The Google Earth Blog reports that the NASA layer in Google Earth has been updated and now includes an Earth at Night image overlay for the entire Earth. I've seen maps like this before but to see it overlayed in Google Earth brings a whole new perspective to the experience. Look for it in the Featured Content area of the Layers panel.
Chris O'Sullivan has created a Rails application (Display KML on a Map) that let's you quickly test KML code directly in Google Maps. While Google Maps will display KML files, the KML file first has to be saved someplace. This method allows you to copy and paste the KML code into a text field and then display the KML information within Google Maps. You then need to zoom the map in manually to display the KML information. This is nice for testing and saves time since you don't have to first upload the KML file in order to see how it looks in Google Maps... By way of OgleEarth
BookTour is a service that connects authors and potential audiences. Authors can create a page and folks looking for an author to speak to a group or gathering can contact the author and facilitate the connection. You can also search for scheduled book tour events and see when your favorite author will be visiting your city.
"Minimap is a Firefox add-on that gives you a suite of in-built maps and mapping tools for your web browser. Create and save a sidebar map using the addresses or address links you find on web pages (highlight then drag and drop), or by manually adding locations... "
This is a nice add-on for Firefox. Notice that if you visit pages with geo-location information, the geourl is automatically displayed and if clicked on will take you to the specific location referenced by the page you are browsing.
by way of ogleearth
Intel Joins One Laptop Per Child"Intel and One Laptop per Child (OLPC) today announced they have agreed to work together to bring the benefits of technology to the developing world through synergy of their respective programs. Under the agreement, Intel and OLPC will explore collaborations involving technology and educational content. Intel will also join the board of OLPC."
Yesterday I stumbled upon a video site called Viddler. Viddler is a video sharing site where you can upload, tag, and share your videos. They offer tagging, video commenting, and linking -- to any moment in video. I spent some time playing around with it and am pretty impressed. In the example below you will notice that i have added comments at several points in the video timeline, and also added a video comment.
Technorati Tags: viddler
Today Alan Levine pointed to VodPod, a video aggreation tool. A bit later I ran across this post from Mashable, 7 Online Video Aggregators Reviewed . It takes a look at 6 tools similar to and in addition to vodpod. They all allow you to organize video content from various sources in one place. All also have social components to them. I signed up for VodPod and think this will be a good tool for organizing video content I find on the web.
I'm traveling today back to Portland after attending a family wedding on South Padre Island. This morning before heading to the airport I took a walk on the beach and came upon a baby sea turtle release being organized by the Sea Turtle Patrol of South Padre Island. One of the volunteers offered to take my camera take some close up shots. You can follow the image link above to see more photos of the turtle release.
The Apple Blog has a posted a screencast: Quicksilver for Beginners. This is a good introduction for folks new to using the Mac OS X launcher/Swiss Army Knife application. I use Quicksilver quite a bit and find it to be a great tool for doing all kinds of tasks including launching applications, posting pictures to Flickr, making blog posts and a ton of other things.
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Postcards,
originally uploaded by Steve Burt.
Steve Burt is spending most of July traveling in Mongolia. He has set up a travelogue website and is taking requests for postcards...