New Toshiba Screen Lets You Bend to Zoom in Google Earth [Flexible Display]

Toshiba is showing off a novel user input case for its flexible LCD screen: you can physically bend the screen to zoom in or out in Google Earth. Shown off at the Society for Information Display 2010 Conference, the bend sensor in the display changes resistance values as the screen is flexed.
The 8.4-inch LCD panel is only 0.1 mm thick and displays at an SVGA resolution of 800 x 600 pixels. Custom software from Toshiba handles the translation between changes in the bend sensor’s resistance values and the level of zoom in the aerial Google Earth display.
It’s a surprisingly simple gesture that looks awfully intuitive. Check out a video of the flexible display in action below and let us know what you think. Do you want to see consumer devices begin to incorporate flexible displays?




[Mashable via Engadget]

Google Earth helps discover rare hominid ancestor in South Africa [Hominid]

Today, scientists announced a new hominid fossil discovery in the Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site in South Africa. The discovery is one of the most significant palaeoanthropological discoveries in recent times, revealing at least two partial hominid skeletons in remarkable condition, dating to between 1.78 and 1.95 million years. We are especially excited because Google Earth played a role in its discovery.

So how did this come about? Back in March 2008, Professor Lee Berger from Witswatersrand University in Johannesburg started to use Google Earth to map various known caves and fossil deposits identified by him and his colleagues over the past several decades, as it seemed the ideal platform by which to share information with other scientists. In addition, he also used Google Earth to locate new fossil deposits by learning to identify what cave sites looked like in satellite images.


At the beginning of this project, there were approximately 130 known cave sites in the region and around 20 fossil deposits. With the help of the navigation facility and high-resolution satellite imagery in Google Earth, Professor Berger went on to find almost 500 previously unidentified caves and fossil sites, even though the area is one of the most explored in Africa. One of these fossil sites yielded the remarkable discovery of a new species, Australopithecus sediba. This species was an upright walker that shared many physical traits with the earliest known species of the genus homo — and its introduction into the fossil record might answer some key questions about our earliest ancestry in Africa.

We’re absolutely thrilled about this announcement, and delighted that our free mapping tools such as Google Earth and Google Maps continue to enable both individuals and distinguished scientists to explore and learn about their world. With these tools, places both foreign and familiar can be explored with the click of a mouse, allowing for new understandings of geography, topology, urbanism, development, architecture and the environment. Our efforts to organize the world’s geographic information are ongoing — but at the end of the day, seeing the way these tools are put to use is what most inspires us.



Posted by Michael Jones, Chief Technology Advocate

[Official Google Blog]

Google Earth Comes to Audi A8 [Maps]

Yes, plenty of cars have built-in GPS navigation. But up until now, no car had Google Earth integrated, but now Audi has remedied that with their new luxury car, the Audi A8.

Snugged right into the LCD screen in the car, the Google Earth application will let lucky owners look at 3D satellite imagery, terrain information, and even additional info layers such as Wikipedia articles or Panoramio images related to a certain location.

A8’s system will also feature Google Maps and Local Search, plus the ability to link it all with your desktop computer. To save time, you can simply search for an address on your computer and send it to the car; when you start driving, the car will know where to go.




However, if you’re not familiar with German manufacturer’s luxury cars, lets just say that only those with the deepest pockets will be buying one. The rest of us will have to make do with an iPhone stand and the Google Earth mobile app.

[Mashable]

Google Earth Will Track Cars and People In Real Time [Google Earth]

This is one of the awesomestest and scariestest technology demonstrations I've seen in a long while: Georgia Institute of Technology's students are using CCTV video to map actual vehicles and people into Google Earth. Why is this scary?
Right now, all the data displayed is anonymous, which makes up for a cool looking technology. You could see a football game in real time or the actual traffic in your route to work. Eventually, you will be able to see clouds moving, the weather changing, and even birds move in real time.
Now, put on your tin foil hat and imagine.
Imagine that someone is able to tag you in some way. In theory, it could be as easy as having access to one of the CCTV cameras and this system. You mark a car on the screen and, provided that you have enough cameras along the way, the technology would be able to follow the vehicle wherever it goes. In England, for example, this will be really easy to do, because there are CCTV cameras absolutely everywhere. And let's not talk about RFID tags.
Of course, I'm sure that no government agency will be interested in using this for controlling someone's movements. Why would they?
Now, excuse me while I go pack and move to an island in the Maldives.
[Gizmodo via PopSci]