The truth at any cost lowers all other costs — curated by former US spy Robert David Steele.
+ Video of Whirlwind Wheelchair International's modifiable “rough rider” design (open source design)
+ Inspiring Frontline video segment of stories from Vietanam about the “rough rider” wheelchair from Whirlwind Wheelchair Intl
+ Whirlwind Wheelchair International website
This has been added to the “micro-giving” global range of needs product list
Below are interesting links/stories from our Twitter feed that were not posted to Phi Beta Iota due to time constraints, etc:
By Peter Eichenbaum and Margaret Collins – Mon Aug 02, 2010
AT&T Inc. and Verizon Wireless, the biggest U.S. mobile carriers, are planning a venture to displace credit and debit cards with smartphones, posing a new threat to Visa Inc. and MasterCard Inc., three people with direct knowledge of the plan said.The partnership, which also includes Deutsche Telekom AG unit T-Mobile USA, may work with Discover Financial Services and Barclays Plc to test a system at stores in Atlanta and three other U.S. cities that would let a consumer pay with the contactless wave of a smartphone, the people said. The carriers have been searching for a chief executive officer.The trial would be the carriers’ biggest effort to spur mobile payments in the U.S. and supplant more than 1 billion plastic cards in American wallets. Smartphones have encroached on tasks ranging from Web browsing to street navigation and now may help the phone companies compete with San Francisco-based Visa and MasterCard, the world’s biggest payments networks.“This is definitely a game-changer,” said industry consultant Richard Crone of San Carlos, California-based Crone Consulting LLC. The firm advises card networks, issuers and phone companies. The mobile carriers “are the biggest recurring billers in every market. They are experts at processing payments,” Crone said. Full article
Comment: We have been told that in Shanghai, it is common to see many instances of people–including children–using their cellphones to pay for goods and services, including mass-transit fares. Supposedly GlobalAgora was the first to penetrate the Chinese mobile market (2001) with the help of Nicholas Rockefeller.
Here it mentions a main technology was wireless internet WAP phones for mobile payments. On a wild side note, this video reveals interesting information from the now deceased Aaron Russo (film-maker of Trading Places, The Rose, Wiseguys, also managed Bette Midler) who was a former friend of Nick Rockefeller after Russo ran for governor of Nevada.
Posted by Izabella Kaminska on Aug 04, 2010
FT Alphaville missed this IMF paper when it first came out in April, 2010.
Continue reading “Smartphone Money (AT&T,Verizon) & Global Currency (IMF) Weak Signals”
Thu Aug 5, 2010
New York – Once again, social media has played a central role in a national election. During Kenya's recent ballot initiative to adopt a new constitution, citizens used Twitter, along with Facebook and a new breed of monitoring technology, to help eliminate the voter intimidation, bombings, and deadly violence that marred the struggling African country's disastrous 2008 election. Here, a quick guide:
How was social media used to monitor the election?
Voters reported any intimidation issues at the polls by posting Twitter messages with the hashtag #uchaguzi (the Kiswahili word for “election”), or sending SMS messages to a specially designated number. A group of volunteers tracked the messages and alerted local officials when necessary.
Besides Twitter, what other technologies were used?
A Kenyan-developed platform called Uchaguzi helped aggregate all reported problems, documenting incidents by location and type (security issues, hate speech, ballot issues) so that anyone with Internet access could get a quick overview on the Uchaguzi site. It's very new for Kenyans, Uchaguzi's Charles Kithika tells The Christian Science Monitor, to see that problems are being reported and investigated, effectively “discouraging” troublemakers.
Continue reading “Twitter & SMS Used to Help Election in Kenya”
The web is changing how we learn. It surrounds us with a massive and remixable tapestry of perspectives, facts and data. It gives us the freedom to learn whatever we want at our own speed and in our own way. It lets us become our own teachers. Fundamentally: the free and open nature of the internet is revolutionizing learning.
Who among us has not fallen into a long journey across the web on a surprising topic? Or learned a new skill by making, building or creating something online? Or, for that matter, found a new mentor or apprentice in a forum or on a social network? More and more, this is how we learn.
The open technology and culture of the internet are at the heart of this revolution. They give us raw material to take control of our own learning. Teachers and learners around the world are experimenting, inventing, creating, exploring and building in wonderful ways with this raw material. Mozilla's 2010 Drumbeat Festival is a gathering of these people.
The philosophical foundation for The WRSC is in its founding premise stated as a question posed in R. Buckminster Fuller's World Game™ simulation:
“How do we make the world
work for 100% of humanity
in the shortest possible time
through spontaneous
cooperation without
ecological damage or
disadvantage to anyone?”
The World Resources Simulation Center (WRSC) will be a non-profit visualization facility where you can literally “see” the critical trends of global and regional issues, the relationships between issues, and the consequences of different strategies. For detailed information, begin by downloading the proposal documents to learn more about the specifics of the project. Next, explore several quick demonstrations of new technologies and how data and mapping information can be utilized in powerful new ways. (videos follow, continue with post) Continue reading “Event: 7-30 Sept 2010, San Diego CA, World Resources Simulation Center Demo”
A two-part exhibition of water technologies and artwork from developing countries where Denver-based IDE works to cultivate prosperity.
Part I (August 6 – 31) of the exhibition features photographs of the people IDE works with every day, along with displays of the innovative water technologies IDE has developed as part of its Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation-funded “Rural Prosperity Initiative” – extremely affordable water pumps, drip irrigation and water storage systems. Special events scheduled throughout the run of the exhibition offer opportunities to meet IDE staff from around the world and learn about their work.
Part II (September 1 – 25) features the addition to the exhibition of paintings from local artists in IDE countries, brought to Denver especially for this show. The artwork will be offered for sale through a silent auction with proceeds benefiting IDE.
Low-cost water technologies, access to better seeds and growing techniques, and better connections to markets are the foundation of the IDE approach to cultivating prosperity in Africa, Asia and Latin America.
Continue reading “Event: 6 Aug – 25 Sept 2010, Denver CO, Art of Dirt: Exhibit on Water Tech & Art fr Dev Countries”
