WorldView Puts Webcams In Your Pocket

Written by admin | No Comments

Last Updated: November 19th, 2008

WorldView puts global webcams in your pocket, in a really lovely little free app. What’s lovely about it isn’t the webcam shots themselves - frankly, once you’ve seen one blurry shot of the Eiffel Tower in the rain, you’ve seen ‘em all - but it’s the little extras alongside the images. The developers at Buzzworks have [...]

WorldView puts global webcams in your pocket, in a really lovely little free app.

What’s lovely about it isn’t the webcam shots themselves - frankly, once you’ve seen one blurry shot of the Eiffel Tower in the rain, you’ve seen ‘em all - but it’s the little extras alongside the images.

The developers at Buzzworks have thought to let you do stuff with each webcam view. Save the image to your Camera Roll (hmm, what fun could you have with that by using it in other photography apps, I wonder?), or even better, show a map of the webcam’s position.

This feature is great, it really brings together the photography and the geography. The map opens within WorldView, but there’s a button that opens the same map in the built-in Maps application if you want to explore further.

Like I said: lovely.

Intel Not Taking Any Chances with Core i7
Image: http://www.macrumors.com/images/macrumorsthreadlogo.gif (http://www.macrumors.com/2008/11/17/intel-not-taking-any-chances-with-core-i7/) NY Times reports (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/17/technology/companies/17chip.html) on Intel’s extensive testing of the Core i7 (Nehalem) processors which officially launched today. The company has invested over $500 million annually to test these chips in an effort to avoid any show-stopping bugs. This cautious attitude comes from experience for Intel who recalled their Pentium chips (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pentium_FDIV_bug) in 1994 after a widely publicized bug in its floating point calculation unit. —Quote— After the Pentium flaw, Intel also fundamentally rethought the way it designed its processors, trying to increase the chance that its chips would be error-free even before testing. During the late 1990s it turned to a group of mathematical theoreticians in the computer science field who had developed advanced techniques for evaluating hardware and software, known as formal methods. —End Quote— Even with such testing, Intel says it would be impossible to evaluate every possible scenario. As an additional safety net, Intel has included software in the Nehalem chips which can be changed after they ship. Apple is expected to eventually adopt versions of Intel’s Core i7 in future Macs. Article Link: Intel Not Taking Any Chances with Core i7 (http://www.macrumors.com/2008/11/17/intel-not-taking-any-chances-with-core-i7/)

NY Times reports on Intel’s extensive testing of the Core i7 (Nehalem) processors which officially launched today. The company has invested over $500 million annually to test these chips in an effort to avoid any show-stopping bugs.

This cautious attitude comes from experience for Intel who recalled their Pentium chips in 1994 after a widely publicized bug in its floating point calculation unit.

Quote:

After the Pentium flaw, Intel also fundamentally rethought the way it designed its processors, trying to increase the chance that its chips would be error-free even before testing. During the late 1990s it turned to a group of mathematical theoreticians in the computer science field who had developed advanced techniques for evaluating hardware and software, known as formal methods.

Even with such testing, Intel says it would be impossible to evaluate every possible scenario. As an additional safety net, Intel has included software in the Nehalem chips which can be changed after they ship.

Apple is expected to eventually adopt versions of Intel’s Core i7 in future Macs.

Article Link: Intel Not Taking Any Chances with Core i7

Judge moves to kill PsyStar’s countersuit

Upstart Florida-based Mac clone maker has until Dec 8 to amend their claim, but the wording of the preliminary ruling from the bench indicates their chances are looking slim nevertheless. In fact, the words “road kill” come to mind.

AppleInsider reports that Judge William Alsup has rejected the basis for Psystar’s counter suit [...]

Google Earth for iPhone is a Trip

Google introduced Earth for the iPhone and iPod touch today with a free version of the fascinating desktop program that literally puts the whole world in your hands. I’ve spent a good portion of the morning playing around with it and am pleased to report the satellite imagery and 3D terrain effects are quite amazing. Earth [...]

Earth makes impressive use of touch screen technology and Apple’s accelerometer, letting you spin the globe with a swipe of your finger and literally tilt your view to the curvature of the earth to see the terrain of whatever place you’re visiting. The application has a ton of information and labeling built in, with links to over 8 million Panoramio photographs and Wikipedia articles you can read within Earth or jump to in Safari.

Google’s handy two minute video linked above explains the app pretty well, and there’s additional information at the Google Earth and Maps Team blog.

I’ve also posted below a gallery of screenshots from my journey this morning. Based on my initial experience, I’d say Google Earth is likely to become a popular time wasting app in a hurry.