FortySouth

This view looks all too familiar..

Google decided to to use a “low carbon” approach to clear the brush near their Mountain View headquarters, making use of some 200 mbuzis in place of the usual droners. The owners of the goats are definitely getting an awesome deal: goats get fed Google grass, their minders get a chunk of change.

Mowing with Goats [Via Google Blog]

Shortly after the launch of Google Mapmaker, users were given the ability to edit maps by adding roads and other markers previously uncharted, to Google Maps. And now, thanks to the awesomeness of crowdsourcing, you can use this user-generated content to get directions too.

Using the mashup, I got really simple directions from *K-Street to Kenyatta Hospital in Nairobi (and no, I’m not suggesting anything here; correlation does not imply causation )

This feature is really great because not many cities outside of North America and most of Europe are that well mapped. In many African countries, directions are given mostly based on landmarks, like a nearby building. Those proclivities will always remain and do have their place so I think this feature will serve as a great supplement. What’s more, with a 3G-enabled mobile phone, driving around could get a lot easier!

Head over to Google Mapmaker and help map your city.

*In the interest of “teh balance”, Koinange Street is Nairobi’s Red-Light District.

Soon after releasing offline access for GMail, Google now makes available offline Google Calendar. It was previously only available to Apps users but has now been turned on for everyone. Like offline GMail, offline GCal uses Gears to sync while online and make content available locally when offline.

The neat thing about this is that you can now have access to your schedule/agenda while on the go, and all in one place within GMail if you have enabled the Calendar gadget.

The downside is that calendar entries cannot be edited while offline for automatic syncing when you get back online. Hopefully this is a feature that will be introduced soon.