Last week I went for a long day drive in an relatively unfamiliar area and wanted to find a good place to have breakfast. In my planning stage I turned to Google Earth. (Do not confuse with Google Maps . . . not the same!) http://earth.google.com/ Google Earth is a free program you must download onto your computer in order to use. It is simply amazing what GE can do. (hint: learn to turn on "Layers" and "terrain" and tilt the image for a pseudo 3D effect). Under "Layers" on the left side is a check box for "Featured Content" . . . and under Featured Content are also check boxes for items like National Geographic - NASA - Discovery Networks - etc. One of the check boxes is for Yelp! http://www.yelp.com/ But, unlike using the Yelp web site - Yelp on Google Earth will highlight the location of a Yelped sites as you zoom in to an area or city. I used this for planning a long day trip last week. I found an absolutely wonderful place for breakfast that I would have not otherwise found. This feature alone is worth downloading GE . . . but there are many other features to discover. What have you found cool about Google Earth?
I have made iGoogle my homepage. They have a gadget called "Google Earth Hacks." Every so often they have little trivial things. Yesterday I saw NEEDLES on the roof of a barn. Someone has apparently painted the word "NEEDLES" on the roof of their barn. You can find more GoogleEarth fun stuff here: http://feeds.feedburner.com/GoogleEarthHacks
