click on the Apply button.
Thatis it! Weather info for the first city in your list appears on your menu bar and/or Dock, weather information for the other cities in your list can be seen by left-clicking the weather info on the menu bar, or right-clicking the Meteorologist icon in your Dock. Mouse over the cities in your list and select extended forecasts, or get detailed current weather info. The only thing missing is a cute weather person standing in front of a map pointing out cold fronts. Meteorologist will even send you a weather alert via e-mail, which is great if you have it sent to your cell phone.
Meteorologist takes up almost no CPU time, and is content to sit in the background and update data on a schedule you set.
All in all, Meteorologist is a great little app with an even better price. Pick it up at Sourceforge.net.
Vern Seward keeps a look out for those Unix apps making their way to the Mac so you donit have to.