ReadWriteWeb

Ads are as much a part of the Web as all that other stuff next to them, such as blog posts. We've gotten used to getting much (or all) of our online content for free, so we pay with our eyeballs instead. Advertisers pay publishers for little fragments of our attention on the off-chance that some of us will notice, be intrigued, click and hopefully buy something.

It's a generalization to say that the realities of this market have driven the quality of Web experiences into the ground. But surely, you've noticed lots of annoying, flashing, animated ads bothering you to do something. Well, remember Cooliris? In October, we covered its first forays into 3D ads. Cooliris has a feeling we Web users would rather be delighted by ads than harassed. Sound too good to be true? Read on and see for yourself.

Google Maps and Google Earth are converging on that virtual-reality future we've dreamed about. Today, Google announced Google MapsGL, an enhancement to Maps that uses WebGL to generate swooping 3D graphics inside your browser; no installations necessary. If your hardware meets the requirements, and if you use a WebGL-capable browser, you can opt into the 21st-century Google Maps experience.

Turns out that's a big "if," though. The requirements are pretty stiff. "Some low-end integrated GPUs" aren't supported, and apparently that of the latest MacBook Air is too "low-end." Even a 2-year-old MacBook Pro gets a warning message that MapsGL will "run slowly." You also have use Chrome (of course) or the latest Firefox 8+ Beta; Safari or ... the other ones ... won't cut it. MapsGL sure looks cool, though!

What makes a good advertisement? From a consumer's standpoint, a good ad is entertaining, helpful, and hopefully not too much of an interruption. Ads are a part of life for consumers, especially on the Web. In exchange for getting all this stuff for free or cheap, we accept the background noise of advertising.

But advertisers don't want to be in the background. They want ads to be engaging, interesting, even fun - whatever creates a lasting memory of the product. It's an attention economy, and whatever can grab users' attention wins. But touch-driven mobile apps are so immersive, advertisers need to step their game up. Palo Alto-based Cooliris has a solution, and the team thinks the science backs it up. World, ready or not, here comes interactive, touch-controlled, 3D mobile advertising.

The Google LatLong team just announced that Google Maps is getting 3D previews of travel directions. The interface now displays a "play" button that switches to a Google Earth view that flies along the route automatically. Playback can be paused and resumed at any point, and dragging the map allows exploration of the surrounding area.

It's all existing Google technology, putting a browser view of Google Earth inside the Maps window, but it's a new integration. It's not the most useful feature, but it is a new and immersive way to plan a trip.

Google released a new version of its Web browser Google Chrome to its stable channel today, the main channel favored by many, if not most, of Chrome's 160 million users. The updated version offers improvements in security and stability, says Google, most of which will function behind-the-scenes for a better browsing experience.

However, improvements to the browser's graphics capabilities will be more noticeable to users. With added support for hardware-accelerated 3D CSS, Web applications using 3D effects will be "snazzier," Google says. So, what does that mean?

"Mobile is the largest technology platform in history," began Paul Jacobs, chairman and CEO of Qualcomm, leading the opening keynote at his company's Uplinq conference this morning in San Diego. "And it has become a force for social change."

Jacobs focused his talk on the continuing evolution of mobile, the opportunities for developers and how advances in mobile computing are empowering developers to change the lives of people everywhere. He talked about augmented reality, 3D technologies, peer-to-peer gaming, sensors the "Internet of Things" and other chipset-based innovations both arriving now and expected in the future.

How do the Web, imaging, computer graphics and other technologies of the imagination change our understanding of, and even the images we attach to, the cities in which we live? I think at its best the new tech gives us a sense of flow, of how we got here from there, and how close (and how distant) the two points are. That certainly seems to be the case with this experiment in historical imaging from the Imaging Research Center at the University of Maryland, Baltimore.

Here Professor Dan Bailey and his crew have created Visualizing Early Washington D.C., a project to use today's technology to recreate yesterday's national capital. It was inspired by a request from PBS to create a 3D version of Capitol Hill for a documentary on the architect Benjamin Henry Latrobe. But it has grown over four years into a project to map the entire city, from 1790 to 1820.

First, 3D came to the movie theater. Then companies like Samsung started to make 3D televisions to bring the experience home. Tablets and phones like the Motorola Xoom and some Android devices from LG took 3D mobile.

Now, YouTube, Firefox and Nvidia are trying to bring 3D to the Web. Firefox 4 is using HTML5 and WebM to bring thousands of 3D YouTube videos to the Web while wearing Nvidia 3D Vision Hardware. The Web has been lacking 3D because it is a fundamentally different platform than the others, which are either distribution channels or specific devices. It is worth it to go get some Nvidia glasses to cruise YouTube in 3D?

Today, Healthline released the first three-dimensional, interactive, online search tool for the entire human body, BodyMaps.

Health BodyMaps is an exhaustive set of searchable body maps - think Gray's Anatomy meets CT scan. It comes with a library of medical and treatment knowledge, but the central focus of the tool are the colored, interactive maps of everything from the pancreas to the digestive system to the body as a whole.

Save the Redwoods League has partnered with Google Earth Outreach to create a virtual walk through a modeled old-growth redwood stand in Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park in California.

To celebrate the U.S.'s 120th Arbor Day, you can take a stroll through 3D stands of ancient redwood trees.