On this site you can download “a selection of desktop-sized high-quality PNG images, using near-real-time cloud data, and some very nicely rendered maps using satellite data, to create a nifty, nearly-live world map desktop background”.

Since these are png images you will need to convert them to bmp to use them as wallpapers (you could also convert to jpg, but then you need the Active Desktop feature). So I wrote a little command line program that downloads a picture from the web, converts it and then changes your Desktop. Combine this with your favourite scheduler and enjoy the “Nearly-Live Planetary Desktop”.

You can download a binary and the source for this tool on it’s Google Code Project Page.

For the Windows binary, you will need the dot.net framework.

Please see this article for a small howto-get-this-running