Webware

Is this Nessie? Probably just a boat, unfortunately.

(Credit: Google Earth/Daily Mail)

Stop the presses: According to the U.K.'s Daily Mail, a security guard was hunting around on Google Earth and spotted a mysterious object that he believes is the storied Loch Ness Monster.

The most shocking part of the report: The fact that it took this long for anyone to claim that Google Earth has found something funny swimming around in Loch Ness. I mean, hello, people. Google Earth has been feeding us tasty satellite maps for over four years now. If Google Street View can surface multiple puking drunks and streakers, you'd think that a massive sea monster (enthusiasts claim it may be a long-thought-extinct reptile called a plesiosaur, to be more specific) would have a tough time staying hidden from Larry and Sergey's snooping.

As you may recall, earlier this year someone with way too much free time on his hands claimed he had found the lost city of Atlantis off the coast of North Africa, as evidenced by a grid-like pattern on Google Earth. Google's response was that it was basically feedback from sonar data collection (so boring), not a legendary sunken city.

Unfortunately for conspiracy nuts and "X-Files" loyalists, the "Nessie" of Google Earth is probably just a boat, as the Daily Mail article points out. The 65-foot-long object really does look pretty similar to other Google Earth aquatic oddities that are more obviously man-made watercraft, after all. So the search remains fruitless, I'm afraid.

But a side note: Shouldn't whoever was in that boat on Loch Ness be concerned that the monster might think they'd make a nice snack? Safety first, people.

Google Earth can now take you to the moon.

Timed with the 40th anniversary of the first moon walk, the Internet giant on Monday released an addition to its Google Earth mapping software to provide images of moon landscapes and traces of human exploration there.

Called the Moon in Google Earth and available for Windows, Mac, and Linux, the software allows you to see topographical features on our closest celestial neighbor with the lunar equivalent of Google Street View. People can also see a gallery of the Apollo space missions and get information on every robotic spacecraft that has visited the moon.

"This tool will make it easier for millions of people to learn about space, our moon and some of the most significant and dazzling discoveries humanity has accomplished together," Anousheh Ansari, a trustee of X Prize Foundation and the first female private space explorer, said Monday on a Google blog.

Google is hosting an event Monday to launch the Moon in Google Earth site at the Newseum in Washington, D.C., where Ansari and Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin will speak.

To access the images from Google Earth, you select Moon from the toolbar in Google Earth. From there, the viewer zooms down to get detailed images of the moon's surface.

From the left panel, people can surface information about the moon, including historical charts used by astronauts for training and NASA mission control. High-resolution photos break down the moon's surface into different quadrants to show its features.

Images: Google Earth takes you to the moon

The tool is designed to teach people about the missions to the moon by visiting the various Apollo landing sites. After zooming into a location, people can see video clips and panoramic stills taken by the astronauts, such as Neil Armstrong's first steps on the moon. Aldrin also offers a guided video tour of the moon from within Google Earth.

The artifacts tab allows people to see three-dimensional models of the spacecraft that have gone to the moon.

The Moon in Google Earth project was done through Google's partnerships with NASA, which allowed researchers to develop much of the content. Japan's space agency, Jaxa, also donated the global terrain dataset for the moon.

Updated at 8:45 a.m. PDT with more details.

One of the images returned by NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter--coming soon to Google Earth?

(Credit: NASA)

At least the residents of the moon are unlikely to be annoyed by the Google Street View car.

Google announced plans Thursday to hold a press conference on July 20 in Washington, D.C., to discuss "a very special announcement about the newest addition to Google Earth," according to an invitation sent to reporters. Further details were not included, but it's not too hard to guess what Google might be up to here.

July 20 is the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing. One of the men who set foot on the moon that day, Buzz Aldrin, will speak at the event, as will Andrew Chaikin, author of "A Man on the Moon." And NASA's launch of the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter in June has yielded all kinds of new detailed images of the moon's surface.

Google already offers a limited overhead view of the moon that highlights the sites of the Apollo landings, but it seems more detailed maps could be in the works as part of the ongoing partnership between Google and NASA. All kidding aside, Street View for the moon is probably not on the agenda, although those lunar rovers are still up there.

Map the Fallen loaded in Google Earth

(Credit: Screenshot by Dong Ngo/CNET)

Each Memorial Day we honor the men and women in uniform who have paid the ultimate price for the freedom we enjoy. Traditionally, this is the day many people visit cemeteries and memorials, especially the Arlington National Cemetery. But not all of us can do that. This year there's an alternative.

Sean Askay, a Google engineer, released on Sunday a Google Earth layer, called Map the Fallen, that contains detailed information of more than 5,700 service members who died in the Afghanistan and Iraq wars. This is an interactive tool that lets you see photos, learn about how each service member died, visit memorial Web sites with comments from friends and families, and explore the places they called home and where they died.

