In her own words– Beaker is a business and culture magazine for the idea generation.
Beaker aims to equip entrepreneurs, technologists and executives to act on their ideas while navigating between the stages of idea to product, product to market, and the first few years of a startup. We create and curate articles on early stage operations, startup culture and technology trends from around the world.
My friend Jonathan Harris never ceases to amaze me. He’s one of the most thoughtful and talented people in the world. His latest project Cowbird has an audacious goal- in his word, to become the public library of human experience, kind of like a Wikipedia for real life (but much more beautiful).
How are they going to get there? They’re pioneering a new form of participatory journalism rooted in simple human stories.
The site is organized into Sagas, Stories and Diaries, and the slogan says it best: To be a witness to life.
Above is the Saga of Occupy Wall Street, and specifically Jonathan’s story about being arrested at Occupy Oakland.
It’s easy to submit and organize your own story or saga. They can be in any form of media. On the site now the mix and sheer breadth of documented experiences is fascinating to see.
Within the profile of a user, you can see that a specific person’s (in this case Jonathan’s) appearances in different sagas, their own stories, and their relationships. It’s a little social-network like, but it’s what happens in your life that ties you to other people.
The organization is incredible, and I would expect nothing less from Jonathan!
Just by downloading a picture of this Starbucks Charge Card to your phone, you can pop in to a Starbucks and get free coffee.
Jonathan’s Card is an experiment in social sharing of physical goods using digital currency on mobile phones. Based on the similarity to the “take a penny, leave a penny” trays at convenience stores in the US, Jonathan adopted a similar “get a coffee, give a coffee” terminology.
At the time of writing this, there’s $40 on the card balance that anyone can use to pop into a Starbucks and grab a drink.
Even if this is a viral marketing trick from Starbucks, it’s very interesting– and heck, it’s free coffee!
Amazing. I wish Don’t Fear the Internet was around when I started playing on the web. Consider sending this to everyone you know.
Are you a print designer, photographer, fine-artist, or general creative person? Do you have a shitty website that you slapped together yourself in Dreamweaver in that ONE web design class that you took in college? Do you not have a site at all because you’ve been waiting two years for your cousin to put it together for you? Well, we’re here to help. We know that you have little to no desire to do web design professionally, but that doesn’t mean that you want an ugly cookie-cutter site or to settle for one that hasn’t been updated since Hackers was in theaters.
Through short tutorial videos, you’ll learn how to take a basic wordpress blog and manipulate the css, html (and even some php!) to match your aesthetic. You’ll feel empowered rather than crippled by the internet and worst case scenario you’ll at least end up having a better idea of how professional web designers turn your design dreams into a reality on screen.
The Talks is a website featuring interviews with actors, artists, designers, musicians – people who influence culture. Looks promising and reminds me of the SpearTalks series we used to do here back in the day.
Imagine a remote, forested island in the largest body of freshwater in the world. Now imagine living on that island and being a part of one of the most unique and challenging artist residencies in the world.
Rabbit Island is that island, and with your help, Rabbit Island will become that residency. Check out the project and pledge if it moves you.
I wish I could find an island for sale on Craigslist. Amazing.
Old friend Jason Anello of Forking Tasty and Manifold has successfully merged his day job and night job with this Bike-In-Theater concept. Two weeks ago on a dead end street in Brooklyn over looking the Manhattan skyline, 100 riders showed up for this pop-up theater experience complete with gourmet popcorn and cookies. The next one is already in the works! Awesome. Check them out.
This is frighteningly bizarre and terribly awesome. Reminds me of something Jonathan Harris would do.
The Quantum Parallelograph is an exploratory public engagement project examining the scientific and philosophical ideas surrounding the theory of quantum physics and multiple universes. The device simulates the experience of users being able to glimpse into their “parallel lives” – to observe their alternate realities.
The device uses online sources to find the “parallel lives” of users, and prints out a short statement about their “simultaneous” life in a parallel world. Read more here.
If you’re not reading my friend Jan Chipchase’s blog Future Perfect you’re missing out. His travel schedule rivals my own as he bounces around the globe. Most recently between Shanghai, Libya, Cairo in only a few days on research and field missions.
Interesting social experiment taking place here. Not entirely sure it will work, but good effort.Awkwardpriceis a buzzy viral experiment where advertisers catch the attention of the public by paying crazy money for common and worthless items sold on Ebay (forks, clothespins, etc.).
Check out the current Ebay auction. $29 for a paperclip, and then an ad on the site associated with the auctions.
Boing Boing tipped me off to this NPR Interview about exploring the underground tunnels in NYC, and then I found this video about Steve Duncan (above). Fascinating, and totally bad ass. Listen to the interview as well if you have time.
As an urban historian & photographer, I try to peel back the layers of a city to see what’s underneath. From the tops of bridges to the depths of sewer tunnels, these explorations of the urban environment help me puzzle together the interconnected, multi-dimensional history and complexity of the great metropolises of the world.
