Gaia Community: April's Blog

6 Billion Opportunities

Tue, 10 Jul 2007 20:53:25 -0000

6 Billion Others is an incredible project I first learned about on Siona's Blog.

This website, a project of well-known Yann Arthus-Bertrand, provides dozens (soon to be thousands) of testimonials from people all around the world on various meaningful topics such as Love, Joy, and Dreams.

A highlight for me was the Joy and Happiness collections, which included accounts from various adorable people about the happiest moments of their lives.

Ironically named, 6 Billion "Others", the beautiful project provides countless opportunities to fall more in love with these peices of yourself and the world we live in.

The website states that:
In 2008 you will be able to listen to the thousands of testimonies which have been collected, and add your own testimony to the site. In the meantime, take a look at the project, the team, and some interviews that have already been made.

Utilizing Collective Intuition in Business

Mon, 02 Jul 2007 18:43:53 -0000

This is the kind of thing I love to see. Inkling Markets is a very interesting startup that poses a question to us:

"Do you want a collection of brilliant minds or a brilliant collection of minds?"

Inkling Markets is collective prediction software, enabling any registered user to cast their vote on the outcome of a particular posed question. I've been loving the Wisdom of Crowds websites (digg, playgreen) - But now I'm discovering a wave of websites promoting the Intuition of Crowds, not based on what we we know, but based on what we think will happen...

The Intuition of Crowds (not yet on wikipedia) is an exciting concept, and it's not going to waste on meaningless questions like "Will Paris be a changed person after jail?" To the contrary, the Intuition of Crowds is catching on like a wildfire in the business world answering important questions in a unique form of insight not previously captured before. Inkling says: "Capturing the collective intelligence of a diverse group of people to give you insight about what may happen in the future vs. relying solely on individual experts is a very powerful phenomena."

Wish you could pose a question that goes only company-wide? You can - afterall, no need to get public input on whether or not you think you can reach sales goals this month .... or is there? You decide ;)

This is something we've never had before - on an individual level, to be able to pose a question and receive feedback from thousands of individuals coming from a variety of countries and situations.

If you've ever wished you could use the "Who Wants to Be A Millionaire" Ask-The-Audience in your life or in your business, Inkling Markets is for you.

Some popular questions being asked on Inkling Markets right now are:

What will employees, in 2009, use as their PRIMARY tools for everyday learning in the workplace?

Will Google's stock price hit $600 before Dec. 31, 2007?

What do you think? Definately check out the Inkling Markets website, even if you don't have predictions for the future, it's great eye-candy design:

Playing Green on the Internet, Part 2

Thu, 28 Jun 2007 11:20:48 -0000

Well, I got so wrapped up in my creative fun this month that I haven't gotten a chance to continue this little blog series. Without further delay, I bring you more of my favourite green sites on the internet.

Speaking of design (usually I am..), I really like this next one because it's all about awesome contemporary furniture that's eco-friendly. I'm very much a believer of having our cake on this planet and eating it too. Let's not unnecessarily sacrifice style just because we're conserving.

vivavi says: live modern + tread lightly™

I agree.

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Another related site is moderngreenliving

This is a very snazzy green directory for things home related. Search for green apartments/condos, or a green architect or contractor. It's a nice clean design and the directory works like a charm. Most of their listings are extremely high quality, and link right to the info you're looking for. Definately a must-see!

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inhabitat

This site is beautiful, and an outstanding blog about all things green. I love this particular post from yesterday: Green Your Walls

Playing Green on the Internet, Part 1

Wed, 06 Jun 2007 01:16:47 -0000

It's no surprise to see a thriving plethora of websites devoted to sustainability and social responsibility popping up on the internet. I thought I'd take some time to blog about some of my favourites:

(Note: this blog post got wayyy longer than expected real fast - I've divided it into parts, of which this is the first - if you enjoy this post, keep watching for Part 2, I have a lot more where these came from!)

