Check Out the Sky on your Tablet PC with StellarWindow

This looks intriguing for amateur astronomers of all stripes. StellarWindow is a hardware/software combo that comes on a USB stick. That stick contains accelerometers and a compass that allow you to tilt your device and view a guided tour in the ‘interactive planetarium.’ The idea is you hold up your device to the sky and StellarWindow will show you the sky in a 3D view behind your Tablet PC. You can also do this in reverse by picking a constellation and StellarWindow will tell you which direction to look. You can do this through voice recognition software that also is in the package.

StellarWindow is made by FairyDevices. It will set you back $240. From what I’m reading it will work with notebooks other than Tablet PCs, given the hardware on board the USB stick. Tablet PCs have had accelerometers since their inception, I believe, and I can remember bemoaning the lack of applications that took advantage of them.

Via Wired Gadget Lab