It’s been a while since I saw something as inspiring as Google Earth circa 2004. The brand new Google News Timeline comes pretty close, despite a rather mundane name.
In less than a minute I was able to scan news about the 19-year-old Joan of Arc, Aztecs fighting the Spaniards, Royal Exchange opening in London, the first vote in the United States, Napoleon’s army in Egypt, the Pony Express kick-off in Missouri and the Russian Socialist Revolution. Most of these events are separated by about a century. The content is being fed from Wikipedia and Google News, various print and broadcast media, and other sources that you can select yourself by clicking on “Add More Queries.”
You really have to query “financial crisis” and track back to the 1930s to see how stunning the similarity with the current headlines is. I did spot an article about Google and its founders dating back to 1982, around the time both of them were in grade school. Obviously it was a wrong date, but while it is not flawless, Google News Timeline beta is still incredibly impressive.