Those of you who have read TUAW for more than just a little while know that I'm kind of a weather buff -- I have way too many weather apps on my iPhone and iPad, and even have not one, but two "connected" weather stations at my house. So it was not surprising for me to fall in love with InstaWeather last year. It's a different app than your usual weather forecast -- instead, you use a photo of your current surroundings, add a skin and send out an Instagram or Twitter blast showing everyone what the weather's like (see post image above as an example).
Byss Mobile, the developers of InstaWeather (free) and InstaWeather Pro (US$1.99) are waiting for InstaWeather 3.5 to make it through the hallowed halls of Apple, and I was given a chance to beta-test the latest version of the app. What I found was a much more polished version with some new and fun features.
First and foremost, InstaWeather Pro 3.5 adds the ability to shoot short videos to demonstrate the current conditions. Imagine being at a ski area where it's a sunny, but cold day, grabbing a short video of a friend sailing by on a snowboard, with the weather conditions and location overlaid on the video like a professional weather channel. That's what you'll get with the new version of the app, and it's actually quite fun. Here's a short video example, although it's not showing anyone snowboarding...
Next -- and I have to admit that I'm not sure if this was in earlier versions, although I don't remember seeing it -- the app now accepts data from your very own Netatmo weather station. Since I've had one of these stations since they first appeared in the US in 2012, I was thrilled to see "Netatmo" show up in the settings. Signing in with my Netatmo credentials, I was rewarded with the exact interior and exterior conditions at my house.
As mentioned, the Instaweather 3.5 is in review at Apple right now, but should be here soon. In the meanwhile, enjoy dreaming of the video weather selfies you'll be sending out in the near future.
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