Digitalis Begins Shipping Powerful New Interface for Digitarium Planetarium Systems

BREMERTON, Wash., Feb. 9, 2011 -- Digitalis Education Solutions, Inc. is proud to announce that it has shipped the first orders of the Digitarium Universal Console™ planetarium control interface. The Universal Console interface is a cross-platform, web-based application that enables users to easily control their Digitarium planetarium systems over a wired or wireless network.

The Universal Console interface is designed to give presenters more options for operating their Digitarium system -- while still maintaining the ease of use for which Digitalis is well known. A fixed dome user may want to teach from a desktop computer in a control booth. For a more portable device, users can run the Universal Console on an Apple iPad, to create a Digitarium SkyPad™.

The Universal Console interface will not replace Digitalis' handheld, backlit remote control, which the company still believes is the simplest planetarium interface ever created. However, the Universal Console interface will have advantages for users who want finer control over their presentations, or who want to hide absolutely any trace of their user interface from the audience to maximize the immersive experience.

All of the functions of the Digitalis' remote control are also available through the Universal Console interface, and the two can be used together during the same presentation. Additional Universal Console functions include:

• Easy access to scripts, with comment display and error log
• The ability to play an audio track in the background
• Dynamic placement and manipulation (mirror, rotate, scale, etc.) of images or videos against the sky
• Basic slide show functionality
• Select a celestial object by name from a sortable, filterable, and searchable database
• Adjust colors with a graphical color picker
• Select and unselect constellations with one click (multiple constellations can be selected at once)

The Universal Console is an add-on option for any new Digitarium system or an upgrade for existing systems. Purchase of one Universal Console software license will enable users to run their Digitarium system from multiple devices, if desired. The SkyPad interface has already been released, and Digitalis plans to release the desktop-optimized version next month.

Software updates and technical support are included free for the life of the Universal Console interface.