Liquid Galaxy is an outgrowth of an older project called Street View Holodeck, which grabbed Street View imagery from all angles to simulate the effect of driving down the road, albeit twitchily, as if you were slightly dosed on some kind of low-grade hallucinogen. Liquid Galaxy takes the same hardware—a rack of anywhere from four to eight HDTVs, mounted vertically—connected to a bay of computers, and lets you fly.

What's the experience like? You'll have to ask a Google's Jason Holt, one of the few people to man the controls of this not-quite-a-flight-simulator, uh, thing:

The effect was pretty stunning: all of a sudden, flying around in Google Earth really felt like flying, and exploring the ocean trenches was like piloting a submarine. When you splashed through the sea surface you cringed slightly, expecting to get wet. You could even command your own lander down to the Moon or Mars. It was amazing to all of us how much more impressive Google Earth felt when we were surrounded by screens and able to turn our heads to look around (and even walk around). It felt more like a ride than a computer program, something between an observation-deck and a glass-walled spaceship.

Sadly, the only way to try one of these things is to catch it while it's on the road, at a selection of trade shows that you aren't invited to. That said, if you were planning on going to the American Geophysical Union Conference later this month anyway, don't forget the dramamine. Or the beer. [Google]

Google and the Phantom Town of Argleton

For ages, map makers have protected their own maps by adding little landmarks and towns that don't exist, sort of a hiding-in-plain-sight watermark. Well, the Telegraph UK reported that it had spotted one such town in a Google Map, which was using Tele Atlas data. Argleton, in Lancashire, simply doesn't exist, even though you can plainly see it. What happened? Apparently, the name was quite possibly sucked up with other data when Tele Atlas' map makers were busy inputting info from old maps. This isn't unusual, though you'd think there'd be a more rapid fact checking process. By the way, we didn't cover it because nowadays, the story isn't really whether or not Tele Atlas is stealing maps from old dead cartographers, but whether or not Google is stealing the map business from Tele Atlas. [Telegraph UK via Valleywag]

10 Years of Steve Jobs' Apple Product Unveilings

MacLife created a choppy but thorough video of Steve Jobs unveiling everything from the original CRT iMac to the video-camera equipped iPod Nano, with bits of Schiller thrown in out of necessity. It's a fun encyclopedic romp (though I'm sure some of you can tell me what's missing). The biggest reason we didn't post it? We didn't want to be sued for all the fanboys who suffered heart attacks—or the ones who maybe escaped cardiac arrest but came away with Teen Wolf palms. [MacLife via 9to5Mac]

AT&T's Foray Into In-Car Satellite TV Goes Miserably Wrong

After four months up and running, the CruiseCast satellite-TV service for cars bit the dust hard, with refunds and paid un-installations going out to current subscribers. What was AT&T and its partner, RaySat, thinking when they launched it? $1300 up front and no major sports channels or adult programming to speak of? That just doesn't—excuse me, didn't—make sense. Good thing zero point zero readers fell for it. Right guys? [Engadget]

Robots Will Soon Learn How to Smell Fear

Just as drug-sniffing dogs can be replaced by machines that aren't so prone to smack addiction, scientists are developing sensors—nowhere near ready but due in 2012—that home in on the pheromone released when people experience stress or fear. Like what Leslie Nielsen must have felt when he got that call from OJ, asking about the Naked Gun 10-year reunion. [PopSci]

Those who don't have money for two GPSes in the same car will need a map. Yes, a map. The kind you get from AAA for free (if you're a member). Jalopnik's got a set of instructions to teach (or refresh) your map reading skills so you can get back on the road like a pro. Like a boss. [Jalopnik]

CHICAGO, November 3, 2008 — NAVIGON, the leading innovator in the navigation market, and RadioShack, one of the nation's most experienced consumer electronics specialty retailers, today announced that the new NAVIGON 5100 max and NAVIGON 2090S GPS devices will be sold exclusively at RadioShack stores and through RadioShack.com. Both products offer a list of advanced and exclusive features, are based on NAVIGON’s newest generation of fast and easy to use software, and offer regular map updates with NAVIGON FreshMaps.

