I heart Ginger

Ginger is amazing.

Stimulates Digestion
Naturally Freshens Breath
Relieves Nausea, Including Dizzyness from motion sickness
Helps Lower Cholesterol
Relieves Gas and Bloating
Soothes Common Cold Symptoms, Including Respiratory Infections
Eases Menstrual Cramps
Relieves Headaces
Helps Stop Diarrhea
Believed to Have Anti-Cancer Properties

an experience in hypnotism

How I found myself sitting in a reclined chair listening to a man with a south african accent telling me to "breath in and out... I'm going to count down from 5" is a long story.

I suffer from severe nocturnal bruxism. In other words - I grind my teeth in my sleep. Apparently I'm not alone - according to Wikipedia, 30 to 40 million Americans grind their teeth during sleep.
So I've seen SO many people about this. I've been to the dentist, who gave me a mouth guard, which I ground down. And I've been to the doctor. I've been treated with massage therapy and chiropractic care. I've been at a loss at what to do next...

Then it hit me... hypnotism! Surely because it happens in my 'sub-conscious' there would be something in hypno-therapy that would cure me.

So my good friend Lauren accompanied me to the hypnotist's house. He spent an hour talking about his political and social views (a South African living in NZ) before spending 12 minutes talking me through a meditation ("hypnotism") where he repeated affirmations and relaxation instructions. He then burnt it to CD, "treated" Lauren for her nail-biting, performed a few magic tricks (i'm not joking), then I paid him $75 and we left.

I'd recommend Yoga and Meditation over hypno-therapy any day...

Awards!

Adele and I (Pamela) attended the Computerworld Excellence Awards at Sky City on Friday night and were quietly stoked when we didn't win the Youth ICT Award as neither of us had prepared speeches...(pathetic I know). The two that did win it (Shane and Craig Smith for Language Perfect) spoke so well that it was pretty much destined to be that way for the sake of the audience.

So I kicked off my shoes, relaxed at my table and chilled out a little. The couple next to me were from Meridian Energy and it was interesting to hear about the sustainable ICT project they have just implemented. The food was served and it was amazing. Adele and I always order one of each of the mains and then eat half and swap.

But no sooner had I wiped the beef jus from my chin, Frankie Stevens (MC) was announcing yMedia as one of the finalists for an award not on the programme. Gasp. Sure enough, the winners of the Judge's Choice for Best Value was yMedia. Lights flashing. Music *pumping*. Cameras on our table. I'm scurrying to find my shoes under the table and pick the meat out of my teeth and straighten my hair and flatten my dress and arghhh so we are on stage. And we thank everyone we can think of. And I do a plug for our blog and our competition. And they laugh us off. And it's over. And we are holding a 2.5kg solid metal trophy that looks like a famous award of some sort.

Awesome. Thanks Computerworld :)

every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end.

Sam and Tessa left on Thursday.


This is Sam and Tessa, on Muriwai Beach.

Last Anzac Day Weekend.


I met Sam in 2006 whilst studying at Media Design School.

We both drank coffee (well, he drank mochas at the time... he has since upgraded to flat whites) and during a photography project, we bonded at a Gravity Coffee bar in downtown Auckland. That was the beginning of copious amounts of caffeine consumed in the company of Sam O'Leary. And the beginning of a life-long friendship.

Sam is one of the most talented people that I know personally. I owe a lot of my good grades to the hours of help that Sam gave me in the late hours of the day, in the dim, lonely and insistently too hot or too cold computer lab on level 11.

I met Tessa at the food court in the IMAX complex, a few months after I had gotten to know Sam. I was nervous to meet her. Because I was associated with the work that was keeping Sam from returning home for dinner at a sensible hour - I was sure she would hate me.

Alas! Our brilliant minds collaborated on a cryptic crossword that I was struggling to solve when she arrived to meet me, and before long it was undeniable that we were two souls destined to be mates for life.

Tessa is one of the most beautiful people I have ever met. Ever. She has a way of being that makes me and everyone who knows her fall in love with her over and over again. She looks stunning in a dress. She has a contagious and delightful laugh. She has the eyes and lips of a 50's fashion model. And she has the most inclusive and unconditional love for her friends that I have ever known.

And that is my story of Sam and Tessa.

Through Sam & Tessa I have also come to meet many other amazing people.

An inclusive but not exhaustive list:

• Sam's mother Clare O'Leary - an incredibly well-connected master of all things social and women in tech/media/film/web - who played a crucial role in the early development stages of yMedia.
• Andrew Mackay (and his gf Shannon)
• Joseph Bryce
• Robin Kerr

And so Sam and Tessa moved back to Wellington at the end of 2006 after we finished studying. Tessa became the manager of the After School Care at Brooklyn Community Centre and Sam got a job at Karactaz (and yup he did their website).

