In a recent CNET article “Why isn’t Beirut burning in Google Earth?” the author points out that in Google Earth, the skies over Beirut are clear, the grass is green and the buildings are standing. The article goes on to say that according to a Google spokesperson, the images come from Digital Globe and are updated, on average, every year to 18 months.

According to one comment, it’s at least 30 months since Google has updated their neighbourhood in Google Earth. On the Google Earth website questions and answers section it states: “Google Earth acquires the best imagery available, most of which is approximately one to three years old.”

Since Google’s search and other products and services seem to be real time, why wouldn’t we expect Google Earth results in real time? Are we expecting too much — I believe so. I’m just happy for services like Google Earth and look forward to the day when the entire planet is covered. Obviously, the first information to be real time for Google Earth and similar services will be related to traffic in urban communities in Asia, Western Europe and North America, where GPS and personal navigation markets are growing fastest.

While Google, is one of the top aggregators for text based news, it is hardly a top source for visual news. CNET should be careful for what it’s wishing for.

One night last week I walked into my office at home only to find it had been converted into a movie set. Apparently my son decided he wanted to be a rock star and created a lip synced video worthy of such aspirations. But he ran into one very big issue - how to distribute a 120MB file.

He attempted to email it and got the dreaded attachment too large error message. It seems most email systems only allow a maximum 5MB file to be attached. He didn’t want to copy the files on CD and mail (USPS) them to his friends and grandparents and he didn’t want them posted on the internet where everyone might see them. In fact, he doesn’t even have an account on YouTube or MySpace - thank goodness. That’s when he came to me and asked what he could do to share his video.

I explained how simple it was using Avvenu, which he’d already downloaded and installed on his PC a few weeks ago. All he had to do was navigate to the file he wanted to send to his friends and grandparents, click on the “Share” link and enter the email addresses of each person he was sharing the video with. I explained that the video files were not being attached to the email, but instead a link was being sent that would allow his grandparents and friends to download the videos directly from his PC, completely securely without them seeing or accessing any other part of his PC. Half an hour later he told me he had shared his video with a variety of different friends and his grandparents.

A few hours later we got an enthusiastic telephone call from his grandparents letting us know how much they enjoyed having a budding rock star in the family - next stop Madison Square Gardens.