Ideatrotter: Disruptive 2.0 Intelligence

When Sustainability Stories Are Good Business Entrepreneurs...

Sat, 15 Jun 2013 18:43:11 -0400

When Sustainability Stories Are Good Business

Entrepreneurs can’t simply ignore their company’s environmental impact. Film producer Peter Glatzer, co-founder of SHFT.com, a Los Angeles-based multimedia platform for raising awareness about environmental issues, talks with media strategist Brian Solis about how sustainable practices have become critical in today’s marketplace.

Telling positive and inspiring stories about sustainability is important to help balance much of the negativity and fear-mongering people often hear about environmental issues, says Glatzer, whose co-founder is actor and film-maker Adrian Grenier. Two ways the company is doing this include SHFT’s first private-label product, SHFT House Wines, as well as its recently launched app called Food Tripping, which helps people find sustainable healthy places to eat on the road.

Internet Archives Archive is a documentary focused on the future...

Sat, 15 Jun 2013 18:37:57 -0400

Internet Archives

Archive is a documentary focused on the future of long-term digital storage, the history of the Internet and attempts to preserve its contents on a massive scale.

Part one features Brewster Kahle, founder of the Internet Archive and his colleagues Robert Miller, director of books, and Alexis Rossi, director of web collections. On a mission to create universal access to all knowledge, the Internet Archive’s staff have built the world’s largest online library, offering 10 petabytes of archived websites, books, movies, music, and television broadcasts.

The video includes a tour of the Internet Archive’s headquarters in San Francisco, the book scanning center, and the book storage facilities in Richmond, California.

The rise of human-computer cooperation Brute computing force...

Sat, 15 Jun 2013 18:31:00 -0400

The rise of human-computer cooperation

Brute computing force alone can’t solve the world’s problems. Data mining innovator Shyam Sankar explains why solving big problems (like catching terrorists or identifying huge hidden trends) is not a question of finding the right algorithm, but rather the right symbiotic relationship between computation and human creativity.

Design in a Nutshell Gothic Revival was one of the most...

Wed, 12 Jun 2013 04:29:34 -0400

Design in a Nutshell

Gothic Revival was one of the most influential design styles of the 19th century. Revivalists adhered to the romantic notion that stuff could and should look more meaningful, with designs based on forms and patterns used in the Middle Ages.

Sonte Film - WiFi Digital Shades SONTE Film is the first ever...

Wed, 12 Jun 2013 04:28:15 -0400

Sonte Film - WiFi Digital Shades

SONTE Film is the first ever Wi-Fi enabled digital shade that instantly switches windows from opaque to clear in less than a second. The film pairs with a free smartphone app that allows users to turn SONTE Film “on” for see-through windows and “off” for opaque windows.

Users can also use the app to control a room’s privacy and transparency setting. The customizable digital shade is easy to install and affordable, and doubles as a projection screen.

Network Ubiquity Information technology has become a ubiquitous...

Wed, 12 Jun 2013 04:25:20 -0400

Network Ubiquity

Information technology has become a ubiquitous presence. By visualizing the processes that underlie our interactions with this technology we can trace what happens to the information we feed into the network.

How to Build a Tech Brand Blair Christie shares her advice on...

Mon, 10 Jun 2013 05:54:55 -0400

How to Build a Tech Brand

Blair Christie shares her advice on how to build a tech brand and leverage partnerships to create a “multiplier effect.” Christie is the Chief Marketing Officer at Cisco Systems.

Sparking Student Interests with Informal Learning Sociologist...

Mon, 10 Jun 2013 05:45:23 -0400

Sparking Student Interests with Informal Learning

Sociologist and digital learning expert Diana Rhoten founded the New Youth City Learning Network to help organizations like museums and libraries design digitally-enabled learning activities built to tap into kids’ interests and teach 21st-century skills.

Ad-Tech Gold Rush Is On Everywhere you look, people are using...

Mon, 10 Jun 2013 05:40:00 -0400

Ad-Tech Gold Rush Is On

Everywhere you look, people are using smartphones and other mobile devices. When you combine that with the billions of dollars spent on advertising each year, you get advertising technology.

We head to Metamorphic Ventures, a venture capital fund that runs an incubator for ad-tech startups, to learn more about the sector and the new opportunities for ad-tech startups.

Controlling a Flying Robot… With Your Mind Researchers at...

Fri, 07 Jun 2013 04:49:00 -0400

Controlling a Flying Robot… With Your Mind

Researchers at the University of Minnesota developed a method of controlling a robot with a person’s mind. The study has “the potential to help people who are paralyzed or have neurodegenerative diseases.“

How Reddit began Social news website Reddit received 47 million...