We managed to see each other at least every few months. Wellington is only really a $120 return flight from Auckland. Or a very long bus ride.

For the past year or so, they have been longing to get out of NZ. And now, after copious amounts of money, drama, anticipation, tests, medicals, forms, anxiety, tears, discussions and excitement... Sam and Tessa are 3 weeks away from being in their country of destination: Montreal, Canada.

I farewelled them at the international airport on Thursday. I haven't cried in a long time. A long time. And just when I was beginning to think perhaps I was an emotional mute - incapable of feeling love, hurt, happiness or anger - my eyes erupted tears onto Tessa's shoulder as I hugged her bon voyage.

Upon reflection, the tears were not just tears of sadness. My tears were of happiness and excitement and anticipation for them and their long journey ahead. My tears were for the end of the last leg of their life journey and the beginning of their next. My tears were of pride and love for all they had achieved and made happen in order to be boarding this plane.

Enough of the cheese.. I'll save it for my pizza.. but just one last quote:

The first step towards getting somewhere is to decide that you are not going to stay where you are.

Sam & Tessa Explain their Idea

The following movie is of Tessa explaining the cool travel idea that we are going to do (one day).

The gist of it:

3 couples (or more).
Start in a country in Europe (for example).
They then must creatively make their way (in pairs) to their next destination.
Everyone meets there. Shares stories, adventures etc. Hang out in the new country for a while. Then change partners to travel to the next country.

Like the amazing race. But without the millions of viewers. Or the competition element. Or the 'same partner' thing for the whole time.

Let Tessa explain:

Sam & Tessa Farewell

Kimya

It's 3pm and I'm rushing to Wellington airport.

It's raining - so the plants are getting fed and the lakes are getting full.

The sky is grey - so I remember the dorky quote that is on the inspirational calendar hanging in my bathroom that my Grandma bought us for Xmas last year: A cloudy day is no match for a sunny disposition. And I smile.

I am to be arriving in Auckland at 5:15pm. 2 hours after my friends arrived from Christchurch to meet me. I hate being late... but it seems to be inevitable at this point.

I arrive in Auckland to find it still raining. And I am greeted by my beautiful friends Sam and Tessa. They are en route to Montreal to become WOOFers (google it) for a wee while and then settle down and hopefully have wee french speaking babies.

They bought me tickets to see Kimya Dawson because it is my birthday on Thursday and because we all like Kimya Dawson.

The only problem for me is I am having a hard time being really present to all that is going on. I have a presentation tomorrow that I do not feel prepared for. I shush the voice in my head and try to focus.

So Sam, Tessa and I are collected by our other beautiful friends Kylie and Jordan. Jordan is driving their recently repaired motor vehicle. Which is evidently not so repaired as it chooses to crap out on the motorway. With 5 people crammed in along with Sam and Tessa's entire life possessions, Jordan managed to stay calm and collected and guide us along the motorway shoulder with hazard lights blinking and arms out windows etc etc. I actually filmed the whole thing but looking back, there were some expressions of frustration that probably don't need to be shared with the world. So imagine the hilariousness/stressfulness of it all if you will :)

So I spent much of dinner sucking on edamame, talking on the phone and working on my presentation - much to the disgust of my friends (and myself). We did, however, manage to squeeze in a good chat about Spore.

The Kimya Dawson Concert was everything I didn't expect and more.

It was held in the Auckland Girls Grammar School Hall... possibly the least intimate venue imaginable and Kimya reminded us of this with frequent comments like 'i feel like i'm back at school doing a recital' and 'i'm nervous'. Humbling!

The gig opened with a very enjoyable show by 'The Teacups'. A cute indie/anime trio, one was full Indonesian, one was half Indonesian and one was no Indonesian. Their music made me want to dance and open curtains to bright sunshine and cook breakfast.

Followed by a french dude who I think was Kimya's husband.. (?). He told us he was brought in to 'break up the cuteness'. Which he did successfully... end of story.

And then finally Kimya tiptoed onto stage... and put me into a world of big trees, animals, sleeping bags and pillows (i forgot i was in an auditorium...and i forgot about my presentation).

Unfortunately for the teens sitting behind us, Kimya didn't play 'Loose Lips' until the very end - the teens had to leave early to catch their ferry. This was also unfortunate for half the crowd who were probably waking up early for school the next day, were getting collected by parents, or who had fallen asleep on their parents lap in the duration of the night.

We left happy. And Kimya told us she wants to come back to NZ and play in our houses in the spring and have barbeques. Unlucky for Sam and Tessa who will be in minus 20 degree weather in Montreal...

Kylie, Tessa, Jordan and Sam outside the concert venue.

the yMedia Challenge 08 OPEN

the yMedia Challenge 2008 is now open for registrations...

The yMedia Challenge is a competition connecting tertiary students with community groups through media and technology to create a new or leverage an existing low-cost digital presence for the community group.

