Spotted by Marcela Benassi Fernandes, ESAMC Coolhunt ‘10, Brazil.
Although it shares its name with another interesting project surrounding decision making and computer Deep Green is a robotics project by the Robotics and Computer Vision lab in Queen University Canada. The project seems like something that would be found in a modern day John Tradescant the elder’s cabinet of rarities. Or it could be the first step towards the robotic version of a Vincent Lauria. This project is part of the Robotic Pool research field and has as its aim of producing a robot that can compete with and beat the best pool players in the world. Its name is derived from Deep Blue, the computer program that beat chess grand master Gary Kasparov in the late 1990s. The research field is focused on pool because as they say it’s a game of strategy, accuracy, the playing field is static and must come to rest before you can engage with it again and it’s a popular game. By visualizing how the computer lines up its shots its now taking the notion of Augmented Reality beyond just giving information on people and places and things. This is enabling decision making and action not unlike another project with the same name.

Doga, practicing yoga with your dog. For new ways to have very conscious animal owning experiences!

Tongue-in-cheek games using forms of street theater and happening organized by and for people who recently became unemployed as a result of recession (recently in NYC).

Internet, peer-to-peer networking, the co-creative social Web (2.0, 3.0 etcetera,) they all point into the same direction: Knowledge moves more freely than ever to anyone who wants to work with it. Think the hackers of the virtual world. Think all the iPhone applications we create. But also think: Do It Yourself Garage Biologists. They are new right now. But maybe future progress in bio-sciences and genetics will come from students spending nights in their garages, enabled by home-labs and bio-tools bought at E-bay. Do it yourself biotechnology is now happening and encouraged by organizations like DIY Bio, like Gingko, specialised in affordable science toolkits. And by contests like i09 Mad Science. Of course You Tube is into this as well.

The Japanese Muji chain sells lifestyle in categories such as clothing, home decoration, office furniture and supplies, and food. That is nice but actually Muji is part of an important movement that grows every year: living simple. Muji stores are low-key, uncomplicated and sustainable. No waste, no ostentatious showing off, no excess, no absurd prices.

Sharing costs is becoming an increasingly popular concept. Fractional ownership allows people to enjoy many benefits at a reduced price. It works in many areas. There is fractional aircraft ownership, fractional art ownership (www.artvest.com). actually there is partial ownership all over: cars, racehorses and restaurants. Sharing has never been so hip. Thanks to rise of online social networking, people are sharing just about everything from carpooling duties to their living rooms. 

Sharing costs is becoming an increasingly popular concept. Fractional ownership allows people to enjoy many benefits at a reduced price. One of the first hot ideas in this realm was fractional aircraft ownership. Companies like NetJets offer the lure of private planes with no maintenance to worry about, no managing the pilot and ground crew; as one owner put it, “When you’re done with the plane, it just disappears.” Right now, outfits such as partialowner and fractionallife extend the partial ownership model to everything from homes and luxury cars to restaurants and racehorses. Likewise, art lovers can buy into syndicates such as ArtVest, based in Glasgow, Scotland, which offers partial ownership of artwork. Sharing has never been so hip. Thanks to rise of online social networking, people are sharing just about everything from carpooling duties to their living rooms (in the Couch Surfing Project).

The eco-city that everybody in Shanghai seems to be talking about, Dongtan island, plans to have over half a million people living on it by 2010. Preserving the natural habitat by incorporating it into a natural storm barrier, Dongtan will be truly eco-friendly. It will create all its own energy and heat using bio-fuels and renewable sources like wind and sunlight. All waste (including human waste) will be reused, recycled or converted into energy. Food will come from local organic farms and only electric cars will be allowed on the island. This will be the very first self-sustaining island in the world.