I admit - I'm partially in it for that awesome logo. But Treenation is as cool as it's logo portrays - It's one of those sites with such a good gimmick we can't help but support it. At Treenation, you can use the interactive map to navigate the park and choose an exact spot to plant your tree or trees. With GPS coordinates your virtual tree corresponds to a real tree planted in the eco-park in Niger, so you and the whole world can always find it.

Do you have a Treenation tree?

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Evolvist is just getting started, and therefore wasn't too helpful for me to find anything too useful too close to my house. Still, the idea is great and I hope it catches on. It's an interactive directory designed for the socially and environmentally conscious individual to share, rate, and find local businesses that share your committment to sustainability and social responsibility - right up to your neighborhood drycleaner:

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Playgreen is a simple wiki built on a cool idea and a cute design style. Just like an wiki, it runs on user contributions - anyone can post a new page or edit a current entry. The goal is to accumulate a vast collection of articles and "how-tos" to be used as a resource. Take for instance, a recently posted article "How to build a green PC".

According to Playgreen:
"'We' are smarter than 'me'. The central premise of this assumption is that large groups of people ('We') can, and should, make a fantasticresource site to foster responsible consumption habits in our daily life, economy, industries."

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Like Digg? Like the environment? Check out Hugg! It's a digg-style news site focused entirely on environmental news. Like a story? Give it a hugg to give it more exposure and put it on the front page.

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Visit any of these websites? Let me know what you thought!

Shift Happens - On the Leading Edge of Adventure

Tue, 22 May 2007 21:46:54 -0000

It's a fun time to be here!

Online Mind Map ...brainstorming made simple...

Thu, 12 Apr 2007 20:23:40 -0000

I've been checking out this cool new app today... It's function is online mind-mapping, but it comes with some unexpected cool features, such as working together with friends online. Definately worth checking out. It's drag and drop, and making new tabs is as easy as hitting "tab" and "enter".

If you're a die-hard mind-mapper, then you'll want to throw out your notebooks after this.

http://www.bubbl.us/

So what's the deal? Here it is straight from the website:

The simplest way to brainstorm online.

It's extremely easy to use and has almost no learning curve. Our intuitive user interface lets anyone brainstorm and organize ideas without getting in the way.

Share and work together with your friends.
Brainstorm without touching the mouse.
Display your ideas online or through email.
Print your work.

The New Internet Users.. all 40 million

Wed, 11 Apr 2007 18:32:48 -0000

So, you've probably heard about the "One Laptop Per Child" movement.. It's really one of the most impressively ambitious and organized efforts I've seen in a long time, with some reallllly cool missions. I want to rant about it a little bit since I wake up at night thinking about it.

I've been following it in the news for a while, intrigued and more intrigued as these laptops are really finding their way into the hands of 10 million developing-nation children. In a nutshell, this organization is making boatloads of these specially-designed computers they can make for $100, and delivering them to millions of children in developing countries such as Rwanda, Argentina, Nigeria, Cambodia, and many more.

I have to say my first thoughts, as a designer for the web, were something like "holy crap! how am I supposed to design for potentially 40 million new users with unconventional computers, no experience with the web, and a new OS??" (safely assuming families and friends of the 10 million children with computers will dabble as well)

I mean, omg... What about everything we knew about statistics? I was looking forward to the final 5% of non-high-speed internet users dwindling away into the past. I could almost assume a certain degree of fast-loading times and screen resolutions and user-understanding. My lesson is learned.

The first time "Sugar OS" shows up on my google analytics I think my head will explode.

I know that considerations for accessibility are already being made. But are they going to take precedence over the iPhone? Something tells me not so much.

Now what about Pay per Click and Pay per Influence advertising? 40 million new clickers (that's more than the population of Canada!) with, at least currently, no real intention to purchase? Are we going to start being a lot more selective about where the clicks are coming from? Is that a sad assumption we'll have to make about these users? Or, maybe not for long...?

