Be Inspired
US Road Trip Fuelled by Social Networking
In March, 2011, Lloyd Davis, founder of the London-based social media networking group Tuttle Club is took a coast-to-coast road trip (although mostly by train) across the USA. His self-imposed challenge was to do it all fuelled by social media – via donations, places to stay, offers of food etc. He offered to wear a […]
Film Biz Recycling
Film Biz Recycling is a Brooklyn-based not-for-profit organization that aims to find temporary or permanent new home for movie set dressings and props. They’ve recently moved into a new 11,000 sq ft space so they can accommodate items large and small. To mark the move, the team put together a music video (which features rather […]
Medic Speak is C.T.D
In hospitals and doctors’ surgeries everywhere medics have always used a secret shorthand language to communicate important information quickly to their colleagues without alarming patients and relatives, such as H.I. (head injury) sustained in R.T.A (road traffic accident) no L.O.C (loss of consciousness). Or more seriously: D.O.A (dead on arrival). Or D.N.R (do not resuscitate). […]
Can You Spot a Story?
Television is all about telling stories, as is pitching TV ideas to commissioners. But do you know what a story actually looks like? Test yourself by taking this short test in which you are asked to decide whether a short piece of text constitutes a story or not. After ten examples you get your score. […]
Redneck Bank
There’s a new internet banking concept in town that claims to be “funner” than the rest: the Redneck Bank, which is based in Oklahoma. It has a Mr Ed. style laughing horse as its mascot offers a choice of pictures on its debit cards for you to choose from.
Got Nothing to Wear?
Stella Brennan (mother of two and owner of a dog and three cats who was about to start a new job) challenged herself to wear just six items of clothing for one month: “a black blazer and pants from H & M; two button-down shirts, one black and one pink; a pair of Old Navy […]
Takkoda
Looking for a gift? You could do worse than take a look at Takkoda which sells all kinds of merchandise decorated with the pictures of pets pretending to be celebrities. Choose from Audrey Hepburn, Mr T, Dame Edna Everage and Lady Gaga among others.
Dirty Girls
Here’s an article from Christwire that analyzes the trend towards a hipster-offshoot: the dirty girl. Author Stephenson Billings has clearly thought a lot about the phenomenon of girls who: “…will mimic the deadbeat celebrities she sees on programs such as Entertainment Tonight and Entourage, mocking hardworking people behind her gold sunglasses as she high heels […]
Shooting From Behind
Photographer Bridget Fleming’s Downtown From Behind project aims to capture the people living and working in the 200 streets below 14th Street in Manhattan. The twist is that everyone is on a bicycle and photographed from behind, which makes for some interesting streetscapes. Each photo also has a short accompanying bio of the subject. I […]
Historic Orchestra Faces Bankruptcy
The 111-year-old Philadelphia Orchestra is facing the possibility of bankruptcy even though it has assets that outweigh its debts. If the vote goes through it would be the first big US orchestra to take this extreme measure. They are planning to mount a campaign to raise $160 million in their biggest ever fundraising drive. But […]
Mom Caves
The next thing in home design is the ‘mom cave’, a place for the woman of the house to retreat to and find respite from the family and household chores. While man caves are full of tech gadgetry, mom caves are more likely to contain cushions and knitting supplies. Read more on Iconoculture.
2:46: Aftershocks, An Oral History of the Japanese Earthquake
2:46: Aftershocks: Stories from the Japan Earthquake is a fast response publication to Kindle that was created by a group of Twitter users to raise funds for the Japanese Red Cross. The book contains photos, artwork and essays from people around the world, including Yoko Ono, and took just over one week to assemble. 100% […]
Parkour on a Bike
Watch and learn as Danny MacAskill travels by bicycle – the hard way – from Edinburgh to Skye. Hat tip: three billion
How to Make a Viral Pop Video
British band Hadouken decided that rather than shoot a video to promote their new song Mecha Love they would edit together clips of 50 of the biggest viral, mostly sports-releated YouTube videos. Watch it here (along with other 22.5 million views): Hat tip: three billion
Nose to Tail Tattooing
Here’s a night class I’d like to try… Will Smith went to a tattoo parlour in London’s East End to be taught how to tattoo by world-class tattoo artist Mo Coppoletta. Wisely banned from trying his inept hand at tattooing a real person, he’s given a hunk of pig skin to practice on (much as […]
How Many Narcissists Do You Need to Sell an Idea?
Ever wonder why the person with the biggest ego on the team manages to win the most pitches – even though you know (and they would never admit) that their ideas are no better than yours? Scientists at Cornell University have run a series of studies and found that narcissists were generally more enthusiastic and […]
Call for Adventurous TV Hosts!
An Australian production company is looking for a Bear Grylls / Steve Irwin type to host an adventure TV series. If you fit the bill and are aged between 25-45 visit www.nmgcorp.com.au/saad to upload a video of yourself. Deadline is April 30.
