EarthDesk

Put the World on Your Desktop!

*** Due to the overwhelming response Xeric Design, Ltd. has agreed to extend this deal for another day - Enjoy! ***

Folks, you've really got to see this one to believe it. EarthDesk replaces your wallpaper with a stunning, dynamic image of our planet. With an internet connection, EarthDesk displays near real-time global cloud cover, allowing users to track hurricanes and typhoons, or simply admire our beautiful planet. User options allow you to adjust the overall transparency of the cloud layer.

EarthDesk also sports an accurate rendering of moonlight on the Living Earth satellite map. To create this stunning effect, the phase of the moon and reflectiveness of the Earth's surface are used to determine correct coloring of the image, ensuring a realistic view of the Earth from space.

EarthDesk gives you numerous options for configuring map images on your desktop. Maps can be centered on a city so that the map remains stationary while the sun and moon move. Alternatively, the map center may be locked to the position of the sun or moon so that the shadow remains fixed while the map moves.

With support for multiple projections and multiple monitors, EarthDesk's wide variety of map projections gives you complete control over the maps on your desktop.

Looking for an even more beautiful EarthDesk experience? Purchase the optional Cloud Service from Xeric and increase the cloud resolution density from 8 to a spectacular 18 megapixels!

Promotion Written by Roger Thomasson

Mac Version

Windows Version

Mac & PC

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$12.95

RETAIL $24.95

79 People Want This Deal

or Buy Now at Regular Price

Xeric Design, Ltd. Website

Platforms: Windows 2000, XP, Vista (x32, x64), 7 (x32, x64) and Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard), 10.6 (Snow Leopard), 10.7 (Lion)

Clouds with transparency and moonlight reflections update at 6-hour intervals. Optional high-res clouds update at 3-hour intervals.
Accurate sun, moon and city lighting.
High quality twilight shading.
Automatically updates when waking from sleep.
Moonlight shading can be turned on or off.
Complete multi-display support.
Eleven different map projections.
Enhanced satellite, political and natural maps.
EarthDesk uses the Atlas database technology, which provides detailed geographical and time zone information for 10,000 cities throughout the world.
Purchase with BitsDuJour's discount coupon code and get all this at a promotional price!

After you make a purchase of this BitsDuJour discount promotion, EarthDesk may be used indefinitely.
EarthDesk is licensed per user, so if more people are going to use EarthDesk you will need to purchase additional copies.
Each license allows installation on 2 computers, but EarthDesk may not be used at exactly the same time on each of them.
Transfer of a license to another owned computer is allowed.
Upgrades to future versions of the software will be free for minor versions only. For versions after that, upgrades will require additional payment, which will be discounted.
Support is provided for the lifetime of the product.
No return policy.
Read the Full License details.
BitsDuJour purchases using a discount coupon code come direct from the vendor, so you'll always get the same software app sold under the same terms as a regular sale, just at a great promotional price.

“It's one thing to know in the abstract that people in other parts of the world are heading out to happy hour as you're waking up with the sun; it's quite another to see it happening.”- MacWorld
“EarthDesk is the solution for anyone who's ever walked past a Geochron and wanted one of their own.”- ATPM
“EarthDesk has always been the best of this class.”- VersionTracker Comment

BitsDuJour brings you daily discount deal coupons for Windows and Mac software apps. Promotions run for 24 hours, and our discount prices almost always never sell out as it's all digital download software, or something techie or cool. Discounts start running at Midnight Pacific time, and we do have other ongoing deals too. Read about how it works.

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The Conversation

Email Updates Load 1 Older Comment

SoftCollector 1. I have tried centering on my home city in Bulgaria (Europe), but all I get is Africa in the middle. Is this how the centering feature is supposed to work? I am sure I have chosen the correct city and also used the centering option.

2. I have also tried centering on other cities (NY, US), but the software automatically reverts to neutral centering mode and I get Africa in the middle. This is either a trial limitation or it is a bug.

Please, comment.

