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Old 22-06-2017, 02:21 PM
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sil (Steve)
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App: Timebound

I wasn't really sure where to post this but decided on here. Probably won't be well received either.

A while ago I backed a kickstarter called Timebound. It's an app for iphone at least (what I got) that lets you experience some major historic events in "real time. Last week for me the Titanic sank (sorry for the spoiler and today I lifted off with three blokes heading to the moon to go for a stroll (yanks have to overdo everything don't they?

I wasn't sure about what to expect and the aim is the final app will have an annual subscription service (I despise subscription models personally and as of today its still in beta and not yet available to get). I was really only interested in the Man On The Moon experience, maybe i'm weird but i cant stand documentaries or shortened highlights reels I'd rather go through the real time experience if I can, I watch the entire 24hr of Le Mans race each year from start to finish Live. I remember hearing about nasa having a real time experience on their website for a moon landing anniversary which has since been taken offline

So, what is it and what's the experience? First there are currently five historic events in the beta: titanic, moon landing, jfk assassination, chernobyl and woodstock. you choose your event and click on "follow" and a countdown timer starts to the first item. At the time of the first item you get notified. You can choose to have, or not, a notification on your phone
and you jump into the app to read the item. Each item is a condensed news item of something that happened. It may be something to help set the scene for you, may be a contributing factor in the event or behind the scenes info.

The real time means if something happened at 10:17am local time for the event, you get a notification at 10:17 on your phone.

Eg at 9:05 this morning I got "The crew eats its last breakfast on Earth before the launch. Steaks, scrambled eggs, toast, orange juice, and coffee. Joining them for breakfast are the so called chief astronaut Deke Slayton who has been in NASA since 1959 and backup pilot of the command module Bill Anders."

So not a tome to read or a piece of flowery prose. Just a nicely concised statement of facts (ok, I'm no Apollo expert and not fact checking as I go, I trust the notifications are as accurate as they were able to find and provide. Sometimes there will be a photo accompanying the text too. I havent encountered any video or sound so no idea if they will occur or its just a newpaper format.

As I said last week for me the titanic sank, the event covered everything from the launch until ships arrived on site to rescue survivors. So ok, the story of the Titanic is pretty well generally known in common knowledge but there were a lot of items that indicate contributing factors that could have avoided the accident, not only onboard the titanic but also from ships in the region. I never knew that the titanic came within 4 feet of colliding with another ship as it left port nor do I still have any clue what consomme Payeanne is but its in a notification at 14:00 regarding the first dinner aboard titanic.

So this week I'm doing the moon landing (something to do with Buzz Lightyear and Sam Neil , right?). Sure all this information is available online and you can read it any time, by delivering you the information though as it happened I got a better scale of the Titanic's voyage than I have anywhere else, including the long boredom of a few days travel that were uneventful other than, today travelled 450 nm at an average speed of 21kn. etc.
However once the iceberg struck ( a little before 23:00 if i recall correctly) the notifications came thicker and faster through to the morning. reading them I couldn't help wonder did their SOS (but it wasn't SOS, they initially used their regular distress signal as sos was new at the time) reach another ship and was it understood, would they come to help and would they make it in time. I couldn't help but "experience" the event I thought I was familiar with.

I tried to attend to the notifications as they came in, but you can just jump into the app event once its started any time and catch up on the ones you missed (you still have to wait for the new ones to come out though).
After the event all the items are still there to read, though there is an unfollow item in settings, I dont know if that will reset an event though so you can experience it again or if it just pauses an event where its at.

I didn't have high hopes for this app at the start and no idea really what to expect but I thought it worth backing at $10 or so, good forms of education, especially engaging forms, are rare. Hopefully it'll be in app stores worldwide soon for iOS and Android (just checked, yes it'll be android too). Ok not particularly astronomy related but moon landing stuff is good interest to most of here. So up to you if you want to keep an eye out for it and if it'll be worth grabbing. I got the Apollo 11 flight plan folder kickstarter too so maybe i can refer to that during this event. I would have been in late primary school during chernobyl so I'd be interested to relive that, maybe understand the event better than I did at the time. So far I'm very happy I backed this app, they intend to release events as they can over time so will see what if anything else comes out before my backer subscription runs out.

Thanks for making it this far if you did!
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Old 24-06-2017, 08:56 AM
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sil (Steve)
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Disregard above for now, I spoke too soon. The Man on the Moon event is incomplete and seems half assed. It currently just ends long before they reach the moon. Maybe they'll complete it but its feeling like many other kickstarters who have no clue about the job ahead when they start. I'll continue with the others and see if they react to my feedback, but for now I cant recommend it, perhaps in futureif all the events are complete and they show they make updates to justify the subscription model.
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Old 02-07-2017, 07:57 AM
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JimsShed (Jim)
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Thanks for the honest feedback. At this point you've saved some people a lot of time. Interesting concept, and I wonder on what level people want to do this. Eg living in the past, or absorb details slowly so it sinks, make up for missing it, wish they were there etc
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Old 04-07-2017, 01:40 PM
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sil (Steve)
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It may not appeal to most people, its not a history lesson or reference book, just another way to experience. The JFK one was pretty heavy on the read as so much was occurring in such short time I got a sense of urgency from it and anticipation waiting for information as all the people involved did their jobs. I just got a better appreciation of all the pieces involved in an event that I've never had from books or documentaries, even movies which I guess we expect them to change pace to make it more dramatic. But I'm feeling these things actually were dramatic for those involved at the time. I do find it an interesting perspective. I won't say you or anyone else would feel the same way though. Like I said the concept intrigued me and the moon landing was of interest and enough to back it for the small amount at the time. Titanic and JFK have been interesting to experience this way (better than the movies and common knowledge has since both were before my time). I find it unbiased unlike a news report its just facts as they occur and with JFK I found myself wondering about some of the movements of people and timelines etc also like a being on a jury and being presented with evidence. Really no idea who this apps would best appeal to, but as I said earlier even though the events are really part of common knowledge I learnt a lot from the three I've done so far as well as the experience.
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Old 04-07-2017, 01:51 PM
noswonky (Peter)
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You might enjoy this:

http://apollo17.org/

The Apollo 17 Mission in real time with audio, video, technical data and transcripts all synchronised.
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