Chris Pirillo » Fun

Isn’t the Wii Fit more Fun than Real Exercise?

Chris — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 19:59:55 +0000

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Ponzi decided to record my first attempt at exercising with our new Wii Fit. The crowd roaring at my attempts was an added bonus. Someone isn’t thinking properly, though. Who says I’m “unbalanced”?! That’s not true! I’m perfectly balanced… or am I?

Wii Fit is a video game developed by Nintendo for the Wii console. An exercise game, Wii Fit consists primarily of exercise activities utilizing the Wii Balance Board peripheral.

The balance board measures a user’s weight and center of gravity. The software can then calculate their body mass index when told the user’s height. The game has roughly 40 different activities, including yoga poses, push ups, and other exercises. Furthermore, Wii Fit allows its players to compare their fitness by using Wii Fit’s own channel on the Wii Menu.

Wii Fit tracks a user’s “Wii Fitness Age” through a body test basing the result on the user’s current age, weight, and balance.

From Wired:

I am going to keep using Wii Fit, as it definitely does what it claims to. After an hour, I’m sweating, my muscles are sore — I’ve exercised. And I’ve set some personal-best records, and maybe unlocked some new games. It’s fun. The hardware is a great idea — I just think the software could be worlds better. Luckily, since Nintendo seems to be trying to get third parties on board (cough), I bet we’ll see a better virtual-exercise-regimen game before too long.

How much easier can getting into better shape be? This is a fun way to get healthier, so why not give it a try?

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Chris

Isn’t the Wii Fit more Fun than Real Exercise?

Am I Sexier than the Wii Fit Hula Hoop Girl?

Chris — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 19:48:33 +0000

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Ponzi recently went out and bought Wii Fit. She decided I needed to set up my own profile, so I decided to let all of you watch. Apparently, I have an excellent center of balance! So what do you think? Am I sexier than the Wii Fit Hula Hoop Girl?

Wii Fit combines fun and fitness into one product. It can change how you exercise, how you balance, and even how you move. Wii Fit is a combination of fitness and fun, designed for everyone, young and old. By playing Wii Fit a little every day, you, your friends, and your family can work towards personal goals of better health and fitness.

Wii Fit includes four training modes and more than 40 exercises and activities designed to help improve body balance and fitness.

Yoga Learn Yoga poses that tone muscles and improve posture.

Strength Training These workouts are designed to build and tone your muscles.

Balance Games These games will help develop your sense of balance.

Aerobics Aerobics are exercises that help your body burn fat.

Wii Fit is not only good for your health, it’s also a lot of fun.

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Chris

Am I Sexier than the Wii Fit Hula Hoop Girl?

Wall-E Reviews: Pixar Movie Magic

Chris — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 02:55:13 +0000

I asked my friends what they thought of the new Pixar movie, Wall-E - and many of you thought very highly of it (myself included). Ponzi and I saw it opening night with a couple of our neighbors, and I think she was the only one who wasn’t quite impressed with the flim.

I’m confident there will be a sequel - quite possibly, a television series? Here’s what you think:

In a word? Excellent. - Evan Sims

I enjoyed the plot, the characters, the flow, and the visuals. I really felt for the little guy - didn't want the movie to end. That, and EVE was true to female form - upset at the stupid things Wall*E does, but eventually understands there's a method to his madness. :) - You

Rocked my socks off. BEAUTIFUL. - Erin Kotecki Vest

HIDE because I haven't seen it :P - Brian Daniel Eisenberg

and liked again for lockergnome's female form comment. :) - edythe

Anil Dash's reiview from twitter just moments ago: "E.T. R2D2 Matrix Prequel romance = Wall-E. Best dystopian nightmare future anti-consumerist animated kids' movie I've seen all year." - Agreed. - Jason Toney

Comment Like Reshare - Hao Chen

Review here - http://www.flixster.com/user/m…. Wall-E is the greatest tribute to Chaplin. It ain't no junk food, but a connoisseur's delight! - Mario Sundar

