Google Street View

The Google Street View camera looks like a high-tech disco ball, with nine lenses aimed in every direction to capture all the world has to offer — including ATV street races, escaping inmates, and snow monkeys in hot springs. Canadian artist Jon Rafman clicks his way through Google Street View, collecting the strangest, funniest, and most unexpected scenes on his Tumblr blog, 9-eyes.com.

It's a fascinating cross section of humanity and an interesting perspective on photography in the 21st century. Is the photographer the robot that automated the shutter click, or is it the human who gathered and curated those images into a collection?

The Street View vehicle fleet has logged over five million miles of open road around the world, not to mention a large chunk of the Amazon River and underwater panoramas of six of the ocean's living coral reefs. There are many more compelling images yet to be discovered, and we'll just have to stay tuned as Google adds even more miles to its Street View collection.

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Google hasn't released a mobile Maps app for iOS devices yet, and it might be because it's busy mapping the ocean. Yesterday, the Google Maps team announced it was going where no map has gone before: deep sea diving. Six of the ocean's living coral reefs are now available in Street View, thanks to a partnership with The Catlin Seaview Survey. The incredible underwater images are part of the Street View Collection, which features 360-degree panoramic tours of exotic locales like the icy tundras of Antarctica and the rich wildlife of the Amazon River. So, put down that coffee, get the cursor moving, and take a quick trip around the world with five of our favorite Street Views.

Take a tour of the Great Barrier Reef, Thailand, Brazil, Antarctica, and more after the break.

In the latest enhancement of the Street View, Google is moving off the street and has started rolling out interior pictures of businesses. You'll not only be able to see the inside of a new boutique in your city, but the service can also be used by restaurants to highlight their best dishes.

Businesses in 37 cities and six countries, including the US, can apply to have the Google team take interior shots of their shops, though it's not guaranteed they'll be chosen for this new project. The inside sneak peek is even accessible via the business's local listings page in Google Search. No need to worry if you're accidentally caught in a store at the time they're taking the photo, as Google says it will keep privacy concerns at bay by blurring the faces of anyone captured in the images.

Do you think these interior pictures on Street View will catch on among local businesses?

Google Street View has taken us through our own neighborhoods, down Olympic ski slopes, and even inside art museums. Now, it's taking us where cars can't go using the Trike, a bicycle outfitted with street view equipment to pedal around areas where cars can't go.

The Trike has been collecting data since 2009, and Google recently introduced the new images to street view. Castles, gardens, parks, even Stonehenge are included, giving users a close view of places they may never have the opportunity to see in person. Off-road locations on Google Maps are designated by the same blue outline that designates Street View on streets.

Over the past few years, Google Maps and Street View have made huge progress in bringing us to faraway places we might not otherwise get to visit. Now, its new Art Project provides street view-style access to 1,000 pieces of art in 17 different museums around the world. Art is displayed via high resolution photos through Picasa. So hi-res, in fact, that Google refers to the technology as "gigapixel photo-capturing technology."

Such advanced imaging technology means that you can zoom into the art to get an incredibly close look at its detail, and an informational panel describes the specific piece you're viewing. You can even build your own virtual "collection" by adding notes for future reference. And in addition to works of art, the new project gives you the ability to virtually tour museums from New York's MoMA to the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam.

• 70-year-old DJ Ruth Flowers knows her way around a mixing board — Urlesque
• The Power Gig teaches you how to play a real guitar while gaming — Dvice
• Street View Awards show the best of the UK streets — Switched
• RGB pendant light pays tribute to color — Unplggd
• LEGO Star Wars watches coming soon, are awesome — Geekologie
• Nokia patents self-charging cell phone — Oh Gizmo!

You've used Google Street View to check out your block, your 'hood, and your destinations. Now if you can't be in Whistler for the 2010 Winter Olympics, you can use Street View to check out the downhill slopes that will be home to thousands of skiers for the next few weeks and use the new Olympic-themed Google Map to get an up close and personal look at the games.

Armed with street-view enabled snowmobiles, Google has been hard at work tracking the courses of the Whistler Blackcomb Mountains to give you a sneak peek of what's to come at 7,000 feet. If that's not enough Olympic tech for you, here's some more: there's about to be a lot of tweeting going on before, during, and after the games between these tech-savvy athletes, so make sure you're following for some behind-the-scenes Olympic action!

• Dell has partnered with OPI to offer exclusive OPI nail polish colors for laptops through the Dell Design Studio — Engadget
• Google is launching Street View in 11 Canadian cities — Mashable
• A new design product is said to block 96 percent of cell radiation emitted from every cell phone — Gizmodo
• Eric Schmidt and Sergey Brin talked to journalists this morning about Google Chrome, Google Books, and the Android platform — TechCrunch
• Firefox version 3.6 is said to be coming next Tuesday — Download Squad
• Check out a list of all of the Blu-ray DVD releases this week — Switched
• It's giveaway and game time on GeekSugar! Be sure to log in and play our Best Video Game Ever bracket! — GeekSugar

• iTunes 9 includes a new interface, application management tools, and media sharing — Engadget
• A Facebook app for Android handsets surfaces — Gizmodo
• With Google Voice you can now forward emails and reply to SMS — Lifehacker
• The cutest video about Google Street View you'll ever watch — Boing Boing
• Here's how you can use Facebook Chat without having to open FB — Digital Inspiration
• Keep track of your fave sports teams schedules and add birthday reminders for your contacts in Google Calendar — TechCrunch