Lars Rasmussen, a maps engineer at Google, has just published the following item in the Google blog:

Can’t decide between looking at a map of your house or a photo of your house? See both at once with Google Maps’ new Hybrid mode, available in the US, Canada, the UK and Japan.

Be the first to observe this new feature of Google Maps, which was already incorporated into Google Earth about a month ago. It is now all accessible via the server rather than a local installation of gratuitous software.

Spherical desktop – experimental demo

Longhorn beta – recent screenshot

Longhorn has just become Windows Vista (also see BBC and CNN reports).

The new name, which means view, reflects on the main point of emphasis for the operating system, namely looks. As mentioned before, Longhorn/Vista will be little more than Windows XP with new colours and — as more recently seen — will incorporate transparency. It has been pointed out that Longhorn/Vista will look slightly different from XP, but will offer little or no added value in terms of productivity.

One wonders if the change of names is due to the bad reputation and rumours that are accompanied with the word “Longhorn”. The name Longhorn was derived from the name of a pub, which certainly does not add to credibility.

More KDE goodness with the introduction of Plasma (source)

lasma is an exciting project in progress, which will enrich the Linux desktop environment even further. Mac OS X is still ahead of Linux in terms of eye candy, yet KDE is close to catching up with the foreseeable release of KDE 3.5.

Similar items with screenshots: Next Generation of X, Operating Systems Eye Candy

s anybody else familiar the popular TV comedy called “Third Rock from the Sun” (the third planet — namely Earth — in our solar system)? The producers might wish to rename it “Third Sun from the Rock“. Third Rock from the Sun was a favourite television show in my late teen years though it did not equate to some all-time favourites.

Returning to the main subject, the following snippets cover the astronomical story sufficiently well and were delivered by CNN:

Astronomers have detected a planet outside our solar system with not one, but three suns, a finding that challenges astronomers’ theories of planetary formation.

…

If you stood on the planet’s surface, you would see three suns in sky, although its orbit centers around the main yellow star among the trio. The larger of the other two suns would be orange and the smaller would be red…

Fujitsu have introduced the bendable electronic paper. It has plenty of advantages over thin displays in existence:

• No electricity is required for continuous display
• Minimal power consumption when changing screen image
• High-level display performance
• Flexible film substrate

…electronic paper can be conveniently used in conjunction with mobile devices as an easy-to-read and portable display device.

…

Text or images from mobile phones or other mobile devices can be transferred wirelessly to larger displays for easy viewing.

Use in the home can offer more convenient digital-media devices that can be carried from room to room.

Overall, it is a very exciting innovation. On the downside, it makes the dream of a paperless office slip away.

IBM have officially brought to an end their ties with OS/2. They now recommend a migration to Linux and quote dates when ‘the plug will be pulled out’ on OS/2. The article shrewdly states that IBM are unlikely to recommend the same type of switch from Windows to Linux. They recently filed a lawsuit against Microsoft who later paid close to a billion dollars in Windows vouchers. Consequently, IBM kissed, made up and dropped their case. Does that remind anyone of Michael Jackson and bribery?

BIG BLUE has hammered the final nails into OS/2′s coffin. It said that all sales of OS/2 will end on the 23rd of December this year, and support for the pre-emptive multitasking operating system will end on the 31st December 2006.

Bill Gates posing for a teen magazine in 1985
with a Mac at the back, from which he nicked the GUI

istory certainly repeats itself. Microsoft have once again imitated the user interface of the Mac, particularly the eye candy; their beta version clearly reflects on that. This beta was only announced a day or two ago, so the leakage of screenshots was rather quick.

Also worth noticing is the stunning similarity to Windows XP, not to mention the absence of improved essence underneath, namely the three promised pillars, which were conceded due to self-imposed time constraints.