Why We All Want to be Millenials
We All Want to Be Young is a film that is the result of several studies by Brazilian behavioural science and consumer research company BOX1824, and it does an excellent job of tracing the history, and future, of teens (and those who aspire to be like them). We All Want to Be Young from box1824 […]
Parkour at the Olympics
Shouldn’t parkour be an Olympic sport by now? I’m thinking freestyle and synchronized… And I’m not the only one who thinks so. Watch the 3Run showreel: Hat tip: three billion
Classic Cars
Louwman Museum in The Hague, Netherlands houses a collection of 230 vintage and classic cars, from a 1875 horse-drawn steam fire engine to a 1914 Dodge Type 30 and 1949 Ferrari. See the cars and read more on Coolhunting.
Kenny Lao’s New Bathroom Project
Kenny Lao, founder of Rickshaw Dumplings, star of an MTV special, one of Inc Magazine’s 30 under 30, and Crain’s 40 under 40, has a problem: he doesn’t like the bathroom in his apartment. So Architizer, the social networking site for architects decided to help him out, by running a design competition to make over […]
NY Slums
Village Voice reporter Elizabeth Dwoskin writes a moving and shocking account of how people in NYC are living in damaged, rotten and dangerous apartments where gangs move in and middle-aged women sometimes step up to fight for their building and its community, while rich landlords inhabit luxurious offices in Manhattan and the city department tasked […]
The Human Library
The global Human Library project allows ‘readers’ to borrow ‘human books‘, the idea being that they will be introduced to people whom they wouldn’t normally meet and are able to ask the kind of questions they might not feel comfortable asking a stranger. The aim of the project is to bring communities together and break […]
Speed Yoga
Want to feel bad about yourself? Watch this:
Privates on Parade
In an attempt to preserve the modesty of travellers passing through body scanners, security expert Stephen Russell has invented underwear that blurs a persons genitals without compromising airport security. He partnered with Betabrand who recently advertised for “50 intrepid travelers to test-pilot prototypes of our Privates as part of our Privates Alpha Group. This elite, […]
Just Buy This One
Need a new TV or camera? Check the reviews on Amazon, pore over Which? reports, ask friends for recommendations, traipse around the shops on Saturday afternoon comparing prices… Exhausting. Justbuythisone.com takes the legwork, and guesswork, out of buying new gadgets by aggregating 1.3 million customer reviews from across the web and suggesting just one camera, […]
Need Some Space? Head to Niue
Niue, an ex-colony of New Zealand, has the world’s smallest population (if you discount Vatican City), at about 1,400. There are another 48,600 native Niueans scattered around the world, who left the Pacific island to escape the struggle against poor soil, lack of resources and a parliamentary system that has one MP for every thirty […]
Feel No Fear
A rare genetic genetic disorder called Urbach-Wiethe disease destroys the brain’s amydala, and produces people who feel no fear in dangerous situations. One woman studied by scientists had felt no fear in everyday situations, for instance when public speaking, nor in more dangerous ones such as being threatened with a gun. Scientists did everything they […]
Twitter Yourself a Private Flight
When a group of Dutch party promoters and DJs wanted to get to the Ultra Music Festival in Miami on 21st March, 2011 they realized there was no direct flight. So DJ Sied van Rieland and filmaker Wilco Jung used Twitter to ask KLM why not. Instead of being fobbed of or treated to a […]
Socially Networked Newborns
The New York Times picked up on a survey by BabyCenter.com, which revealed 50% of mothers in labour updated their Facebook page or sent texts and 72% of births were announced via text and/or Facebook status. Read more of the findings here.
Teaching Kids Financial Literacy
Mint.com, an online personal finance software service, has teamed up with Scholastic to develop an interactive game and produced classroom materials to help children understand budgeting and financial planning. Students who use the material will learn how to set goals and budgets with real life examples, such as getting a babysitting job to save for […]
What Does a Viral Video Look Like?
Rubber Republic has compiled a list of attributes of the most viral advertising videos of 2010. It shows that Facebook is increasingly driving the spread of viral videos, parodies are popular and series do keep people engaged with the ad (and the brand). Read more on Rubber Republic (actually presented in an attractive and easy […]
Crowdsourced Cancer Treatments
You’ve heard of Creative Commons; here’s Cancer Commons. Modern medicine believes that cancer isn’t one disease, but “hundreds or thousands of rare diseases”, which makes it nigh on impossible for a physician to prescribe exactly the right treatment for each patient. And traditional drug therapies are tested on randomized heterogeneous study groups, which means they […]
Ancient Aboriginal Astronomers
Archaeologists have fond a type of stone circle 80km outside Melbourne that is aligned to a summer sunset and is dated to greater than 10,000 years, which is much earlier than Stonehenge or the Pyramids. It suggests that Aborigines were studying the stars much earlier than previously known. Read more on PSFK.
