Amazing LAUNCH of the XPRIZE THINK TANK Orange County on 01-08-15 at the Aventura Sailing Association courtesy of Breakwater Events and Catering. These are our #smartnodes for the #XPRIZE #OC From left to right: Marc Ostrick, Russ Roberson, Murray Kruger, Michael Sean Wright, Darin McClure, Tom Morey, Roger Kuntz, Scott Schoeffel, Herb Reyes.

Thank you for all the support as we: Make the impossible Possible

For more information on this ground breaking initiative, please visit: XPRIZE LEARNING INITIATIVE

‘The HaHa Jim Comedy Hour‘ is a collaboration between comedian, actor, wiseguy Jim Labriola

Jim Labriola

and Michael Sean Wright. Jim is best known as Benny from ‘Home Improvement.’ Now here’s the really funny thing about this project– I really like to laugh and Jim is one of those comedians that just slays me every time.

We record the shows with some of Jim’s friends like Pat Cooper, Richard Lewis, Colin Quinn and the list goes on. We cover the history of comedy and the future trends of the funny business. Jim cut his teeth on the East Coast and I grew up in Chicago so we’ve got a little tension already built-in. It’s a complete blast doing this show with him and it’s our hope you’ll tune-in and laugh at us! Please visit HaHaJim for our weekly show!

Big Data is Watching

2012 was the year of major advancements in film and media on many levels. Lucas went Disney, Google became beautiful and big data continued to be the big buzz. Mobile and location will continue to grow in amazing ways as the ‘second-screen’ becomes a bigger part in our media experiences.

One of our favorite geeks/ trendsetters and futurists, Robert Scoble joins us for a conversation about the Brave New Year ahead. Scoble is co-authoring a new book“Age of Context” with Shel Israel.

From The Scobleizer: What’s the age of context? Five radically expanding technologies/data types.

1. Sensors.
2. Wearable computing.
3. Big Databases.
4. Social network behavior.
5. Location.

Listen in for our exclusive conversation and pay attention to Scoble’s proclamation that “Apple is in a contextual hole.”

“Music Makes Film in my Mind.” msw

Today we are listening to more music- sharing it wider and discovering better ways to connect with our favorite artists. Music is at the heart of everything we do.

Peter and Philip

It’s always exciting to see friends who are taking bold steps and finding their own voice. Philip Nelson, SVP of NewTek empowers the vision of artists and media companies on a daily basis but it was a journey inside Peter Himmelman‘s ‘Furious World.’ that gave him the encouragement he needed to cut his own music.

Philip launched a kickstarter campaign and quickly found a community of friends willing to help. Now he’s on his way of completing a life long dream and using technologies to help find an audience.

Sound Burst is a video diary of music from the artist’s perspective. Enjoy a sample of ‘Listen to the Silence’ from Philip’s debut outing:

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J17dYeI7Sq8

Listen to more tracks at ReverbNation.

The complete dedication to bringing an end to decades long violence against children in Uganda has resulted in the GREAT news that Invisible Children have reached their ultimate goal: LIFE for the once Invisible Children. My heart is filled with love for the leaders, volunteers and supporters of this noble cause. Well done all. Rest, you’ve earned it. Thank you for letting me witness your actions of LOVE up-close.

Here is “The Final Video” from Invisible Children.

Invisible Children’s Final Video from INVISIBLE CHILDREN on Vimeo.

To understand how they leveraged the right tools with the right intent, take a journey back in time to our conversation on Oct. 21, 2011 with one of the visionaries from Invisible Children-

One of our favorite ‘Social Good’ Non-profits/ NGO’s, Invisible Children is leveraging Big Data to inspire a movement that demands an end to the longest running conflict in Central Africa. What began with the 2003 documentary film Invisible Children: Rough Cut’ evolved into an action network that informs and influences change.

Their use of real-time data powers impressive tools like the Crisis Tracker and political, ‘call-to-action’ campaigns.

They could have stopped at making a compelling documentary film but they new that “Film without Data is Silent.”*  By adding data and action to their work, Invisible Children, INC are proving that film must be active.

We Skype’d with Chris Carver, COO of Invisible Children, INC to go Inside the Movement:

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s82r1McaM34

* “Film without data is silent” is our thesis for an upcoming paper and project.

