nice things, nice people,
So is the Slow Movement just a fad, or something more do you think? From this angle it basically looks like a a blueprint for how to slow down and smell the coffee. [Via Metafilter] This website supports a growing cultural shift towards slowing down. On this site we discuss how we have lost connection to most aspects of our life and to the natural world and rhythms around us, and how we can reconnect – how we can live a…
ChaCha has been getting a fair bit of press recently. It’s a standard search engine with a twist, in that there’s an option to get help from a live human if you’re having trouble finding what you want. Goodness knows how this is going to scale, and to be honest it looks more like a marketing puff than a real long term product, but they’ve just scored a lot of VC cash, so watch that space as they say. Colour us sceptical (especially…
The Harrison’s Heart Foundation, which raises money for infant heart disease is auctioning a unique radio controlled Dalek on eBay which has been autographed by Dr Who himself (aka actor David Tennant). It’s a spiffing good cause, so spread the word please or better yet bid and feel good about yourself. This actual Dalek appeared on air in the final TV version and was signed by David Tennant himself after the show had finished filming. This item has been donated by the…
The Bike Dispenser…er…dispenses bicycles. On demand. The service is only at pilot stage at the moment in Eindhoven in the Netherlands, but it sounds perfect for most places if the concept works out. You pay a subscription to obtain a smartcard and PIN number and use that to rent a bike at any of the vending machines you find (the plan is to site them at places like railway stations, park and ride etc). Just stick your card in the…
The Hexayurt costs around $200.00 to build using basic building materials and rolls of tape. The advantage it gives is cool shade under the hot sun, warm shelter at night and rapid deployment which is great for disaster relief. Clearly it benefits from material cost advantages derived from the current booming US building industry (until the bubble bursts?) but it’s an interesting project, no doubt. Here are some building instructions. It won a Treehugger award too. You get the boards and you…
Keep Moving is a great new UK traffic information service. Why? Because it uses motorists as part of the reporting process. The idea is that anyone can call in to the 64644 number to report a traffic jam or incident which they encounter, which will then be instantly relayed to other users of the service via website or voice call. The service also has its own reporters and you can specify which major route, direction and even time slot to check. It’s…
Congrats to Mandyleigh who’s just earned her Sellaband recording contract. Of course it’s got nothing to do with the Ferret’s promotion. Just sheer hard work and talent. Nice one. Tags: sellaband, mandyleigh
The Wizzybug is a fun little electric runabout which has been designed to give more mobility to disabled children up to 5 years old. Calling it a wheelchair doesn’t really do it justice, what with the sporty red colour and optional trailer. It’s small enough to put into a car, runs for three days on a charge and costs around £1500. Nice. [Via Gizmag] Wizzybug is a fun powered vehicle for disabled children to experience early years mobility. It has a…
Soziety is one of those simple ideas which is so obvious it hurts. Combine Skype with a plug-in which connects users from different countries and you’ve got the perfect real-time language lab. Yep, you’ve got it. The system puts together users who speak one language with those that want to speak another, and you chat to each other to learn your language. Zenophobics need not apply. All you have to do is install Skype in your computer and signing in…
Goodsearch is a search engine with a difference. It donates 50% of its revenues from advertising to charities. The search is powered by Yahoo!, you can choose your fave charitable cause and every time you search, your charity shares in the proceeds. Nice one. After realizing what a fraction of the $6 billion generated annually by search engine advertisers could do if it were directed towards organizations trying to make the world a better place, they launched GoodSearch in 2005….
Greenprint. Very nice idea, a small print utility to save paper by not printing out unnecessary stuff. I really get hacked off wasting a sheet of paper when the system prints out just the page header or whatever from an email or document, so this is definitely a Good Product. Should be freeware though, really. $35.00. GreenPrint is a simple idea, but it solves a problem nearly everyone can relate to: The ubiquitous wasted page. This is the page with…
Story Creator 2 lets you, or the small child in you, create stories using simple drag and drop on-screen elements, characters and scenes. It’s been done before of course, but this one looks like fun for kids. It also looks as though they’ve focussed on providing schools with access for edutainment (heh, remember that word?) purposes which is nice. [Via Metafilter] you might like to try your hand at creating your own version of one of the stories or even creating a…
Slate has just done a review of microlending services – that provide small loans to entrepreneurs in developing countries – and Kiva has come out top. I’m glad about that, because I actually lent some money to the scheme after we featured it on the Ferret a while back (see, we do eat our own dogfood so to speak) and thought it was a great idea and superbly done. Already the entrepreneurs I lent to have started to pay back the…
The Volivik Chandelier. Created out of recycled Bic biro pens. Strangely enough, it’s available only in a limited edition. And then there’s the desk lamp. Tags: bic+biro, home+lighting, recycled+furnishings
Kiva is a nice microfinance site which brings together lenders from the wealthy first world and small businesses in the developing world. This is such a great use of the global power of the Internet in so many ways. You can loan money via Paypal or credit card – in amounts as little as $25.00 – and either take your money out when the load is repaid or keep it in the system and lend again. You don’t receive interest,…
