Swing over to Lifehacker to check out the simple command line scripts to download all of National Geographic's 2008 and 2009 wallpapers. Oh, and don't forget to share your favorites, please, because my desktop's in need of a change. [Web Upd8 via Lifehacker]

The image is actually part of National Geographic's International Photography Contest 2009—one of 25 examples collected by Boston.com. Check out the entries if you want a little eye candy to tide you over until dinner. [NatGeo via Boston]

I'm not man enough to dive into freezing waters to document the lives of animals that could rip off my head without a second thought, but I'm sure glad that YouTube exists so I can sit here in my underwear and enjoy the experience vicariously.

National Geographic has combined mankind's nearly 200 manned and unmanned exploratory space missions into one infographic. It's not nearly to scale, and it doesn't even try to follow the actual paths of the various chunks of metal we've tossed into the ether.

But the broad strokes are all here, and they're fascinating: Of the dozens and dozens of probes launched in the last 50 years, precious few have made it past the asteroid belt; a handful have been tossed into the face of the sun; and just the luckiest, boldest pieces of hardware have been jettisoned into the outer reaches of our solar system.

NatGeo's got an interactive scrollable map here, but honestly, I'd skip straight to the poster-sized version on Flickr. [NatGeo via i09]

The result is a stunning composite of 83 different shots of this incredible tree. Look for a huge foldout of the image in the October issue of National Geographic, and here's a video of Nichols talking about the process of capturing the image.

[NPR via Hack-a-Day via Make]

The Price: $40

The Verdict: It's only as good as your pet's social life, but I actually recommend it for outdoor critters and social city beasts.

As a fan of National Geographic's Crittercam, I was excited when Uncle Milton sent over the pet's eye view camera. NG of course attached their cameras to penguins, whales and lions; attaching this product to our domestic lion, Wade Bob Rothman, wouldn't be the same thing for many reasons:

• It's a still cam—no video—so the footage is limited.
• Though it seems to have pretty high ISO, the camera's no good when there's no light. No IR or specialized low-light mode here.
• The box boasts that memory stores "over 40 photos," not enough for any self-respecting nature documentary.
• Though Wade is the butchier of our two felines, and put up with the device well enough—his sister Wynona would not have tolerated it—the thing really is sized wrong for cats, best for medium to large dogs.
• As a home-bound, neutered male, Wade is the opposite of adventurous, and his personal snapshots reflect this.

The camera has two buttons, a red/green LED and a two-digit LCD indicator on the back. When I had charged up the camera via USB port, I set the camera to take a picture every 5 minutes. (I could have also chosen 1 minute and 15 minutes.) I clipped it to Wade's collar, loosening it only a tad. He had one spell where he really tried to get it off, then suddenly was cool with it, and wore it for several hours without any problems.

The results—of which I have uploaded only the most exciting excerpts—were underwhelming:

What I learned in this brief review, however, is that a) the pet didn't seem to mind the thing nearly as much as I would have thought, and b) if he was more active, and prone to prowling around the neighborhood, it might be fun. Again, it might be too big to put on a cat who's used to shimmying up fences, rooting around garbage pails and slashing other cats with a vengeance, but I actually think this would be very cool for dogs. Besides, as a lightweight automatic timelapse novelty camera, it has other uses, like say, when you're setting up a gallery designed to bring joy to readers, New Yorkers and tots who otherwise might not get toys for Christmas. Sure is cheaper than a D700! [Uncle Milton]

Accessed via software and transferred to the GPS unit via optional data cable, the National Geographic maps are an outdoorsman's dream. You can fly through virtual areas, plot routes through recreational sites and mark waypoints for your journey. When you get back from your trip, plug back in and upload your data to get a visual representation of your hike. The Triton 2000 is priced at $499, but you can strip away various features until you bottom out at the Triton 200, a $129 barebones device. Look for the Tritons next month. [Magellan Triton GPS via Electronista]

What sets this guy apart, aside from only being $199? It lets you use the same UK based number no matter what country you're in. Usually you have to pop in a new local sim card when you change borders, which is accompanied with a different number. The only thing that's going to hurt is the flat $.90/minute outgoing calls. I guess it will be like calling from a hotel, where you just ask the person to call you back instead of racking up a huge bill.– Ben Longo

Nat. Geo. Announces Affordable Global Cell Phone Coverage Solution [Yahoo!]