ENTERTAINMENT: Google Earth's Flight Simulator

WHAT: Google Earth is already a great program as is. But the Google Earth developers team has added a hidden "easter egg" inside the 3D mapping program. Hitting Ctrl + Alt + A ( + Option + A on the Mac) brings you into the flight simulator mode, and you can fly two planes around the satellite accurate world.

WHY: Is Google taking on retail flight simulators like Microsoft head-on? They've still got a long way to go, but the initial landscaping far exceeds any other out there - it's realistic and exact, culled from authentic satelite photography - so you see an authentic overhead shot of your house.

Where Google will have to make up ground is in flight simulator physics, and model detail - the second half of a realistic flight simulator program. Right now, there is no control panel overlay for controlling the "plane." You fly by using keyboard controls. However, for a free program, Google Earth is just getting cooler every day.

Check out more at http://earth.google.com/intl/en/userguide/v4/flightsim/

/sms