WebProNews

Tag: The Weather Channel

  • Apple Buys Dark Sky Weather App

    Apple Buys Dark Sky Weather App

    Apple has purchased popular weather app Dark Sky, according to Dark Sky’s blog.

    Dark Sky quickly made a name for itself as “the most accurate source of hyperlocal weather information.” The app is loved by customers for giving “down-to the-minute forecasts…right where you’re standing,” giving it a significant advantage over many other apps on the market.

    “Today we have some important and exciting news to share: Dark Sky has joined Apple,” writes Adam Grossman on the company’s blog.

    “Our goal has always been to provide the world with the best weather information possible, to help as many people as we can stay dry and safe, and to do so in a way that respects your privacy.

    “There is no better place to accomplish these goals than at Apple. We’re thrilled to have the opportunity to reach far more people, with far more impact, than we ever could alone.”

    As part of the deal, the iOS version of the app will continue to be available on the App Store, while the Android and Wear OS apps are no longer available and will shut down for existing users after July 1, 2020. Similarly, the API will continue to function through the end of 2021 but, in the meantime, the company is not accepting new signups.

    Apple will likely use the acquisition to help improve its own weather app, which was originally powered by Yahoo and then more recently by The Weather Channel. Dark Sky should give the company a competitive advantage in weather apps, and will make a nice addition to the iOS ecosystem.

  • Twitter Forecast: Cloudy with a Certainty of Hyperlocal Weather Targeted Ads

    In the near future, you can expect to see a new type of promoted tweet that’s appearing in your feed because it’s raining outside.

    Or because the forecast calls for a b-e-a-utiful weekend.

    Twitter has partnered with The Weather Company (Channel), who will be “the first media partner to tap into Twitter’s ad API,” to allow marketers to target, in real-time, Twitter users based on the current or upcoming weather in their hyperlocality.

    Let’s make sense of a particularly thorny paragraph of ad-speak, shall we?

    WeatherFX enables brands to capitalize on weather’s effect on consumers by automatically triggering advertising in real time against hyper-local conditions…

    If it’s sunny and nice in your area, you might see a promoted tweet for a brewery’s light, crisp pilsner.

    Advertisers can dynamically activate different Promoted Tweets within each geolocation…

    And if it’s cold and rainy somewhere else, those people will see promoted tweets for the brewery’s dark, rich coffee stout.

    WeatherFX triggering factors in a variety of different weather conditions and condition mixes, including temperature, humidity, wind, rain, dew point and more, and/or can be a combination of weather-triggering targeting and Twitter’s targeting abilities such as location, user’s interests, keywords, device, and more…

    The ad overlords have brought their A-game. Dew point?

    “Marketers have a search strategy and a social strategy. But with one-third of the economy impacted by weather, most marketers also need a weather strategy,” said Curt Hecht, chief global revenue officer for The Weather Company. “Providing marketers with the means to weather-trigger tweets helps them create more locally relevant content for each and every Twitter user.”

    Here’s an obviously fake tweet, for context:

    All kidding aside, this is a solid partnership that it likely to entice plenty of marketers to let Twitter target based on the weather. The fact that it’s so easy for me to think up scenarios where this could be useful is a testament to that.

    Image via YouTube

  • Weather Channel Apologizes To Fort Worth, TX Councilman Joel Burns For Rude Tweet

    The Weather Channel has definitely ruffled the feathers of Fort Worth, TX residents.

    On Monday, May 12 the television channel landed in hot water after sending a crude tweet to an openly gay Texas politician. A minute issue that could have been rectified with the quick change of a few pictures quickly evolved into an epic Twitter failure.

    It all started when Fort Worth City Councilman Joel Burns tweeted to the television channel to complain about the pictures that appear on his Weather Channel app.

    Burns expressed that the images programmed into the app for Forth Worth, TX are actually pictures of the Dallas city skyline. Fort Worth, TX is often represented as “Dallas/Fort Worth,” so the city’s independence has a tendency to go unnoticed.

    “Dear @weatherchannel I SWEAR I’m deleting your aggravating app if you don’t STOP SHOWING DALLAS pics for Fort Worth,” Burns tweeted. When the network didn’t reply, Burns opted to delete the mobile app.

    He also decided to inform the Weather Channel that he’d done so. He posted a screenshot from his iPhone, showing that the app was no longer visible on his mobile device. ““Hey snoozing @weatherchannel social media team, see anything missing now?” he added.

