TED intro of WorldWide Telescope is now up

As Curtis Wong says in this presentation, this really did knock my socks off.. and to think it was barely a sneak peek of its capabilities. I do hope this gets all the possible buzz it deserves, this is the coolest thing to come out of Microsoft in a while.

It’s “Roy”, not Ray

Thanks for the link! Looking forward to more TED talks and the demo you got!

Christian: I need sleep!

I understand your first posting about it. It is amazing! I only saw this short video. WOW! This is a WOW! You can’t compare it to the WOW of Windows Vista

Sweet. I want this on the xbox 360! The perfect living room experience.

Scoble, please use your contacts and make it happen.

Thanks for posting this link, good video.

Pretty neat. Thanks for the link.

It´s even more spetacular than I thought it would be. Now I understand why it made you cry.

Thanks so much, Robert!

Spring!?! that’s March 21st right? that’s 22 sleeps!

Thanks for the video. I gotta say I love the “free” aspect of the whole endeavour.

Looks nice.

What has been on my mind for quite some time is this. Take ‘Orbiter’, the great free space flight simulator. Equip it with state of the art graphics, sounds, a good GUI and connectivity. Add virtual deep space travel like in Celestia to it, add access to online data -like Sky View and WWT-, add access to 3D/4D models of objects, states and interactions of/in the universe even.

Imagine seeing a supernova taking place from whatever position you choose in whatever time rate. Fast forward from a virtual telescope, real time or in slow motion from an imaginary space ship or from the surface of an alien planet. Watch the properties/things you choose. Or imagine landing on Titan for a walk, doing readings. Those kinds of things. Explore simulations, hypotheses and actual data in the way you want it.

It could go further. If you were going to Earth you could be presented with common Google Earth/Live Maps views up to Street View level. Or even beyond, looking through virtual microscopes. A never ending exploration in whatever virtual shape you wish.

This would be a genuine, realistic virtual reality which might even be used for social networking, 3D gaming, education etc. Google Earth/Live Maps will probably end up here eventually. Mobile devices with high speed internet, image/location recognition, sensors etc. would merge this virtual world with the real world where users add their own readings, data and thoughts.

This is just so much better than I guessed from your first “made me cry” post. Totally.

http://www.gearthblog.com/blog/archives/2008/02/worldwide_telescope_vs_google_sky.html

This will no doubt be great for kids studying space, those involved in the space industry, and those people who have a general interest in space.

But is it really something that has mass appeal.

Reminds me of Google Earth, you install it, check it out and go – that’s cool, then never use it again.

robert scoble is joan rivers of the internet

Dude – you were right. Unbelievable.

This looks far more cooler than Google Sky. And far more simpler to use as well. It also doesn’t lag like GEarth, and doesn’t look cruddy as well.

I also like the idea of making your own universe ‘tours’. Nice extension of Silverlight.

This is one of the truly innovative things at MS, and it’s going to be beneficial for a lot of people, including scientists. At least far more than Google Sky.

And a better alternative to Google Sky is Stellarium. ( http://www.stellarium.org/ )

Robert, Thanks for sharing this with us. The WWT will inspire kids and future astronomers, and entertain the rest of us. I cant wait to download it.

See you next week at MIX in Las Vegas!

Don Dodge

Impressive! I honestly can’t wait for it. It’s indeed something that appeals much more to the human condition than the best Apple hware

I’m up for any piece of technology that can bring a bit of magic and wonder into our lives.

Scoble, please use your contacts and make it happen.

I’m up for any piece of technology that can bring a bit of magic and wonder into our lives.

A lot of people seem to be expecting too much (or are they, I don’t know). or comparing it to stuff that simply isn’t the same.

It doesn’t need to be real time, it doesn’t need to true 3D, it just needs to be there. There so people can pick it up and play with it and see what the universe really is. Who cares if that stars a little to the left or, well whatever. The point is nothing I have ever seen (I’ve used maybe a dozen pieces of software over my life and I’m a really keen stargazer) has been so incredible, so revealing or so incredibly contextual and approachable. This isn’t a clique toy for researchers or boffins, this is a tool for everyone to see the universe. Take it for what it is, for gods sakes.

If I get one kid to look at the sky a couple of times and say ‘what is that that’s up there’, and then actually be able to look and find out, then I’ll be happy…

thanks very