Askay has no military affiliation or background and developed the project on his personal time. He said on his Map the Fallen blog that he came up with the idea when he was still a student and ran across icasualties.org, a public database of soldiers who have died since the beginning of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

According to Askay's blog, the Map the Fallen layer contains information collected from a number of sources, including the Department of Defense's Statistical Information Analysis Division, icasualties.org, MilitaryTimes.com's Honor the Fallen, The Washington Post's Faces of the Fallen, the Iraq and Afghanistan Pages, and Legacy.com.

The layer requires Google Earth 5.0 or later. Once the software is installed, you just need to download the Map the Fallen layer layer and choose to open it. After a few seconds, the layer will be loaded and you can learn much about honorable men and women who you might otherwise not know about at all.

Personally, seeing the sheer number of human figures closely shown on the surface of the Earth is enough to leave me feeling somber and humbled.

What Askay did shows the true meaning of Memorial Day, and for a lot of us it offers an easy and convenient way to frequently remember and honor those we are often too distracted to do that for.

The Livestrong skin changes the look of Firefox.

(Credit: Mozilla)

Mozilla announced a variety of new skins for its Firefox Web browser Tuesday. Many of the skins are from well-known brands and fashion designers. According to the company, All American Rejects-, Lady Gaga-, and No Doubt-themed music skins are currently available. Those looking for fashion designs can have a BCBG Max Azria skin, while those who want to support Lance Armstrong and the fight against cancer can download the Livestrong skin. Many more free skins are available on Mozilla's new "Personas" page.

The Weather Channel has launched the second version of its iPhone app, the company announced Tuesday. The new version is ad-supported. Users who are interested in the advertisements can click on them and check out the advertiser's page without closing the app. More importantly, the new app now features in-motion weather maps, metro traffic cameras, a snapshot of weather conditions, and animation radar. The free app is available now in the Apple App Store.

Music search engine SeeqPod filed a petition for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in U.S. Bankruptcy Court Monday. According to the court filing, SeeqPod decided to file for protection after responding to pressure from the music industry, which has slapped the service with billions of dollars in lawsuits that it might not survive. SeeqPod has not disclosed any information about the filing.

Mobile advertising firm AdMob has launched the iPhone Download Exchange program, which will allow developers to increase their own iPhone app downloads by advertising the app in other programs. AdMob will be inking deals with developers who want to participate in the network. All the apps that are included in the deals will feature ads advertising other apps that are also in the network. According to the company, AdMob already has over 1,000 iPhone applications in the Download Exchange and, with the wider release, it expects more companies to sign up soon.

An artist named Helmut Smits has decided that working with paint isn't enough, so instead he is showing his art to people on Google Earth. Dubbed "Dead Pixel in Google Earth," Smits burned a 32x32-inch piece of grass in a field in the Netherlands. According to the artist, that patch of burned grass represents 1 pixel in Google Earth at a distance of 1 kilometer, or 0.62 miles, above the ground. Smits says the dead pixel is "concept art" and will be left on display for those in the field or people looking for it in Google Earth.

Photo- and video-sharing site Photobucket announced Tuesday that its application programming interface has been available for one year. To date, over 1,800 developers have signed up for the API and the company said that a variety of applications were created, helping it reach 55 million monthly unique visitors. The API is still available on Photobucket's site.

The tip of Mt. Fuji, now in higher resolution from GeoEye-1 satellite imagery in Google Earth.

(Credit: screenshot by Stephen Shankland/CNET)

Google has begun offering the first high-resolution imagery from the GeoEye-1 satellite it helped sponsor--but only as an optional layer in Google Earth for now.

"In the coming months you will start seeing stunning GeoEye-1 imagery blended into our database and viewable through Google Earth, Maps, and Google Maps for Mobile," said Dylan Lorimer, strategic partner manager; and Jacob Schonberg, associate product manager, in a Google Lat Long blog post Wednesday.

Until then, some shots can be viewed by downloading add-on imagery for Google Earth from Google's GeoEye-1 preview site, they said. Because Google Earth now works as a plug-in to some browsers, the full Google Earth application doesn't need to be installed to get a taste. Clicking the thumbnail images in the film strip on the page will launch the in-browser version.

GeoEye launched the satellite in September and plans to launch another with a higher-resolution camera in 2011. However, U.S. government limits the resolution of the images Google shows to details measuring half a meter. GeoEye shared a view of President Barack Obama's inauguration and other teaser images.

GeoEye-1 imagery, such as this shot of Nukuoro in Micronesia, is available in Google Earth as an extra download.

(Credit: screenshot by Stephen Shankland/CNET)

(Credit: Dong Ngo/CNET)

There is now a lot more about Mars to view in Google Earth than there was just a month ago.

Google announced Friday a major update to show more details of Mars both in its history and the present day. Originally the 3D maps of Mars were available with the release of Google Earth 5.0, just a little more than a month ago. The update shows how our knowledge of Mars, and our study of astronomy, has evolved over time.

