You know, I really hated WeatherBug for a long time. I thought, “ooh, weather in my systray, neat!” for all of ten minutes, then I realized that it was making popups. And showing me banner ads I didn’t want to see. And it had changed my browser config without asking. And there was no way to uninstall it. “Oh dear,” I thought, “what manner of foul software have I installed, which is repugnant in all the ways a thing might be repugnant, and offensive to the Lord?” Fortunately, they seem to have shaped up after being labeled as spyware by a number of different anti-spyware sites and applications like AdAware, and while the free version is still ad-supported, it actually asks you if you want to do things that it used to do without asking. So, good for them.
Anyway, enough about all that. That was then, this is now, and WeatherBug is more than just a little computer program. Their Backyard Systems look pretty cool, and come in three varieties: Basic, Advanced (pictured), and Ultimate. Advanced looks like the best option for casual weather freaks, with an outdoor Integrated Sensor Suite (ISS) featuring rain collector, temperature and humidity sensors, and, of course, the anemometer. The ISS communicates wirelessly (up to 1000 feet) with the console / base station, which appears to connect to your PC via USB. If you have two 1-year WeatherBug Plus subscriptions (why two? No clue) it will stream the data from your weather station into the WeatherBug on your PC. No word on price, but for the full functionality you’ll obviously have to pony up for two WeatherBug Plus memberships.
Backyard Systems Page [WeatherBug]
Update: I’m getting word that the subs are included. I can’t confirm this 100% as WeatherBug is not responding to my emails, but it makes a hell of a lot more sense that way.
Update update: Okay, they got back to us—makes a lot more sense now. Every license you buy of WeatherBug Backyard lets you connect up to two copies to it. Also, pricing follows.
There are three models: the “Basic” at $349, which uses cabling to transmit the data from the outdoor sensors to the weather station console, to the “Advanced” ($749) and the “Ultimate” ($1,149) which transmit data wirelessly