    Although it may have seemed that the network was asleep, Burns’ tweets definitely didn’t go unnoticed because the network eventually replied.

    The subliminal jab didn’t go unnoticed by Fort Worth, TX citizens. As a matter of fact, many expressed their disdain toward the network’s tactless remark, while others posted in agreement with Burns under the hashtag “#THISIsFortWorth.”

    The offensive tweet came across as a very brash rebuttal, given Burns past acknowledgment of his personal accounts with bullying. He is also an advocate against bullying toward gay and lesbian children. For those who don’t know, Burns gained national recognition for his heartfelt “It Gets Better” speech, in support of gay teens.

    As a result of the Twitter backlash, the Weather Channel issued a statement of apology. “This morning one of our team members used sarcasm in an unfortunate and unacceptable way on our Twitter account,” the Weather Channel said in a statement.

    “It was not our intention to offend and we are sorry that we ​did. We have since apologized to Councilman Burns​ and want to restate that sincere apology and assure him that this tweet does not represent our views. In fact, this is the opposite of how we want to interact with our fans, as we value their input on any occasion. We are taking the necessary steps to be sure something like this does not occur again.”

    Image via Weather Channel, Facebook

  • Ginger Zee Is Taking Over The Weather On GMA

    Long-time Good Morning America weather anchor, Sam Champion, resigned from ABC on Wednesday to take a managing editor job at The Weather Channel. It was a sad goodbye since Champion is one of the main reasons that GMA has been the top-rated morning show for so many years.

    Champion and his co-anchors, Robin Roberts, George Stephanopoulos, Josh Elliott and Lara Spencer said a tearful goodbye as Champion made his final weather broadcast on Wednesday. “I promise there’s happy on the inside but the tears,” Elliott said. “I’m going to miss you and you are the best live broadcaster I’ve ever worked with. Thank you for giving the gift to us and to everybody at home every day.”

    Although Champion will miss his GMA family, he says that taking the new job is just something that he has to do. “I think it’s something that people will go through in their life when you want to stay, doing something you want to, and there’s an opportunity that says you gotta take it,” Champion said. “I’m not going to leave you guys. I’m not going to leave you.”

    Champion ended his final GMA weather report with the phrase that he has said more than 7,000 times before. “That’s the weather around the nation, ladies and gentleman,” he said.

    Ginger Zee, 32, has been hired as his replacement and hopes that she can fill Champion’s shoes. Zee already has experience with the morning show since she has been Champion’s fill-in for the past two years, and has also been the weather anchor for the weekends. Zee talked about her excitement for her new position with reporters, saying that she never thought she would land this type of position at such a young age.

    “You know, some people will work their entire lives and at some point say maybe ‘that’s not the goal for me.’ I have just been so fortunate this whole way, and not to say that I haven’t worked hard,” she said. “There were so many times where I was in Flint, Michigan and I was seriously eating a bean burrito, just one every day because it was 79 cents and that’s all I could afford.”

    [Image via Twitter]

  • Thanksgiving Storm Expected in Northeast

    Thirteen people have tragically died from a winter storm that threatens to spread across the Northeast, and unfortunately just in time for Thanksgiving. The southern part of the United States has experienced cold rain as well as ice through the impact of Winter Storm Boreas. Numerous states (California, Oklahoma, Texas, Nevada, New Mexico, and Arizona) have already endured heavy snow as well as other dangers. As this system continues to move in a northeast direction, it is expected to combine with another storm materializing from the Great Lakes. According to The Weather Channel’s Tom Niziol, “That is a lethal combination for winter weather in the Northeast.”

    The worst weather for those located in the Northeast is expected on Tuesday and Wednesday. According to Kevin Roth, who is the lead meteorologist for The Weather Channel, avoiding travel or limiting travel time during these days is advisable. “If people traveling can get out before then, or wait until afterward, that would be the best thing,” he said.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNY8aqSqNls

    This is the busiest time of year, and millions are expected to travel; however, airports in many metropolitan areas could be closed. Travelers in New York, Boston, Washington, and Baltimore should monitor flights in anticipation of potential cancellations.

    There is not all doom-and-gloom associated with this storm. Damaris Machabo of Oklahoma explained her perspective while remaining positive through the storm. “It looks great. I love the snow,” Machabo said.

