I just bought this cool gadget app for $19.95: EarthDesk.

I may have bought it only because it looks cool, or only because it gives you a sense of global awareness. But the real reason is, I guess, because it’s 100 times more effective than having a series of clocks on your wall or on your desktop! ;)

I’m in contact with quite a few development and business partners around the globe (+ special thought for the evoTeam members! ;) ) and I’m constantly looking at clocks to know what time of day it is in their region.

Now I’m just gonna look at my desktop and get a sense of global time much quicker! It really makes a difference!

Besides showing day & night (with city lights), EarthDesk also does “real time” updating of clouds as well as real moonlight rendering. And you can choose from a dozen different map projections, set your viewpoint where you want… The only thing missing is being able to drag your desktop earth around as if it was Google Earth ;)

Note: rectangular maps look best on widescreen monitors (Even with a multiscreen span, you won’t match it). Also I very much prefer the “feel” of the Mac version… and it’s really hard to tell why, since the look is pretty much the same. I bought a license for the Mac… I’m still unsure as to whether I should buy one for Windows or not…


Comments from long ago:

Comment from: ¥åßßå

What you need now is a map that shows “awake” zones ;)

¥

2007-05-19 10-24

Comment from: François Planque

Yeah the awake zone is the one that is colored dark…

Or is that just me?? :P

2007-05-19 16-36

Comment from: Joseph A. di Paolantonio

François,

Why did you choose EarthDesk over the open source OSXPlanet?

2007-07-13 16-59

Comment from: François Planque

I think I don’t like the colors of OSXplanet… and Earthdesk was available on Windows too ;)

2007-07-13 17-05

Comment from: Joseph A. di Paolantonio

And another good reason not to use OSXPlanet is that the high school student that created the project seems to have now abandoned it. The web site is gone, and the software is not Leopard compatible.

I’m switching to EarthDesk now, myself.

2008-03-04 20-54