3D Global Search: Virtual Earth 3 is live!

From the VirtualEarthBlog come the amazing pics and vids of Microsoft's challenge to GoogleEarth, Virtual Earth. It allows you to see real 3D images around the globe, not just boxes à la GoogleEarth. You can also link to certain areas of the globe, making it a searchable 3D library. It's getting some crit in the comments for being single platform (Internet Explorer only) and for carrying ads, but I think it's a nice step in the right direction. Imagine being able to search for a blog and see where it is being written. Too cool for school.