You hear it all of the time, "I went to that developing nation community, and that family with nothing was happier than mine"... Because, of course, they hadn't been exposed to so much wanting, hadn't been growing up bombarded with advertisements telling them if they don't have a cool car they won't be popular or happy, no social pressure to aquire an Audi or an iPod even.
Pay per Long-Term Influence...?

So, I want to talk about the long-term creative power of these new users, suddenly exposed to all of these new desires and a new hope and means to get it. They're not just going to use the computers to peruse the internet and see ads, they're also learning programming skills, not to mention the access to e-books of all kinds.
It seems to me like the global impact of this is huge.

I expect to look on Kiva soon and see investment requests for "The Cambodian Geek Squad", and the new startup company of Video Game Programmers in Rwanda.

I'm also very excited I can finally Skype or Aim or Twitter with someone growing up in a developing nation. Plane rides are expensive. Very, very cool.

Ranting continues....

And when I say specially designed, I'm not even scratching the surface - "It will also tolerate alternate power-charging sources, such as car batteries.

In addition, —for use at home and where power is not available—the XO can be hand powered. It will come with at least two of three options: a crank, a pedal, or a pull-cord. It is also possible that children could have a second battery for group charging at school while they are using their laptop in class."

Now that's thinking!!! I don't know why that isn't a standard feature of all laptops, right? How often am I in the middle of nowhere and my laptop battery dies? I would happily hand crank my way back to a functioning computer!!

From Wikipedia:

This is the wiki for the One Laptop per Child association. The mission of this non-profit association is to develop a low-cost laptop—the "$100 Laptop"—a technology that could revolutionize how we educate the world's children. Our goal is to provide children around the world with new opportunities to explore, experiment, and express themselves.

Why do children in developing nations need laptops? Laptops are both a window and a tool: a window into the world and a tool with which to think. They are a wonderful way for all children to learn learning through independent interaction and exploration.

And also,

http://wiki.laptop.org/go/One_Laptop_per_Child

Supermarket 2.0

Wed, 11 Apr 2007 00:30:47 -0000

This is a really funny video I stumbledupon, making fun from "web 2.0" trends.

"Imagine if 'real' life was like that..." it's kind of saying. Of course real life IS like that, just in a more gradual, less visual way. If this social web stuff didn't come naturally to us it probably wouldn't be very exciting.

If you haven't checked out this video yet, The Machine is Us/ing Us, it's a must see:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLlGopyXT_g

Musical Masterpeice

Fri, 23 Feb 2007 23:41:01 -0000

Check out this musical masterpeice, it's super relaxing. Reminds me how we're all bouncing around this universe in perfect harmony...

Animator Vs. Animation

Sat, 10 Feb 2007 02:24:15 -0000

This is undeniably entertaining, and a fond farewell to Windows XP...
I was surprised at how defeatable the mozilla fox was... also at how strong the little yellow aim guy was... *shrugs* I guess you never know how they're gonna hold up until attacked by a flash-born stick figure.

George Bush Singing Sunday Bloody Sunday

Thu, 08 Feb 2007 20:26:41 -0000

lol This is actually really well done..

Amazing 4 year old drummer

Thu, 08 Feb 2007 20:23:50 -0000

Graffiti Machine

Thu, 08 Feb 2007 20:17:41 -0000

Speaking of projects a really long time in the making...

Mon, 29 Jan 2007 21:38:31 -0000

This is pretty incredible...
Noah takes a photo of himself every day for 6 years.

The Passion of the Kiwi

Mon, 29 Jan 2007 00:03:43 -0000

This is kinda deep... Sometimes you can live your whole life working towards a single experience... Although I can't help but wonder if a kiwi this innovative couldn't have made some kind of flying contraption and saved us the sad ending...

Do the right thing and change the world...

Sun, 28 Jan 2007 23:29:42 -0000

I recently came across a new website that intends to track and rate companies positive or negative impact on the world. It suggests that conscious capitalism can change the world, and that companies, especially large corporations, should be held responsible to

"Do the right thing and change the world..."

