Google’s release of an Oceans layer in the latest version of Google Earth, which we gushed about earlier this morning, includes a considerable quantity of Australian information amongst its 20 marine “content layers”. Highlights include the Great Barrier Reef, which is one of the 11 main “feature oceans”, (so plenty there for coral enthusiasts) and the Point Hicks Marine National Park in Victoria, which shows up in the marine protected areas section. Google Earth
After a weekend spent setting up a new Windows computer, rebooting 147 times, and applying all sorts of hacks to make the system usable, non-stop incarnations of the Blue Screen of Death are a fine reward. Aww shucks, is that for me? The whole experience reminded me that Windows can be seriously annoying, and while we’ve previously written about fixing Windows Vista annoyances, we wanted to throw it out to the readers and see if we can find some of the best solutions to your most common irritations. So let’s have it in the comments: What are your biggest irritations, annoyances and frustrations with Windows?
Our siblings-in-tech over at Gizmodo take a look at Windows 7′s new multitouch capabilities, and from the look of things, it’s on the right track.Granted, there’s not a lot to see in this initial video, but the responsiveness looks good and the onscreen keyboard is quite fetching. We know that not all that many people actually own and use a touchscreen PC (in the video you’re looking at an HP TouchSmart), but who knows—this kind of more advanced functionality may be just want the touchscreen needs to take off. Head over to the Gizmodo post for a more detailed look at how the multitouch features work.
Windows 7 Touch and Multitouch Video Walkthrough [Gizmodo]YourFonts is a web-based service that turns your handwriting into a TrueType font for free. If you have a printer and scanner, nothing can stand between you and the awesomeness of your own script. We’ve covered a similar service before, but the handwriting-to-font process at Fontifier costs $US9 per font you create. YourFonts has a software package for making personalised fonts that runs $US49, but the web-based tool is entirely free. The process is straightforward: download the provided PDF template, print it out, and fill in each number and letter blank with your own hand writing. When you’re done you upload the template back to YourFonts, preview it to make sure it looks like your own calligraphic gift to the world, and then download it as a monitor-friendly font. Additionally you can use the service without actually printing the PDF out and using a scanner—if you’ve ever wanted to create your own set of crazy wingdings, you can load up the PDF in an editing application like Adobe Illustrator and fill in the font-grid with anything you wish—hand writing or otherwise.
MyFonts [via Cool Tools]Windows/Mac/Linux: Google’s 3D mapping application Google Earth has just released version 5.0, adding historical imagery, maps of the ocean’s floor, and even better features for touring the world from your desktop. The demo video pretty much says it all. The historic imagery lets you go back in time to see how the location you’re viewing has changed over the years. For the cubicle-based deep sea explorers, the new ocean features integrate maps of the ocean’s floor along with videos from National Geographic with Google Earth. Finally, if you’ve ever wanted to record a custom tour, a new record feature makes it easy to create and save tours of the globe. Looking good, GOOG.
Google Earth [via Google LatLong]File-syncing service Syncplicity—which recently added invite-only support for Macs—is now open for all users on both platforms. To get started, just head to the Syncplicity signup page, then grab the download. Syncplicity was voted one of the second most popular file-syncing tool by Lifehacker readers, so if you haven’t already taken it on a test run, it’s worth a try.
Mac OS X (Leopard) only: Virtual desktop enhancement utility SpaceSuit assigns separate wallpaper images for each Spaces virtual desktop so you can distinguish between desktops at a glance. Once installed, using the application is as simple as switching to a virtual desktop and dragging a wallpaper image onto the SpaceSuit icon in the dock, repeating again for each virtual desktop. The application doesn’t replace your current wallpaper, but adds a new layer over top—meaning that SpaceSuit needs to be running and added to your startup items if you want multiple wallpapers. SpaceSuit is a free download for OS X Leopard users only. Hit the link for the download or take a look at the Switching to Mac tutorial for the full walkthrough.
SpaceSuit [via Switching to Mac]The Super Bowl is still essentially a US cultural experience, but so many millions of dollars are spent on the ads during the game that they often become an online talking point even for people (like me) who couldn’t tell you who was playing (or what they were playing). Take a look at some places you can catch up, in case one of them is blocked at work.