Sniffer Mice
Next time you see a mouse run through the airport cafe, don’t be alarmed – it’s probably just on its lunch break. Mice are being trained to sniff out drugs and explosives on passengers and cargo. The mice are put in a box close to where passengers walk. If they smell a banned substance they […]
Think Smarter: Daydream
An article in Scientific American explores the relationship between daydreaming (or the brain at rest) and IQ, and asks whether one is most “like oneself” when concentrating on something or when the mind is wandering. It also suggest that autism might be linked to reduced neural connectivity, whilst schizophrenia can be linked to an excessive […]
Philanthroper
Philanthroper is a non-profit site that features a different charity every day and asks donors to give just $1. A running total at the bottom of the page shows how much has been donated, and how much time is left to donate. At the moment they can only take donations from people with US bank […]
Keep an Indian Girl in School
Seven out of ten girls in India fail to make it all the way through the school system. The Girl Store has been set up to help people buy school supplies that will help keep the girls in education. A number of girls are featured, along with their school needs – pencils, backpacks or clothing. […]
Multicultural Twitter
According to Iconoculture, African Americans represent 25% of Twitter users, and their conversations can often dominate the trending topics. And they get heard – when CW cancelled the popular drama The Game, BET noticed all the complaints on Twitter and picked it up (along with all the loyal viewers).
Need to buy a gift but all out of ideas?
15Gifts is a site that helps take the leg-work, and guessing out of shopping for gifts. You enter in the person’s sex, relationship to you, age, interests and price range and the site suggests 15 presents that have been selected from independent and quirky online stores. The best bit is that if you don’t like […]
Little Magic Stories – Interactive Holograms
Chris O’Shea is an installation artist who has designed a holographic projection system with the aim of encouraging computer savvy kids to gain confidence in drawing and telling their own stories on stage. The kids draw props and characters which then float alongside them and react to their movements in real time. The system uses […]
Prison Reads
Flavorwire has compiled a list of ten books written about the prison system, either as inmates or staff. The list includes: Soul on Ice by Eldridge Cleaver Running the Books: The Adventures of an Accidental Prison Librarian by Avi Steinberg Memoirs from a Women’s Prison by Nawal el Saadawi Read the full list on Flavorwire. […]
Internet Wishlist
The Internet Wishlist, is a repository for your wishes for all those apps you could really do with, but don’t yet exist (as far as you know). The current list includes: “I wish there was a website where non-profits could ask for what they need and people could work for them from home.” “I’d like […]
Black at Sundance
According to NPR, the 2011 Sundance festival was an outstanding one for black filmmakers, where there were more films by, or about, black people than at any time in the history of the festival, which started in 1978. Shari Frilot, senior programmer at Sundance, attributes it to filmmaking becoming less elitist and equipment more accessible, […]
Asda Dating
Walking down the the aisle with your beau takes on a new meaning when the aisles are stocked with potatoes and floor cleaner. Supermarket chain Asda has launched a new online dating website, claiming that “the supermarket has overtaken the pub and the internet as the nation’s number 1 spot to find love”, and that […]
Development Hell or Ideas Heaven?
Freelance development consultant Sean Kirkegaard is running an unusual creative experiment on his website Development Hell. Approximately every other day he uploads a new TV programme idea to his website. Once he’s got a slate of about 50 ideas he’s going to ask the public to vote on their favourite. He will then attempt to […]
Punchdrunk in Chelsea
Punchdrunk the imaginative London-based immersive theatre company has upped sticks for NYC, and set up home in an abandoned hotel in Chelsea. The McKittrick Hotel was built to be New York’s most luxurious hotel, but it was closed down 2 days after the start of WWII (and six weeks before it opened). Now it’s home […]
No Right Brain Left Behind
No Right Brain Left Behind is an innovation challenge designed to give US children the creative tools they need to solve modern-day problems. Run in conjunction with Social Media Week 2011, creatives from ad agencies, design and innovation companies had five days to come up with ideas and submit them to the No Right Brain […]
Talent: Past Preservers
Are you looking for talent? Someone with a passion for history and archaeology? Past Preservers was founded by archaeologist Nigel J. Hetherington to provide historical and archaeological consultancy and professional support to the media industry, and their website has a (small) number of showreels of potential hosts partaking in derring-do. Rich Blundell from Past Preservers […]
Martian Summer
Martian Summer: Robot Arms, Cowboy Spacemen, and My 90 Days with the Phoenix Mission by Andrew Kessler is his offbeat, warts-and-all account of the summer he spent inside NASA as they prepared for a mission to Mars, after he secured unprecedented access to 130 of the world’s best scientists. The book is published on 15 […]