The themes in WALL E have been haunting me all day. No other Pixar film has made me think like this. Plus, the story is just cute. /me loves the botz. I can haz 1? - Christine Cavalier

i have nothing to add to anil's review except to say that its a complete home run for pixar. i completely loved it… - tommy payne

Loved it, loved it, loved it. I would happily see it again in a theater and I NEVER say that! - Jennifer F

With or without spoilers? Excellent movie, excellent production values, mildly annoyingly preachy message overcome by cuteness factor. - Lucretia Pruitt

Wall-E. Charming, clever, breath-taking. Love. - byteful traveller

love love loved it!!! so much so, I saw it twice! - Kat

Mac startup sound on reboot! Gotta love the irony. Movie was biggest kid pic since nemo. - JMac of Earth

I loved it also. I'm a sucker for Pixar but this one really feels like high concept in places but in subtle beautiful ways. - Michael Kowalchik

I'm heading out to see it in a few hours. - Vermyndax

i posted the top ten reasons Wall-E is a Mac at http://www.justinvanrheenen.co… - Justin

Absolutely fantastic. One of Pixar's best films yet. - Chip Hayner

The story was a little slow, but it had its funny moments and was overall a good family movie. 3/5 because I've come to expect more from Pixar. p.s., Scoble has solicited a bunch of comments too. - Kevin LeCureux

Funny, saw this post right after coming home from seeing it. I loved it. It seemed a bit short, but that's because it was a good movie. :P I want a sequel! - Eddie Ringle

Best Pixar film! Best film, in general, that I've seen in years! - Tim Cleary

I have only seen trailers but it already looks like one of the best Pixar movies ever. - Daniel Schildt

It's a super movie. Animation is wonderful, and I like the simplicity of the movie. But, it's too bad they have to try to indoctrinate kids at such a young age. What happened to simply fun cartoons. The "save the earth" message is there, not as blatant as "Arctic Tale" was though. "Arctic Tale" should have been rated G for Global Warning. Over all though, WALL-E is a fun movie. - Rus Jeffrey

I just got back from the movie. It was great. I loved the creativity that went into it. Pixar/Disney has done it a gain. 4 of 5. There weren't many action scenes. - Daniel

My kids are out watching it with my wife. I really wanted to go. :( - Hal Rottenberg via twhirl

definitely 4/5 - actually rather cynical about the rise of Wal-Mart and industrialization, but hopeful; the intro cartoon was absolutely great as well - Mark Dykeman

I'm sure its already started, but if not, there needs to be a Best Picture Oscar campaign for Wall-E. Everyone can relate to the Wall-E's loneliness and understand why he goes all out for EVE. At the same time, the movie tries to show us what could happen if we depend on technology so much and the role of hope in redemption. Yes, the movie is preachy, but its still wonderful. Plus the Apple homages (no doubt because of Steve Jobs relationship with Pixar and Apple) are cute. Wall-E lives up to the hype. - Nick Ali

I liked it. Got my son a souvineer watch too:) http://chris.leckness.com/2008… - Chris Leckness

I won tickets on the radio to see Wall�e, but I would definitely pay to see this film again! Wonderful film for everyone to see! It's an awesome film… going to buy this film for my collection! - Amber A.

http://technosailor.com/2008/0… - Aaron Brazell

Now, if you didn’t answer before, what are your thoughts on Wall-E?

Random Posts

Chris

Wall-E Reviews: Pixar Movie Magic

How do you Create Word Art?

Chris — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 01:58:10 +0000

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I should have been an English teacher, according to my degree. I never did become one, but I’m still addicted to words. I love to write. I also enjoy good design, and like playing around with word art. When I found this website, I couldn’t stop playing with words!

Wordle is a free site that allows you to generate “word clouds” from any text you type or paste into a box. With a few simple mouse clicks, you can have your text rearranged, change the colors and even change the font. Once you create it, your Wordle is yours. You can save it to your computer, or to their website to share with friends.

