I’m assuming most of you have already checked out Flash Earth, an amazing app from neave.com. It uses data from Google Maps and Virtual Earth (which probably means there’s a cease and desist order coming sometime soon). This app is a fine example of the kinds of things that can be built–and will be built–if content owners leave their APIs open enough to encourage third party development.
Speaking of Google. Have you noticed that they’ve jumped into the instant messaging game? The beta is called Google Talk. It handles voice as well (it’s also Windows-only at the moment, though you can connect with other IM clients if you’re running a better OS). It’s not hard to see that Google is starting to make some inroads into desktop application development as a nice addition to their arsenal of web applications. Kottke has been musing–for some time now–that they’ve got even bigger plans. And I think he’s right.