Issue link: https://imageup.uberflip.com/i/1471018
32 FOUR SEASONS BREEZE | JULY 2022 "Do you use an app you'd like to share with others? Let me know at steve.benoff@ verizon.net." That's how I end every column. Yet, alas, I get very few responses. You try to have to come up with a different app each month to write about and see how you like it. So, help a guy out; send me an email describing how you use a favorite app. Or, come to think of it, describe why you don't like an app. Anything to help me fill this space. Everyone who loves Stephen King novels raise your hand. Higher, I can't see you from my house. Well, up 'til now I wasn't amongst you. I'm not a horror fan - either books, movies, or TV shows. Same goes for dystopia. But I read a review of his recent book Billy Summers. It's a crime thriller that it turns out I like quite a lot. I can't say I'm surprised at his terrific writing skill given his vast experience. Anyway, the protagonist in this novel, the title character, is an expert marksman who happens to be a big-time hired assassin. By this time, I bet you're wondering what this has to do with smartphone apps. Well, I'm getting there. When Billy is given the rifle and scope he'll use to kill his target, who is in police custody and also happens to be a paid assassin, he's asked if he'll need target practice to properly set up the rifle. He says no, he'll use an app to set it up. That just blew me away. Despite my interest in every type of app, I never conceived of such an app. So, of course, I went to the app store and found Ballistic Calculator. And I wasn't the only one – almost 4,000 people gave it a combined rating of 4.6 stars. Just to be clear, I didn't install this app on my phone. I don't own a firearm. My shooting experience is limited to shooting a handgun with the police at a local firing range with a group of Beaumont volunteer police and an hour shooting up a couple of old toilets with a Four Seasons friend in the Arizona desert using a couple of his rifles. Ballistic Calculator can be used for free in the SBC Light version or the PRO version for $6 a year. It describes itself as a "trajectory calculator app." Its features include Ballistic Coefficient G1, Wind direction, Wind velocity, Barometric pressure, Altitude, Temperature, Coriolis effect, Firing azimuth, Spot On Ballistic for Nikon scopes, and Ballistic calculator for Meopta scopes. One reviewer said, "This app is close to perfect. It allows you to manually enter a specific load, rifle details, and even weather conditions. It's got multiple riflescope options for a reticle view graph at a particular range under current settings as well as a ballistics table." This is an app I'll never use but one that shows the enormous breadth of apps available to all of us. In my amazement at this app, I wondered what other – shall I say – unusual apps exist. So, I googled "obscure smartphone apps." Besides a lot of silly apps that were included in various lists, there were some I just don't think of as obscure, including Overcast which is the podcast app I've been using (and paying for) for years. I don't think of photo editing, running, and package tracking apps as obscure. Frankly, I wasn't able to find anything that compared to Ballistic Calculator. So, I'm going to change the subject. I ride my bike three days a week, and for some obscure (see, I managed to at least work obscure in again) reason, I like to ride early. On the days I ride (as well as my CVP day), I set my alarm for 5 am. Because I can't get a fix when mail will arrive at my mail box each day, I pick up my mail soon after awakening. Each morning at the right time of year I walk east and look towards the horizon and slightly south, I see a bright light which turns out to be Venus. This led me to think about apps for observing the night sky. It turns out there are many, including some that tell you what you can and can't see in the sky just by pointing your phone to the sky. They work even in the day when you can't see anything except the sun and sometimes the moon. But in my search, I also found such a great website that I want to bring it to your attention. It's called time and date and you can find it at timeanddate.com. Click on Sun & Moon and select Night Sky. You'll be able to choose among seven planets, the sun, and the moon. Once you've chosen your celestial object, you can move the pink dot along the timeline at the bottom of the screen and track its progress in the sky. Alright! Alright! This is not an app. But it's a fabulous site that I felt the need to mention. And using it I discovered another bright light in the eastern morning sky – Mars. Do you use an app you'd like to share with others? Let me know at steve.benoff@ verizon.net. ~ Steve Benoff THERE'S AN APP FOR THAT! Do you have an app you want to share? Then share it, for Steve's sake!