VERY cool project by Google, which allows you to virtually visit some of the world's most famous galleries or browse art in isolation.

Fascinating look at at how surnames are distributed (along with their ethnic origin) across London. Don't see a Lazarides in there anywhere though...

Am I the only one who hasn't met a Begum before? Feel like I should have, looking at this map!

WPMU has given us an interesting insight to the world of 'free' Wordpress themes that seem to populate the web. Where many excellent (and pretty damn decent ones) can be found on the likes of http://www.smashingmagazine.com and http://www.speckyboy.com, there are also a fair share of places that generate what can only be described as link farming.

Like software downloads, a few of these even contain malware, so it's crucial you are certain what you're downloading is legit before hosting it on your own server.

One major thing WPMU points out is ensure you avoid anything that includes Base64-encoded sections - the video and link above should give you some key pointers of what to watch out for.

I had a good play around with Google Image Swirl yesterday and I can't help feeling a little disappointed with it.

Right now, the service looks like just a flashy (but very cool) interface for something Bing has offered for a while.

When I used Image Swirl yesterday "groups" of photos of the Eiffel Tower seemed pretty incoherent - with each resting on a very loose theme or weak visual element that only slightly differentiated one group from another (if at all).

But that's not to say it won't improve over time though - Google will no doubt refine its algorithms between now and the end product (it is in Labs, after all).

LEGO goodness returns to the blog in some style, with the LEGO Digital Camera.

Now all the fun of LEGO bricks is engineered into a real digital camera. The LEGO Digital Camera looks like it is built completely from LEGO bricks, but it can not be taken apart. LEGO bricks can be added to the top and the bottom so kids can integrate it into their building creations. But this is not a toy. Its a full functioning 3MP digital camera featuring 1.5″ LCD screen, built-in flash, fixed focus and digital zoom. The camera holds up to 80 photos at a time. Let your imagination go wild.

[via Random Good Stuff]

Absolute genius - now I just need to work out who to buy this for as a Xmas present...

An awesome visualisation that appeals to the history/anthropology nerds out there. The circles are directly proportional to the size of each empire, tracking data from 1800 to the present day. As the empires lose states, they break away in a lava-lamp-esque fashion. Thoroughly recommend a ganders (or "look" to you non-British out there)...

Originally sited on Mondeguinho and BoingBoing