Tim Conway Jr.

Went on with KFI evening host Tim Conway Jr. to discuss the life and impact of Apple Co-Founder/ Tech Icon Steve Jobs. His tight fisted approach changed our world.




See also: The Tao of Steve by Om Malik

w00t!

Dolphins, Whales, Marine Life and Humans unite in congratulating the City Council on the decision to act promptly to ‘Ban the Bag’ – single use plastic bags will soon no longer be welcomed in Our Ocean in Dana Point. On September 26, 2011 The City Council voted 4 to 1 to move the proposal forward.

Next step is a report expected on or near December 1st. Our City leaders acted as true leaders and stewards. We want to thank Council Members Lara Anderson, Lisa A. Barlett, Steven H. Weinberg and our very Honorable Mayor, Scott Schoeffel for their wisdom and dedication to our beloved Dana Point. The interest and support that Dana Point received from around the World was deeply felt and greatly appreciated. Together, we showed our support and desire to ‘Rise Above the Plastic.’ Thank you and please consider visiting us in Dana Point soon. Our City is focused on ensuring that our Harbor, shore and village space remains a true wonder of beauty.

We have shared your voice with our City and I want to express my deepest gratitude to all who joined us in supporting The City of Dana Point and our Council.

I also want to thank Randy Paynter, CEO of care2.com for powering our petition.

Here’s the video of my public comment before the City Council and their subsequent discourse and vote.

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lkdNRut4CR0

I’ll keep you updated on the progress!

As a small token of my appreciation here is an unrestricted photograph of OUR beautiful Dana Point Harbor.*

*Michael Sean Wright, As creator of the photographic works: DanaPoint_112510#5543698212175038146 and DanaPoint_112510#5544840267350994914 hereby grants full release rights to said creative works with no restrictions.

msw= happy

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We interrupt our regular in-action to ask you to help us urge our City Leaders of Dana Point, CA to take action on the upcoming proposal to ‘Ban Single Use Plastic Bags.’ I’m not one that usually asks you to do anything in the moment but we have an opportunity to make our united voices heard- right now. The City of Dana Point, CA will be considering a measure that will ensure our Coastal area remains a beacon of health and beauty by eliminating the scourge that is the non-sustainable, single use plastic bag.

My friends and I have walked along the cliffs and shores of Dana Point after storms and picked up the plastics that were destined to reach our spectacular Ocean. It’s up to us as individuals to make sure that we do our part by stopping plastic bags from being distributed out of negligence/ ignorance.

So for the first time, I’m personally asking you to help us by signing the below petition that we will present to our City Council on Monday night. It is my hope that Dana Point will remain the wondrous destination of serenity we’ve come to love and cherish.

We know that the businesses of Dana Point will benefit by being stewards of our precious home. We strive to be leaders in the movement to put an end to our stupidity of the self-injuring practice in using non-sustainable, Ocean choking single use plastic bags.

View the closed petition – ‘Ban the Bag.’

Together, we will ‘Rise Above the Plastic.’

You can follow along as I Tweet, Facebook, Google+’ing and SocialCam from our journey to #BantheBag

Special thanks to SaveOurBeach, ZeroTrash, Leo Laporte and Surfrider Foundation for their support!

For a look at the impact of plastic after it rains in Dana Point, please see our Picasa Web Album (any and all pictures are OPEN Source and free to use)

Mega Thanks to NewTek and the ‘Wonder Box” Tricaster.

But enough of the rich text let’s let the images float through the line and give a glimpse inside our playground- #theCube.

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3J-zTFI5lmM

The current explosion of data flowing into the net is straining the capacity of the current infrastructure to handle it, and that flow will only increase daily over the next several years. As consumers, we crave smarter electronic devices and expect the ability to share more details of our world anywhere at anytime. The crush of all that information will get harder to handle if innovation isn’t applied at all levels, from mobile devices to social networks to ubiquitous connectivity to reliable data storage to secure encryption to predictive data modeling.

“Riding (Big) Data” is a film and tv series I’m excited to share documenting how our society is rethinking what all this swirling data can do for us.

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bqiNMONLkVk