Version 4.0.2080 of Google Earth is out, and it adds several new capabilities. The primary new capability is official support for Japanese navigation -- some areas were previously supported, but this new version offers official support. Likewise, several new Japan-centric features have been added, such as vastly improved maps for Japan, including 3D display capabilities for Tokyo, Osaka, other major cities, and even 3D display capabilities for people's houses. Apparently the ability to display 3D houses is not available for other countries yet. Hit up this page to download it.

WorldWatch is a world clock that can display the current time in any number of cities located around the world. The look and feel of the program are completely customisable and it works in both Japanese and English. Get it while you can!

Note: This story is the first of what hopefully will be many in a new series of articles for TechJapan - reviews of software available at "Windows Forest", Watch Impress' software review site. Think of it as a Japanese version of download.com.

Thanks to TechJapan user "mid0ri" for suggesting we give this a go. Let us know what you think via the comments or in the forum. Suggestions for software to review are most welcome!

This software has been out for a year, and I haven't noticed. The company that created this atlas went through a lot of trouble. As a matter of fact, they photographed three urban areas from a scale as much as 1/5,000 - you can even see cars driving down the road.
Of course, it has all of your standard features, such as navigation, address search, and so forth. Also of note is how the software uses JPEG2000 for storing images; o­ne of the first applications I've seen of the format.
According to the Impress Watch article this software was reviewed o­n, if the company were to photograph all of Japan in this manner, more than 1TB of space would be required. Ouch.

A new solution from Agtech allows for the use of a spare PC's display as a secondary display for your primary system.
Confused? It's pretty simple; imagine two laptops' screens being used as two monitors for the same computer. If you've got a spare notebook or other computer sitting around and don't feel like investing in some sort of switch or new video card, this is an excellent software-based solution.

The OpenSource Community OpenOffice.org announced o­n May 21st that their free office suite, OpenOffice.org 1.1.1 Japanese Version has been officially released. It is currently available as a free download o­n their website.Side note, the OpenOffice.org website is stating OpenOffice has been localized in Aynu! This is the language spoken by the indigenous people of Japan. Someone has got too much free time...