    [Image Via NDN]

  • Weather Channel on YouTube Still Streaming Hurricane Sandy Coverage

    Hurricane Sandy, the “superstorm” of 2012 hit the East coast of the U.S. yesterday, causing flooding and power outages in highly populated areas such as New York City. The storm is still sitting over the Northeast U.S., dropping rain and snow on places as far apart as West Virginia and Northern Michigan.

    Whether you can’t get enough pictures of flooded New York subway tunnels or you simply love seeing weather reporters standing in Battery Park being buffeted by high wind and rain, continuing coverage of Hurricane Sandy can be seen here on YouTube, where The Weather Channel is streaming 24-hour coverage of the storm.

    Hurricane Sandy has disrupted the lives of millions throughout the U.S. Northeast. A record storm surge contributed to flooding in New York and New Jersey. Photos of a darkened Midtown Manhattan showed up online last night as millions of residents went without power, and a photo of water inundating the One World Trade Center construction site demonstrated the extent of the flooding.

    Though premature reports of flooding on the trading floor of the New York Stock Exchange proved false, U.S. trading remains suspended for a second day.

    The hurricane has also contributed to blizzard-like conditions throughout the Appalachian mountains. Snow is predicted to fall for at least another day in states such as West Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania. According to The Weather Channel, at least one county in Maryland has already reported 26 inches of snow. Like many eastern states, a state of emergency has been declared throughout West Virginia, where many residents are without power.

  • Weather Underground Moving Under The Weather Channel Umbrella

    Popular weather data site Weather Underground is bring acquired by the best-known weather news source in the U.S., The Weather Channel Companies.

    Although the specifics of the acquisition have yet to be released, we’ll known pretty soon as they expect the deal to close in several weeks.

    WU has been around for 17 years, having been founded by meteorologist and PhD Jeff Master back in 1995. Although WU is known by most for their online presence, they actually became the official weather provider for the AP back in 2005. WU is also the weather provider for Google.

    Jeff Masters talked about the merger on his blog:

    [I]n the past three years, Weather Underground entered into a rapid period of growth that saw our staff more than double to 57 people. With a swelling user base around the globe, and with demands for our services to be made available across so many new digital platforms like mobile phones and tablets, the board recognized the need for an even greater injection of resources, and the decision was made to merge with The Weather Channel Companies.

    The Weather Channel is committed to keeping the Weather Underground brand and the web site in its current form. Weather Underground CEO Alan Steremberg will remain in charge, and our meteorologists and developers will continue to create the ground-breaking weather products that we’re renowned for. The plan is to make both wunderground.com and weather.com stronger, by sharing content and infrastructure. Many Weather Underground features, such as our Personal Weather Station data, WunderMap, and my blog, are scheduled to also appear on the weather.com web site in the coming months.

    Weather blogging has always been a big part of WU, and it;s good to see Masters say that really won’t change.

    “Everyone in the weather space is familiar with the strength of Weather Underground and its innovative method of presenting weather data. Weather Underground will add a great complementary, brand to our portfolio, a brand with a distinct, loyal, and active user base that will enable us to reach a unique segment of users,” said TWCC CEO David Kenny. “Most importantly, this acquisition will grow the weather expertise that is central to everything we do and will result in better forecasts and weather data for users on all of our platforms.”

    Hopefully, the merger will help bring better weather to the growing majority of people who get their weather fix online. Long-time WU fans should be happy to learn that, at least as of right now, the site they know and love shouldn’t change.

  • Weather Channel iPhone App Gets Facelift, Social Integration

    Some apps in the iOS App Store are unique. There’s only one, maybe two apps that do just what that particular app does, and if you want to get that particular functionality, your choices are limited. Then there are weather apps. Weather apps, frankly, are a little like fart apps, flashlight apps, and, to a degree, Twitter clients: there are lots and lots of them, and though there may be a few standouts, they pretty much all do the same thing. There are scores of weather apps out there, and they pretty much all sport the same standard feature set. Some have a few neat gimmicks, occasionally you’ll find one with a really useful and unique feature, but for the most part, if you’ve seen one weather app, you’ve seen them all.

