Interesting Reading: 6/26
WorldVoice Radio Offers Tweet-like Experience for Audio
http://www.psfk.com/2009/06/worldvoice-radio-offers-tweet-like-experience-for-audio.html
"Positioning itself as a sort of hybrid between podcasts and Twitter, RnSK Softronics‘ WorldVoice Radio iPhone app allows users to share short audio messages or musings. Users set up their own in-app station, which is categorized geographically and assigned a personal “frequency” identification, which can be supplemented with personal information and a unique icon if desired. This information is then made available in the app’s station directory, which users can browse and save selections from via a favorites list. Audio dispatches are recorded through the iPhone’s mic, with an obvious Twitteresque emphasis on brevity—though longer recordings can be imported from any computer if so desired. One can imagine WorldVoice joining Twitter within a citizen journalist’s toolkit, though it remains to be seen whether that rare, concise insight possible via the latter can be squeezed into 30 seconds’ worth of speech."
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Jerri FitzGerald, Who Treated Herself at South Pole, Dies at 57
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/25/us/25nielsen.html?_r=1&ref=obituaries
Potentially lost in the news about Michael Jackson and Farrah Fawecett was this obituarty for Jerri FitzGerald. Her story caught my attention back in 1999 when she had to treat herself for breast cancer while at the South Pole. She was a brave and adventurous women and I am sorry to hear of her passing.
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Start-Up’s Software Goes to Employees for Company Forecasts
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/06/25/start-ups-software-crowdsources-company-forecasts/?ref=technology
"To get the best predictions about when your company’s latest product will ship or how it will sell, you might try asking your employees — anonymously. A start-up, Crowdcast, began selling corporate forecasting software on Thursday that does just that.
The employees on the front lines — the sales team talking to customers or the people packaging new products — have firsthand information that could be valuable to executives. But top management do not always get the most accurate information, because employees do not want to tell them the bad news, or they want to underpromise so the boss thinks they are outperforming...
...Here’s how it works: companies pay an annual fee for the Web-based software and employees start out with a certain amount of virtual money. When people inside the company pose a question — such as when a new game will be ready to ship or whether a competitor’s new drug will get regulatory approval — employees offer a response and choose an amount to bet on its accuracy. In comments, they can anonymously explain their reasoning. Then, if they are right, they get more money and a louder voice in the future; if they are wrong, they lose money and do not have as much to bet later on."
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Dave Eggers inspires youth to express themselves through storytelling
http://www.odemagazine.com/doc/64/dave-eggers-storytelling-kids
"...Call it "trickle-down eggersnomics"—ever since his immensely successful 2000 debut, A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, Eggers has used his royalties to help others. He devoted some of that money to 826 Valencia, which helps children in poor neighborhoods of San Francisco with their writing skills and homework. Meanwhile, he runs McSweeney’s, a publishing house that offers a platform for unknown writers and brings out a series of books in which those on the margins of society—such as prisoners and undocumented immigrants—get the chance to tell their stories. Eggers is using his Technology, Entertainment, Design (TED) Prize—a $100,000 award given by the TED arts and ideas conference that grants the recipient "one wish to change the world"—to inspire people to put time and energy into helping inner city kids in public schools. "You do what you can," Eggers says."
One of Eggers' projects is a Brooklyn Based tutoring and homework service located in lower Park Slope. To help fund the operation there is a great tounge in cheek store the Brooklyn Super Hero Supply Company. Pick up some Anti Matter and do a good deed (http://www.superherosupplies.com/)
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Everything You Wanted to Know About Semantic Technology, But Were Afraid to Ask (at SemTech 09): Or what isn't Semantic Tech
http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/everything_to_know_about_semantic_technology_at_semtech_09.php
"...Bear in mind that semantic technology can be as heavy and stifling for any audience as stem-cell research can be to high-school students. But Carla Thompson of Guidewire did a terrific job of coming up with discussion topics and moderating the panel. Everyone survived the ordeal without any sign of dozing.
Despite the positive outcome, some responses from the panelists made me wonder if we should go back to the basic question of, "What is semantic search?" Or, better yet, what isn't semantic search? Here is my list:"
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Bike Clothing that Doesn't Suck: How Government Does Fashion
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/06/transport-forlondon-bike-clothing.php
"In the US this might awaken the age-old debate about the proper role of government, but back over in 'socialist' Europe, Transport for London (TfL), the authority responsible for running the capital's transportation system (including a whole bunch of fancy new hybrid buses), is not averse to doing what it can to make cycling easier - and that apparently includes fashion design (we can't all bike naked!). OK, so the designs above aren't exactly at the cutting edge of cat-walk fashion - but they are also not ridiculous lycra outfits in neon colors. And let's face it - if the brief was to design practical, comfortable bike clothing for urban commuters, we'd hardly want them to go too cutting edge. There are others out there, however, who are less afraid to make a statement."
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A Better World By Design
http://www.abetterworldbydesign.com/speakers.php
I went to the innagural 2008 A Better World by Design Conference last fall in Providence Rhode Island. This is a RISD/Brown Student run conference. The conference was engaging and I met a wide array of fascinating people. I got an email the other day announcing some of the confirmed speakers. The 2009 edition is lining up to be just as good.