Make sure you have the latest version of Java installed on your computer, or you won’t be able to view the Wordles. You don’t have to register for the website. Simply paste in a bunch of text, the more the better. Think up your own words, copy the words to your favorite song, or even use your wedding vows like I did. The words used the most freqently will be larger than others. You can even save the Wordle as a PDF file, and then make it the wallpaper on your desktop.

Even though the service is free, you can send a small donation to the author if you would like. I sure did. This website is just COOL.

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Chris

How do you Create Word Art?

Am I the Only Player Addicted to Crosswords?

Chris — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 06:52:31 +0000

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I’m addicted to both crossword puzzles and my Nintendo DS. So you can imagine how addicted I am to the Crosswords DS game made specifically for my DS! The game only cost me about $20.00. With this game, you can choose from more than 1000 crossword puzzles, or choose to do an Anagram or WordSearch.

Crosswords DS is designed for all players—just select your difficulty level and start off with a basic four-by-four puzzle. As you progress, the game will increase in difficulty and puzzle size. Use the DS stylus like a pencil to write or circle your answers on the touch-control screen. Erasing mistakes is as simple as writing the new answer over the old one. A hint system is also included in case you need some friendly assistance.

In Crosswords DS, you’ll find puzzles perfect for everyone regardless of age or experience. Exercise your word skills in more than a thousand touch-control word puzzles to challenge every skill level.

If you’re a casual gamer like me, or even if you just love word games… you should definitely check out Crosswords DS. It’s my newest addiction!

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Chris

Am I the Only Player Addicted to Crosswords?

Never Stand too Close to a Street Sweeper

Chris — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 04:10:45 +0000

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People care about keeping city streets clean. Unfortunately, some people take it too seriously. A Seattle man was taking out his trash, and somehow got himself stuck inside the street sweeper. Officials are feverishly working to get the man out, because he has dust allergies. That man is Chris Pirillo.

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Chris

Never Stand too Close to a Street Sweeper

Have you ever Been to a LAN Party?

Chris — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 05:24:47 +0000

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I asked my “son” Wicket if he wanted to go to a LAN party. That’s where a group of Geeks pack up their computers, get together, and game… for hours or days on end. Have you ever been to a LAN party, or been curious as to what goes on? Here are some tips sent in by Brian to help you out. He gives us his tips for LAN party guests, and five tips for LAN party hosts.

Tips for Guests

1. Bring your own networking supplies if necessary. This can include cables, routers, and hubs. The host may not be able to supply you with everything you need to get set up, so bring a few extra network cables and a router if you have them… just in case.

2. Bring a couple of dollars so you can pitch in for food and drinks, or bring yourself some snacks. You never know when you’ll be hungry, and neither will everyone else. Pitching in for a couple pizzas or a few bags of chips and a handful of sodas (or energy drinks!!) will help you stay awake longer.

3. Make sure you’ve already installed as many games as you expect to play that night. If not, you’ll be too busy installing the games instead of having fun playing them. You also want to have all of your games updated to the most modern version, or at least make sure you have the same version as everyone else.

4. Make sure your computer is equipped to handle the games you expect to play. Your computer may not be up to par with the games’ requirements and you will either not be able to play, or lag like crazy. Severe game lag can cause poor game play, and losing.

5. Bring a pillow and a blanket. It may feel ridiculous, as if you were attending a slumber party. Trust me, you may need it if or when you crash.

Tips for Hosts

1. Make sure you have as many network supplies possible so everyone can access the network. If you aren’t able to connect everyone to the network, ask anyone coming to the party if they could bring extra supplies to help out.

2. Make sure you have enough food and drinks for the guests. If not, have everyone pitch in a few dollars and get some food as previously explained. I also want to point out that non-greasy snacks (like pretzels) are best because they won’t get your keyboard and mouse all greasy while you’re playing.

