Google debuts 3-D drawing for the masses

Google Inc. has come out with something that’s a bit like Etch A Sketch gone 3-D. The search giant’s latest free software program, called Google SketchUp, allows users to use a basic mouse to drag-and-click their way to re-creating their house, erecting a fantastic sculpture or sizing up a potential kitchen redesign. ’’3-D is probably one of the most expressive tools to express dreams,’’ said Brad Schell, who founded Colorado-based SketchUp in 1999, sold the company to Google last month and still manages the product. Most existing three-dimensional drawing software is highly technical and hard to use, he said, so it limits the audience to architects, structural engineers, graphics artists and the like. By comparison, Google SketchUp, the free version of SketchUp’s software available for download at sketchup.google.com, consists of less than a dozen basic commands for drawing.

Clicking and dragging a line creates a trapezoidal shape; another adjustment to the height creates a box. Using another tool, it’s possible to rotate and pan around the created structure, so you can view it from any angle, including from below. Curves, lines and texture can also be added, and the software comes with stock images of people, benches, trees and more. SketchUp is linked with Google Earth, the satellite mapping tool that allows a user to surf and zoom into locations around the globe. Using the two tools in tandem, a user can, for example, create a rendition of major landmarks such as the leaning tower of Pisa and share that image with anyone who might be interested in checking out models other users have created for that location.

Yahoo adds tech help

Yahoo has created a new advertising-driven website, Yahoo! Tech at tech.yahoo.com, with the idea that you can never get too much information about things that plug in. Televisions, camcorders, music players, computers and all things gadget-like are part of the ratings-and-reviews mix. ‘‘Personal technology has become essential to our daily lives, but the growing number of products confuses and overwhelms most consumers,’’ says Yahoo’s Lloyd Braun, head of its media group. ‘‘We created Yahoo Tech to make life a little less complicated.’’ Yahoo executives say the site will offer product round-ups from a team of assembled advisers and will also integrate content from magazines such as Consumer Reports, and books and other publications such as Wiley Publishing’s For Dummies series. Advertising is an ‘‘important anchor’’ for the site, Yahoo says. Among companies signed up are Panasonic, Hewlett Packard and Verizon Wireless. Some topics on the site have included ‘‘How to choose an HDTV,’’ and ‘‘How to hook up a laptop computer to a television.’’