Exciting news from Google.com: They’ve just added 54 new countries to Google Maps and more than doubled their coverage of Latin America and are now mapping three times as many countries in Asia as before. So if you’ve ever wanted to get the flavor of an energetic metropolis like Mexico City or scope out the relaxed vibe of a small island like Aruba, we’ve got you covered.

Here’s the full list of new countries:
Afghanistan, Aruba, Bahamas, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Belize, Bermuda, Brunei Darussalam, Bhutan, Bolivia, Cambodia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, El Salvador, Fiji, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Indonesia, Iraq, Iran, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Kuwait, Laos, Lebanon, Mexico, Myanmar (Burma), Mongolia, Nepal, Nicaragua, Oman, Pakistan, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka, Syria, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Timor-Leste, Uruguay, Uzbekistan, Venezuela, Vietnam, Yemen

For more information, read: http://google-latlong.blogspot.com/2007/09/more-of-world-for-you-to-explore.html

A New website launched this week that allows tutors to teach language online. TalkBean.com allows students to set up an appointment directly with their language instructors. All lessons are performed live, using webcams. As a tutor, you can set your schedule to show times when you are available or show your students when you are online if you choose to go live, making yourself immediately available to teach. If you have any additional lesson material, this can be uploaded to TalkBean from your computer, during the lesson only. There’s also other ways in which students can leave memos for you or notes on your message board.

A recent report shares an apparent few drawbacks to the site: the registration process is rather cumbersome, and you’ll need to sign on as a tutor, which requires a 4-page sign up as well as your Paypal information. There’s also no good system to find other users, students, or tutors, so I’m at a loss as to how students and tutors can best network with each other. Adding a search bar, a ratings system and other checks to ensure that the tutors on the site are reliable and helpful, as well as the ability to upload lesson material independently of live webcam lessons, would bring a lot of value to TalkBean.

Who tutors on TalkBean? Whether you are a university stident looking for a side job, or a professional tutor, you can advertise yourself on the TalkBean marketplace to find the right students for your class. According to the website, you don’t need special training to be a tutor, Just your passion and the Internet.

Live Tutor allows you to instantly create your own space to teach knowledge and experience to ESL students. After registering as a tutor, you post your program for students to find and enroll. All lesson are performed live using a WebCam and HeadSet.

Tutors get paid from a system that automatically secures payments from students to their tutors and, thereby, allows seamless international payments. Students must pay the full lesson fee upfront to TalkBean and once the lesson is complete. Lesson fee is deposited to the tutor’s TalkBean account as cyber money, which can be
withdrawn and sent to tutor’s bank account upon request.

Similar services include Grockit, LessonBites, Tutorom and xLingo.

Well, it’s been a little over a month since Yourville.com was
launched and we’re ecstatic about our response. Our original
Yourville concept was to design and implement a website that
would bring expats in Costa Rica and expat wannabees together
in a viral community that would enable our members to stay in
touch with friends and families while they make new acquaintances
online. At this writing, we have surpassed our goals.

Here’s a breakdown of our present Yourville membership:

36.0% Live in Costa Rica
45.2% Live in the U.S.
18.8% Live in the Rest of the World

69.1% Are Male
30.9% Are Female

15.0% Are age 18-34
25.0% Are age 34-50
60.0% Are age 50-77

It seems, from our calculations, that a vast majority of our members
50 years of age and above have sought and/or or seeking a Tico/Tica
type of life in Costa Rica. It appears to be a glowing testimony to
the growing popularity of Costa Rica and its special allure and as a
final venue for the adventurous and those seeking the pura vida experience.

We finally went live with the Beta version of Yourville this morning. Our testing period went well and we received some great feedback from our test group. Now it’s time to evangelize and spread the word of the benefits of yourville. Thanks to everyone who has helped out so far with this project. We would like to invite all current expats, expat wannabes and curiosity seekers alike to give yourville a spin. If you have questions about yourville please feel free to contact us.