Dec 6 2011 at 12:29am

Trygve Inda Hi,

After you select your list of favorite cities from the Locations Tab, go to the Display Tab and pull down the Centering Menu. Then choose one city from your list. This allows you to choose from your list of favorite cities without having to go back to the Locations Tab. You might also want to enable the Menu Control option in the General Tab. This lets you change the centering location without having to open System Preferences.

I hope this helps.

Trygve Inda
Xeric Design, Ltd.

Xeric Design, Ltd. Vendor - Dec 6 2011 at 1:42am

SoftCollector Dear Trygve,

Thank you for your prompt reply.

This is what I do:

1. I choose a city as described by you:
http://www.picbg.net/u/64...600400.png

2. I close the menu. Nothing much happens. I open the menu again and I see:
http://www.picbg.net/u/64...600401.png

The centering selection has automatically reverted to neutral (a line is shown) instead of the city I chose.

I am using Windows XP SP3.

3. Also: I cannot find the Menu Control option under the General Tab you mention ("Show system tray Icon" is the closest thing to what you describe, but the words Menu Control are missing). Please, advise.

Kind Regards,
SC

Dec 6 2011 at 1:55am

Ulrich I can confirm that version 5.1 is indeed broken... The centering option does not work correctly at all here. On a two monitor environment, expanding the image over both monitors no longer works as before, and controlling the center for each monitor individually appears to be inverted. Changing the location for the center of the map a few times makes the list of options in the combobox grow on each iteration, repeating several times the names of the cities that were used previously. I reverted to version 5.0.6 and everything is fine again.

I am not happy with this low resolution cloud image that is offered for free. I get it that they no longer can offer free cloud images because the person who built them in the past now sells them with a subscription. However, above is written in bold that there is an 8 megapixel cloud cover available, that can be converted to "spectacular 18 megapixels". This is simply not true: Xeric offers only a rough 1024x512 pixels cloud cover for free for EarthDesk 5 on Windows - which corresponds to 0.5 megapixels, and has about 130 KB in size. I really don't need a 18 megapixels cloud overlay on my desktop, but I find it very hard to believe that the best they can offer without an additional subscription charge is just a download of a low res image of 130 KB every six hours.

Dec 7 2011 at 6:22pm

Frank Stephens I like EarthDesk but I agree that 5.1 for Windows is broken in other ways. On my computer, with the latest nVidia beta drivers, it craps out after a time, so I'm not using it currently. There is another very longstanding issue which the people at Xeric Design completely fail to understand. Just about any photo viewer/editor can scale an image to fit the display area. If the aspect ratio isn't exact, they will scale the image so that the most constrained dimension will fit, using black bands across the top and bottom or on the sides as necessary. There is no such option for the full world maps in EarthDesk, you can only get an approximation via manual scaling.

Dec 8 2011 at 12:16am

Pam Garrett Version 5.1 works fine on Win7 SP1 with an AMD Radeon HD 6700.
I can set the image to center over a given location, and I haven't (yet) seen the problems that the others are reporting. When projecting full screen images, I agree with Frank S that there is distortion if the aspect ratio isn't being properly constrained. I have one 30" monitor.

Dec 8 2011 at 1:13am

Ralph Bressler So, are the developers going to address the issues BEFORE the deal is over? I was going to purchase it and the price is still great BUT...I would like a fully working copy! One problem seems to be that the program has not been updated for Windows. The cloud package is not available for Window. I did look at the comparisons on their site and they convinced me I would NOT buy the clouds since both images look the same toe me. The centering does NOT work on Windows XP Professional SP3! This was very frustrating since I thought I was doing something wrong!

The last response from Xeric was Tuesday?!

Dec 8 2011 at 3:07am

Brian W Any sample screenshots online? EarthDesk sounds like something I would enjoy but I would first like to know if the image quality is acceptable to me. I was amazed to see that an image program is being sold with only a lot of text and a thumbnail image. There should be sample images of clear and cloudy days available in most monitor resolutions.

Dec 8 2011 at 3:30am

Ralph Bressler Download the free trial and try it out. That is the best way to find out if the image quality is acceptable.

Dec 8 2011 at 3:59am

Brian W Sometimes a trial is necessary but this software is not one. It can be easily exhibited in a slideshow. Trials take time and risk. They do not always install/remove cleanly and can have hidden software/toolbars/change home pages etc... Only if I can see a decent value in a software will I take the time & risk to try it.