Fri, 07 Jun 2013 04:46:46 -0400

How Reddit began

Social news website Reddit received 47 million visitors last month. In our latest video, founders Steve Huffman and Alexis Ohanian discuss how Reddit became the “front page of the Internet.”

Solar lights for off-grid communities Over 110 million...

Fri, 07 Jun 2013 04:43:07 -0400

Solar lights for off-grid communities

Over 110 million households in rural Africa rely on kerosene lamps, which emit harmful smoke and can cost up to 20% of a household’s income. A £5 solar light lasts 5 years and is just 2% the cost of kerosene.

SolarAid plans to work with Tanzanian entrepreneurs to create a solar hub for their communities, offering affordable, clean lighting, and providing job opportunities.

Over 3 years, solar lighting will reach 11.2 million people, saving up to £196 million in income and reducing respiratory illness. Ultimately, SolarAid aims to replace kerosene lamps in Africa by 2020.

The History of Typography A paper-letter animation about the...

Mon, 03 Jun 2013 17:42:36 -0400

The History of Typography

A paper-letter animation about the history of fonts and typography made from 291 paper letters & 2,454 photographs. The entire production lasted 140 hours and was created by Forrest Media.

Among Giants Risking injury and incarceration, an environmental...

Mon, 03 Jun 2013 17:30:42 -0400

Among Giants

Risking injury and incarceration, an environmental activist disrupts the clear-cutting of an ancient redwood grove by sitting on a tiny platform a hundred feet up in the tree canopy. Already three years into the tree-sit when filming begins, AMONG GIANTS blends vérité cinematography with intimate personal reflection to remarkable effect.

The Last Ice Merchant (El Último Hielero) For over 50 years...

Mon, 03 Jun 2013 17:27:30 -0400

The Last Ice Merchant (El Último Hielero)

For over 50 years Baltazar Ushca has harvested the glacial ice of Ecuador’s Mount Chimborazo. His brothers, both raised as ice merchants, have long since retired from the mountain. This is a story of cultural change and how three brothers have adapted to it.

Baby’s life saved with groundbreaking 3D printed device...

Fri, 31 May 2013 03:43:27 -0400

Baby’s life saved with groundbreaking 3D printed device from U-M that restored his breathing

Kaiba’s parents had no choice but to watch helplessly as their baby stopped breathing nearly every day, until U-M doctors teamed saved his life using device created with a 3-D laser printer. Read the incredible story here: http://umhealth.me/3dsplint

Since 1903, the University of Michigan C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital has led the way in providing comprehensive, specialized health care for children. From leading-edge heart surgery that’s performed in the womb to complete emergency care that’s there when you need it, families from all over come to the University of Michigan C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital for our pediatric expertise. In 2013, C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital was ranked eighth in the nation in Parents Magazine’s 10 Best Children’s Hospitals ranking.

Water in the Anthropocene Water in the Anthropocene is a...

Fri, 31 May 2013 03:40:10 -0400

Water in the Anthropocene

Water in the Anthropocene is a 3-minute film charting the global impact of humans on the water cycle. Evidence is growing that our global footprint is now so significant we have driven Earth into a new geological epoch — the Anthropocene.

Human activities such as damming and agriculture are changing the global water cycle in significant ways. The data visualisation was commissioned by the Global Water Systems Project for a major international conference (Water in the Anthropocene, Bonn, Germany, 21-24 May, 2013).

As datasets build upon one another, the film charts Earth’s changing global water cycle, why it is changing, and what this means for the future. The vertical spikes that appear in the film represent the 48,000 large dams that have been built. The film was produced by Globaïa and the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme.

Solar Panel Inside Nivea Print Ad Generates Power to Charge Your...

Fri, 31 May 2013 03:35:46 -0400

Solar Panel Inside Nivea Print Ad Generates Power to Charge Your Cell Phone

Giovanni + Draftfcb in São Paulo, Brazil, developed the ad, which includes a wafer-think solar panel and phone plug, to promote the Nivea Sun line of skincare products.

Health Revolution: Innovative Prescriptions For Change Two...

Tue, 28 May 2013 16:01:23 -0400

Health Revolution: Innovative Prescriptions For Change

Two self-made business moguls and one millennial disruptor are leveraging their success and influence to reverse the trend of declining health. What role should government play in limiting unhealthy food and lifestyle choices? How can corporations be more accountable for the products they offer, and what is the individual’s responsibility?

Is space trying to kill us? How likely is it that a massive...

Tue, 28 May 2013 16:00:06 -0400

Is space trying to kill us?

How likely is it that a massive asteroid will do major damage to Earth and its inhabitants? What about the sun — is it dying out anytime soon? And the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way — should we be worried about that? Ron Shaneyfelt assesses the dangers of space.