Download the Party Whistle App for your iphone for tonight’s festivities. The whistle is activated by blowing on your iphone!

from youtube: Four architecture offices, BIG, INABA, MAD, and Mass Studies have joined forces to create four urban proposals for the city of Ansan, South Korea. The project, curated by Jeffrey Inaba, will be exhibited at Gyeonggi Museum of Modern Art from December 17th 2008.

At first glance, these proposals represent a new urban plan for the city: a suite of would-be iconic and monumental new buildings. Yet the proposals also function at a different scale: in the gallery itself, the models used to advertise each project take on a new role, as furniture for the gallery space.

I have a new puppy, and was impressed with Pet Smart. I thought it was particularly interesting that they asked if I wanted to give an extra $1 for the Humane Society.  I bet they have high conversions on that – a $1 contribution won’t break the bank, and the cumulative impact can be huge.

McDonald’s has for years had a coin collector for the Ronald McDonald House, but why don’t more retail companies offer the opportunity for micro-giving at the point of sale via automatic charge? Stores could even give you a menu of say 5 charities from which you choose. This could also work well for online retailers.

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Hard disk space on a tivo device is limited, and wouldn’t it be great to be able to build a library of favorite shows via an easy way to record to DVD-R or blu-ray? And, wouldn’t it be great to have an easy way to share and distribute favorite shows, or clips of shows without the current laborious and unnatural capture and upload methods?

Merry Christmas!

California passed the high speed rail initiative this November, which will have a total price tag in excess of $40 billion. The project won’t be completed until 2020. Meanwhile, it looks like the state of California is headed towards bankruptcy.

I propose here that by 2020 the high speed train will be obsolete, because we will have self-driving cars that are also emissions free. Highway efficiency will be greatly enhanced (traffic jams will be of a bygone era), accidents will be virtually eliminated, and the vehicles will move as fast as the high speed train on Highway 5, the main highway running between San Diego and Sacramento.

And, vehicles will be able to be rented on-demand from your mobile device (the rental vehicle will drive itself to you!). Wouldn’t you rather travel comfortably in a private, high speed pod car equipped with a big screen television and a minibar, than on a crowded train that runs on a schedule?

And, the solution is a bottom up solution vs. a massive public expenditure, which is a concept I hope we don’t lose sight of in the era of hundred billion dollar bailouts and “stimulus” plans.

I am updating this post as a result of a great question by Melissa in comments, who doesn’t think the technology will be real by 2020.  But, the technology for self-driving or robotic cars already exists. The DARPA Grand Challenge showed a robotic car successfully navigate an urban setting. Also, have you seen the parking assist feature on a Lexus LS 460? Basically, the car takes over and parallel parks for you. Also, the Lexus has pre-collision assistance, so the car will apply the brakes automatically, if you are unsafely approaching a car or other obstacle ahead.  See previous post here on Sharkride. So, I believe within 11 years there’s no question this technology will be perfected, and commercialized, and you will be able to sit back and watch the news or read a kindle from the comforts of your speeding pod car.

check out this breathalyzer accessory for the iphone. You blow into the device and the iphone displays your blood alcohol level. Will be for sale in a few days for $80.

As part of the Inspired Economist’s plan to create 25 million new green jobs within 3-5 years, and to reduce the government deficit by $100 billion, Ramsay Mameesh propses cutting the prison population by 1/2.

How could we safely and responsibly do that?

If at risk populations (such as returning Vets or urban youth) and current inmates are psychologically rehabilitated and have a realistic plan and career purpose.

This could be accomplished by CBT methods pioneered at UCSF and Stanford, and could be administered by automated computer systems, without expensive one-to-one therapist and other expensive consumables. What a great problem to try to tackle!

I first posted a link to this video in August, but am reposting, because I think it’s very inspiring and innovative. It’s a departure from 3d, extravagant graphics, and has a pen device, where what you draw becomes part of the game, a great example of mixed-reality gaming.

this is just what I need! [Link to video.]

The University of Tokyo has developed a series of robots capable of performing house-keeping jobs, including doing the dishes. With 18 sensors of five different types attached to the robot’s hand, its arm first detects dishes, carries them without crushing or dropping them and then hits the dish washer’s start button.

Created in association with Japanese electronics giant Panasonic, KAR is still a prototype. The engineers are now trying to make the robot smaller and lighter and move fast enough to be able to put away dishes in five minutes after a family of four has finished dinner.