If it is not worth the developer's time to post decent screenshots then I don't see why the developer would expect me to spend my time to try it.

Dec 8 2011 at 4:58am

SoftCollector I have been testing the software for several days now, and I have to say that the image of Earth looks very beautiful on the desktop, but unless the developer addresses the issue of the centering bug and confirms that it will be fixed, I am not buying.

Dec 8 2011 at 5:01am

Ulrich Brian, here are two screen shots, made with the registered version 5.0.6 on Windows, so there is no watermark:

Equirectangular projection, Living Earth Satellite image, real moonlight shading, 140% zoom on a double monitor setup:
http://imageshack.us/phot...mg01lg.jpg

Same as above, but using Natural Color image:
http://imageshack.us/phot...mg02kt.jpg

Dec 8 2011 at 5:38am

Ralph Bressler OK, the developer is in Nevada but I hope he wakes up soon and starts to address the problems we have pointed out! REALLY would like to buy this but feel we deserve some assurances that the errors will be corrected.

Dec 8 2011 at 5:49am

Brian W Ulrich, Thank you for taking the time to post the screenshots. Not bad but I would want the higher res clouds - I did find comparison screenshots here: http://www.xericdesign.com/clouds.php.

Interesting but unsure if I want to spend money on it...

Dec 8 2011 at 6:34am

Ralph Bressler Where is the developer in this discussion? Even a "I can't fix it!" or "I don't know what's wrong" would be preferable to being ignored!

Dec 8 2011 at 10:51am

Trygve Inda We are looking into the centering issue as well as working to bring high-res clouds to the Windows version. In the meantime you can download v5.0.6 here:

http://www.xericdesign.co...tup506.exe

Dec 8 2011 at 1:14pm

Trygve Inda You can download 5.0.6 here:
http://www.xericdesign.co...tup506.exe

And 5.1.1.8 here:
http://www.1stplugins.com...up5118.exe

We are working on high-res clouds but both the above should solve the centering issue. I am sorry for the delay as we are not at our office in Nevada but are 12 time zones away in the Middle East right now.

Trygve Inda
President, Xeric Design.

Dec 8 2011 at 1:14pm

SoftCollector I can confirm that v5.1.1.8 solves the centering issue on Windows XP SP3.

Dec 8 2011 at 1:19pm

Nico Westerdale Due to the overwhelming response Xeric Design, Ltd. has agreed to extend this deal for another day - Enjoy!

BitsDuJour Admin - Dec 9 2011 at 12:00am

Ulrich The same here - 5.1.1.8 works well. The new "Shaded Relief" image is nice too. Now bring on the 1.125 megapixel clouds. :)

Dec 9 2011 at 6:13am

SoftCollector Here is a word from the wise :)

If you chose a location (say, your home city), then center on that location and set "Natural Color" and "Real Moonlight", while at the same time putting the zoom slider at the 350% mark, and getting rid of the clouds (not needed at higher zoom levels) - it looks really nice!

That said, I would also like to see the high resolution clouds offered with the Windows version of the software.

Dec 9 2011 at 6:19am

Karen Inda There have been some delays with getting the cloud service working on the Windows version, due to technical reasons. We hope to release it very soon.

Dec 9 2011 at 12:54pm

Frank Stephens Karen Inda, my computer runs 24/7, with EarthDesk set to update every minute. A screensaver is active (before the monitor is turned off) and the computer locks (goes to the logon screen). I'm using the latest nVidia beta drivers. EarthDesk always flakes out after a time (stops updating, tray icon present but invisible, context menu present but empty). Unless there's a problem with the drivers (possible, but everything else on my PC works), that looks like EarthDesk may be consuming resources and not releasing them (I haven't checked, but you could with Microsoft Sysinternals Process Explorer).

Dec 9 2011 at 9:21pm

Karen Inda Please make sure you have v5.1.1.8 (link above). If it still happens please contact us via our websupport so that we can look into the more deeply.

Dec 9 2011 at 9:34pm

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