So pass this on to community groups, non-profits, tertiary students, tertiary institutions, small businesses, large businesses, friends, family -www.ymediachallenge.co.nz

The yMedia group are also offering 2 different workshop series, one aimed at non-profits and community groups and the other aimed at tertiary students. Find out more information about these workshops on the Challenge website: www.ymediachallenge.co.nz

Sponsors this year include Microsoft, Telecom, InternetNZ with other industry members (supporters) including Terabyte, IBM, Chrometoaster, Xero, Silverstripe, APN Digital Media, GardyneHolt and Creo.

How to make money

SilverStripe kindly share their secret with us...

Some pictures from the weekend...

Our weekend began on Thursday with a gorgeous VIP event at Park Road Post.

Park Road Post = Amazing... and I was stoked to hear from Marcelino Ford-Livene's girlfriend (I'm SO sorry... your name escapes me??) that all their LA friends will be uber-envious that they got to wine and dine in Peter Jackson's studio ;)

Would have been nice to have name-tags at the pre-event.. but nevertheless Adele and I managed to get in some great conversations with some very cool people. The amazing people who attended XMediaLab as speakers and mentors:

Tom Duterme
New Business Development, Google (Mountain View)

Sam Morgan
Founder, Trade Me (Wellington)

Chris Adams
New Media Pioneer; Co-Founder, Participant Productions (Los Angeles)

Brian Seth Hurst
CEO, The Opportunity Management Company; Vice Chair, Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (Los Angeles)

Suresh Seetharaman
Founder and President, Virgin Comics and Virgin Animation (Bangalore, New York)

Chris Deering
Chairman, Codemasters; formerly President of Sony Computer Entertainment
–Europe (London)

Noah Falstein
President, The Inspiracy (San Francisco)

Hugh Mason
Partner, Pembridge Partners LLP (London)

Marcelino Ford-Livene
General Manager, Interactive Content, Services and Advertising Development, Intel Digital Home Group (Los Angeles)

Richard MacManus
Founder and Editor, ReadWriteWeb (Wellington)

Sean Kauppinen
Vice President, TriplePoint (San Francisco)

Jason Roks
Emerging Technology & Digital Distribution Analyst (Toronto)

Alvin Wang Graylin
CEO and Co-founder, mInfo Inc (Shanghai)

Rod Drury
Founder and CEO, Xero (Wellington)

Meg Pickard
Head of Communities and User Experience, The Guardian (London)

Xin Chung
CEO and Founder, Vykarian Studios (Shanghai)

Helen Baxter
Managing Directrix, Mohawk Media (Auckland)

Marcia Lyons Programme Director of Digital Media Design, Victoria University of Wellington (Wellington)

On Thursday night after the opening event a group of us (Noah Falstein, Xin Chung, Rory Kent, Chris Adams, Keren Flavell, Adele and myself) went out to Chow - a fantastic restaurant in Wellington that serves a 'fusion of Asian cuisines'. We followed this with a visit to Matterhorn (106 Cuba Street, Wellington) where we finished our night with a few amazing bottles of wine (Thanks Rory...:) ) and some delectable treats... cheese, chocolate, bread, pears... oh yes.

Friday (bright and early!!!) was spent listening to speakers talk about idea generation, designing ideas, turning ideas into business and then celebrating successful businesses. Around 150 people (or more?) attended this event at TePapa and the feedback I have been hearing has been extremely positive - great value, great speakers, great content etc etc.

One (minor) issue for myself was the lack of internet access in the conference room... made it hard to blog/email - but I managed to find another room in TePapa that gave me easy wireless access :)

The weekend (Saturday and Sunday) was designed as a 'workshop' environment for 16 start-ups to get some extremely valuable time with the international and NZ mentors to work through commercialising their ideas and/or taking them to the next stage. Each group had 3 minutes to present their idea to everyone on Saturday morning and then scheduled times with the mentors of their choice throughout the day on a large white-board.

Adele and I weren't participating in the workshops, but we hung around and took stole opportunities to chat to the mentors and take some pictures for Megan.

Here are some pics...

Suresh Seetharaman working with one of the groups:

Noah Falstein working with one of the groups:

Chris Adams working with one of the groups:

The iStock team and Rod Drury having lunch:

Noah Falstein and Tom Duterme serving their lunch...

SIT UP STRAIGHT AND PAY ATTENTION

Adele and I have spent the past 4 days helping out at the XMediaLab conference in Wellington, NZ.

One presentation that really stood out for me (but they were all incredibly inspiring) was Brian

Seth Hurst's who spoke about building businesses from ideas.

Brian Seth Hurst is the CEO of the Opportunity Management Company, a strategic consultancy and corss-media production company that is driving the next generation of entertainment. He was profiled in the April 2007 issue of Emmy Magazine as one of the 10 media executives in the business leading the industry's digital drive.

