Stellar App

When the commercials for Apple iPhone say "there's an app for that", they aren't kidding. Even NASA is getting into the game.

Just today NASA released an iPhone game with the strikingly creative title "NASA Lunar Electric Rover Simulator". In the game, which can be downloaded for free here, players command a lunar rover.

While NASA's app may not attract too much attention, it certainly draws more attention to burgeoning realm of online development. Some recent estimates say the App Store on iTunes currently holds more than 65,000 applications of various different kinds.

But you don't have to be a rocket scientist to enter the game. Independent software developers can download a special "iPhone Developer Program" for $99 that allows them to build and simulate their apps on the iPhone or iPod Touch.

Such development programs are also available for the upcoming iPad, which is set to take this recent market to a whole new level.

Construction clogs campus

Increasing construction is blocking campus road ways on a campus already covered with work sites.

Work crews laying cables on the southern edge of campus just below the indoor football field currently block a full lane of Lindsey Street near its intersection with Jenkins Avenue.

Jenkins itself will soon be closing this week due to more construction along the football stadium. “Motorists who currently travel Jenkins Avenue through the campus should be prepared to take alternate routes,” OU spokesman Jay Doyle told the OU Daily.

All of this comes on top of two other major construction jobs currently occurring on campus as well. At the moment, both the Fred Jones Art Museum and new utility plant near the Huston Huffman center.

The loss of parking spaces has already caused considerable frustration amongst students at OU and the construction along Jenkins will likely only serve to compound such frustrations.

Hard Winter

More harsh weather is looming on the forecast. Freezing rain and snow are predicted across Oklahoma throughout next week.

Such weather comes on the heels of last week's storm of freezing rain and snow that managed to stop the state's roads and schools for the better part of two days.

In spite of the harsh winter weather season this year, the state has not seen quite the hold-up of previous winters. Just two years ago a storm stripped much of the Oklahoma City area of power for nearly a week. No power outages were reported during last weeks ice storm.

Likewise, many people were out and driving just three days after the storm hit, the main roads and thoroughfares relatively clear.

Nevertheless, winter is not over and there is no telling what the next rounds of weather may bring. Experts advise taking the forecast into account when making travel plans. For more information, visit FEMA's Winter Advisory Site.

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