Hi All,
Been a while!
New version out today with some interesting features.
1. Improvements to weather gods sounds with some new sound effects and a more appropriate set of sounds depending on time of day etc
2. The ability to "follow" and be notified about tropical storms as they form and become active in a particular storm basin e.g. all storms for the Atlantic, Eastern Pacific etc. This means you no longer need to start following a particular storm, instead you can be notified as soon as a new storm starts.
I'm still working on the AI weather text generator for version 4.9. It's actually quite fun with 10+ different personas to choose from :
You can choose from TV Forecaster, Meteorologist, Pirate, Snark, Unhinged, Weird Sisters, Time Traveler, Cosmic Poet, Local Storyteller, Eco-Guardian, Cyber Oracle and of course the Weather Gods themselves!
I'm not a 100% sure this will make it in to weather gods due to the high costs associated with calling AI services through an API, but I am working on making it work!
Let me know what you think please.
As usual, a massive thank you to the beta testers, its much appreciated.
Thanks
Scott
Comments
AI
The times I tested it, it was nice, What I like was how it made it about Chicago and talk about what I could do with the day. Made nice suggestion about the weather. Hope this come vack as a feature. The app is getting better and better.
AI and costs
Hi, I think you do a great job with this app, and it is helpful. However, please bear in mind that the vast, vast, majority of blind people around the world are not in paid employment. Weather is really important to a lot of us and so many people will pay a certain amount for WG. However, we are being asked to pay for more and more, at a time when many countries are threatening, or cutting, what we get, and I feel that this is not sustainable. I feel that development culture, in general, is currently either completely ignoring us, or actually trying too hard, overcomplicating things, and forcing prices up to levels we simply cannot afford. So, what I would say is, anything that forces up costs for us needs to be done with the understanding that any increase in costs for us may result in people canceling subscriptions, and thus, might not pay you what you expect. If you're OK with that, then, by all means, go for it, as the features sound like they could be both fun and really useful I will certainly paly with the new features, from a UK perspective. I use WG for certain things, but unfortunately, the API you use is far, far less accurate than the built in weather app. Again, I know that comes back to cost and availability, and I do appreciate the effort you put in with this app and everything associated with it.
AI and costs
Hi David
Thanks for the feedback and I appreciate the sentiment.
It's crazy how much goods and services are rising - I'm in the Uk as well and the cost of living crisis in the UK is bad.
As you would expect, my weather data costs have also risen over the past year and so far I have absorbed those costs myself - weather gods still makes no profit and the only reason I keep it going is because I get pleasure out of developing the app.
With that said, the current AI model I have is credit based and subscription users will get a number of credits to use each month on the AI weather forecasts. As Holger said, they are pretty good and I have spent a lot of time working on the prompting and passing the actual weather data to the API - so the forecast is not hallucinated :)
I was hoping the cost of AI credits might have come down recently but it seems the models just get more and more complex and the prices actually rise !!
Still planning on releasing something,
Thanks
Scott
AI
When testing it on the beta, I check to compare with Alexa and the app from apple. No big difference. Only by 1 degree. Use US normal weather measurement for it. If it comes back it will be cool. If not, the app itself is OK for me.
Great app! I love it!
I was looking forward to checking out the new sounds, but I can't find them. Do you need a subscription for those now?
Great app! I love it!
I was looking forward to checking out the new sounds, but I can't find them. Do you need a subscription for those now?
New Sounds
Hi Jo
They're an extension to the existing sounds. Hopefully you will discover them - no subscription required.
AI
Hi Holger
The USA weather is pretty good from Xweather. Unfortunately the UK isn't as good, not sure why, as they list the UK Met Office as their datasource.
Yet Another Good Update
I just got this update a bit ago and love it. The new ambient sounds are awesome, and everything is now in stereo with my hearing aids. My right hearing aid needs to be cleaned yet again, but as always you guys have done a wonderful job.
Weather Sounds
Thanks Ekaj, glad you like the update. I forgot I improved the stereo side!