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Not On Our Watch, a human rights group co-founded by what's best described, perhaps, as Ocean's Eleven luminaries (George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Don Cheadle and Jerry Weintraub), announced yesterday that it has teamed up with Google, the U.N. and several anti-genocide organizations in order to launch a satellite surveillance project to monitor the Sudan region. The project aims to prevent a new civil war from breaking out in the area.

According to The Washington Post, Not On Our Watch is funding the startup phase of the Satellite Sentinel Project which plans to collect near-real-time satellite imagery from Sudan and combine it with field analysis from several other humanitarian organizations, including the Enough Project and the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative.

Can Android phones function as low-cost satellites? That's what NASA wants to find out. In a recent experiment dubbed "NexusOne PhoneSat," a group of NASA Ames students, Google employees and two NASA contractors strapped Google's flagship smartphone to the back of an Intimidator 5 rocket and blasted it into space...well, at least up to 28,000 feet into the air, that is. And during the ride, the phone shot video continuously.

Location-based applications are all the rage right now, but anyone who uses them knows that current GPS technology only allows for a certain amount of accuracy. If you pull up Foursquare, Gowalla or any other social check-in app while in a dense business area, chances are the place you're looking for is not at the top of the list. This is because current GPS chips and satellites are only accurate to roughly 20 feet at best, but this number could shrink significantly with the recent launch of the first of several new GPS satellites.

If you're an adventure seeker with a penchant for storytelling you'll be happy to hear that Google is giving you the visuals you need to illustrate your tales of bravery. In a blog post written by Google Earth Product Manager Peter Birch, the company has updated its iPhone application. While we've always been big fans of the Google Earth desktop version, the company released its iPhone app in 2008 with new attention to the mobile accelerometer and touch features of the iPhone. Users pinched, tapped and tilted their way to stunning satellite views of mountain ranges and far away terrain. The application update builds on these features but adds a touch of the personal.