3. Try and get as many places to set up as possible. Fold-up tables are the highest recommendation, but anywhere someone can set up works. You can try using desks, kitchen tables, or counter tops. As a last resort, end tables, dressers, and TV stands may also work of anyone is willing to use them. You should also have plenty of chairs.

4. Make sure you inform your guests what games you will probably end up playing ahead of time. It’s no fun getting to a LAN party and waiting for everybody to get the games installed as mentioned before.

5. Make sure your guests are able to power up their equipment. Having lots of surge protectors and extension cables allows for more freedom in terms of where your guests set up.

Brian also recommends the following free games, so you’ll always have something on hand to play… even if you cannot afford the latest and greatest paid games.

If you have any other LAN party tips and tricks, be sure to pass them along!

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Chris

Have you ever Been to a LAN Party?

Chocolate Rain: Explain?

Chris — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 02:29:27 +0000

“Chocolate rain, Chris Pirillo’s thoughts do wax and wane. Chocolate rain, others find him to be quite insane. Chocolate rain, making people laugh by singing “Penny Lane.” Chocolate rain, Google him and you will fan the flame. Chocolate rain, bylines written like this aren’t the same. Chocolate rain, fingers point to Chris, we shift the blame. Chocolate rain, we don’t understand, we can’t explain. Chocolate rain, will you read this article while on the train? Chocolate rain, please don’t squint to read, it causes strain. Chocolate rain, are you tired yet of this refrain? Chocolate rain, fine, we’re done for now, so no more bane.”

That’s the byline I wrote for myself in last month’s issue of CPU Magazine. I started writing next month’s column a few minutes ago and decided to post ‘er here for giggles. I’ve spent a lot of time being creative with those bylines, and I’m afraid that few subscribers ever recognize ‘em.

Chris

Chocolate Rain: Explain?

It’s a Free Computer!

Chris — Sat, 31 May 2008 02:26:04 +0000

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Thanks to HP and BuzzCorps, Ponzi and I gave away a $5000 Dragon notebook last night! We had a lot of fun, and I’m sure our winner Ralajer is one happy camper in sunny California!

Unfortunately, the video of the drawing itself didn’t turn out so well. I was called away to go home to Iowa. My parents were in a bad car accident last week. They’re doing ok now, though. I don’t have a very strong Internet connection, so the video didn’t work too well. This is the reason we’re telling you about it after the fact in this video!

The requirements for my giveaway were simple:

You must be present in the chat room at the time of the giveaway.
You need to be subscribed to my YouTube channel.
You had to have left a a good comment to a post in my blog between May 22 and May 29.

Earlier, Kat chose a random blog post. My wife Ponzi then scrolled randomly through more than 175 comments on that post to choose a winner. And a winner we found! Big congratulations go out to Ralajer!!!!

Ralajer posted his comment on the post What do you do with your old Computers?. The comment is as follows:

I usually gift them to my siblings and with 6 of them with 11 nieces and nephews so there will always be an outlet for my old hardware not that I go through that many computers. But being the only computer knowledgeable person in the family I am also the adjunct tech support. I try to get them to learn about computers by telling to Google their problems and try to fix it which has worked for some of the more basic problems.

I’ve been playing around with turning the last one into a file server but I really don’t need it at present so I’ve not put much time into doing that. I’ve only recycled one computer after it physically broke it was a pain finding a center so I just waited until a eTrash day in front of Best Buy.

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Chris

It’s a Free Computer!

Where do you Download Desktop Wallpaper?

Chris — Thu, 29 May 2008 03:55:33 +0000

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Every single day in the chat room, someone asks me where I get my wallpaper from. Sometimes I make them myself, using Oxidizer. Sometimes I download them from somewhere. But my friend Andy Stanberry reminded me about using DestopTopia.

Desktoptopia is a FREE desktop background manager that automatically loads and displays designer desktops on your monitor, as often as you wish. Loving the current desktop? Can’t stop staring at it? Just click Pause in the menubar, and stare all you want. You can also go back, or to the next desktop right from the menubar. Setting how often your desktop changes is just as simple. You can rate desktops anytime from the menubar. You can also subscribe to categories like Photography, Illustration, Typography, Architecture, Graphic Design, 3D, and Abstract. Or you can mix it up with a little from all the categories.