So he abandons the powerpoint and begins his presentation by instructing us all to 'Sit up straight and pay attention.... No seriously. Sit up straight.'

The audience shuffles around a bit, (I make a mental note of my poor posture), and I'm pretty sure he has our full attention.

He goes on to tell us:

Stay in the present.

Time is incredibly valuable.

Expect to fail. Failure is a wonderful teacher.

Act on ideas.

Money should be used like manure... spread around helping young things to grow. (amen)

Life is a sales job and you are a brand.

Every morning when you get up, if you are passionate about your brand and idea, you will not have to chase. Don't let people take away the seed of life that's in you about your idea. The world is at your disposal.

You're going to meet the same people on the way back down as you did on the way up.

Integrity. (Keep it.)

You're never too smart to hear something from someone who you are convinced isn't as smart as you.

Some of your ideas won't work.

If your heart isn't in it - you're not in it.

****

Participation Drama

Brian also spoke about 'participation drama' - more specifically about a certain television series that recently won an international award for it's interactive television service.

Decribed as 'fiction without limits', the drama is titled 'the truth about marika' and follows the disappearance of 'Marika'. This is then brought further into the public arena by a young girl speaking out claiming that the television channel 'stole' the story from her blog. This triggered a whole series of events... constructed events?

Check it out:

Pretty cool. I would liken it to smaller campaigns like the 'Dubble-Agent' campaign in the UK around fairtrade chocolate and the Smirnoff 'Nikolai' campaign in NZ recently. It's essentially smart/clever marketing. The audience/customers become part of the 'story' and it becomes difficult to know what is 'advertising'...

Will talk more about other speakers soon...

ComputerWorld Excellence Awards

We (yMedia) were very happy to be awarded as a finalist in the Computerworld Excellence Awards a couple weeks ago.

The Awards dinner is in July so we'll keep you posted :)

pizzas

I made delicious pizzas last night. (i'm modest like that...)

For the record (and maybe for Adele?) here are some of my regular topping combinations (in order of putting them on the pizza). I should come up with names for them.

-tomato paste
-mozzarella cheese (sprinkle some on the before the toppings)
-mushrooms (lots of them)
-chopped olives (lots of them)
-chopped sun-dried tomatoes (not too many)
-mozzarella cheese

-tomato paste
-mozzarella cheese (sprinkle some on the before the toppings)
-mushrooms (lots of them)
-Camembert
-cranberry sauce
-Smoked chicken (or not, to leave it vege)
-mozzarella cheese

-tomato paste
-mozzarella cheese (sprinkle some on the before the toppings)
-dessicated coconut (sprinkle over cheese)
-sliced banana
-chopped mango
-Smoked chicken (or not, to leave it vege)
-apricot/mango sauce or spicy mango chutney
-mozzarella cheese
-natural cashew nuts (sprinkle over just before it's finished cooking)
-natural yogurt (pour over just as it comes out of the oven)

For the bases there are many options... sometimes I use wholemeal pita bread. Sometimes I use turkish bread, or flat-bread. Sometimes I make my own (water, yeast, flour and sugar... real easy).

Cook at 200degrees celcius fan-bake for 10-12 minutes.

what did they expect?

Ernie blogs yesterday from the Telecommunications Day -

"New Zealand has fallen from 14th to 16th on The Economist Intelligence Unit's annual e-readiness rankings.

Meanwhile Australia has jumped from 9th to 4th.

Given the focus the government has put on the Digital Strategy over the past several years this is not the news we want to hear."

What did they expect?

Community Group Registrations Open!!!!!!!!!!!

Stay up-to-date with exciting new emerging digital tools.

Engage with young people.

Connect with new volunteers, staff and stakeholders.

Join yMedia - Winter 2008 registrations open now - don't miss out!
www.ymediagroup.org/community

and so my hero adele barlow is SUPER close to finishing her thesis... :)

and i'm excited for her.

$10,000 to IT Professionals

IT Rock Star is giving the opportunity for an IT guru in NZ to win a trip to an overseas conference valued at $10,000.

Cool. But why?

putting it in perspective

When I go for a drive I like to pull off to the side
Of the road, turn out the lights, get out and look up at the sky
And I do this to remind me that I'm really, really tiny
In the grand scheme of things and sometimes this terrifies me

But it's only really scary cause it makes me feel serene
In a way I never thought I'd be because I've never been
So grounded, and so humbled, and so one with everything
I am grounded, I am humbled, I am one with everything

Rock and roll is fun but if you ever hear someone
Say you are huge, look at the moon, look at the stars, look at the sun
Look at the ocean and the desert and the mountains and the sky
Say I am just a speck of dust inside a giant's eye
I am just a speck of dust inside a giant's eye

Great lyrics, courtesy of Kimya Dawson...

more excuses

and so Facebook now have an INSTANT MESSENGER. (as of April 23)

as if i don't have enough excuses not to do whatever it is i need to be doing... i refuse to log onto msn for this very reason. but the facebook one is so... cute. i'll use it for a while. and then i'll try and figure out how to turn it off.

