Yesterday, Google flipped the switch and moved Jaiku to App Engine. And today, Google is open sourcing the Jaiku code base under the Apache License 2.0. . The code is available as JaikuEngine on Google Code Project Hosting as of now. Anyone can set up and run their own JaikuEngine instance on Google App Engine.

As Google will no longer be actively developing jaiku.com, the future of Jaiku is in our hands now. Point your browser to the project and join the jaiku engine-discuss group to learn more and get started. Users of the client may have noted already that the current build will no longer connect to the server now that Jaiku is hosted on App Engine.

From now on, you also need no invitation if you want to use http://www.jaiku.com, the website registration is open again.

Today is the 174th birthday of the famous Italian astronomer and cartographer Giovanni Schiaparelli. In 1877, Schiaparelli began producing some of history’s most iconic planetary maps, and he single-handedly invented the naming scheme we use to identify features on Mars today. His maps are famous for their detail and beauty, as well as for showing many linear features he named canali (the Italian word for channel).

A combination of translation error and overactive imaginations caused some of Schiaparelli’s contemporaries, including astronomer Percival Lowell, to re-label these features as canals, suggesting that Mars was home to both an advanced Martian civilization and abundant water bodies.

Of course, further study of Mars has revealed neither water bodies nor any signs of intelligent life on the planet, and Schiaparelli’s ‘canali’ were shown to be nothing more than an optical illusion. Yet, our study of the planet has only increased, and our curiosity has only deepened, as countless images and numerous space missions have been dedicated to the Red Planet since Schiaparelli’s time.

The new Google Maps 5.0 realeased today, which has all the new mars landscapes and historical reports in it!

For more information about the new features added to Mars in Google Earth, check out the previous blog post about google earth 5.0 has mars data and historical map materials or the Google LatLong Blog, or view the tutorial video in this page :). To explore Mars on your own, download Google Earth 5.0.

Plaxo known for its aggregation tools from all over the social web is now up for commenting and now has a stronger commenting system! The post from Plaxo Blog tells us about the two powerful new features to give everyone a “stronger Pulse”: Comments-in-the-Stream and deep integration with the travel itinerary site TripIt.

In the latest release, Plaxo makes conversations a more central feature of the service, bringing them front-and-center in the stream, rather than only on the details page of the shared event.

Take a look at the new stronger commenting system:

Plaxo got Pulse started by aggregating public feeds (and layering on a family/friends/business permission model inside Plaxo). Plaxo did that because that was what was available at the time, and because we believed that over time feeds would go mainstream and that mechanisms would emerge for getting access to private feeds. And, indeed, that has been the case, with the accelerating adoption of OAuth. Plaxo members can now take a feed of what they are privately sharing on Netflix, Picasa, and Twitter and share that selectively into Plaxo just with family, friends, colleagues, a group (or any combination of those).

Today, Plaxo adds to the list of private feed sources the online travel itinerary site, TripIt, via a deep integration with their recently released Open Travel Itinerary API. Now you can share your travel plans with whatever subset of your Plaxo connections which makes sense to you for example your business \ family \ friends or just for your self :)….  They’ll see your trips in their Pulse stream (and so will you).

And, if you think that’s all…. You’re wrong, there is more here! Couple of days ago I wrote about how to integrate your Facebook calendar with the Google calendar like wise now if you add tripit feed to your Plaxo account, it automatically adds events from your tripit calendar schedule to your Plaxo calendar :) sweet eh? … All this is possible using OAuth and we all know Joseph smarr is good at cranking this out really easy :D

Google Earth 5.0 published, updates contain Google Mars and historical map materials.. The new function is available in Google Earth 5.0…. So far Googles Mars with Google Earth 5.0 stood for the download ready. In the meantime in Google Earth offers “Mars", with which the user can experience more over the development of the science and research to this planet. In order to get all these features, you don’t have to reinstall Google earth but just upgrade to the latest version..

Google Earth 5 for Mars gives information with Layers in Mars Gallery Live from Mars and Historical image.

The map comes from the astronomer Giovanni Schiaparelli, Percival Lowell and A few others. These are the first Mars researchers.

Mars in Google Earth also contains several other layers with useful information about the Red Planet. There’s a browsable layer of our favorite satellite images, visible and infrared global views, geo-located excerpts from A Traveler’s Guide to Mars, and others. We’ve also included 3D models of NASA rovers and, if you follow their tracks, the 360-degree panoramic photos they captured from the surface. Just like browsing on Earth, you can use the search box to locate famous sites like the face on Mars. Who knows, you might just find a new Martian friend to chat with… :)

To enter Mars in Google Earth, click the planets button in the main toolbar and select ‘Mars’:

We hope you enjoy these latest additions. They’re made possible by Google’s Space Act Agreement with NASA, which enabled NASA Ames researchers to develop much of this content. You can visit earth.google.com/mars to learn more about Mars in Google Earth.