MapMachine

Satellite, street maps and more in this online atlas.

Atlas

View
Your eye in the sky for road maps, satelite imagery, or a combination of both.
Control
Navigate the globe like a classic explorer with tools as easy as click and drag.
Search
Find what your looking for, from parking near the big game, to that little restauraunt in Italy.
Route
Plot the best way from A to B, updated with the latest road construction details.
Share
Email directions or your favorite locations to your family and friends.

Scientists setting dollar value for ecosystem

A scientific model will answer questions like 'what is a honeybee worth?' and measure the economic costs and benefits of ecosystems to human life, Canadian and US scientists said.

Half of the oxygen we breathe comes from Phytoplankton

When we think about Earth’s sources of oxygen, we usually think of vast forests such as the Amazon, but about half of the oxygen we breathe comes from elsewhere; it’s produced by phytoplankton. Phytoplankton are tiny, single-celled plants that live in the ocean, and they serve as the base of the oceanic food chain. Yet as important as phytoplankton are to life on Earth, their interaction with our planet has only recently been studied on a global scale.

Top ten energy food

A hectic lifestyle makes it easy to skip a meal or just grab less-than-nutritious food on the run. But a busy day doesn’t have to stand in the way of great health. A multivitamin is great insurance for days when you do miss a meal or two, but real food should always be your primary source of nutrients. Keep these 10 foods on hand at all times, and you'll be able to whip up a delicious meal or snack that will keep your energy up and your immune system strong.

A trip to North Korea

Very interesting. Must see!

The Cat Who Scared The Bear

The 10 Greatest Countries in the History of the World

The ignorance of history ...

'You've got to find what you love,' Jobs says

Police act on German file-sharing

Police in Germany have charged 3,500 users of a file-sharing network in the biggest single action against the illegal distribution of music online.

The truth about global warming - it's the Sun that's to blame

Global warming has finally been explained: the Earth is getting hotter because the Sun is burning more brightly than at any time during the past 1,000 years, according to new research.

Risking a life term to protect a child

Convicted burglar turns over sex-crime evidence from stolen property.

Deep Sea Species

Camera basics: shutter-speed, aperture and ISO

Last chromosome in human genome sequenced

Scientists have reached a landmark point in one of the world's most important scientific projects by sequencing the last chromosome in the Human Genome, the so-called "book of life."
Chromosome 1 contains nearly twice as many genes as the average chromosome and makes up eight percent of the human genetic code.
It is packed with 3,141 genes and linked to 350 illnesses including cancer, Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease.

30 GB Holographic Card for Less than $1

How to rebuild a Li-Ion battery pack

Did you recently notice poor performance of your notebook Li-Ion battery?. Don't be taken aback, this is happening even to the best battery! Now days Li-Ion batteries are widely used in portable devices due to there excellent energy to weight ratio and for the reason they are not suffering from "memory effect".

These two reasons make them the best choice on portable devices, but not suffering from "memory effect" doesn't mean it will last for ever! Chemical conversions inside the battery make it to produce electric energy but these chemical reactions aim to attenuate as time and charge cycles pass over.

When the battery life drops significantly it's time to search for a replacement, but you will recently find out that most of notebook batteries cost almost 1/3 to 1/2 the price of the laptop at the time you will need to replace the battery. So if you want to keep your laptop but don't want to spend much money for battery replacement it's time to think about rebuild it your own, replacing each individual cell inside the pack.

Killer phrase will fill your PC with spam

There is one phrase which, if you type into any search engine will expose your PC to shed-loads of spam, according to a new report.

Ethanol explained

Most people know that it comes from crops and that it's been around for a while. But advertisements touting ethanol, sponsored by General Motors and others, leave out a lot of the basics.

Cure for cancer worth $50 trillion

A new study, to be published in a forthcoming issue of the Journal of Political Economy, calculates the prospective gains that could be obtained from further progress against major diseases. Kevin M. Murphy and Robert H. Topel, two University of Chicago researchers, estimate that even modest advancements against major diseases would have a significant impact—a 1 percent reduction in mortality from cancer has a value to Americans of nearly $500 billion. A cure for cancer would be worth about $50 trillion.

The biggest military computer hack of all time

Gary McKinnon has been accused of committing the 'biggest military computer hack of all time', and if extradited to the US faces up to 70 years in jail. So how did this techno geek from north London end up cracking open the Pentagon and Nasa's systems?