Interestingly the connection doesn't appear to be SSL so it might be possible for bad guys to sniff any conversations with your friends.

Also - it's not clear how big corporations and businesses will deal with the new chat service as it's so well integrated it may not be an easy task to block without blocking the whole of Facebook.

i miss the coffee in wellington

one thing i love about our country's capitol is that you only have to walk a few hundred metres or less and you are in the presence of great coffee.

auckland doesn't offer such abundance of high quality coffee or cafes.

and so i have an idea to create a cafe in auckland that sells wellington-esque coffee. it could offer a selection of all the different coffee-beans that one would find in wellington and the customer would have the choice of which beans to use in their espresso.

brilliant!

we'll call it 'capitol' or something.

free.your.voice

I've been a loyal Jajah user for the last 6 months or so and have great pleasure in introducing a number of people to this wonderful service. Now it's your turn...

Do you use Skype? I used Skype. But I had to download Skype. And then I needed a headset. And then my headset broke. And then I discovered Jajah. And now you are about to discover Jajah.

http://www.jajah.com - what is it?

In my own words, Jajah allows me to call my friends and family phone-to-phone for next-to-nothing. I type in my phone number and my friend's phone number (it doesn't matter if it's cellphone or landline or where they are in the world) and Jajah magically connects my phone with their phone.

In their words, JAJAH is a new type of phone company. We are dedicated to providing our customers with phone calls at a better price. It's that simple. "The internet has touched us all. It's changed the way we do everyday things. It's changed the way we stay informed, the way we shop for the products we want, even the way we find and listen to music. In the same way, JAJAH will change the way we all use the telephone".

JAJAH is dedicated to bringing the world vastly improved telephony solutions at a fraction of the traditional price. We want to provide basic phone calls for free - and we truly believe it's possible. We believe that by bringing together the best of the internet with the best of the traditional telephone industry we will be able to provide our customers with unique new solutions, solutions never before possible, at a price they'll find irresistible.

Unlike other companies that are trying to replace the phone with the computer, JAJAH believes that phones are great the way they are. Phones work. People are not interested in headsets, downloads or hotspots. They simply want to make a call. And we completely agree.

why always the bad stuff?

i know that whilst we shouldn't live in a fantasy world where everything is wonderful and happy - we also shouldn't be constantly reminding ourselves of how so many things are screwed up.

perhaps if we focused more on the good stories... on the people who are achieving and who are helping to make good out of less-good situations... then it would give people that 'feel good' feeling like one gets when the weather is good. (how many times can i say 'good' in one paragraph?)

i recently spoke with a woman in wellington who has an idea to help young kiwis shine and reach their potential by making it easier for them to connect with funds and/or people who are willing to offer funds. this could have an astonishing effect... currently i feel as though some opportunities for young people are limited to the 'disadvantaged' or the 'super elite/wealthy'. i like the idea that an average person who needs some help to get to the next stage of their life (whether it be personal development, education, travel, business idea, equipment, etc) can apply in a 'no-criteria' space and then people with money who want to contribute to the growth of NZ and help to maximise the positive impact and potential of young people can choose where to put their money and see the direct impact of their contribution.

obviously the idea is in early stages, but i think it's fantastic. i'll keep you (oh faithful reader / darkness of cyberspace) updated...

"A summit of ideas was always destined to produce a mixture of the practical and the out-of-the-box. But the surprises are joyous. Fitting the latter was the bold proposal from National Australia Bank's chief executive Ahmed Fahour for a government-created, private-sector-backed fund for micro-financed non-profit loans. Mr Fahour, putting money where his mouth is, has backed his own idea by committing $30 million of his bank's cash."

-from the age.com.au re: 2020 summit in australia... cool.

was at the airport the other night, about to leave to wellington. as always, i wandered into whitcoulls to source some good reading material for the trip. I was actually hoping to grab a copy of steven carden's new book 'new zealand unleashed'. They didn't have it. (what's going on steven?) Brian Sweeny found it though:

"My daily foray into Unity Books at 57 Willis Street has just yielded the sort of book about New Zealand that curls your toes up with anticipation. “New Zealand Unleashed: the country, its future and the people who will get it there” by Steven Carden (with Campbell Murray) is a geo-bio-histo-psycho thriller about the emergence of New Zealand in a pan-global sweep through nature and technology. Rooted in the biological science of complex adaptive systems, “Unleashed” is sectioned into “The end of certainty,” ”How to build a successful society,” “New Zealand’s DNA” and “Ideas for a more adaptable New Zealand.” A sped-up world and how we need to face change are key subtexts."

