The other day I came across http://die.net/earth, which I thought was one of the coolest ideas I’d seen in a long time. However, there are two problems with it: 1: I don’t feel right downloading his images once every hour, mainly because I wanted it more live than that! (yes, I know there is no point, but I still want it); and 2: I wanted to use different images in different resolutions to fit my screen.
This image is generated using the Earth’s City Lights image from NASA as the night image, and one of the twelve Blue Marble Next Generation Monthlies, also from NASA. The script will detect your month, and pick an appropriate image for that month. This gives cool changes it snow and foliage and such. It doesn’t make a huge difference of course, but it’s cool :) It also uses topographical information to allow xplanet to cast some subtle shadows, which I think really brings it all to life!
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