And speaking of gapminder

Thanks to a hat tip from Pat McConnell, I've learned that the latest news is it that GOOGLE has acquired gapminder's Trendalyzer software. Here's the scoop from the the gapminder home page.

Make sense of the world by having fun with statistics

Gapminder and Google share an enthusiasm for technology that makes data easily accessible and understandable to the world. Gapminder’s Trendalyzer software unveils the beauty of statistics by converting boring numbers into enjoyable interactive animations. We believe that Google’s acquisition of Trendalyzer will speed up the achievement of this noble goal. Trendalyzer’s developers have left Gapminder to join Google in Mountain View, where Google intends to improve and scale up Trendalyzer, and make it freely available to those who seek access to statistics.

The Stockholm-based Gapminder Foundation will continue to spearhead the use of new technology for data animations. The goal is to promote a fact-based worldview by bringing statistical story-telling to new levels. In collaboration with producers of accurate statistics that are eager to give the public free access to databases, Gapminder hopes to recruit and inspire many users of public statistics.

If you haven't seen Trendalyzer in action, you are in for a treat. You can check it out for yourself with this powerful example.

Trendalyzer in simple terms is a timeline in motion machine which has all sorts of potential to help us discover previously unseen patterns. Google's stated intentions to continue to advance on this already powerful design is an exciting development for anyone interested in understanding the behavior of important factors and how they change over time.