Google's Eye in the Sky

Every time I fly in or out of National or Dulles airports, I play a little game: I plaster my face to the plane window and see how far away from home I can track my progress -- not intermittently, but continuously -- by spotting familiar landmarks on the ground. This is easy on a flight up to New York or Boston, but quickly gets difficult to the south and west of D.C.

With a hobby like that, I was predisposed to like Google Earth, the font-of-all-knowledge search portal's latest freebie release. But even looking at the fanciest map around can get old. What made the difference here was all the other data Google has packed into this program, from 3D building models (including my house, for some odd reason) to overlays of road and rail networks. And how Google has allowed other users to contribute to that data. Read my column from Sunday for more on what I thought about this program.

Then, if you're curious, visit bbs.keyhole.com to see my own contribution to Google Earth's placemark library, a pointer to the Rosslyn, Va., garage in which The Post's Bob Woodward met his Watergate source -- Mark Felt, AKA Deepthroat; look under the BBS's "Current Events" category.

Elsewhere in Sunday's paper, we reviewed of a few programs that can encrypt your important files against prying eyes. Leslie Walker wrote about online video search services offered by Google and America Online in her Web Watch column.

And our reviewers assessed two games (Destroy All Humans! and Haunting Ground) and one picture manager (PhotoMesa, reviewed by none other than Leslie Walker). And in Help File, I revisit the importance of firewalls and discuss the security of Apple's Keychain password-storage utility.

iTunes, iPod and Podcasting

Apple updated its iTunes music software last week, adding support for podcasts -- downloadable audio clips, usually spoken-word material published by blog authors and other would-be pundits.

Apple also updated its iPod lineup. The iPod mini continues as before, but the iPod Photo is no more -- because now every regular-size iPod includes a color screen and photo display capability. The 20 GB model still goes for $299, while the $349, 30 GB model has been replaced by a $399, 60 GB successor. Finally, the 1-gigabyte iPod shuffle's price dropped from $149 to $129.

Supreme Courtship

Perhaps appropriately for the days running up to the USA's birthday, I had the Supreme Court on my mind for much of the last week. Last Monday, the justices handed out rulings on two digital age topics of perennial squabbling -- Internet file-sharing and broadband Internet access.

In Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. et al. v. Grokster, Ltd., et al., the Court held that Grokster could be sued by MGM and other entertainment industry firms for its creation of a peer-to-peer file-sharing service. That's not because Grokster's software could be used for downloading movies and music, nor because Grokster's software was being used for that purpose, nor even because the Groksterites intended that use.

The difference here, Justice David Souter wrote for a 9-0 majority, was that Grokster advertised itself as a way to get movies and music without paying. To quote Souter's opinion: "one who distributes a device with the object of promoting its use to infringe copyright, as shown by clear expression or other affirmative steps taken to foster infringement, is liable for the resulting acts of infringement by third parties."