SkyMap
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Google Sky Map boldly explores open source galaxy
Via its Research Blog, Google has announced the donation of the Sky Map project to the open source community. Originally developed by Googlers during their "20% time," the stellar application was launched in 2009 to showcase the sensors in first generation Android handsets. Four years and over 20 million downloads later, Sky Map's code will be donated to the people -- with Carnegie Mellon University taking the reins on further development through "a series of student projects." Hit the source link for the official announcement and a bit of nostalgia from Google.
Microsoft's Kinect navigates the universe thanks to Windows SDK (video)
Microsoft's WorldWide Telescope -- a collaboration with NASA that explores high-resolution photos and 3D renders of the cosmos -- was already pretty cool, but Redmond upped the ante to incredible with the addition of a Kinect depth camera at MIX 11. Using a piece of software created with the company's upcoming Kinect SDK for Windows, Microsoft gave us a virtual tour of Earth and the surrounding stars, guided by a deep-voiced narrator holding the whole world in his hands. Of course, you'd already know that if you watched the video above, so what are you waiting for? Oh, and we've got more MIX video on the way, so stay tuned. Myriam Joire contributed to this report.
Microsoft's WorldWide Telescope updated with better views of Mars, night sky
We haven't heard a ton about Microsoft's WorldWide Telescope project since it launched in beta form back in 2008, but the company has been busy working with NASA to improve it since then, and it's now finally showing off the results. That includes a new true-color map of Mars complete with 3D renderings of the planet's surface, and a new and improved spherical view of the night sky that virtually eliminates the seams between images -- it's also, incidentally, the world's largest map of its type, and Microsoft says it would take 50,000 HDTVs to view at full size. Of course, it's still pretty impressive viewed one tiny speck at a time -- hit up the link below to download the Windows application or check out the web-based viewer.
