Jack has been a busy little bee. He’s been playing around with Google SketchUp, and managed to create a fairly decent sketch of my home office.

According to McCall and Associates, “SketchUp is the finest (and most innovative) tool available for anyone designing anything from coffee pots to skyscrapers.” Use it to redecorate a room in your home before spending money on things that end up looking horrible. Create a model of your city for Google Earth. The only limit to what you can create with SketchUp is your own imagination.

You can build models from scratch or download what you need to get started. People all over the world share what they’ve made on the Google 3D Warehouse, and the hope is that you’ll share your creations, as well.

If you’ve made something cool using SketchUp, why not share it with the rest of the community?

Home Office Tour in Google SketchUp

Google Ocean is a fantastic way to live out your dreams under the sea. Launched just weeks ago, the service lets users swim around underwater volcanoes, watch videos about marine life, read about shipwrecks and watch footage of historic ocean expeditions. What no one expected, though, was a discovery of the city Plato once described as being “larger than Libya and Asia put together.” Atlantis was purported to be a city of fabulous wealth, advanced civilization, and natural beauty destroyed by earthquakes and floods.

The discovery of what looks to be a grid of streets is about 620 miles off the coast of north-west Africa near the Canary Islands, and is on the floor of the Atlantic Ocean. The perfect rectangle – approximately the size of Wales – was noticed by an aeronautical engineer who claims it looks just like an aerial map of a city. Atlantis experts said that the unexplained grid is located at one of the possible sites of the legendary island.

What are your thoughts? Could the Lost City finally have been found? Are you using Google Ocean yet?

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The best software will never need to be found with outside tools and specialized services. You simply have to stop by our download center to see what’s new.

Was Atlantis Found via Google Ocean?

Our good friends over at CNET recently had the misfortune of having the screen on their gorgeous Nexus One review unit crack for no apparent reason. The phone was sent to the folks at HTC Support to be tested and looked at. The result was a flippant “We’re as mystified as you are”. The support personnel contend that there is no way the screen could crack in the manner it did while it wasn’t being handled. They were also quick to point out that the device isn’t meant to slip into someone’s pants pockets, as that would surely damage it.

How many of you throw your phone in your pocket or handbag? I am willing to bet about 90% of you have your hand up right now. Do these companies really expect we’re going to gently hold our phone in our hand at all times, babying it as though it were a living being? That is just absurd. We put it in our pocket! Women stuff them in their purses or bags or whatever the heck that contraption is that they carry at all times.

Is it just me, or should a phone be made well enough that it can stand up to being carried in my jeans pocket?! Who’s with me??

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Don’t forget to check out all of the new software deals we’ve posted for you today!

Don’t Put Your Phone in Your Pocket!

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When you look at the paper I’m holding, what do you see? Can you tell it’s the Statue of Liberty? Even when I move the paper all around you cannot tell what it is.. until I drop it in front of my Macbook. You like how that Augmented Reality works?

ARSights allows users to download models from their site and experience them using Augemtned Reality Technology. All you need is an Internet connection, a web cam, the Google Earth plugin and ARSights. It’s so easy to do!

Download and install ARSights. Then, print a pattern called a Marker. Browse the network and pick up the 3D model you prefer. Download the 3D model and run the application… and poof! You’ll be amazed at what you see!

Print your pattern on any normal piece of computer paper. You can make it look like you’re holding the Statue of Liberty in the palm of your hand like I did! Turn it any which way you want. Heck, you can even grab the Eiffle Tower and hold that, as well!

Explore the World right on your desk – with free, cross-platform software! It couldn’t get any better than this.

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Augmented Reality Software

It’s out, but I’m very sad to report that the new version of Google Earth is still calling on Arial as the default Window UI font (not the internal 3D mapping font, which is fine). Why do developers insist on using this instead of Tahoma (or Segoe UI, in the case of Windows Vista)?! Sorry, Google – if this is your first beta of v4.0, you’re already failing miserably in my book.

I posted more about this in tonight’s report, You Live on Google Earth – including stating that this really is a tremendous app that has amazing potential, but I just refuse to look past something as simple as using Arial as the default font in the non-3D experience. At least Google Talk allows you to change the font throughout the entire app!

I am sick and tired of playing the UI heavy around here. Would someone smack the appropriate person over at Google and tell ‘em to get their app act together? It’s great that they’re acquiring great software left-and-right, but it’s not great that they’re not conforming to a single user experience. I’ve given Microsoft hell for this – but they certainly don’t have a monopoly on inconsistent software experiences. I catch hell for stating that Google Earth is still calling on Arial throughout their entire Windows UI (non-nav) – but I’m not going to sit here and say that their software is amazing just because it’s free and it comes from them (Google). It doesn’t look like Google Talk, it doesn’t look like the Google Toolbar, it doesn’t look like Google SketchUp, it doesn’t look like Google Picasa… none of these freakin’ apps look like the other!!! I’d accept that from a startup company, but Google rakes in big bucks and can afford to spend some time on spit and polish. They’re not, and I find that beyond forgivable. I expect better from Google.

New Google Earth Beta