layer

The U.K. government on Thursday launched a Google Earth layer that models what Earth might look like in the event of a significant worldwide rise in temperature.

Specifically, the interactive map visually demonstrates what could happen if carbon emissions are not curbed, and as a result, Earth's temperature rises four degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial worldwide climate average. As a plethora of scientists and politicians have repeatedly stated, an increase in things like drought and agricultural disruption as a result of drought, could lead to instability and violence in some parts of the world.

The free downloadable Four Degrees Celsius layer … Read more

Paint.com provides an excellent set of tools for perfecting digital photographs. While it doesn't do much of anything to separate itself from the competition, its performance and attention to detail prove it belongs at the top of the heap.

The program's interface is impressive for two reasons. First, it offers a large selection of command and design icons, and, secondly, it lays them out in a very intuitive and uncluttered manner. We felt right at home from the start, even though we have little graphic design experience. The program's main function allowed us to apply some … Read more

If all you want is a quick image retouch, Photoshop is overkill. Paint.NET, on the other hand, is an open-source freeware editor with all the essentials, including tools to crop, rotate, and resize images, adjust colors, and create collages. It supports common image formats--JPEG, PNG, GIF, TIFF, and others--but not high-resolution RAW files. There are enough basic and intermediate effects and features to keep image-tweakers happy, including a red-eye removal tool that has seen dramatic improvements. Unlike most free image editors, Paint.NET supports layers, history, and has an actions manager. The pleasing interface boasts semitransparent windows for ease … Read more

Before I get to this week's apps, the folks over at Public Radio Exchange let me know there's a new version of Public Radio Tuner (which I've featured here before). Now called Public Radio Player, this new version has been redesigned from the ground up with a new interface, added station schedule information, and new On Demand radio shows you can stream. Past episodes of This American Life, Fresh Air, and many other popular public radio shows can now be streamed whenever you want to listen.

At the iTunes Store, I noticed a lot of the comments … Read more

Play With Pictures takes one of the most essential image-editing features and expands it into an entire program. It is not a photo editor, at least not in the mold of Photoshop. Play With Pictures takes the cut-and-paste feature and simplifies the process while building out supplementary features for creating online avatars, greetings cards, and other projects that require image mash-ups.

The interface presents a reimagining of the image-editing toolset, gearing users towards projects instead of stand-alone edits. The left nav toolbar even notes the steps needed to take a user from start to finish. Tools are categorized as Start, … Read more

Play With Pictures takes one of the most essential image editing features and expands it into an entire program. It is not a photo editor, at least not in the mold of Photoshop. Play With Pictures takes the cut-and-paste feature and simplifies the process while building out supplementary features for creating online avatars, greetings cards, and other projects that require image mash-ups.

The interface presents a re-imagining of the image editing toolset, gearing users towards projects instead of stand-alone edits. The left nav toolbar even notes the steps needed to take a user from start to finish. Tools are categorized … Read more

Apparently, someone forgot to tell Sun Microsystems CEO Jonathan Schwartz that the market for tech mergers and acquisitions is dead.

On Wednesday, Sun announced that it has acquired Q-layer, a cloud-computing management and automation company (see CNET's coverage here):

Imagine scaling up instantly to massive capacities to meet changing needs. Then imagine doing it on the Web, without having to invest in new infrastructure, train new personnel, or license new software. That's cloud computing, and Sun is making it a reality.

That's Sun's pitch, and it sounds promising. Cloud computing is a great fit with Sun'… Read more

Sun Microsystems announced Wednesday it has acquired Q-layer, a Belgium-based cloud-computing specialist.

Q-layer's technology adds automation to both public and private clouds, allowing companies to simplify the management and deployment of data center applications. Its software will give customers greater flexibility in areas such as servers, storage, and bandwidth, Sun said.

Like many other companies in the tech sector, Sun has been orienting itself to cloud computing, a Web-focused spin on an old concept in which a sizable proportion of data and computing resources are hosted and managed in a central location, away from local machines.

Details of the … Read more

Extended certificate validation for Web sites has boosted online confidence in 2008, according to a statement released Thursday by the Authentication and Online Trust Alliance (AOTA).

This could help online consumers looking for sites to trust on Cyber Monday, the first shopping Monday after Thanksgiving when online purchases are at their peak.

Sites with Extended Validation Certificates (EV) added to Secure Socket Layers (SSL) encryption display their URLs in a green bar in the address field of compatible browsers. This signals to the user that there is increased scrutiny of the Web site. In Firefox 3, a user clicks the … Read more