With mission timelines and data streamed from the onboard systems: the ISS Live app for iPhone and Android got 10 reviews.
Now the 2nd most downloaded app "Angry Bird Space" has 38555 reviews.
Use the ISS app to find where the station is right now. Clear sky - look up - it's the brightest star in the sky.
Rotate the station model in 3D. Check what parts are done by which country and what they are for.
Expand command let's you take the ISS apart and more easily identify the sections.
Check out what the astronauts are doing and why.
ISS Live vs. Angry Birds Space: ExWeb App review

Posted: Apr 14, 2012 04:13 pm EDT
(Tom Sjogren) 'Angry Birds Space' has 38555 reviews. Nasa's 'ISS live' app has 10. I decided to test both.

Birds in Space

After paying 99 cent I tried to log on with my preferred nickname "Major Tom." It was already taken but I did get Major Tom81 (not kidding).

Basically you sit on an asteroid and throw big rocks at pigs on the moon. The concept clearly borrowed from Heinlein's 1966 science fiction novel The moon is a harsh mistress; the Angry Bird plot is very 2012.

ISS live

The ISS app is free (not counting the 18 Billion of taxpayer money) with live data streamed from the onboard systems at the Space Station.

The elegant and user friendly interface allows you to track the station, rotate a model of it in 3D, check what sections were made by which country and what they are for. Expand command lets you take the entire station apart and identify the pieces. You can check in on the Astronauts, and keep updated on what they are doing, when and where.

Verdict: ISS three chickens; Angry Birds five

Debating the apps with ExWeb staff, it was decided on 5 Poulet d'Ors for ABS and 3 for ISS. I disagreed proposing the wow-factor of ISS should warrant at least 4, while ABS is boring to play. I also found 5 Poulets a bit rich for an app so clearly out of touch with reality (the birds sit on asteroids without wearing space suits).

In this age of sharing, a nice feature at Angry Birds asks if you want to know more about gravity (vital when throwing rocks at pigs). The link goes to our BF in Space, Don Pettit!


(Tina: "Black socks to khaki shorts, Don? Really?")

The YouTube video got over 11 million views, possibly the most NASA has seen yet. NASA's own video the Next Step got 4255 views (the budget cuts got 410). Compare to Angry Birds summer picnic at 16 million.

Sad as it is, standing in line on DMV I too would reach for Angry Birds Space. The ISS app is one of the coolest I've seen, but unexciting. Just like a National Geographic copy from the 50s, you are a viewer, not really a participant. In Angry Birds, it's you killing the pigs, and the more you kill the better you get.

Plus it's adapt or die.

Don's blog from space
#Space #topstory #feature