Yahoo NewsGlobe: Just Another News Mashup?

Yes, a Yahoo mashup is in the news; well actually it tracks the news. NewsGlobe is yet another answer to the question: how do we put news on a map? This time the answer is using RSS feeds, Yahoo geocoding, Flash and a a 3-D ActionScript open source library called Papervision3D to put it all on the map. Ideally stories are posted by dateline location (nothing fancy like MetaCarta analytics going on) and the number of stories at a location is shown by a 3D column of corresponding height. You can watch the globe spin in “autoplay” and take you to stories or chose “interactive mode” and spin it yourself.

I guess this is the ultimate mashup, since everyone keeps building them. I’m just not sure we want our news organized that way! That said, there may be far more interesting things developers could do with technology stack.

- Computerworld

Google Mobile Learns from John Snow

Gummi Hafsteinsson, senior product manager at Google's mobile division, cited the London cholera outbreak in his talk at Mobile World Congress held this week in Barcelona. The goal was to illustrate what's required for successful LBS on the mobile Internet. In particular maps must be: - comprehensive, - combinable with multiple sources of data - open. - EETimes

Locating Data Centers

CIO offers up a “where do you put the data center?” article noting key factors like stability (not too many physical threats), access to power (water, often), and other details. And, yes, there’s a map noting how many such centers are powered by the Columbia in the pacific northwest.