New Dinosaurs App for iPad Out for the Holidays

Friday, December 17 3:43 pm

Looking for the perfect way to fit a dinosaur under the tree?

Today, the American Museum of Natural History launched DINOSAURS iPAD: The American Museum of Natural History Collections, the Museum’s first app designed specifically for the iPad. DINOSAURS: iPAD expands on the Museum’s inaugural app, DINOSAURS: The American Museum of Natural History Collections for iPhone® and iPod®, by offering even more in-depth information and larger images of eight favorite dinosaurs: Allosaurus, Anatotitan, Apatosaurus, Edmontosaurus, Pachycephalosaurus, Protoceratops Stegosaurus, and Styracosaurus, as well as accounts of their discovery by such famed dinosaur hunters as Barnum Brown, Walter Granger, and Peter Kaisen. Over time, the app will be updated with new chapters to cover all 36 dinosaurs in the Museum’s collection.

DINOSAURS: iPAD also features an opening screen mosaic of nearly 1,000 separate high-resolution images and unique social networking functionality, encouraging aspiring paleontologists of all ages to explore the Museum’s world-famous fossil collection and to engage in real-time conversations with other users from home, in the field, or in the classroom.

The latest in a series of apps that highlight the Museum’s storied collections and bring its world-class holdings to a global audience, DINOSAURS: iPAD can be purchased for $2.99 at the iTunes Store. All proceeds will directly benefit the Museum’s scientific and educational programs.

DINOSAURS iPAD is also a fun, interactive way to expand and refresh dinosaur knowledge in advance of the Museum’s major new exhibition, The World’s Largest Dinosaurs (April 16, 2011–January 2, 2012), which will take visitors beyond the bones and into the amazing anatomy of a uniquely super-sized group of dinosaurs who thrived for 140 million years: the long-necked and long-tailed sauropods, which ranged in size from 15 to 150 feet long. With innovative, interactive exhibits–including a life-sized, detailed model of a 60-foot Mamenchisaurus–The World’s Largest Dinosaurs will draw on the latest science to take visitors inside these giants’ bodies and answer the intriguing questions of how such extremely large animals breathed, ate, moved, and survived.

Other apps from the Museum include DINOSAURS: The American Museum of Natural History Collections for iPhone® and iPod® touch; Cosmic Discoveries, which lets users explore the mysteries of our universe via an interactive photo-mosaic comprising 1,000 stunning images; and American Museum of Natural History Explorer, which pinpoints a user’s location and offers turn-by-turn directions through more than 500,000 square feet of public space.

Museum’s Groundbreaking Explorer App Generating Buzz in Tech World

Thursday, July 29 4:22 pm

The American Museum of Natural History’s Explorer, a groundbreaking free app for iPhone and iPod touch that is part navigation system, part personal tour guide, is already garnering rave reviews.

Explorer is “nothing less than state-of-the art,” writes Gizmodo’s Kyle VanHemert. “I roamed around the fourth floor of the museum this morning with the Explorer as my guide…. it was an excellent adventure.”

Using the Museum’s new public WiFi system, Explorer pinpoints a user’s location and offers turn-by-turn directions to exhibits, cafés, restrooms, and other facilities as well as information about more than 140 objects and specimens, custom tours, and a dinosaur treasure hunt. Visitors can create their own tours on the spot, share their adventures by posting to Facebook and Twitter, and bookmark favorite objects to receive links with more information to explore from home.

The app can be downloaded for free to iPhone or iPod touch devices, and visitors can also borrow one of more than 350 devices from the Museum at no charge.

“While many museums have released apps in the past few years—including the Louvre, the Brooklyn Museum, and the Graphic Design Museum in Breda, The Netherlands—this is by far the most robust we’ve seen,” writes Lauren Indvik on Mashable, a news site for social and digital media, technology, and web culture. “We’re especially impressed that the Museum is ensuring that the technology is available to everyone by offering both devices and tech support to visitors.”

Explorer, which was also recently featured on NY1, is the latest mobile app from the AmericanMuseum of Natural History. Earlier this year, the Museum launched Dinosaurs: The American Museum of Natural History Collections app, which showcases the Museum’s world-class fossil collection.

For more on the Explorer, check out the how-to video below.

AMNH Launches First iPhone App

Monday, February 01 10:56 am

The American Museum of Natural History has gone mobile with our brand-new iPhone and iPod Touch application. The Museum is famous for its collections, and the time has come to bring the highlights to everyone carrying around an Apple gadget, or two.

With Dinosaurs: American Museum of Natural History Collections, AMNH’s first mobile application, the Museum is sharing its amazing treasures by showcasing the fossil collection. It’s now available to download for free through iTunes.

Not only does the Dinosaurs app open the vaults to our fossil archives, it allows users to browse through over 800 stunning images via an interactive mosaic. Six of our popular dinosaur fossils, including the Tyrannosaurus rex, are featured along with stories about their discoveries and the fossil-hunters behind the bones.

So, next time you’re walking along the fourth floor of the Museum, take out your iPhone or iPod Touch and follow along as you pass one of the featured dinosaurs. You might just discover something new.  For more information check out our mobile app site.