2010 Year in Ideas

My favorite issue of the New York Times magazine is out! The Year in Ideas presents some of the best innovation, ingenuity and imagination concepts of the year in various disciplines - medicine to design.  I just eat this issue up...and here are a few ideas that tickled my fancy:

Relaxation Drinks - With the energy drink market saturated for products like Red Bull , it makes sense that the next frontier in the specialty soft drink business would be relaxation drinks.  These drinks are loaded with natural relaxation agents like Valerian, Kava, and Melatonin.  As much as I actively seek ways to chill out, I'm not a likely consumer.

Youth Condom - After learning that many young people were doing it with condoms that didn't quite fit, a snugger (let's not say smaller, shall we?) condom, Hotshot, is marketed to 13 to 15 year olds.   I'm not that psyched that fourteen-year-olds are having sex - but a good 13% of them have been sexually active by age 15, and I want them to be safe, so I'm a fan.

Turbine-Free Wind Power - These wind powers vibrate from a passing breeze, and can convert the wind vibration to energy.  Since they take up little space and require less air area than wind turbines, they are well suited for urban spaces like the sides of buildings and rooftops.  I think wind farms are beautiful, but apparently, if I were better acquainted with them, I'd know they are noisy and cause danger to wildlife.  These oscillating panels are a step in the right direction for greener power.  I think the green innovation of this era is awesome!

The Train that Never Stops - A high-speed intercity train in China loses 45 minutes during its journey just because of 3-minute station stops along the way.  But this invention would save that precious time. Passengers enter and exit through pods that attach to the top of the train as it speeds through the station, and enter the train through a roof hatch.  Makes EZ Pass look old-fashioned!

Like.

RSAmazing - Changing Educational Paradigms

[If the embedded video isn't showing here, click here to YouTube Link]

Wow!  I was recently introduced to RSA Animate, and their Vision Video Webcasts (above and more later).  This is such cool stuff!   And here's the scoop...

The 250 year old Royal Society for the encouragement of the Arts, Manufactures, and Commerce is now tagged "RSA - 21st Century Enlightenment."  An idea lab and exchange for creative thinking, design, innovation and social progress that hosts a network of RSA Fellows, provides platforms for experts to fuel public discourse, and supports interdisciplinary projects for social change solutions.  Unfortunately, the website is not nearly as well-presented and organized, as their individual products.  Creativity and brilliant minds are messy, I guess.  But I digress.

When I first came across RSA Animate, we were discussing how to present and package relatively complex research and ideas so they are easy to follow, understand, and ultimately stick.  If you take 12 minutes or so to watch the video link, you will see what I mean.  [Please pause to watch video link here, then continue after the jump]  

Lumenhaus: Design within Reach

Congratulations to the Virginia Tech team for winning the 2010 Solar Dacathalon Europe!  Their beautiful Lumenhaus (gorgeous film and interactive site) incorporates beautiful eco-design principles, and its infinite flexibility to upsize and downsize off the central module over a lifetime makes it even more ingenious.

The small 580 ft2 footprint looks and feels more expansive with the connections of the inside with the outside, the abundance of natural light from its wide windows, and its adaptable, multi-use spaces.  I am taken with the passive heating and cooling of the sliding screens and perforated panels that invite or deflect sun, or allow for a lovely cross ventilation.  I'm also in love with the adaptability of the central module - the way the table can be wheeled out to the pavilion patio (a new room in nice weather), and the kitchen counter detaches to additional counter space.  And as mentioned, the central, most expensive pod with the solar cells and controls, can have plugged in shells to expand up to a 4-5BR/2BA house as the family grows, and back down again in downsizing and empty-nesting  How marvelous is that? There's also all sorts of eco-tech features, that I hardly get, like bio-filitering grey water, rain catchment, and a smartgrid that works with the local utility company, both providing energy back to the grid and allowing a data feedback for its own use.  

The linked interactive feature here at the NY TImes gives a better tour and explanation than I ever could, so please check it out.

Woohoo! Capital BikeShare, Washington, DC

It's finally here!  Capital BikeShare launched in DC on Monday!  This officially makes DC one of the coolest (and underrated) cities in the US.  It's not Seattle (coffee city), Portland (alt-hip city), San Francisco (gorgeous, hilly city), Boston (university city), New York (city of all cities)...but it is doing pretty well, and damn it, no one knows!

Capital BikeShare is one of the largest bike share programs in the country, and the only regional one (serving both DC and Arlington, Virginia).  It has 1100 bikes and 110 bike stations, spread across all 8 wards of the District, and into Crystal City, VA.  Fantastic!  If you're not familiar with Capital BikeShare, then perhaps you know Velib (Paris), Bixi (Montreal), Bici (Barcelona), and Barclay's Cycle Hire (London).  And if you don't know those, then think of Zipcar, only for bikes.

Essentially a fleet of bikes is available for member (or day) hire anytime and anywhere.  The system encourages short rides to keep the bikes in circulation - so for members (or day users), the first 30 minutes is free, with low, but increasing, fees for 30+ minutes.  I paid $50 for a year membership, and expect to take full advantage of the network of bike stations near my home, work and social hubs (Dupont, H Street NE, and Capitol Hill).

I took my first ride yesterday - from my doctor's appointment (using the nearest bike station at Dupont & Massachusetts NW) to my work (using the station at 14 & Rhode Island NW).  So, how'd it go? In a single word, GREAT!  In a few more words...

Grassroots Soccer

Excellent slideshow by photographer Jessica Hilltout on the grassroots soccer played throughout Africa on makeshift fields with soccer balls fashioned of rubber bands, stockings, and paper, and string.

Here's some amusing trivia from the accompanying article on Hilltrout's work.

The most oddly soulful of Ms. Hilltout’s images are of objects: the homemade balls fashioned by children from plastic bags, old socks and rags, tied up with string or strips of tree bark. Some children inflated condoms — commonplace and free on a continent beset by AIDS — wrapped them in cloth to make them heavy, then in plastic bags to seal them and finally bound them in twine. These ingenious, improvised balls bounce like real ones for a few days before the air escapes.

Hurray for Africa's ingenuity!