Liquid Galaxy Fly me to the moon, but swing by San Francisco first GoogleSomeone at Google apparently took pity on the poor users who can only explore Google Earth on their laptops. Jason Holt used his 20 percent project time to create a wraparound view of a modified Google Earth engine, and splashed it across 8 LCD screens in an immersive viewing booth. The result provides a view not unlike that from a starship's bridge, and allows users to seamlessly explore a virtual environment of the Earth, moon, and Mars -- an experience that Google has dubbed "Liquid Galaxy."
This TED 2010 video showcases Holt running his demo on eight Linux machines and navigating with a six-axis mouse. He also makes use of voice-issued commands to zoom out from San Francisco, California and travel across the globe to check out India's Taj Mahal. We personally can't wait to see the same display with an augmented Google Earth that includes people, cars and clouds.
Google's Liquid Galaxy Machine Sends Users on Immersive Tour of Earth, Moon, and Mars | Popular Science
LEAKED: Windows Mobile 7’s Interface [PICS]
In a few hours, Microsoft is expected to reveal Windows Mobile 7 to the world at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain. Some leaked pictures of the interface have spoiled its debut, though.
Learnbemobile, a German mobile blog, got a couple snapshots of the interface and has posted them on Facebook. Funny enough, it wasn’t a leaked phone that has given us our first glimpse of Windows Mobile 7, but a promotional banner at MWC that was being altered, giving an opportune photographer time to snap a few shots.
As Engadget points out, the interface not only sports a clean multi-box interface, but it also includes Xbox Live integration and a section specifically for Facebook (
).
While we think the layout is sleek and even elegant, we’re going to have to wait until Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer’s 9 AM ET keynote to find out how Microsoft’s new mobile OS works. Here are some pictures of Windows Mobile 7 in the meantime:
Tweeting Dog Collar Posts Your Dog’s Movements to Twitter
Well, sort of.
The collar detects when your dog moves or make a sound, then randomly selects one of 500 pre-written tweets to post to Twitter (
). Your dog has to be within a reasonable distance of the room with your computer in it, though; the tweets are sent wirelessly from the collar to a USB receiver that has to be plugged into a supported Internet-connected device.
Since the selection is random, the tweets don’t really represent what your dog is doing. It’s more a placebo that reminds you that your beloved pet is out there doing something, whatever it is. They’re cute though. A couple examples: “I finally caught that tail I’ve been chasing, and . . . OOUUUCHH!” and “I bark because I miss you. There, I said it. Now hurry home.”
It sounds like it would get redundant, but Mattel Brands President Neil Freidman said “”Eventually it will certainly repeat itself, but people repeat themselves, too.” True enough.
Puppy Tweets will cost $29.99 when it launches in the United States this fall at e-tailers like Amazon.
We’d be remiss not to mention when seeing this that it resembles the talking dog collar in the Pixar film Up — everybody else has mentioned it! Sadly, Puppy Tweets isn’t nearly as advanced as that one.