(taken from their home page)

It's based on user submitted content, and works a bit like digg, wherein if a lot of people mark the opinion/story/rating as valuable or accurate it then gets more exposure.

Companies in the spotlight right now:

Whole Foods, Starbucks, Walmart...

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Do the right thing.com
people changing business

More about the website, from the website itself:

"Dotherightthing is the place where you can learn and share information about how companies impact the world."

All are welcome – people who buy the stuff, who make the stuff, who live in communities where the stuff is made, and who have transcendent abilities to speak on behalf of that which cannot speak (like wildlife and the environment).

On dotherightthing, you can:

Share information that you discover about companies’ impacts on people and the world
Learn about the activities of companies directly from people and rate the impact of the important ones
Track the “social performance” of companies in real time

We’re changing the way companies earn our interest, as consumers, employees, and/or investors, by recognizing those that do the right thing."

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The link:
http://dotherightthing.com/

Innovative Music Store Creates Unique Value-Based Pricing System

Sat, 27 Jan 2007 08:08:30 -0000

This is cutting edge my friends! Amie Street is an unconventional digital music store. All songs start free and rise in price the more they are purchased. Hmm...

Basically, the pricing model encourages music lovers to discover and buy new music. If a song is free, it hasn’t been discovered by a wider audience. If a song is 98 cents, it’s already a must-hear hit.

Value = Price..... So crazy it just might work!

Bonus - All songs are DRM free! Yesssss!

This seems to me like a great place for new and independant musicians to put their music... Just watch the value pile on! The compensation model for the musicians looks alright and I imagine there is some moderate cash-earning potential. The main benefit seems to be the potential for exposure though, and it also has promotional tools for musicians to take advantage of.

Personally, I love to be rewarded for discovering something first. I am a discoverer at heart, if you haven't noticed.

The link:
http://amiestreet.com/welcome

Program Yourself

Sat, 27 Jan 2007 07:34:47 -0000

Really cool movie I came across on youtube! Since posting it in my profile, it has been featured on Feel Good Vibes.com, as well as Brian's blog! It's just that enjoyable! Thanks Pete Moraites for making this awesome movie! Check out his other really sweet art at his website: http://www.petemoraites.com/index2.shtml

I think this light-hearted video hits a lot of really awesome points which is why I like it so much aside from it's overall just feel-good-ness. I do think we can easily develop habits of thinking that have a direct impact on the way we feel, because I've been doing it for a couple of years now. It's easy to stuck in a cycle of self-defeating thoughts, but with some practise, it's even easier to allow yourself to develop a new pattern of thinking, one that can bring you from "oh shit" to "oh well" to "ok!" in 10 minutes or less. In the end, you're programming your emotions... but you're sneaking in the back door by programming your thought patterns first!

Some Stuff that I think is Uber Cool

Sat, 27 Jan 2007 06:57:27 -0000

These are basically just some websites that I think are really cool and/or cutting edge... Places to wist your time away playfully...

Magnolia - a place to find cool websites.. guess my profile's gonna go out of business now...
Pandora - put in music that you like and it helps you discover other music you would probably like
Feel Good Vibes - Get your daily dose of good-feeling things - new things posted daily, blog-style!
Book Crossing - Release a book into society with a tracking label on it... lose it on the street, forget it at a cafe... when someone finds it they are directed to the website to enter the tracking number and like, pass it on... Well, even though that's the worst summary of it, probably inspired by the ridiculously boring website it has, it actually is quite a fun-sounding idea...
The Best Stuff In The World - a nifty collaborative website of what people think is the best - collage-style baby!
Stumble Upon - another cool place to find random and interesting websites
Net Vibes - Super, super cool custom homepage maker
Remember The Milk - this is a really on-the-ball task manager application with really cute branding.. ha!
43 Things - This is a pretty fun tag-based website about what 43 things people want to accomplish
Organic Markets - This is an awesome new website to help you find organic food in your area anywhere in the US, and also has ratings!