Globe
Latest
Google Maps now zooms out to a globe instead of a flat Earth
Google is finished thinking two-dimensionally with Maps and now shows the Earth as a globe rather than a flat "Mercator" projection as before. You won't notice the change when you first open the app, but if you zoom out far enough, you'll eventually get a moon's-eye view of our world. That means you'll see the world in a more realistic way: "With 3D Globe Mode on Google Maps desktop, Greenland's projection is no longer the size of Africa," Google Maps said on Twitter.
Performances from Shakespeare's Globe Theatre are available online
If you don't have the cash or time to visit the recreated Globe Theatre and see Shakespeare's plays performed in a near-original setting, you'll at least have access to the next best thing. The playhouse has just launched Globe Player, a store that lets you pay to watch full Shakespearean performances anywhere in the world. You can rent videos for a week (typically £4, or about $6) if you're content to stream through the web; if you just have to keep that copy of Twelfth Night for posterity, buying the video (£8/$13) gives you a download that you can transfer to many modern devices. While the catalog is still thin at present (what, no Titus Andronicus?), there are quite a few classics to get you started. This won't compare to the full experience of seeing two hours' traffic on the stage, but it should do a good job of bringing those Elizabethan era verses to life.
Google Free Zone comes to the Philippines: access Google+, Gmail and Google Search without charge
Luckily for some, Google has thing for dishing out free internet, which is probably why it's teamed up with Filipino carrier Globe to test out complimentary access to its services. Available now, Free Zone allows any internet-enabled phone to access Gmail, Google+ or Google Search without even having a data plan. Intended mainly for feature phones, you can even load up pages from those search results without paying a dime -- or should we say, peso. There's no usage cap, but clicking through to subsequent pages, accessing Gmail attachments, or opening links from within Google+ will incur charges, but you'll be prompted to accept them or sign up for a plan before that happens. The Philippines is the first market to try out Free Zone, but the wider scheme is "aimed at the next billion users of the internet, many of whom will be in emerging markets." Yeah, the catch is that you'll be exposed to some advertising while you're using it -- but there's no such thing as a free search, right? Update: Actually, there is such a thing as a free search. Google has been in touch to let us know that "Free Zone doesn't serve any ads." Bonus!
Visualized: Google searches around the globe
You've already seen Android activations mapped around the globe over time, now how about some Google search volumes? Using WebGL and different color crayons for each language, the coders at Mountain View have put together the above Search Globe, which presents a single day's worth of Google queries in a beautiful, skyscraper-infused visualization. Jacking yourself into the source link below (your browser can handle WebGL, right?) will let you twist and turn the model world for a closer exploration of global Google use. And if you get tired of that, there's an alternative map showing world populations over 1990s -- that's available at the second link.
The Road to Mordor: Figgy pudding
For those of us who celebrate the holidays, right now is an insanely busy time of the year. There are presents to be wrapped, eggnog to be nogged, and looks of annoyance to be thrown at the radio when the music station decides to play that Do They Know It's Christmas? song for the sixth time that hour. It also means that winter holidays are hitting most major MMOs, including our beloved Lord of the Rings Online. This year, the Yule Festival is marked by the addition of a whole new area -- Winter-home -- and players are already neck-deep in the quests, snowball fights and theatrical hilarity. Turbine's done a spectacular job this year infusing a lot more life and fun into the festivals, from the shrew stomping this past spring to the Haunted Burrow this fall. Winter-home is, in many ways, a perfect capstone to a terrific year for the game, and it's a pretty enjoyable event from what I've seen so far. So grab that cute Hobbit or Dwarf and join me as we travel to the merriment of Winter-home this week!
Glass globe doorknob gives you a view of what lies beyond... the door
Got more curiosity than energy to open doors? Then you'll want to get yourself one of these fisheyed globe doorknobs from designer Hideyuki Nakayama. The idea is resoundingly simple, the globe on your end of the door provides a wide-angle view of what's on the other side, which is achieved by collecting and reflecting light soaked up by another globe on the other end. So yes, privacy might be a tiny bit compromised with these door handles, but the fun coefficient should be through the roof.
Boston.com launches Big Picture iPad app, where it finally feels at home
No shame in saying it -- we're huge, huge fans of Boston's 'Big Picture' blog. Regardless of the subject matter, the photographs gathered there never fail to speak to something a little deeper within our souls, and now viewing them just because a wee bit easier. The portal has today launched a new version of their 'Big Picture' app that's fully compatible with the iPad, enabling Apple tablet owners to see new photographic essays on Monday, Wednesday and Friday each week. Unfortunately, the app costs $2.99 (where it's free to surf on over to the website), and the current crop of reviews are less than glowing. Might we suggest waiting a tick to see if those early issues are ironed out in a subsequent release?
Globe DS: a big blue marble of learning
Everyone loves the Wii Forecast Channel. It's funny, because the most entertaining thing to do is spin the world really fast, randomly stop on a location and promise yourself that you will travel there. After that, you realize that you are dirt poor, you can't travel overseas because of those threatening references you made to the UN, and all your assets have been seized by the state. Sure, you did have that promising career in waste management lined up, but it's too late to do anything about that now!... Ahem. So, there's a globe thing coming to the DS now. It's not an instant-weather application or anything, but rather a detailed map of various worldy data. In Earth mode, you can check out specific information for each country, including climate, population and economic details. In History mode, you can touch a region to learn about how it has evolved over time -- evidently dating back to 3100BC. Finally, the Card mode lets you collect approximately 500 cards which have various puzzles and questions to answer. Obviously, the whole thing is in Japanese, but localization wouldn't be too much of a stretch considering the wealth of "edutainment" titles we see on the DS these days.
CodeMorphic offers global view toolkit for iPhone devs
CodeMorphic is offering a toolkit for iPhone app developers to display data using a real-time, manipulable globe. They posted a video on their site, showing a possible application that displays composite satellite imagery, global temperatures, and a day/night terminator. Users can use standard multitouch gestures to zoom in and out, too. The video just scratches the surface of what kind of data display apps are possible with the new iPhone SDK.
