The latest version of Google’s 3D map application, Google Earth, now has the ability to display real-time rain and snow in certain parts of the world.To see it, you must first enable the clouds layer, and then zoom in to a location where it’s raining or snowing. Google Earth displays rain and snow only in certain parts of North America and Europe; to see where exactly the new feature is available, enable the radar layer.The weather simulation adds another layer of coolness to the already mesmerizing Google Earth application. Since it displays rain and snow in real time, the feature can actually be useful as a precise visualization of what weather is like in a certain place. It may, however, render all of those weather-related chats you have with friends and relatives over the phone even more meaningless.Unfortunately, there’s no word on when this feature might be enabled in other parts of the world.
AT&T announced new data plans for mobile internet and smartphone tethering. While the company claims the new plans will make “mobile internet more affordable to more people,” there’s also a glaring downside to the new pricing: no unlimited data plan for iPad customers.
AT&T now offers two mobile data plans: DataPlus, which provides 200 MB of data for $15 per month (additional 200 MB chunks of data also cost $15), and DataPro, which provides 2 GB of data for $25 per month, with every additional GB costing $10. Furthermore, smartphone customers can enable tethering for an additional $20 per month, but only if they use the DataPro plan.
Existing iPad customers, who already have the $29.99 unlimited monthly plan can choose to keep it, or switch to the DataPro plan.
New pricing is good news for smartphone customers, who won’t go bankrupt if they exceed their monthly data limit. But from the iPad user’s perspective, AT&T’s new pricing is a big letdown compared to the previous, unlimited data plan. Even the most active iPhone users won’t burn through more than a couple of gigabytes every month, but iPad is a far more demanding device traffic-wise, and activities such as Netflix streaming will quickly exceed the limit in AT&T’s DataPro plan. 2 gigabytes per month is just not enough data for a device such as the iPad, and we sense that many users will feel let down by AT&T’s new data plans.
For more Apple coverage, follow Mashable Apple on Twitter or become a fan on Facebook
When Google Maps‘ walking directions instructed Lauren Rosenberg to walk along a very busy highway with no pedestrian walkway, she followed the directions exactly. Unfortunately, she was hit by a car in the process. Now she’s suing Google for damages, Search Engine Land reports.
The walking directions from 96 Daly Ave to 1710 Prospector Ave in Park City, Utah told Rosenberg to walk just over one half of a mile along Deer Valley Dr, also known as highway 224. The highway did not have sidewalks or any other pedestrian-friendly amenities, and Rosenberg was struck by a car driven by a man named Patrick Harwood.
Rosenberg filed suit against both Harwood and Google, claiming both carried responsibility in her injury. Her lawyers claim that Google is liable because it did not warn her that the route would not offer a safe place for a pedestrian to walk. Note that the Google Maps website actually does do that, as pictured here.
However, Rosenberg says she used Google Maps on her BlackBerry, which did not show that warning, so she’s suing for more than $100,000. She should have probably realized upon arrival that it was an unsafe place to walk, though — but isn’t that how these lawsuits always go?
Anyway, we’ve embedded the dangerous Google Maps route below in case you want to check it out. View Larger Map
Mashable Co-Editor Ben Parr appeared on Russian TV network RT’s debate show, CrossTalk, yesterday to discuss internet privacy and the user backlash leading up to Facebook’s revised privacy controls.
In the interview, Parr says that technology has changed the way the world thinks about privacy. He also gets into a somewhat heated debate with fellow guest Ann Cavoukian on the nature of societal attitudes toward privacy.
The panel of guests also debates whether or not governments should regulate Facebook and other social networking sites, and discusses whether privacy should ultimately be Facebook’s responsibility or the user’s responsibility.
The full interview is an interesting discussion on Facebook and online content sharing in general. You can check it out in its entirety below.
For more perspective on Facebook and the new privacy controls, watch what Mashable Founder and CEO Pete Cashmore had to say yesterday on PBS.
