Here we go. Not only is there a battle for the best search engine, mapping software, free email, toolbar, and custom portal. We now have a battle for the best earth imaging program. Google has recently added overlay (hybrid) sites to show sat pictures and roads (http://maps.google.com) and now we have Microsoft playing in the mapping / sat images game. Not only with terraserver, but now Microsoft, with their MSN Virtual Earth (virtualearth.msn.com).

I have not done a full comparison of the two yet. However, I can tell you that my personal favorite is the Google solution. I have been playing with the customization of the google maps application for a while. I like the feel and the way you can modify it.

With that said, there is also an easy way to customize virtual earth with the use of .NET. I am a .NET programmer at work and the ease of intergration and use for anything .NET will be easy for me. So before I make any remarks I would like to try the new Virtual Earth and create my own opinion.

Once again I am helping out some friends with removing spyware. I hate spyware with a passion.
I have my collection of tools though, that help me through it.

1. AdAware - Lavasoft.com
2. Spybot - Search & destroy
3. Microsoft Anti-Spyware - Beta
4. Hijack this -

I typically run adaware first, then install MS to get real time monitoring. I then reboot, install spybot and hijack this. One nice thing about hijack this is that you can use your log from the scan and then upload it to
http://hijackthis.de/index.php and find out what is saft and what is bad.

One of the individuals I work with recommend I read Carl Hiaasen. I had not heard of him before. But, I was told his books are somewhat like Jimmy Buffett books and very enjoyable to read. The kind where you get lost in both the story and the characters.
Well this book hit that mark. It was a hard to stop reading kind of book. Where the guy gets the girl and the bad guys go to jail. I won’t ruin the story, but it is worth reading. I have more Carl Hiaasen books on order.

I tend to read a lot during the summer.

Well I have been extremely busy at work, so my posts have been a bit out of sync. I would like to get another pod cast out. I have a lot of material. I keep an ongoing journal of things I want to research, test, and write about. I can use a lot of that information to fill both a podcast and a blog.

To keep my mind off work, I have been running more. This is also in preperation for my marathon. It is interesting to see that 40,000 runners will go through a marathon with me. Wow.

I am currently in training for the Chicago Marathon (www.chicagomarathon.com) So far my training is going well. I have put in a lot of miles this week (28 miles) . I finally did some distance this weekend 11 miles. I am excited to really get some long runs in. I was not tired but did have some times during the run, thinking what the hell am I doing.

Well Adam Curry finaly released the castblaster beta. You can download it here (http://www.castblaster.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=5)

One thing I noticed about this beta is that they are asking for $50 bucks for a license key. I’m not against purchasing software but, paying for a beta is a bit over the edge. I understand that castblaster may be worth it but I can’t possibly think we would pay for this.