Google Maps launched its Streetview service in the UK yesterday, and some intrepid sightseers have already found the Stig at the BBC’s White City offices. Fun.

Also Nottingham High School, on a rare “not rainy” day:

Oh, and Wally on Putney High Street:

I didn’t think turkeys were flightless (wild, they’re not), so why the plane? Images of Chicken Run came to mind…

Bad bit of journalese there, I think. Not a great idea to associate plasticine poultry with a plane crash, however unintentionally.

Update: The BBC has updated the title to “Jet crashes…” – much clearer.

The BBC homepage at 2.15 this afternoon…

Fortunately, Apple has enabled users of the iPhone to download additional applications for the phone through the App Store, which works very much like the iTunes Music Store, except that instead of downloading music you’re downloading full-blown programmes to provide extra functionality.

Of the dozen-or-so that I’ve downloaded so far, the Facebook app is probably the one I use most, providing (almost) all the functionality of the website in a quick, shiny, touch-optimised interface. The Google app ties in nicely with the GPS functions of the phone to keep search results relevant to where you are (a search for “pizza” finds your nearest takeaway), for example. NetNewsWire does exactly what the Mac application does (or it did, until the latest iPhone firmware update killed it – a fix is in the pipeline).

I love the Apple Remote app, which lets me control iTunes on my Mac/PC from anywhere in the house. Last.fm provides me with a huge number of streaming songs, based on my listening history, with which to supplement my iPod playlists. Shazam does what it has been doing for years, identifying music based on a few seconds of it – perfect for pub quizzes…! The TubeStatus app will doubtless come in useful the next time I’m in London.

Did I mention that all of these apps were free? There are, of course, others that cost, including a few fairly decent games, but I’m happy with what I’ve got. Almost.

I can think of a few things I’d like my iPhone to do for me that it doesn’t at the moment:

• Flight tracking. There’s a Dashboard Widget to do it, so why is there no iPhone app to track planes?
• Trains. A National Rail arrivals/departures app, based on the live National Rail data. Surely this can’t be too complicated?
• TV listings. The Radio Times listings data is perfect for an iPhone app, isn’t it?
• SlingPlayer. Apparently this is coming. It will be awesome.
• BBC Radio. The new iPlayer is very flair, but because it wraps the Now Playing/Listen Again streams in Flash, they don’t work on the iPhone. I’d love for the Beeb to develop a nice touch-friendly interface for Listen Again, so I never have to miss The Archers… They’ve done it (sort of) for the Podcasts.

If any of these already exist in the App Store and I’ve missed them, feel free to point me in their direction…

Also, now that the BBC has its embeddable media player working, any chance of embedding full iPlayer programmes on external sites? Can’t be long…

Alas, “The number you have called has not been recognized”. BBC, you disappoint me. Why feature the number so prominently (full screen, at least three times) if it doesn’t do anything? Would it really have been that difficult to put a recording of David Tennant at the end of the phone?

Somehow, I think next week it may prove important…

Update: Seems the number falls within the range of numbers reserved by Ofcom “for drama purposes”. Pity.

Still can’t work out what happened last night. I have a vague feeling that the idea of them being “one second in the future” will be important, as will the Doctor’s spare hand. And I wager John Simm (The Master) may make a return… after all, we’ve seen everyone else.

Sergey Brin, utterly bemused, in the background – quality.

Beautifully shot, seamless CGI, tongue firmly in cheek. A true successor to the legendary spaghetti trees. I love the confused toucan.

Even better, I think someone at the Telegraph may have had a sense of humour bypass and is reporting the penguins as actual news… EDIT: nope, it seems to be a joke shared by the Beeb, the Telegraph and (bizarrely) the Mirror, who went a bit far with the joke (the last paragraph spoils it somewhat, I think).

(If you’re outside the UK, you won’t be able to see the iPlayer video linked above – try this mirror at YouTube or this one, also at YouTube).

Thursday 7 February 2008, 9.00pm, BBC One. Be there.

And yesterday’s episode was, to put it mildly, awesome. Not only did we have the much anticipated (and, again, awesome) head-to-head race between a Bugatti Veyron and, umm, a EuroFighter (best drag race ever – watch it), we had this bit:

John “Newsreaders are not entertainers” Humphrys – legend!