    That said, one of the best and most popular apps in this oversaturated category has always been The Weather Channel. Published, as you probably know, by the people behind the cable network of the same name, The Weather Channel for iPhone is the go-to weather app for an awful lot of iPhone users. If you’re one of those users (and even if you’re not) you’re in for a bit of a treat: The Weather Channel 5.0 went live in the App Store today, and it looks nice. The new app gets a pretty major design overhaul, along with deeper social integration.

    The first thing you see when you log into the new app (apart from the lovely sky scene and Weather Channel logo in the lead image above) is your basic weather information screen. This is the most obvious difference between the old version of the app and the new, and it’s definitely a very pretty interface. Here you see, well, what you see on the corresponding screen of just about every weather app: current temperature, what it feels like outside, the low for the evening, etc. You can also access forecast data. The camera icon lets you take a picture of the current weather in your area and upload it to a variety of social networks (more on that in a bit). The little plus-sign box underneath the basic weather info brings up a box with some more detailed information, including the time of sunrise and sunset, current wind direction and speed, humidity, and the like. As you can see below, it’s quite a lovely day here in Kentucky (that background, by the way, changes with the weather conditions, though you can change it from the settings screen):

    New Weather Channel iPhone App

    The other major update to the app is social integration. You can sign in to your basic array of social networks – Facebook and Twitter (sorry, Google+) – as well as iWitness, The Weather Channel’s own little social network for sharing pictures and video of weather.

    New Weather Channel iPhone App

    Another nice social feature is the ability to see what people around you are saying about the weather in your area. This view shows you a series of tweets about what’s going on weather-wise near you. Unfortunately, this particular feature isn’t quite perfected. Though the top tweets about the weather in my area were fine (see below), there were several that weren’t weather related at all. Also, this screen is a bit crowded. The need to include all the various interface elements – the buttons along the bottom, the settings and search icons, and the all-important banner ad – mean that you can only see about two tweets at a time, maybe three if they’re all very short.

    New Weather Channel iPhone App

    Another important feature of the new Weather Channel app is improved severe weather alerts. Now the badges display much more prominently on the main weather information screen. Unfortunately – or rather, fortunately – there weren’t any severe weather alerts nere me, so I couldn’t get a screenshot of the new notifications.

    All in all, the new Weather Channel app is a nice update to an app that’s looked basically the same for several years now. The new feature set definitely makes it worth a closer look as a possible replacement for your weather app of choice. You can get The Weather Channel for free in the iOS App Store.

  • Weather.com Links With Social Media to Keep You Dry

    There’s been lots of weather in the past 30 years and The Weather Channel, with increasing varieties, has literally not missed a second of it. To commemorate the weather news service’s tireless dedication to making sure we the people know what’s going on beyond our exterior walls, it’s recognizing the 30th anniversary of the first broadcast of The Weather Channel by giving its website, Weather.com, a complete makeover while integrating various social networking sites in order to make the weather more personal.

    Honestly, I have to say, I usually sigh the most acrid sigh I have in me anytime I hear about a website re-launching itself into a more social media-friendly platform, but The Weather Channel’s jump into that direction is actually a really great idea. It immediately affects everybody and, truly, the way most news breaks and spreads so quickly through Facebook and Twitter these days, it’s a brilliant utilization of those networks.

    Aside from the opportunity to share updates about the weather to your friends, the site has added a feature on the current weather condition so visitors can share how they “Love!” or “Ugh!” the weather to Facebook.

    According to Mashable, TWC isn’t stopping there. There are plans to use Facebook’s Open Graph that will collect weather warnings affecting your family members and friends on Facebook on weather.com, which users will then be able to post directly to those weather-afflicted loved and Liked liked ones.

    Another interesting feature is that you can track trending weather-related words for your area. For example, around Savannah, GA, today’s weather is apparently hot with a chance of deathrays (although you’ll notice that the aggregation about weather tweets isn’t exactly perfect, but that’s kind of funny in of itself). It’s a nice, quick way to search what people are saying about the weather on Twitter since TWC can only get predictions so accurate.

    The Weather Channel Twitter

    All in all, integrating social media into weather alerts is a great step into finding out what you should expect when you cross through the front doors of your office or home.

  • Twitter and Weather Channel Team Up on Local Weather Tweeting

    You probably knew that Twitter has been instrumental in shaping the news, but what about the weather?

    Well, I’m not sure that Twitter’s altering the weather itself too much (though there was that stuff about Google searches’ impact on the environment a while back), but it is now adding to weather reporting.

