Tuesday, September 04, 2007

Google Flight Simulator Easter Egg

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If you were thinking, "Those guys at Google are going to pack in a secret flight simulator into the new edition of Google Earth," pat yourself on the back, as that is exactly what they have done.Apparently, the latest version of Google Earth has an easter egg: a flight simulator. It's not quite like Microsoft Flight Simulator, but it's a promising start. How to see this feature. Make sure you have Google Earth 4.2. Open the application, click on the globe and then press Ctrl+Alt+A. You should see this dialog that lets you choose one of the two aircrafts (F16 "Viper" and SR22) and an airport. Here's the initial view from London Heathrow Airport: ... and here's a nice view from Kathmandu: To fly, you need to read this list of keyboard shortcuts, but you can also use a mouse or a joystick. "To disable or enable mouse controls, left click (single click on a Mac). Once mouse controls are active, the pointer shape changes to a cross on your screen." Marco Gallotta, who found this feature, has some tricks: "Moving on though, you can get a quick start by holding Page Up for a few seconds to increase to maximum thrust (thrust meter is the left bar of the lower-left meters). Once you've accelerated to a sufficient velocity use the arrow keys to take-off. The keys are in reverse as one would expect with any flight simulator, so use the down arrow to take-off. When you've gained enough altitude then stabalise the aircraft to a straight flight path. It can be rather tricky to get the hang of as the controls are quite sensitive." This easter egg could become a standard feature in the next versions of Google Earth and it will bring even more fun to the application.

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Friday, August 31, 2007

Slim new Creative ZEN shows up on Amazon

While Creative still seems to be holding out until IFA to get official with its latest ZEN PMP, Amazon appears to be under no such restrictions, with it already accepting pre-orders for the slim new player. Looking a fair bit more enticing than many of Creative's recent players, this one is available in 4GB, 8GB, and 16GB varieties, and boasts a 2.5-inch display, along with a built-in FM tuner and voice recorder, and a standard SD slot for expansion. As far as format support goes, you'll be able to load the device up with your choice of MP3, WMA (w/ DRM), AAC, or Audible audio, along with WMV, DivX, Xvid, MJPEG, or TiVo to Go video files. If that's enough to sway you into the Creative camp, you can look for the 4GB, 8GB, and 16GB players to set you back $149, $199, and $299, respectively, with them each apparently set to ship sometime next month. Click on through for a few more pics.

[Via epiZENter.net]

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22-inch iZ3D LCDs are now available just under a grand

Your boring old desktop, now in 3D! Or at least if iZ3D has anything to say about it. The new 22-inch iZ3D widescreen 3D gaming monitor just hit iZ3D's online store for an almost-palatable $999. The displays run off of included S-3D drivers, which are supported by the NVIDIA GeForce 8 Series, and ATI's FireGL V3600 workstation graphics card. There are also DirectX 8 and 9 drivers for XP and Vista, so you should be able to score some sort of 3D content without having to run out and buy new rig. The 3D tech uses passive polarized glasses to create the 3D effect, and feeds off of dual output video cards. The display itself boasts of a 1680 x 1050 resolution, 5ms response time and 600:1 contrast ratio.

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Google is working on a mobile OS, and it's due out shortly

Can it be true? Is the Googlephone nigh at hand? Not that we haven't been hearing this time after time (after time after time, etc.), but we've actually got some hot news from a number of very trustworthy sources about Google's plans for the mobile space. Namely, Google's mobile device platform is well on its way, and will be announced in the very near future. We understand that the "Gphone OS" (our name for it, not theirs) began development after Google's very quiet 2005 acquisition of mobile software company Android, started by Danger cofounder and former-prez / CEO Andy Rubin. At Google, Andy's team has developed a Linux-based mobile device OS (no surprise) which they're currently shopping around to handset makers and carriers on the premise of providing a flexible, customizable system -- with really great Google integration, of course. As for the timeframe on this thing, we keep hearing Google will announce its mobile plans some time post-Labor Day (September 3rd); from what we've heard Google isn't necessarily working on hardware of its own, but is definitely working with OEMs and ODMs to get them to put the Gphone OS on upcoming devices. Think of it more in terms of Windows Mobile or Palm OS (in the early days) -- Google wants to supply the platform, but we don't think they want to sell hardware. Still, don't entirely rule out the idea. Andy Rubin knows how to make a device and put it in peoples' hands, so nothing is impossible on the hardware side. Either way, we're totally stoked to peep the software, we've been waiting for the Googlephone for years on years. Still, we can't help wondering what El Jobso thinks about all this. Apple has been so buddy-buddy with Google lately, especially on the iPhone -- and now Apple's mobile team is on the verge of outright competition with one of its closest partners. We know that's how the industry works, but it's got to sting a little, you know?

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Purdue researchers "perfecting" new hydrogen-generating technology

Those mad scientists at Purdue University seem to think they have something big on their hands, with them now claiming that they're "perfecting" a new hydrogen-generating technology that they first announced earlier this year. According to the researchers, the technology could represent a "pollution-free energy source" for a whole range of applications, with it effectively generating "hydrogen on demand." To do that, the researchers added water to an alloy of aluminum and gallium, which attracts oxygen from the water, letting hydrogen loose in the process. This latest development centers on a new and improved form of the alloy that boasts a higher concentration of aluminum, which apparently allows it to react more rapidly with water to form hydrogen. While the technology is still under " intense investigation," the researchers are planning to detail their findings at the 2nd Energy Nanotechnology International Conference that goes down in Santa Clara, California on September 7th. [Via TG Daily]

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