FW Editor: Hey, please introduce yourself so our readers may know who the famous author of Lightning is.
Mark Anacker: I'm a Software Engineer by trade. I started writing program professionally over 30 years ago, on everything from mainframes to embedded devices. I wrote my first Android app in 2009.

FW Editor: How did you decide to develop an application of this kind? Did you ever have some problems with lightning storms?
Mark Anacker: I was looking out the window during a storm one day, wondering how far away the lightning strikes were. I could never remember the time/distance formula, so I decided to create a handy app.

FW Editor: This is a very simple application but yet, it works great. The feature that allows us to measure for more than 1 lightning is great. How many lightning storms can we follow at the same time?
Mark Anacker: The History list will hold the last 10 measurements, and will save them between uses of the app. I will be happy to extend this if someone has a special need for more entries.

FW Editor: How long have you worked on this application? Do you plan to add updates on it regularly?
Mark Anacker: Lightning was first published in early 2009. There have been 9 updates so far, most as a result of user suggestions. I will continue to improve it as I think of new features, or people send in requests.

FW Editor: At the moment it works only for Android systems. Do you plan to ad more portability for it in the future?
Mark Anacker: A version *may* appear on other platforms, such as WebOS. I probably won't port is to IOS, due to the high cost of development.

FW Editor: Is this the first software you have developed? What can you tell us about your past or future projects?
Mark Anacker: I have several other apps in the Android Market, both free and paid. And I have enough projects in development to keep me programming for years to come!