I might head that way now and pick it up. I suggest you all do the same.

It always makes me laugh though, when i see how many business books manage to get published. "Grow your business" "Be the next Starbucks" "how to spot a good idea" "small is the new big" etc etc. seriously.... ?

Anyhow, onto business. NZ released it's digital strategy draft on monday. I have actually read the entire thing. And I'm not sure what to say about it... I am interested to see what the 'public' says about it (if anything...)

Came across this article the other day. They have a great paragraph defining social enterprise..

Now a new style of “hybrid” technology organization is emerging that is trying to define a path between the nonprofit world and traditional for-profit ventures.

They’re often referred to as “social enterprises” because they pursue social missions instead of profits. But unlike most nonprofit groups, these organizations generate a sustainable source of revenue and do not rely on philanthropy. Earnings are retained and reinvested rather than being distributed to shareholders.

Pretty much sums up where yMedia was at at the end of last year: defining that path between non-profit and for-profit. It's a tricky path... with no legal recognition, it's difficult to be able to define a business as a 'social enterprise'. It's currently very much a buzz-word that various groups throw around willy-nilly (guilty...) It's a very sustainable model however, I mean it just makes so much sense: Take a traditional non-profit organisation... relying on grants, other companies, fundraising etc in order to exist. Their 'reach' goes only as far as other people and organisations are willing to dig into their wallets. If those people or companies decide to cut funding - the non-profit ceases to exist.

Now what if that non-profit could find a way to generate revenue themselves? Not to make wealthy owners/ceos - but simply to be able to stand on their own feet and determine their reach themselves. No-longer are they at risk of sudden extinction. No longer are they waiting on other people to determine whether they are a worthy cause to support. arghhh it just makes so much sense. check out ENP, a vancouver based company that i visited with in january... cool man.

And so that's all for now. I'm in wellington - meeting with lots of interesting and inspiring people. Oh - i'm also presenting at the engage your community conference next week in hamilton. I've been called on last minute because someone pulled out - so i've got all of 3 days to really prepare something interesting... that's what plane rides are for though right?!

p.s has telecom bought the iPhone? anyone?

http://diesel.adidas.com/83ways.php - coool site by Adidas and Diesal.

NADD

Gargh! I've just self-diagnosed myself with NADD - Nerd Attention Deficiency Disorder.

Whilst reading this article I followed the instructions to count how many other things I had going on whilst reading it. Do you dare to know?

1. My email account was open.
2. I was uploading photos to my Facebook account.
3. I had 10 tabs open with different articles relating to Cuba, the Zimbabwe elections, telecommunications updates and non-profit grants
4. I had iTunes open and playing the Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind soundtrack
5. I was working on a couple word documents
6. I had another computer next to me with 8 tabs open...
7. I had a conversation going on MSN with a friend in Australia
8. I was checking and comparing flight prices to Wellington

Yeah.... g.e.e.k

global warming and CONFUSION

how many of my friends are terrified of global warming? lots.
how many of my friends are like 'meh...' lots.
how many of my friends believe it's a conspiracy? lots.

i recently watched Al Gore's wee doco An Inconvenient Truth. Hmmm.. inconvenient indeed! It was a well stated opinion and after watching it, that's all I felt - it was one man's opinion. Because even though he had the 'facts' there from 'scientists' - how do I know that it's accurate information? I'm no scientist! I can't argue or agree on any basis whatsoever! It's super frustrating and so I set about to say nothing to anyone but to read everything I could in my spare time (which is not much... but some)

I found this article today called 'Don't Fight, Adapt.' It says very clearly what has been mulling around in my mind over the past few weeks:

Attempts to prevent global climate change from occurring are ultimately futile, and constitute a tragic misallocation of resources that would be better spent on humanity's real and pressing problems.

Yeah. And so apparently this is actually in a letter written from 100 scientists to the UN. Or something.

A friend who recently returned from the UK told me that he felt NZers didn't care enough about Climate Change. Interesting - when you consider that NZ has the fourth highest rate of suicide
in the world - WHY would someone who hated their own life, give a toss about saving human existence?

I'm not gonna be close-minded to anything, but I'm starting to think that maybe we shouldn't be putting all our eggs in one basket so-to-speak. Yeah we care about our world, but seriously, our world isn't going anywhere - it's our existence that is at risk... lets think about the people.

Ask the public how to run your business

And so Starbucks has launched a website asking the public for advice.

If you have an idea about how Starbucks should operate, what they should be doing differently, innovative ideas etc - stop by their website.

It's an interesting approach to giving people what they want - i like how they show the people who will be reviewing ideas. And apparently they even implement the good ones...

Cool.