Got two monitors? We’re so jealous. But, Desktoptopia has got you covered. You can decide how you want Desktoptopia to work with your multiple-monitor set up. You can have twice the love and duplicate the desktop on both monitors, only show desktops on one (whichever one you want), or show different desktops on each monitor. Quick, what’s your monitor resolution? Yeah, we don’t know ours either. Desktoptopia will automatically detect your resolution and deliver you the appropriately sized desktop, so your desktops always look their best.

Desktoptopia delivers the most beautiful and inspiring desktops around from our ever-growing collection. But that’s only half the story. They keep our desktops usable, so you can actually find stuff on your desktop.

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Chris

Where do you Download Desktop Wallpaper?

Mac vs PC: LEGO Brickfilming

Chris — Fri, 23 May 2008 01:50:46 +0000

“LegoShark” contacted me last night to ask me what I thought about his hobby:

Hey, I’m an amature Stop- motion animator. I have been looking in your chat for about a month now. I use a medium of stop-motion known as “brickfilming.” This is stop-motion animation with LEGO. I noticed you had some LEGO fan pics of your office in your Fickr stream, so i thought i might a well bring this up. I was wondering if you could possibly spread the word a little bit about brickfilming. it’s a very fun hobby, and takes skill and patience. all you need is a decent camera, some LEGO, and patience. the “official” site for brickfilming can be found at brickfilms.com, but the community is more based at ilovebrickfilming.com. There was a change in administration and a bunch of stuff I don’t want or need to get in to that made people switch to ilovbrickfilming.com.

I personally work a 15 FPS (frames per second) which, as you may know, means that i take 15 frames to get a send of animation. it is very tedious. My equipment consists of a new 24″ iMac, a canon HV20, a macbook, a desk lamp and a Bowens TriLite, and a ton of LEGO. I am currently using FInal Cut express on my Macbook for editing, but now that i have the iMac (which i opened literally a few hours ago :)) I will be upgrading to FC pro and all of those other Pro editing Apps Apple has. I use iStopmotion for frame capture.

Indeed, some of my Net friends have done their best to re-create the Chris Pirillo home office experience in LEGO - and they’ve done quite a good job at it. I asked “LegoShark” if he could brickfilm the famous Call for Help bloopers for me… let’s see just how passionate he is. :) The one I’m embedding here had me in stitches:

LEGO Block Building Software

Chris

Mac vs PC: LEGO Brickfilming

Is your Avatar a Gravatar?

Chris — Tue, 20 May 2008 18:08:17 +0000

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I know a few of you use forums. Some of you have blogs and other social accounts. Most of these places allow you to set up an avatar. The hope is that one day, you only have to upload an avatar once and have it populate to all places you are on the Web. There is something that may be used throughout any blog that uses WordPress, and that has this feature enabled. For years, the Gravatars have been a plugin for WordPress. Now, the new version of WordPress has support for these Gravatars.

If you’ve commented in my blog in the past, you’ve used an Email address. This is what will allow you to have a Gravatar that follows you around once you register. Your Gravatar will automatically be posted with your comments on any blog you visit, as long as you comment using your normal email address. You don’t have to sign up with my blog, or anything!

Of course, you will need to sign up for free with Gravatar. A gravatar, or globally recognized avatar, is quite simply an avatar image that follows you from weblog to weblog appearing beside your name when you comment on gravatar enabled sites. Avatars help identify your posts on web forums, so why not on weblogs? Setting up gravatars on your weblog is easy, you don’t even need an account! Plugins are available for leading weblog software, and our tutorials will have you running gravatars in no time. To request a gravatar from our servers, you simply add an image to your comments area with an “src” attribute that points to our gravatar image generator and includes an MD5 hash of the commenter’s email address. Since all gravatars are rated with an MPAA style rating, you can restrict your site to show only gravatars whose content you are comfortable with.

