If like me, you don’t know your Ursa Major from your Ursula Andress, then Starmap might be a useful app for you to download to your iPhone or iPod touch.

Somehow, the developer Fred, has managed to cram the universe into my iPhone. Well maybe not quite all of it, but with 110 000 stars, full ephemeris of the 9 planets and their satellites, 150 deep field objects like galaxies and clusters, plus photos and constellation zodiacal signs - to my untrained eye, it would seem so.

Gazing up at the night sky above the New Forest last night. My wife and I were quite literally starstruck. Watching shooting stars, which I now know were from a meteor shower, was pretty exciting. But it seems the more you know about this sort of thing, the better it gets.

So, I browsed for iTunes apps, and the first application I came across was Starmap. Read some reviews, and promptly downloaded this £6.99 application. There are a few speed issues with pinching the UI, but I can live with the speed. It just amazes me that Fred has managed to cram all this information into a package that only a few years ago would have filled 4 floppy discs. 6 mega bytes is not a lot of space, for all this space!

The starlight, I will be chasing your starlight

—Muse, “Starlight” from Black holes and Revelations

The interface takes a little bit of time to get used to it. Tip: roll your finger over the menu bar at the bottom to get more options, settings and search for stuff. There you will also find an integrated lamp with night vision and adjustable intensity.

Starmap Review Conclusion

Some reviewers have really slated the performance of Starmap. There are also some other similar planetarium apps out there, which I haven’t yet tried. But for a Version 1 release, I think Starmap is out of this world. Fantastic.

• Starmap UK iTunes Download
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The Apple Remote application is another iPhone App that shows the true potential of the iPhone (and iPod Touch) to become the control centre of your digital life. The future is here and it is looking very bright indeed.

I have recently bought a second 15inch Studiospares PA Speaker. I now have a stereo pair of these active speakers.  Totalling 600 watts, this sound-system is hooked up to my Airport Express, and now unleashed thanks to the fantastic Apple Remote iPhone App with the magic of Wi-Fi. This is my new home stereo. Where before the arrival of the Apple Remote it would have become what it is: a clunky, dopey P.A. system for occasional use only and also a pain in the derrière to use on a day to day basis.

My brutishly large and rather ’stupid’ speakers are brought to life with this FREE iPhone App. I can turn up the volume from both my front and back gardens - to scare the beejeezus out of my cat and other dozing visitors! I can now play all my iTunes digital media through my behemoth speakers. I can turn up the volume, search, select playlists, pause, skip and lots more. It’s possibly one of the first apps to really bring this whole digital lifestyle thing to life.

…possibly one of the first apps to really bring this whole digital lifestyle thing to life.

— Apple Remote iPhone App

But wait, there is more. I can also pair up the Remote App to my wife’s and daughters iTunes libraries too, so in effect, this turns my iPhone into a monster iPod.

There are a few gremlins too, but then I need to remember this is a Version 1 release. It occasionally can’t find my library, but 99% of the time it works as expected.

Apple Remote iPhone App Review Conclusion

A FREE but essential piece of kit for your digital lifestyle. This is a FREE, (don’t you love that word?) app that transcends what one expects from digital gadgets. It rocks my world, breathes artificial intelligence into my speaker system, and creates an audio system that I can control with even the most whimsical of touches.

Apple Remote Screenshots

View some screenshots of the Apple Remote app.

I grew up in the Young Ones generation. I believed that music is best played loud while throwing your television through your hotel window. Some years later, I really grew up. Neil replaced Vivien as an idol to aspire to.

I first saw the Dalai Lama in London’s Albert Hall. I had never even heard of him before this. Getting ready to snooze, something extraordinary happened to me. I actually listened to what he said. Expecting him to try and convert me to a Buddhist, he tried to convert me to the religion I already knew. He said, it is important to look deep within your own religion. The path you choose is not important, it’s your daily practice that is everything. He taught me that most major religions teach one thing at their heart. They are just different methods of pointing to the same thing. His anti-preaching method worked for me though. I now identify myself as a Buddhist, not a great one, but one that has allowed me to appreciate the faith I was force fed at school, Christianity.

The Tibetan cause is now something pretty dear to my heart. I feel that Tibet is a precious jewel, like the Amazon, which we the earth’s guardians are allowing to go to waste like a disillusioned teenager turning to smack. The potential that it holds is being eaten away, distilled to nothingness. To this end I wrote my own songs for Tibet. Not as good or polished as this offering that appeared in my inbox on an iTunes mail-shot. My song Wanna be your friend, was written as if from in the head of HH the Dalai Lama. Probably the best song I didn’t compose. The great man’s spirit wrote this song. His ethos, again I can only point to, but those words made me cry as they spilled awkwardly from my mouth. I wish they could have poured from the mouth of Imogen Heap, Sting or Damien Rice.

Songs for Tibet

These Songs for Tibet, unlike my “No sleep till Tibet” album are truly beautiful. ‘Enuff said. The last track though, is not really a track at all. It is a discussion given by the Dalai Lama on Finding Peace. This alone is worth the asking price, for me anyway.

Released just days before the Beijing Olympics start, this album will I am sure be my soundtrack this summer. I might not be a good Buddhist but I love music, and I could listen to the Dalai Lama for ever.

Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries. Without them humanity cannot survive.

—HH The Dalai Lama

Peace

Tibet and Dalai Lama Linkage

• His Holiness the Dalai Lama
• The Dalai Lama on Wikipedia
• Songs for Tibet on Wikipedia
• My pictures of the Dalai Lama in London

Apple yesterday updated the iPhone software to Version 2.0.1 yesterday. This is a “Bug Fix” release, apparently.

My favourite guitar tuner, and one of my favourite iPhone Apps, Guitar Toolkit, has been updated to version 1.1. Here’s all the new stuff…

iPhone App Guitar Toolkit - New for 1.1

• 1600+ chord variations added, including “down the neck” chords
• Ring / Vibrate switch no longer affects whether or not sounds play
• Improved tuner stability, especially for low frequency notes
• The cowbell is dead! The metronome now has 12 different sound effects to choose from
• Metronome sounds are reversible (switch tick and tock)
• Metronome is much more stable and consistent
• 1 new alternate tuning added: Guinnevere (EBDGAD)
• Reference tones made slightly more accurate