Wallpaper from the sky

EarthWallpapers.org boasts a smallish but wonderful collection of stunning desktop wallpapers made from the choicest satellite imagery plundered from Google Maps. Plaster your screen with New Zealand volcanoes, Paris sprawl, Salt Lake salt, or the Australian outback (doubles as the surface of Mars!). I especially like the sleek Flash design that previews the backgrounds on the page -- it's pleasant and just plain feels nice, which is a rare trick for Flash sites. Even the watermark on the backgrounds is attractive.

(If you want some of your own, here's a quick tutorial on creating custom wallpapers using Google Maps.)






La Terre Vue du Ciel is the aerial photography of Yann Arthus-Bertrand, as seen in books, on postcards, and all over the place, and it's gorgeous stuff. If you'd like to add your monitor to the list, you can view a large selection of these lovely compositions on the website and also download them as desktop bakgrounds.