You may have more than one email address or more than one avatar that you want to manage. That’s fine, you can do that! You can upload your image, and it helps you crop it down so it fits into an avatar size! It’s super easy, even if you aren’t good with photo editing software.

The challenge now to you is to go sign up for Gravatar, then leave a comment in my blog so that we can all check out your avatar!

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Chris

Is your Avatar a Gravatar?

Are you an Indiana Jones Fan?

Chris — Mon, 19 May 2008 03:36:49 +0000

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You could say I’m an Indiana Jones fan. Heck, I even watched the old “Young Indiana Jones” television show. So of course, I’m excited for the release of the newest movie, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. The plot promises: “Famed archaeologist/adventurer Dr. Henry “Indiana” Jones is called back into action when he becomes entangled in a Soviet plot to uncover the secret behind mysterious artifacts known as the Crystal Skulls.” Yeah… I can’t wait to see this. It comes out in theaters on May 22nd, 2008.

But the movie alone isn’t why I’m doing this video. Check out this announcement from one of my favorite websites, IconFactory:

For the past 6 months, artist Anthony Piraino has been crafting all new icons for Indy’s return to the big screen, and so we’re kicking off May with a re-release of Anthony’s original Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark™ collection, now with beautiful large resources for Mac OS X Leopard and Windows Vista. Indy’s bullwhip, trademark fedora and treasures never looked so good! In addition, the CandyBar iContainer sports a fun custom dock, and Dave Brasgalla has worked up a special Indy desktop picture perfect for armchair archaeologists.

We invite you to visit the Iconfactory’s Indiana Jones™ home page to preview and download each film’s icon collection throughout the month of May. Then be sure to grab your ticket for the hottest show in town, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull™ coming to theaters everywhere May 22nd. We hope you enjoy this Iconfactory special event. The adventure is just beginning!

That’s right, folks. You can download these awesome Indiana Jones icons right to your desktop!

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Chris

Are you an Indiana Jones Fan?

Microsoft’s Free Astronomy Software

Chris — Sat, 17 May 2008 02:34:40 +0000

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Even if you’re not really “in to” Astronomy, you really have to check this out. The things you will see are just amazing. Go ahead… I dare you. Open your eyes, broaden your horizons. You never know what’s out there waiting.

Check out the free World Wide Telescope by Microsoft. The WorldWide Telescope (WWT) is a Web 2.0 visualization software environment that enables your computer to function as a virtual telescope—bringing together imagery from the best ground and space-based telescopes in the world for a seamless exploration of the universe.

WorldWide Telescope is created with the Microsoft high performance Visual Experience Engine and allows seamless panning and zooming around the night sky, planets, and image environments. View the sky from multiple wavelengths: See the x-ray view of the sky and zoom into bright radiation clouds, and then crossfade into the visible light view and discover the cloud remnants of a supernova explosion from a thousand years ago. Switch to the Hydrogen Alpha view to see the distribution and illumination of massive primordial hydrogen cloud structures lit up by the high energy radiation coming from nearby stars in the Milky Way. These are just two of many different ways to reveal the hidden structures in the universe with the WorldWide Telescope. Seamlessly pan and zoom from aerial views of the Moon and selected planets, as well as see their precise positions in the sky from any location on Earth and any time in the past or future with the Microsoft Visual Experience Engine.

I also have another neat program to tell you about. I received an email from Erick, just after finishing the recording for this video. He wanted us to check out Stellarium. This is also a free program, which does virtually the same thing as Microsoft’s World Wide Telescope. With Stellarium, you can also choose “night mode”. The best part of Stellarium is that it works on ALL platforms, including Linux.

Let me know what other free and unique or fun software you know of, that others of us haven’t heard of yet. I’m always willing to check out something different and new… and pass along the cool stuff to everyone else.

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Chris

Microsoft’s Free Astronomy Software