How to Think

Stumbled upon this on Ed Boyden's blog:

How to be creative, thoughtful, and powerful in a world where problems are extremely complex, targets are continuously moving, and our brains often seem like nodes of enormous networks that constantly reconfigure:

1. Synthesize new ideas constantly. Never read passively. Annotate, model, think, and synthesize while you read, even when you're reading what you conceive to be introductory stuff. That way, you will always aim towards understanding things at a resolution fine enough for you to be creative.

2. Learn how to learn (rapidly). One of the most important talents for the 21st century is the ability to learn almost anything instantly, so cultivate this talent. Be able to rapidly prototype ideas. Know how your brain works. (I often need a 20-minute power nap after loading a lot into my brain, followed by half a cup of coffee. Knowing how my brain operates enables me to use it well.)

3. Work backward from your goal. Or else you may never get there. If you work forward, you may invent something profound--or you might not. If you work backward, then you have at least directed your efforts at something important to you.

4. Always have a long-term plan. Even if you change it every day. The act of making the plan alone is worth it. And even if you revise it often, you're guaranteed to be learning something.

5. Make contingency maps. Draw all the things you need to do on a big piece of paper, and find out which things depend on other things. Then, find the things that are not dependent on anything but have the most dependents, and finish them first.

6. Collaborate.

7. Make your mistakes quickly. You may mess things up on the first try, but do it fast, and then move on. Document what led to the error so that you learn what to recognize, and then move on. Get the mistakes out of the way. As Shakespeare put it, "Our doubts are traitors, and make us lose the good we oft might win, by fearing to attempt."

8. As you develop skills, write up best-practices protocols. That way, when you return to something you've done, you can make it routine. Instinctualize conscious control.

9. Document everything obsessively. If you don't record it, it may never have an impact on the world. Much of creativity is learning how to see things properly. Most profound scientific discoveries are surprises. But if you don't document and digest every observation and learn to trust your eyes, then you will not know when you have seen a surprise.

10. Keep it simple. If it looks like something hard to engineer, it probably is. If you can spend two days thinking of ways to make it 10 times simpler, do it. It will work better, be more reliable, and have a bigger impact on the world. And learn, if only to know what has failed before. Remember the old saying, "Six months in the lab can save an afternoon in the library."

I have just returned from a week in Wellington.

My highlights:

• Chatting with Josh and Tai and learning about the Ship for World Youth.
• Sitting next to David Baldwin on the plane - finding out that Cherrie Kong is working for them - falling in love with synergy all over again.
• Talking with Paul Matthews from the Computer Society and regaining faith in the future of the ICT industry
• Getting some insight into what community groups are thinking about in terms of online solutions, after being invited to sit in on the CIMS workshop.
• Having a picnic 'meeting' with Megan Hosking and leaving it feeling stoked about the people in NZ who are just so on to it
  

The Issues with Innovation

Every truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident. -Arthur Schopenhauer.

Today I had the pleasure of attending a presentation. This presentation was done by my mother (Ingrid) to ARTA (Auckland Regional Transport Authority) on behalf of my father(Paul)'s organisation 'Trip Convergence' and their 'innovative' idea of Flexible Carpooling.

Being the offspring of this power-couple, my opinions expressed here are likely to be somewhat biased.. but that's OK - just know where I'm coming from.

ARTA claim to be about "helping find solutions to the traffic challenges facing the rapidly growing Auckland region." Great!

I am relatively new to the whole 'traffic solutions' scene and so I started searching for clear evidence of what ARTA have done to help find such solutions. The most obvious attempt is of course - the Northern Busway.

I was in the northern hemisphere over summer and upon returning south in mid-February, I witnessed the result of this $200 million dollar investment.


Judging by this photograph, this has clearly solved the issue of traffic congestion! ..... not.

According to North Shore City, one bus will run every 3 minutes.

A bus every 3 minutes! Imagine if a car passed along a motorway lane every 3 minutes! It deserves to be better used...

Hold that thought - we'll come back to it.

This is where Paul's company comes into the equation.

The general idea of flexible carpooling, is that it's like carpooling... but it's flexible. What I've done here, is made reference to a schema - carpooling - to get us both on the same page quickly.

But just to recap - you know what carpooling is:

It's a way to share the cost of traveling. It's a way to ease your eco-guilt. It's better for the environment and your pocket. And it's more comfortable than the bus!

But you also know carpooling as that annoying system of organising to share a ride with friends/co-workers/neighbours. It's that system that requires you to be on time. People are relying on you. If you're sick one day, you have to get in touch with someone. If you drop out of the carpool, they might have go through the hassle of finding someone else. *sigh*

So now I'm going to alter that schema with the word 'flexible'. By adding this word to the beginning of 'carpooling', we have just eliminated ALL of those annoying and tiresome definitions of carpooling in a traditional sense.

So what are we left with?

Flexible Carpooling: Better for the environment and your pocket. More comfortable than a bus. Convenient, hassle-free, no commitment required.

Neat-o.

