Innovation

Open source intelligence and pool parties.

In Innovation, Internet on 19 June 2008 with no comments

Kids in England are using Google Earth to find potentially untended swimming pools in which to have Facebook-organized dips with their friends. My parents’ pool is in the middle of this map. Let’s have a party there next Tuesday night. View Larger Map

Amsterdam uses freight trams to eliminate delivery trucks.

In Amsterdam, Innovation, Logistics, Transportation on 12 June 2008 with no comments

Amsterdam startup CityCargo has developed a freight tram system that distributes goods throughout the city on the existing light rail infrastructure.
Specially designed trams move freight from outlying distribution centers to hub stations in the central city. The freight is then offloaded from the trams onto electric trucks, which complete the delivery.
The entire system is designed [...]

Local government yet to discover Paypal.

In Commerce, Criticism, Innovation, Internet, Local Government on 12 May 2008 with no comments

One of Terry Heaton’s criticisms of municipalities is that a lack of competition has kept them from adopting all those convenient little innovations that make internet commerce a relative breeze. It’s very difficult to find an online vendor asking you to use anything but your internet connection and a credit card to complete a transaction. [...]

Roads in Japan sing when you drive on them.

In Infrastructure, Innovation, Japan, Music on 15 November 2007 with 1 comment

New in Japan: singing roads.
A team from the Hokkaido Industrial Research Institute has built a number of “melody roads”, which use cars as tuning forks to play music as they travel.
The concept works by using grooves, which are cut at very specific intervals in the road surface. Just as travelling over small speed bumps or [...]

Better than a Segway?

In Innovation, Transportation on 14 November 2007 with no comments

The Movement Design Bureau’s blog recently introduced me to the Easy Glider:
It’s basically a scooter-segway-bike-hybrid sort of thing, with an electric powered front wheel, and a long handle which has a motorbike-like control for acceleration and braking. You can either hold onto the device and let it ‘tow’ you along on your roller-blades or skateboard, [...]

All the takeout menus in Brighton. Scanned and searchable.

In Brighton, Britain, Food & Drink, Innovation on 13 November 2007 with no comments

Two students in Brighton [wiki, official, map] got tired of hunting down menus from all the takeout restaurants in town so they scanned them all. Brightontasty was born.

“They’ve got our future, damn it.”

In Future, Innovation, Japan, Tokyo, Travel on 5 November 2007 with no comments

Charlie Stross, on Japan:
They’ve got our future, damn it.
They’ve got express trains that run on time and accelerate so fast they push you back into your seat like an airliner on take-off. They’ve got skyscrapers with running lights, looming out of the sodium-lit evening haze — a skyline just like the famous nighttime scene [...]