According to Google, the new update allows us to travel back in time to see the antique maps originally drawn by astronomers Giovanni Schiaparelli, Percival Lowell, and others. It also show present-day Mars with a "Live from Mars" layer, which is a continuous stream of the latest imagery, including those from NASA's THEMIS camera aboard the Mars Odyssey spacecraft.

Users can have the feel of flying along with Odyssey as well as the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter to see what the two crafts have been observing lately and where they are headed next.

Without having used the original release of Mars 3D map, I tried the new update and loved it. After selecting Mars from the toolbar in Google Earth, I could do a 3D flight around the Red Planet.

The new update now makes the surface of Mars covered with informational layers, imagery, and terrain. I could also zoom in and out, change the camera view, or click on icon to read more about certain locations and events, most of which I didn't know that they exist before.

What I haven't been able to find, however, is Dr. Manhattan's girlfriend, Silk Spectre, but that would probably take more than just one update.

Click here for more stories, and images, on Google Earth 5.0.

Imagine if all the hospitals, schools, churches, and government buildings that appear on online maps were nothing but blurs.

That would not only reduce the usefulness of things like Google Maps and Google Earth, but it would be a huge undertaking for Google and would probably violate the First Amendment.

But that's exactly what California Assemblyman Joel Anderson, a Republican from El Cajon, is proposing in a measure dubbed "AB-255."

The measure would apply to Web site operators and online services that make "a virtual globe browser available to members of the public" and fails to define what that is. It also specifies that a violation would constitute a criminal offense with fines of up to $250,000 per day.

So, all the government agencies that use Google Earth and want the public to be able to find their buildings could conceivably be in violation as well.

As justification for the proposed censorship, Anderson is citing terrorism.

"We heard from terrorists involved in the Mumbai attacks last year that they used Google Maps to select their targets and get knowledge about their targets. Hamas has said they were using Google Maps to target children's schools," Anderson told Computerworld. "What my bill does is limit the level of detail. It doesn't stop people from getting directions. We don't need to help bad people map their next target. What is the purpose of showing air ducts and elevator shafts? It does no good."

Google spokeswoman Elaine Filadelfo told Computerworld that the company hopes to talk to Anderson about the proposed legislation.

Privacy complaints have led Google to blur images of official buildings in several instances. The U.S. military banned Google from taking street view images from inside military bases and in 2007 India asked that certain government and military buildings be blurred.

Google Street View blurs faces.

(Credit: Google)

The company also began blurring peoples' faces in its Street View interface on Google Maps last year in response to privacy concerns.

(via Search Engine Land)

No, it's not Atlantis, and it's not an alien seaweed farm either.

(Credit: Google Earth)

Guess this is the kind of tech news people really want to read. There was an overwhelming response to our post about Google denying that its Google Earth ocean-floor mapping software had unearthed the mythical sunken island of Atlantis.

I'm talking dozens of comments, 6,000+ Diggs, and an in-box full of fun messages containing everything from alternate theories to moral support from fellow Lost fans who want to see the show's array of wacky maps explained (blast door, please!). It was great to hear from you all, and thanks for chiming in.

Without a doubt, Google was swamped by even more conspiracy-theory feedback, and ultimately they pulled in Walter Smith of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and David Sandwell of UC San Diego's Scripps Institution of Oceanography, two scientists who helped gather some of the ocean-floor data in Google Earth, to clear it all up in a post on the company's official blog.

"Some have speculated that these are the plow marks of seafloor farming by aliens," the post said of the undersea grid pattern off the coast of northwest Africa that had sparked the speculation. "One theory that's gained more traction is that these marks might be the ruins of the lost city of Atlantis. If that were the case, some of the city blocks would have to be over eight miles long--that's about 50 times the size of a city block in New York City."

The blog post expanded on Google's original explanation of the odd formation: "These marks are what we call 'ship tracks,'" it explained. "You see, it's actually quite hard to measure the depth of the ocean. Sunlight, lasers, and other electromagnetic radiation can travel less than 100 feet below the surface, yet the typical depth in the ocean is more than two and a half miles. Sound waves are more effective. By measuring the time it takes for sound to travel from a ship to the sea floor and back, you can get an idea of how far away the sea floor is. Since this process--known as echosounding--only maps a strip of the sea floor under the ship, the maps it produces often show the path the ship took, hence the 'ship tracks.'"

There are other "ship track" patterns visible on Google Earth ocean maps, Smith and Sandwell added, like one off the coast of Hawaii.

But the post refused to outright deny that Atlantis might yet be found through the use of Google Earth. Google is hoping that the resolution of undersea footage will continue to improve, which will take both money and time. "It's great to have so many sets of eyes looking at the data currently in Google Earth and asking questions about what it represents," the blog post concluded. "We and our fellow oceanographers are constantly improving the resolution of our seafloor maps, so we promise to work with Google to keep the virtual explorers out there busy." In other words: never stop searching.

In bygone centuries there were the likes of Magellan and Columbus and Marco Polo. These days, I suppose, we have Google.