Google Earth lets you fly anywhere on Earth to view satellite imagery, maps, terrain, 3D buildings, from galaxies in outer space to the canyons of the ocean. You can explore rich geographical content, save your toured places and share with others.

So what’s new in version 5?

Mars in 3D
This is the latest stop in our virtual tour of the galaxies, made possible by a collaboration with NASA. By selecting “Mars” from the toolbar in Google Earth, you can access a 3D map of the Red Planet featuring the latest high-resolution imagery, 3D terrain, and annotations showing landing sites and lots of other interesting features.

See global changes with decades of historical imagery
If you’ve ever wondered how your local area has changed throughout time, Google Earth now gives you access to the past. With a simple click, take a look at suburban sprawl, melting icecaps, coastal erosion and more.

Dive beneath the surface of the ocean
In the new ocean layer, you can plunge all the way to the floor of the sea, view exclusive content from partners like BBC and National Geographic as well as explore 3D shipwrecks like the Titanic.

Track and share your paths with others
Take placemarks a step further and record a free-form tour in Google Earth. Simply turn on the touring feature, press record and see the world. You can even add a soundtrack or narration to personalise the journey.

Sounds to me like it’s a good time to upgrade or try this one out. Feel free to let me know what you think, or share a “trip” with the rest of us…

Introduction

Mobile technology is, as the name suggests, technology that allows consumers and business users to perform computing and communications related tasks without being tied to a single, fixed location. The concepts of work, and working hours, for example, are becoming less well-defined, as mobile telecommunications technology and wireless Internet connectivity allow the possibility of telecommuting – that is, working away from a traditional office environment, either at home, or elsewhere – saving travelling time, and costs, and increasing productivity.

Mobile Devices

Mobile devices, nowadays, take many forms. Perhaps the most useful of all, however, are those which run an operating system akin to that found on a conventional desktop PC, or, in other words, notebook or laptop computers. Laptops are available in a number of different shapes and sizes, but all essentially involve a compromise of some kind; very small, lightweight laptops may be easy to carry around, but may lack processing power, and additional extras, while larger, heavier laptops may be faster, and have all the “bells and whistles” you could ever need, but are correspondingly less portable. A handheld computer, or PDA (“Personal Digital Assistant”) – running a “cut-down” operating system, such as Windows Mobile – is, of course, another possibility. These devices typically lack a standard keypad, and are operated via a touch screen, with a fingertip or stylus. Mobile telecommunications technology is available, obviously, in the form of the mobile phone, but the concept of !
a “smart phone” – essentially a mobile phone, but with advanced capabilities, above and beyond voice telephone calls – has continued to expand in recent years.

Mobile Broadband & Beyond

Mobile devices can be enabled for use with a wide range of technologies. These may include EDGE (“Enhanced Data for GSM Environment”), an enhancement for 2G (“2nd Generation”), or 2.5G, GPRS (“General Packet Radio Service”) telecommunications networks, or, more recently, truly 3G, or 3.5G, GSM technology. Bluetooth and WiFi – the generic name for IEEE 802.11 compliant wireless networking technologies – are also available for the wireless connection of mobile devices.

Typical sales, or customer service, applications may include presentations given to prospective customers using a laptop – possibly streaming media from a web server, if the laptop has mobile broadband capability – transferring product literature, wirelessly, to a client`s computer, remotely accessing a diary, or allowing, say, restaurant customers to pay via a wireless payment terminal, rather than a fixed till.

Mobile broadband technology is becoming very popular, not least because it is fast, convenient and flexible. A laptop, or notebook, computer can be equipped for mobile broadband access simply by plugging in a lightweight USB (“Universal Serial Bus”) broadband modem, or “dongle”. This allows Internet access, at speeds approaching those of traditional, fixed line connections, anywhere where there is sufficient coverage. This can be particularly advantageous for anyone who wishes to access the Internet, but has no permanent place of residence – students, for example – and/or no landline telephone line. Indeed, mobile broadband technology is advancing at such a pace that laptop and notebook computers equipped with integral modules – which increase 3G speed, and are “future proofed” for 4G technologies, such as HSPA (“High Speed Packet Access”) and “Long Term Evolution” – are starting to become available. The new mobile broadband technologies support download speeds of up to 7Mbp!
s (“Megabits per second”).

For more information on mobile broadband visit – http://mobile.broadbandgenie.co.uk/

Kicking the public out of a courtroom is an option that should be used rarely and extremely judiciously, which is what makes U.S. District Judge James Ware’s decision Monday disappointing.

Ware shuttered the doors to a San Jose, Calif., hearing pitting Facebook and Mark Zuckerberg, probably the world’s youngest self-made billionaire, against Harvard University classmates who claim Zuckerberg stole ideas and source code from a similar venture called ConnectU. Ware took this extraordinary step without notice, without a formal request from either side, and without even specifying why it was necessary.

So what’s so special with this hearing that calls for a private status? Follow the story on CNet News.

YouTomb is a research project by MIT Free Culture that tracks videos taken down from YouTube for alleged copyright violation.

More specifically, YouTomb continually monitors the most popular videos on YouTube for copyright-related takedowns. Any information available in the metadata is retained, including who issued the complaint and how long the video was up before takedown. The goal of the project is to identify how YouTube recognizes potential copyright violations as well as to aggregate mistakes made by the algorithm.

These videos are not available for viewing/downloading, thumbs only. Once again, this is simply a research project that seeks to find out more details about how YouTube locates and takes down videos accused of copyright violation.

However, it’s quite interesting what kind of movies people are submitting…

Adobe announced yesterday the immediate availability of Adobe Media Player 1.0 software. An Adobe AIR application, this customizable, cross-platform media player provides exciting new ways for viewers to discover and interact with their favorite content, while offering revenue and brand-building opportunities for content publishers.