Microsoft ICE (Image Composite Editor) is a free software that stitches multiple photos together to create panoramas and 360-degree images. All you need to do is install the software, open it up, then drop your images into the window and ICE does all the work. After a few seconds of “solving the puzzle” you’ll have a nearly, if not completely seamless panoramic available to export in a wide range of file types.

Having up until now dealt with AutoStitch, the often-frustrating stitching software bundled with most Canon cameras, I nearly gave up on shooting for panoramics all together. (Ironically, one commenter on Lifehacker noticed that Matthew Brown, the original creator of AutoStitch, was once on the team at Microsoft Research’s Interactive Visual Media Group that developed ICE.)

I was skeptical about Microsoft ICE, until I started throwing all the panoramics I could at it, as it defiantly spewed back amazing results with little effort on my part. For instance, the NASCAR panoramic above is one of many I’ve taken over the years, with many straight lines on the track and thousands of people in the stands, I’m still having trouble spotting any noticable seams from the output provided by ICE.

Honestly, this is the first program in a long time that I’ve come away saying “Wow!” Even as a predominate PC user, I’d have to say that Microsoft surprised me with this one. Microsoft ICE does one thing, does it extremely well and all without any useless features or confusing bloat. All software should be so streamlined. Pssst! Hey, Microsoft! More stuff like this, please!

Microsoft ICE works on Windows XP, Vista and 7 with a minimum of .NET Framework 2.0 installed.

Microsoft Image Composite Editor [via Lifehacker]

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Geeks and techies around the globe are looking forward to the release of Mozilla’s Firefox 3 web browser, scheduled for official release on June 17th. In addition to the rollout, the Firefox marketing community at SpreadFirefox.com (which I am conveniently a member) is looking to set a Guiness World Record for most software downloads in 24 hours (since no previous record of that kind has been set, it shouldn’t be too hard to achieve).

I’ve been using a portable version Firefox 3 RC2 for the past few weeks and I must highly recommend the download. All of my friends and family are faithful Firefox converts, thanks to me, and I’m sure to be installing this latest major release for them as well. When its finally released tomorrow (June 17), head on over to GetFirefox.com to upgrade!

SpreadFirefox.com Download Day 2008

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The video above is a version of a game I recently discovered called Crayon Physics, which you can download here. And I highly recommend doing so indeed.The goal of the game is very simple: get the ball to where the star (or stars) are. To do so you’ll have do draw paths, overcome obstacles and bump the ball along its merry quest.

The download is a short prototype version of the in-progress Crayon Physics Deluxe, which is shown in the video. Despite the short gameplay of the prototype, each level is a workout for your mind, and you are rewarded at the end with a platform to play around with the physics in this crayon world.

Let us know how you do in the comments!

Crayon Physics by Kloonigames [via Gizmodo]

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Everyone’s favorite little digital planet, Google Earth, recently received an update including new layers to display real-time weather information, including radar, clouds and forecasts. I, along with most everyone else it seems, has been wondering what took so long.

Although I didn’t find it right away, this update also includes looped radar and cloud animations. You can find it by clicking the “Information” tab under the Weather grouping, which offers links to download the 24-hour cloud animation or 6-hour radar animation. I’ve noticed these animations aren’t as fluid or high resolution as can be found directly on Weather.com, but its a good feature I hope they eventually refine.

Either way, this should make your Google Earth flight simulator adventures all the more realistic!

Google Earth 

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