    Twitter announced today that it has partnered with The Weather Channel to bring real time tweets about the weather to The Weather Channel, Weather.com, and The Weather Channel’s mobile apps.

    The Weather Channel has created Twitter accounts for 200 U.S. cities. Users should be able to keep up with the local weather via these accounts.

    If you go to Weather.com, they have a tool called “Social Weather,” which allows you to find the local weather for your area, provided that you live in an area they’re tweeting about.

    Twitter on the Weather Channel

    Twitter on the Weather Channel

    Twitter itself provides a list of other accounts to follow for commentary around weather events here.

    “People send more than 200 Tweets per minute about the weather,” says Twitter on its official blog. “When conditions turn severe, weather-related Tweets double, as people share powerful personal stories along with reports of hurricanes, heat waves and blizzards.”

    Take that Google+.

  • Weather Channel Goes Social With Twitter Integration

    People have been bitching about the weather since before the age of the internet, but social media has allowed that particular hobby to grow and flourish. The Weather Channel and their weather.com have just launched Weather Channel Social, a platform the gives you real time weather discussion straight from the Twitterverse.

    The Weather Channel worked with Twitter and Wiredet’s Trendrr to bring real-time tweets to their website, mobile platforms and TV programming. People can look forward to weather-related tweets showing up on the air, but maybe the most important aspect of the project is the way you can interact on the web.

    The Weather Channel Social site allows you to see tweets as they roll in from all across the country. You can check their “featured cities” or click on an interactive map to see the latest from other selected cities. A counter will also show you the cities with the greatest weather-related Twitter activity.

    Here’s what you’ll see if you click on the interactive map –

    You can also enter your zip code and connect to a Twitter stream from your area. The stream should contain relevant weather tweets from your surrounding areas.

    The Trendrr blog highlights the process to develop the algorithm for curating the weather-related tweets. They filter tweets based on three criteria: The classifier, location, and profanity.

    The classifier is basically the mechanism that differentiates between weather-related tweets and non-weather related tweets. They give this example –

    Consider this tweet: “It’s hot as a frying pan outside!” Hot and outside are two terms that cue us in to a discussion of weather. The same words could be used in a completely different light, however. “I think Kanye & Jay Z’s new album is hot. Can I get an outside opinion?” matches the same query “hot AND outside”, but is inconsequential to TWC.

    As you can see from the screencap above, the algorithm isn’t perfect yet – the tweet from @moreheadracing simply mentions the location “Hurricane Mills.” The tweet itself is not about the weather.

    They also filter out tweets that contain profanity. That pretty much eliminates every single one of my weather related tweets, which usually follow the template “It’s hot as —-” or “It’s cold as —-.”

    The social project is being sponsored by Citibank, so you’ll see Citi adverts as well as a real-time-Twitter-stream box from the Citi account.

    According to Twitter, Americans tweet about the weather 200 times per minute. That number jumps to 300-500 on an “active weather day.” If a significant weather event happens, like a tornado or hurricane, Americans can tweets over 2 million weather-tweets in a single day.

    By integrating Twitter into their forecasting, The Weather Channel wants everyone to become “weather journalists.” Many say that the amateur journalists on Twitter can’t handle the complicated stories – but I’m sure that everyone can agree that on-the-scene weather reporting is something that the Twitterverse can do extremely well.

  • The Weather Channel Launches Redesigned Website

    The Weather Channel said today it has launched a redesign of its website, weather.com aimed at offering users a more localized and customized experience.

    "The weather.com redesign is all about consumers and creating a site that addresses how they want to view the weather," said Monisha Longacre, vice president of product strategy and development for The Weather Channel.

    Weather-Channel

    "Consumers were having trouble finding certain content on our site, so we surfaced the valuable information they were looking for in the navigation, and we created customizable tools for a comprehensive user experience."

    New features on weather.com include:

    *More intuitive navigation making it easier for users to find content.

    *Local weather related to a specific place such as Wrigley Field or Disney World.

    *Saved locations which allow users to add up to three areas to find current weather information.

    *The ability to share widgets and embed weather forecasts and maps on Facebook, Myspace and blogs.

    *iWitness Weather – users can share their weather story by submitting both photos and videos through a new streamlined upload process for user-generated content.

    The weather.com’s homepage and its local weather  page account for more than 50 percent of the website’s traffic. The site attracts more than 40 million unique visitors each month.