According to SearchEngineWatch, apparently freeing KeyHole Hi-Res satellite imagery wasn’t enough. Now Google has launched Google Earth, which includes features from Google Local and Google Maps in a smooth, slick interface. At 10MB+, it’s way smaller than I tought (WorldWind goes for a whopping 180 MB) . The basic version is free as in beer, and there’s also a US$20/yr subscription for an enhanced version that supports GPS integration and annotation tools. There’s also a plugin directory that looks… unsettling. In general, it looks good, but as I’ve always suspected Mexico City is still a shapeless blur. Would someone please, please build a functional online Mexico City Map that does not suck?
Month: June 2005
IBM-ACPI
Last night I got to play with ibm-acpi for a little while. It was refreshing to watch the backlight on the R50 go to sleep after being continually on while running on linux, thanks to radeontool and ibm-acpi’s magic to intercept Fn-F3. Priyadi Iman notes that ibm-acpi is included in kernel 2.6.10, but I’m still running the Ol’Thinkpad on 2.6.9, so I will have to play around with a newer kernel and report back my findings.
Windows Update + Squid Proxy: The WinXP Scenario
If some Windows XP box refuses to download the latest patches through your brand-new Squid proxy (or any other proxy flavor, for that matter), you might be surprised to learn that you must configure the system proxy settings manually:
C:\> proxycfg -u
Voilá. The system will import Internet Explorer’s proxy settings and your system will be patched uneventfully. That is until the next massive system patch.
Update 20050706: Apparently this is also documented in the Squid FAQ.