Time does fly and it’s again this time of a year when we host our Star Walk Month of Astronomy! One of the oldest sciences, astronomy opens secrets of stars, constellations, planets, and brings millions of people in the world to experience the celestial wonders.

So we’re inviting you to join our big astro contest and enjoy four weeks of fun astronomy questions, puzzles, and of course prizes. Among our prizes are the new iPad, a lot of iTunes cards, promo codes, and t-shirts. Rules are pretty easy, we’ll be posting a question every day during next four weeks. All you need to do for entering is share the link to the contest on one of your social accounts and give at least one right answer. We will accurately put every single of you into our list and in the end of every week pick winners.

1. Share the link to this contest on any of your social profiles (Twitter, Facebook)
2. Give at least one correct answer to any of the questions posted during the Star Walk Month of Astronomy on official Star Walk profiles on Facebook or Twitter. (#starwalk).
3. Don’t forget to like us on Facebook or follow @StarWalk on Twitter to see the questions on time.

1st week (17-22th of July)
• Prize one $10 iTunes card and five t-shirts
2nd week (23d-29th of July)
• Prize one $15 iTunes card and five t-shirts
3rd week (30th of July till 5th of August)
• Prize one $25 iTunes card and five t-shirts
4th week (6-12th of August)
• Prize one $50 iTunes card and five t-shirts
Finalize the results on 13th of August
• MAIN PRIZE: the new iPad estimated value of US $499.

See oficial rules here.
Good luck everyone!

Part I – WWDC in San Francisco
Probably every blog post about WWDC is the same every year, saying that it was the best WWDC ever and I absolutely agree with every single of you. Even though I didn’t get a ticket to the conference, I was lucky enough to be in San Francisco with Star Walk team and even won a guest pass to Keynote (the only one open-to-press part of WWDC).

We all know about that crazy line near Moscone center that starts around 4 in the morning, but I luckily missed that part and arrived right in time when they let us inside. The night before at the MacIndie WWDC pre-party I met few friendly educators who saved a spot for me, so when I entered the main room I got to sit almost in front of scene. (Not that close as our CEO did though. No, not VIP zone).

What can I say about Keynote? It was simply awesome. Everyone already watched it, so I am not going to retell all those hilarious jokes Siri made in the beginning. I just want to say that I never felt this uniting feeling with 5,000 strangers in the room before.

The rest of the week was absolutely crazy, I don’t remember sleeping at all, but no complaints. The weather was surprisingly nice and sunny, also there were two alternative WWDC, so I had great opportunity to attend lectures and geeky-nerdy-tech-lunches, and even meet my Internet legends in person. Victor Agreda, Lex Friedman, Mike Shramm, Mike Lee, and so many more!

So I can say my first time to San Francisco has been absolutely amazing! I will definitely try to be there next year! Or maybe earlier?.. :)

p.s. – oh wait! Is it us standing in front of Star Walk icon in Moscone Center? Yep. Matching shirts.

Part II – NYC CE Week

New York was not very kind to us. Firstly my flight was 12 hours delayed and when I was finally in the hotel it turned out that my reservation had been cancelled by that time. Thanks to a very kind receptionist I was not left on the street and he found the room in another hotel nearby. When my colleague came it turned out that her luggage had been stolen. Fortunately it was returned later though some of the precious stuff was missing.

Firstly we were invited to the gdgt party that was a real fun as many of the people were open to innovations and they were really curious about our apps.

Next few days we were taking part in the CEA Lines show event that was a part of the CEweek conference. As a part of our booth we had a 3D TV that demonstrated Solar Walk app on a bigger screen with 3D effect.
We had a great time communicating with press and people who are interested in the new technology and the way it is used in our lives.

Part III – ISTE in San Diego

My first time attending ISTE was also my first time in San Diego and altogether my first time at a teachers conference! While I can hardly find any words to describe the multitude and variety of my impressions, I believe that most people I have talked to felt the same way: by the end of the first day you feel that your head is about to explode from all the new information and ideas, and you have a tone of parties to go to and so many interesting people around, it’s hard to catch a breath.

Amazing lectures and innovative ideas aside, one of the highlights of my days were get-together-and-share-favorite-tools kind of sessions. To my greatest pleasure and surprise, renowned educators took time to recommend Solar Walk and Geo Walk to their peers for classroom use! If that’s not a sign that we are on the right track I don’t know what is!

All in all I find that educators are my favorite crowd, and I will definitely be joining them again on ISTE 2013! And hopefully dragging a few of my colleagues with me.

The loudest shout out goes to you, our dear friends. Xmas Giveaway was a big success this year! I mean we say it every time when we summarize results. But this time (I swear!) you guys just killed it. We never had so many participants, I am talking about thousands of people tweeting every second what they just noticed in the night sky.

So, it’s time to announce the winners.

“What we’re really talking about is a wonderful day set aside on the fourth Thursday of November when no one diets. I mean, why else would they call it Thanksgiving?”
It’s a good saying, and we’ve prepared something delicious for you as well! We’re going to put all our educational and fun apps – Star Walk (both iPhone and iPad versions), Solar Walk (iOS and Mac versions) and Geo Walk on sale at the dollar off price from November 25th till November 29th!
Also we’re inviting those of you who are in love with Twitter to join our Stargazing Community uniting all Star Walk tweeting friends from around the world!

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you! Thank you for helping us to be where we are now!

That trick-or-treat time of the year is over, so thanks to all of you guys who submitted photos for our first Halloween photo contest!
We’re happy to finally bring you the winners of this year’s contest in the “Best Halloween costume”, “Best Drawing” and “Best Pumpkin Carving” nominations.

But one little girl from San Francisco melted our hearts. So, we decided to choose three staff favorites among those cute kids ;)

“The Best Halloween Costume”
Raphael from Quebec ($50 iTunes card+pack of Vito’s apps)

“The Best Halloween Drawing”
Barbara from Stockbridge ($50 iTunes card+pack of Vito’s apps)

“The Best Pumpkin Carving”
Scott from Fort Collins ($50 iTunes card+pack of Vito’s apps)

“Staff Favorites”
Mary from San Francisco ($10 iTunes card)
RW from Seven Valleys ($10 iTunes card)
Luke “Thomas the Train” from Rochester Hills ($10 iTunes card)

Other participants will get Solar Walk T-shirts :) You can see all photographs here.

Congratulations to the winners and good luck next year!