Now I'd like to point out that Paul has been rallying for this idea to happen since... about 2005. (I think).

Today, after Ingrid's presentation to ARTA, Rabin Rabindran, deputy chair, asked "is there any working evidence of this system? Any pilots or small-scale examples?"

Ingird stammered. "Uh.. Seattle is interested. But Seattle want to know why Auckland isn't doing anything."

Ahhhh. According to Geoff Mulgan in the MIT Press/innovations, "Social innovations may be helped by formal market research or desk analysis, but progress is often achieved more quickly through turning the idea into a prototype or pilot and then galvanizing enthusiasm for it."

In Paul's case, I think this may be what's needed. Innovation is risky business and often involves failure of some kind. So governmental organisations are cautious about innovation for good reason - 'appetite for failure is limited in accountable organisations or where peoples' lives depend on reliability'. (innovations/spring 2006).

So whilst Trip Convergence is asking for the support and investment of the government and city councils - in my opinion, a lot could be done to get the public involved/on board, sans-huge dollars, in the meantime.

The 'risk' in this case, is that they will put up money to invest in an idea that won't work (ie. won't get used). That's the only risk as far as I can see? But if the public 'get it', if they demonstrate they can change their behaviour (ride sharing requires a shift in behaviour for most) and are demanding infrastructure to make using the system easier and safer - then the risk that it won't be used, is reduced/contained/eliminated... right?

Now bringing us back to my earlier thoughts on the Northern Busway. Assuming Trip Convergence have a pilot or many small examples of flexible carpooling being carried out around Auckland (by the public, without the safety/membership technology and without parking facilities). Now we have a $200 million busway that lies largely empty. The risk is now minimal. The cost is now minimal. The users have choice (bus or flexible carpool!). And the result, if Auckland decides to implement this? They appear to be leaders in innovation. The traffic congestion is reduced. Tailpipe emissions are reduced. Cost of travel is reduced. And internationally we lead the way for solutions to traffic challenges that many rapidly growing cities worldwide are facing.

Neat-o.

So I'm feeling fabulous!!!!

Not really though. I finished my detox yesterday, and it went something like this:

9am: I awake to the smell of pancakes. Automatically, my mind conjures up images involving hot pancakes, maple syrup, blueberries, yogurt, my mouth, saliva, chewing, swallowing etc. Until the realisation hits me that I'm ON A DETOX. (aka NO SWEET SWEET DELICIOUS MMMMM FOOD). Furious, I storm downstairs demanding an explanation for such a cruel act. I notice that Paul (my father) has innocently set me a place at the table.

I explain (again) that I'm on a detox. He pleads ignorance. I forgive him. End result: I'm sitting at the table slowly munching on my oats+water, while Ingrid and Paul sit next to me, happily gorging on fluffy white pancakes.

6pm: Matthew and I are returning from a walk on the beach with Leia. He suggests we stop for food. I suggest Pizza (again, it's an reflex thought). We stop at this place called 'Dante's - We make, you bake'. The idea is quite self explanatory... for $15, they spend 2 minutes putting the pizza together and suffocating it in plastic glad-wrap - then you take it home and bake it for 10 minutes. Cool. But I'm not allowed cheese or gluten. So I pay (Matt pays) $2 extra for a gluten free base and they remove the cheese (surely they could have canceled each other out? I mean, why the 2 bucks?)

Anyway, so we get home and pop our pizzas in the oven. Mine - gluten free, artichokes, olives, onion and tomato. Matt's - smoked chicken, cranberry, mozzarella, camembert, sourdough base. Which pizza do you think looked the most delectable and smelt the most delicious as they were removed from the oven? It definitely wasn't the dried up, sans-cheese, crumbly gluten-free-base pizza (aka MINE.)

But today is a new day. Today is MONDAY. Today is NO MORE DETOX day.

Although, strangely, I haven't been overly excited to jump on the bread wagon. Or the milk wagon either for that matter. I had a coffee this morning. Which was nice. But I haven't had one since. I have this new awareness of my body I think. I look at food and I think 'what's going to happen to you when you get inside me? will I use you? Or will you blob around and make it difficult for me to go toilet?' Yes... so there's some insight into what goes on in my head!

I wonder how long this new feeling will last...

diary of a detox

I'd thought about it before. Many times actually. But this time I knew it was the time.

$50 for 2 sets of pills. I'm taking 21 pills a day. I started yesterday and it only lasts a week.

The rules? No bread. No milk. No sugar. No alcohol. No crap, basically. But worst of all - no Caffeine. I can't actually remember the last time I went without Caffeine for a day, so you must try to understand how serious this is for me. I spent all of yesterday unable to do much, as I moped around cringing from one of the worst headaches I've had in a while. Today it is better... although I am cringing at the thought of the cold brown rice and plain tuna I am about to consume for lunch.