The elegantly designed NAVIGON 5100 max features an extra-wide 4.3” touchscreen display and Free Real-Time Traffic Updates for Life. Based on NAVIGON’s newest generation of fast and easy-to-use software, both the NAVIGON 5100 max and NAVIGON 2090S come with Reality View™ Pro, Lane Assistant Pro, Advanced Text-to-Speech guidance announcing directions and street names, and DirectHelpSM which provides directions to nearby emergency service providers including hospitals, pharmacies and road-side help — all at the touch of a button. Both provide up to eight regular map updates with NAVIGON FreshMaps, over a $50 value if purchased alone.

"NAVIGON’s 5100 max and 2090S units offer the unmatched navigation experience and unique feature set that has come to be associated with NAVIGON products,” said Michael Roach, NAVIGON’s President for the Americas. “We are proud to work with RadioShack on this exclusive partnership and commend RadioShack’s dedication to offering its customers the latest technology and innovation.”

The NAVIGON 2090S and NAVIGON 5100 max are available exclusively at RadioShack stores and online at www.radioshack.com. The products retail for $199.99 and $299.99, respectively.

The NAVIGON 5100 max features include:

• Free Real-Time Traffic Updates for Life. Real-time traffic updates allow routing around congestion by including traffic flow, incidents and alternate routes and works for the lifetime of the product out-of-the-box without any fees or additional hardware.

• NAVIGON FreshMaps: Keeps your NAVIGON 5100 max as up-to-date as it was on the day you bought it with up to eight quarterly map updates spanning two years.

• Extra-wide 4.3” touchscreen display with 16:9 aspect ratio

• Reality View™ Pro. Never miss an exit again with the next generation of Reality View providing more coverage in more places. Reality View Pro displays 3D views with road sign text and lane guidance for virtually every highway interchange and exit.

• Lane Assistant Pro. Helps drivers prepare to make an upcoming exit or turn by providing clear visual lane guidance. NAVIGON’s second generation of Lane Assistant provides a lane map complete with arrows and actual road geometry.

• Bluetooth® Hands-Free. The integrated Bluetooth® feature helps keep both hands on the wheel while still staying connected. The NAVIGON 5100 max acts like a Bluetooth speakerphone to hold hands-free conversations. Contacts are easily downloaded for one-touch calling.

• Advanced Text-to-speech. Lets drivers keep their hands on the wheel and eyes on the road with advanced phonetic text-to-speech technology to ensure proper pronunciation of streets.

• Fast Destination Entry. The latest generation of NAVIGON software makes entering and finding information fast and simple. NAVIGON’s SmartSpeller feature helps guiding through the entry process.

• Exit Guide. NAVIGON’s Exit Guide enables users to search upcoming exits for one of six POI categories – food, gas, lodging, rest areas, auto service or shopping. And, with one click, the NAVIGON 5100 max navigates there.

• Top-Notch Performance. NAVIGON’s new software gets to the right route in less time. Our new platform delivers our most responsive interface to date with dramatically improved route calculation times to get directions more quickly.

The NAVIGON 2090S features include:

• Reality View™ Pro

• Advanced Text-to-speech

• NAVIGON FreshMaps

• Lane Assistant Pro

• Fast Destination Entry with latest generation of software

• DirectHelpSM

• 3.5” touchscreen display

Hopefully this will ensure there's no repeat of Neil Armstrong's last minute search for a landing site for Eagle. More videos of the new maps are available via New Scientist. [New Scientist]

In this day and age of mobile Google Maps and Windows Live Maps already on smartphones and dumbphones, only a few people would really need to plan out their directions beforehand and send them to their cellphones. One of which could be our buddy, who seems to think that just because we're sitting in front of a computer all day makes us their personal map guide. – Jason Chen

MapQuest

This is, however, the first time we've seen confirmation that Google is interested in using its map data in a commercial gadget.

Volkswagen teams with Google on navigation system [Reuters]