A Russian Colonel story that prevents Word War III

Lieutenant Colonel Stanislav Petrov was the officer on duty at the Serpukhov-15 bunker near Moscow on September 26, 1983, a time when the Cold War was at a peak: just three and a half weeks prior, the Soviets had shot down Korean Air Flight 007, killing all 269 people on board the Boeing 747. It was Lt. Col. Petrov's responsibility to observe the satellite early warning network and notify his superiors of any impending nuclear missile attack against the USSR. In the event of such an attack, the Soviet Union's strategy was to launch an immediate all-out nuclear counter-attack against the United States, as the doctrine of Mutual Assured Destruction required.

Routers: Pictures of the Year 2005

The French deputies legalize the exchanges of files

The deputies adopted against any waiting Wednesday evening of the amendments legalizing the exchanges of files on Internet via the system "peer to peer" (P2P) at the time of the discussion of the bill on the royalty.
English translation from French

Astronomers Use Laser to Take Clearest Images of the Center of the Milky Way

The center of our Milky Way galaxy, as seen in the infrared using the Keck Laser Guide Star (left panel) and the Keck Natural Guide Star (right). The white cross marks the location of the supermassive black hole.

Britain will be first country to monitor every car journey

Britain is to become the first country in the world where the movements of all vehicles on the roads are recorded. A new national surveillance system will hold the records for at least two years.

Using a network of cameras that can automatically read every passing number plate, the plan is to build a huge database of vehicle movements so that the police and security services can analyse any journey a driver has made over several years.

Mobile Gaming Technology Brings Pacman to Life

Researchers in the Department of Communication Systems (Lancaster University), based in InfoLab21, have been developing a new game which can be played by up to five players on mobile phones.

Amazing Animals

Encrypt Decrypt messages using Enigma Machine!

Google fun!

ATHENS VIRTUAL 360°TOUR

Goodyear and Novamont Present BioTRED Tires

Newfound Greek Site is Really Ancient

Archaeologists in northern Greece have uncovered traces of two prehistoric farming settlements dating back as early as 6,000 B.C., the Culture Ministry said Monday.

Quality Open Source for Windows

TheOpenCD is a collection of high quality Free and Open Source Software. The programs run in Windows and cover the most common tasks such as word processing, presentations, e-mail, web browsing, web design, and image manipulation. We include only the highest quality programs, which have been carefully tested for stability and which we consider appropriate for a wide audience.

EvilLyrics - Lyrics search tool

EvilLyrics is a free lyrics fetching program designed for use with most popular music players (iTunes, Winamp, WMP, etc.).

PVM (Parallel Virtual Machine)

PVM (Parallel Virtual Machine) is a software package that permits a heterogeneous collection of Unix and/or Windows computers hooked together by a network to be used as a single large parallel computer. Thus large computational problems can be solved more cost effectively by using the aggregate power and memory of many computers. The software is very portable. The source, which is available free thru netlib, has been compiled on everything from laptops to CRAYs.

Windows Live Safety Center

Windows Live Safety Center is a new, free service designed to help ensure the health of your PC.

Google requires user to enter 'minge'

Scientists drill world's smallest hole

Researchers at Cardiff University's Manufacturing Engineering Centre have managed to drill holes in steel as small as 22 microns (0.022 mm) in diameter using a electro-discharge machining (EDM) process, and reckon they could be the smallest ever achieved.

Firefox 1.5 Final is out

Macrovision wants DVD Decrypter pulled from AfterDawn server

U.S. Wants to Peer Into Phone Service Networks

The federal government wants to peer into your computer communications, forcing companies that provide high-speed access or Internet-based telephone service to design -- or redesign -- their networks to accommodate surveillance....

300GB disc set to challenge DVD

A computer disc about the size of a DVD that can hold 60 times more data will go on sale in 2006, according to its American developer InPhase Technologies, a Lucent spin off.

The top 10 hacks of all time

Dos Games Heaven

Textbook Revolution, the web’s source for free educational materials.

Saturn Surprise: One Ring is Actually a Spiral

Eye Movement and Direction and How it Can Reveal the Truth or a Lie

Can the direction a person's eyes are looking reveal whether or not they are making a truthful statement? Short answer: sort of. But, it isn't as simple as some recent television shows or movies make it seem. In these shows a detective will deduce a person is being untruthful simply because they looked to the left or right while making a statement....

Can You Spot The Phish Attack?

Knowing the difference between a legitimate e-mail and a scammed phishing e-mail is not always as easy as one would think.

According to data from e-mail security firm MailFrontier, only 4 percent of users can spot a phished e-mail 100 percent of the time. That's a very sobering thought as the holiday season is upon us and Americans flock online for their shopping needs....

Everyone’s eyes are wired differently

The first images ever made of retinas in living people reveal surprising variation from one person to the next. Yet somehow our perceptions don't vary as might be expected....