Your house: Bird's-eye view at Google

With satellite images, Google is now making it possible for Web searchers to see at a glance how close the hotel they're thinking of booking is to the beach, the Associated Press reports. Great. But there's a flipside to that convenience: Searchers can also type in someone's address and quickly size up the neighborhood layout. Google's new feature , stemming from its purchase of digital mapmaker Keyhole Corp. six months ago, "will enable its users to zoom in on homes and businesses using satellite images... providing a bird's-eye-view of about half the United States." The Keyhole technology provides "close-up perspective of specific addresses." A Keyhole manager told the AP that there is little reason for paranoia about the satellite images, though, because they're 6-12 months old.