Google and Amazon to the Rescue?

This report by the BBC describes how Google and Amazon are participating in the search for adventurer Steve Fossett.

As you may recall, Fossett's single engine airplane has gone missing since Sept 3rd. So far, land and air searches have come up empty.

And so Google recently updated the Google Earth satellite photos of Nevada. And with Amazon's Mechanical Turk project, are enlisting volunteers to scan the photography searching for plane wreckage, which should appear as a 21x30 pixel size on your computer screen.

People can simply do a better job of recognizing potential clues better than computers, at least for now.

Suspicious images can be reported to Mechanical Turk for followup analysis and investigation.

Kudos to Google and Amazon for coming up with the idea.

Getting to Fourth Base

Yesterday, some friends asked me to meet them for a couple of beers after work, at a small hole-in-the-wall sports bar called Fourth Base.

Before yesterday I didn't even know the place existed.

As it turns out, Fourth Base, which is located just south of Miller Park, (here in Milwaukee) is a Brewer fan favorite. Its walls (and ceiling) are completely covered in sports memorabilia. The televisions constantly broadcast all things sports related. The cramped quarters and noisy atmosphere are augmented by a tremendous staff, surprisingly great food and of course, cold beer.

It's the last place you'd consider high tech.

By complete coincidence I had downloaded Google Earth yesterday morning just to play around with its features and functionality. So when I got the call to meet up at Fourth Base, I decided to see if I could find it using Google Earth.

I launched Google Earth, clicked on "Find Businesses" tab and typed "Fourth Base, Milwaukee".

Lo and behold I was presented with a satellite photo of the area, with a red "push pin" identifying the very building on National Avenue. Clicking on the push pin presented me with an option of driving directions, showed me it had been rated "5 stars" and hosted links to 3 reviews of the place.

I never got the chance to ask the staff whether they knew they were listed on Google Earth, but after sampling the food, beer and service at Fourth Base, I have resolved to do more restaurant research from 200 miles up in space.