ocean

SAN FRANCISCO--For Graham Hawkes, the inventor of an entirely new class of deep-sea submersibles, a reporter's question on Wednesday--What kind of fish inspired his new flying craft?--was the perfect opportunity to vent about one of his chief frustrations with science.

"The thousands we don't know of," Hawkes answered, adding that when a world-class ichthyologist friend of his had said he'd never before seen many of the different species of fish they'd passed by while flying far underwater in one of his vessels, "I go, 'yeehah.'"

On Wednesday, Hawkes, his business partner … Read more

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 … Read more

Google is officially denying widespread Internet rumors that its Google Earth software located the mythical sunken city of Atlantis off the coast of Africa. Either that, or Google is totally trying to hide something. Since I always appreciate a nice juicy conspiracy theory, I'm going to go with the latter.

From what it sounds like, a British aeronautical engineer was playing around with the new Google Earth 5.0, which includes undersea data, and noticed something funny off the coast of Africa, about 600 miles west of the Canary Islands, that resembled a pattern of a street grid. According to the United Kingdom's Press Association, … Read more

We reviewed the Helio Ocean 2 at the beginning of the month, but today is the day when you can finally go out and get your hands on one. Yes, the Helio Ocean 2 officially launched today on Helio's Web site (which is run by Virgin Mobile now). Just some of the goodies in the new Helio Ocean 2 include an optical touch sensor pad, an improved keyboard, a tabbed HTML browser, plenty of e-mail and messaging options, and support for Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync. You can read about all that and more in our Helio Ocean 2 review, and … Read more

Google Earth 5's big new features include the other final frontier, the 20th century, and the Red Planet.

For Windows and Mac, Google Earth 5 maps the ocean, explores the past with historical maps, and shows you there's more to Mars than red dust. Check it all out in this First Look video.

Google Earth is adding an ocean feature, allowing people to dive into the deep blue right from their desktop, CBS News Correspondent Daniel Sieberg reports.

John Hanke, director of Google Earth and Maps, said, "Vast parts of it are largely unexplored and we don't really know what's down there."

While the visibility in the water has been cleaned up, everything you see is based on actual data. It's not quite swimming with the fishes, but it will let you see where they live.

Hanke showed Sieberg some impressive images that can be found with the … Read more

Google Earth upped the cartographic ante again today with Google Earth 5 for Windows and Mac. As CNET News reported back in April 2008, the latest version incorporates even more data from NASA, the BBC, National Geographic, and other proprietary sources to create one of the most unique map offerings ever, meshing comprehensive real-time data on Earth's surface with information on the oceans, the stars that we see, historical maps, and topographical information on Mars.

Conceptually, the oceanic maps are great. It is beyond cool to be able to see ocean-related points of interest like shipwrecks, and have cross-referenced … Read more

SAN FRANCISCO--The fact that you now can explore the ocean through Google Earth isn't going to make Google much money directly. But the move is nonetheless smart.

Google generated early-stage goodwill from being the best answer to the online search problem. But the company is large and getting larger, especially as it shows a better ability to withstand the recession than rivals, and that goodwill won't last forever.

Google Earth, though, gives the company a new way to bring its brand to the world, notably with students for whom the software will help supplant atlases and encyclopedias. And … Read more