It appears Microsoft has an answer to Google Earth with Virtual Earth. Virtual Earth claims to work inside the browser, but requires ActiveX, so it’ll only work inside IE6 or IE7. Plus it requires you to download and install a plug-in, which makes it rather similar to an extra download like Google Earth. I will say that by incorporating Virtual Earth with Local Live, it becomes a lot more useful when I’m searching for maps in that area and want to see the 3D surroundings. Sort of like you don’t really care about aerial view, but it’s pretty neat that you can swap quickly between road maps and aerial view or even a hybrid when searching for directions. There’s a blog entry and a video that shows you how neat Virtual Earth can be.
Some more references:
Microsoft Releases Virtual Earth 3D (Beta) – contains screenshots of it
Virtual Earth 3-D – CBS news video
Microsoft Virtual Earth preview – CNET video
Random Crap:
Most Indian men want virgin brides: poll – Nearly two-thirds of young Indian men expect the woman they marry to be a virgin, but nearly half have had sex with prostitutes, according to a poll.
PRE-SCHOOL POLITICAL AD (from Cari) – This is a campaign ad for a pre-school class president race in Iowa. I thought it was a parody, but I guess it wasn’t.
Ky. officer shoots himself while driving – A Kentucky police officer trying to unload his gun accidentally shot himself while driving on an Indiana highway, police said. Reminds of of the video of where the DEA Agent accidentally shoots his own foot.
Pot users relying on home delivery – Among the legions of home delivery customers is Chris, a 37-year-old salesman in Manhattan. He dials a pager number and gets a return call from a cheery dispatcher who takes his order for potent strains of marijuana. Within a couple of hours, a well-groomed delivery man — sometimes a moonlighting actor or chef — arrives at the doorstep of his Manhattan apartment carrying weed neatly packaged in small plastic containers. Now, that’s what I call service! Though the price of $60 for 2g of marijuana seems a bit steep.
China families sue hospital for baby mix-up – Two Chinese families are suing a hospital 15 years after they took home the wrong newborn babies, state media reported on Tuesday. A very interesting question is now what? Are they going to swap kids, or keep their existing one. Chinese people are very concern about their bloodline, especially if it’s a son. It’d be interesting to see how this turns out.
Jet-lagged mice die young, U.S. study finds – Jet-lagged mice die younger, researchers said on Monday in a study that suggests that working unusual shifts and flying back and forth across time zones takes a permanent toll on health. Tests on more than 100 mice showed that old mice forced to live on a confusing schedules of light and darkness, simulating rotating shifts or international travel, died sooner than those on gentler schedules. Interesting… I wonder with me being nocturnal, would it have a toll on my health…
Bush owes troops an apology, not Kerry (from FuzzyWuzzy) – another great criticism on President Bush. Turns out he’s going to be president for not just 1 more year, but 2. I always thought when it said 2000 election, it meant the election was held on Nov. 1999 and the new president starts on 2000. Turns out both years need to be ++.