Already moonlighting on Chatroulette, the beloved Travelocity Roaming Gnome has decided to participate in the location-sharing movement as well, and will be updating followers about his exotic whereabouts on Foursquare.
The move rounds out the Gnome’s social media portfolio — which, in addition to Chatroulette, includes a very active presence on Facebook and Twitter.
Fans can look for the gnome to check in at various locations across London over the course of the weekend, says Travelocity representative Joel Frey.
Frey also tells us that the Gnome’s foray into Foursquare was timed with Virgin Atlantic’s first seasonal flight from Chicago to London yesterday. In fact, Gnome lovers can check out photos from the glamorous first-class trip on his Facebook Page.
Which brings us to the bigger picture. Location-sharing isn’t exactly an activity that can be completed behind a desk. I asked Frey whether or not the Gnome would be open to meeting up with fans during his worldly treks, to which he replied, “We’d love to run into Fousquare friends and will also being do a tweetup on Tuesday evening.”
“To have an icon like the Gnome at our disposal to engage with travelers on all of these new communication channels is an amazing opportunity and we’d be foolish not to play,” Frey concluded.
We tend to agree and find social media to be the perfect vehicle for the Gnome to spread the Travelocity message. Bon voyage!
PostRank Analytics, a service that captures social engagement and traditional metrics in one dashboard, in launching a new beta feature called PostRank Activity Streams. PostRank describes Activity Streams as “FriendFeed for content.” In other words, an ever-changing overview of what is happening with all your content all across the web.
PostRank Analytics has always offered an aggregated report for individual articles, noting how many tweets, bookmarks or comments a post received, but now that data is displayed in real time in a single view on your PostRank dashboard. You can now see when someone shares a link on Buzz, comments on a post that has been shared to Reddit or bookmarks a post in Delicious. Rather than having to search through posts manually and filter by activity, you can see the activity as it takes place.
This is a really compelling tool for publishers who are looking at measuring the types of engagement they are getting across social media channels. These sorts of measurements can be really helpful in identifying trends and figuring out where to focus your social strategies. For instance, if if a user sees that he is getting lots of interaction on Facebook or on Google Buzz, that might be an indication to be more active in those channels.
PostRank Activity Streams monitor Facebook, Twitter, Google Buzz, FriendFeed, Delicious, Reddit, Digg and more. The feature is still in beta and it will be improving over time, but it looks like a really great addition to the social publisher’s toolkit.
If you don’t already have a PostRank account, you can sign-up for a 30-day free trial here. How do you monitor the social activity taking place around your content? Let us know!
The war between Google and Apple has jumped from mobile to television, but which tech giant is going to win the hearts and minds of the web TV world?
Last week, Google launched Google TV in an attempt to seamlessly integrate the web into our living rooms. It looks like Apple is responding, though: there are rumors that Apple will launch an iPhone OS-based version of Apple TV, a product that has never taken off like the iPhone or iPad.
With Google TV and Apple TV in the spotlight, we asked you, the readers, to choose between the two services in our weekly Web Faceoff. Did you want Google TV or Apple TV more? After over 2,500 votes…
…Google TV won in a landslide! With 58.2% of the vote (1,674 votes), Google TV trumped Apple TV’s 21.5% (617 votes). 11.9% of you (341 votes) said you wanted neither, while a full 8.4% of you (242 votes) actually want both devices. Things are looking good for Google TV, although we’ll have to wait until the fall to know who really comes out on top.
Tune in next week for the next edition of the Web Faceoff!
AT&T announced new data plans for mobile internet and smartphone tethering. While the company claims the new plans will make “mobile internet more affordable to more people,” there’s also a glaring downside to the new pricing: no unlimited data plan for iPad customers.
When 
Mashable Co-Editor Ben Parr appeared on Russian TV network RT’s debate show, 
Already moonlighting on 
The 
