EarthDesk 3.5 Review

EarthDesk 3.5 at $19.95 is one of those products that you certainly can do without, don’t really need – but will be fixated on within minutes! xd_icon.jpg

I have never been a big fan of knowing what the weather is going to be like. First, I have a window that I can look out of and second the actual weather very rarely effects me by making me change my plans. Sure I may take a rain coat, extra clothing etc but really, what is the fascination, indeed fixation that people have with the weather?

My mind did fluctuate somewhat from this view a couple of years ago when we got caught up in the fringes of back to back hurricanes in Florida, and I became more aware of the level and volume of data that is now presented.

So what is it? “EarthDesk replaces your Macintosh desktop picture or Windows wallpaper with a stunning dynamic image of our planet continuously updating in the background while you work. With an internet connection, EarthDesk displays real-time global cloud cover, allowing users to track hurricanes and typhoons, or simply admire our beautiful planet. User options allow you to adjust the overall transparency of the cloud layer.

Unique to EarthDesk is accurate rendering of moonlight on the Living Earth satellite map. To create this stunning effect, the phase of the moon and reflectiveness of the Earth’s surface are used to determine correct coloring of the image, ensuring a realistic view of the Earth from space.”

What does all that mean? Trust me, it means it looks absolutely amazing!

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NB – this isn’t my desktop! I have been playing around with EarthDesk today for so long now it has gone dark so I have way too much cloud cover on my desktop at the moment. I have heard a rumor that it is possible at times to get a version without the cloud feature, which is pretty cool, but the clouds are kinda like the icing on the cake so if you get the chance grab an upgrade if that is an option.

In addition to the amazing graphics, there are a lot of different projections that you can chose from, none of which I understand, but all of them I like a lot.

“EarthDesk’s wide variety of map projections gives you complete control over the maps on your desktop.

EarthDesk can be installed on systems with multiple monitors. Each Macintosh desktop is independently configurable so that different maps can be shown on different screens… or you may choose to only display map images on certain monitors. For Windows, the image can span across multiple screens.” xd_projections.jpg

1 thought on “EarthDesk 3.5 Review

  1. MyAppleStuff Post author

    For those of you wanting to know about upgrading to allow clouds:

    EarthDesk 4.0 is scheduled for release on January 9th. Prior to this, you
    may upgrade to an unrestricted version of EarthDesk 3.5 for $9.95 and
    receive v4.0 for no extra charge once it is released. After January 9th, the
    price for promotional upgrades will increase to $12.95.

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