It has been a while since I posted some science-related material (October 22nd to be precise ... you can blame the recent election if you like), so here goes ...
The little yellow dots you seem above are a series of minor earthquakes that occurred last week in southern California, overlayed on the 3D surface within Google Earth. The data is provided by the USGS Earthquake Hazards Program and is easily accessible in real time using the following KMZ file which will automatically load in GE. Give it a try, it's mucho cool.
On a related note, I played around a little with Microsoft Virtual Earth 3D and was seriously underwhelmed. Besides needing (and running in) IE7, it frankly is not offering anything innovative. Google wont be feeling any tremor from Redmond.
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Too true, Microsoft Virtual Earth is really disappointing. Indeed, I wished I had something like google earth when I studied geography and had to create maps by hand drawing.
The only thing I miss in Google Earth is a tool which would allow to project the data in 2D (e.g. Mercator projection) which would allow to see data for the complete surface without the need to turn the earth around. This would help to present things like epidemiological data or migration of migratory birds