These days online app stores seem to be overflowing with games that encourage players to while away endless hours chasing bad guys and acquiring digital treasure. But if you dig a little deeper, you’ll also find a wealth of extremely useful apps designed for mariners. More »

These days, everything seems to be droning on. What with your self-driving cars, boats, and not far on the horizon . . . ships. That’s right, giant, automated ships. "Spurred in part by the auto industry’s race to build driverless vehicles, marine innovators are building automated ferry boats for Amsterdam canals, cargo ships that can steer themselves through Norwegian fjords and remote-controlled ships to carry containers across the Atlantic and Pacific. More »

Hurricane Michael has gradually ramped up in strength to a Category 4 storm over the last few days, as it ascended the Gulf of Mexico and veered toward Florida’s Panhandle. With winds up to 150 miles an hour, Michael is making landfall this very moment "with astonishing power," according to the New York Times. More »

The Golden Rule, a storied sailboat with a long history of antiwar protesting, is preparing for an epic and historic voyage around the Pacific. Late this month, the Golden Rule — which is currently on her way to San Diego — is planning to make the same voyage that the original Quaker crew took in 1958 from California to Hawaii. More »

A perfectly symmetrical, swooping trail of smoke hung over Angel Island and Tiburon on Sunday, and, driving across the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge, it took us a moment to figure out what was going on. More »