Google continued to vacuum the start-up landscape by acquiring @LastSoftware, creator of SketchUp, today (March 14, 2006). SketchUp is an award winning software that makes creating 3D designs easy. The acquisition offers users a free online platform for users to draw in 3D and Google has made the software available for free trial here.
After further investigation it became more clear that Google could plan to use the software to beef up Google Earth with these same types of 3D images (i.e. buildings and landmarks) which could produce additional advertising real estate.