Much like the visual information maps of non-metric countries, worldwide gasoline prices, or distributions of our taxes (death and taxes), comes another nifty map of our “Online Communities” such as Facebook, Myspace, Friendster, Xanga, Orkut, Second Life, and much more here or the above image!

via PopTech (source: xkcd.com)

WOW! Uniqlo Japan has a stunning video for their lineup of color parkas and a pretty sweet mixplay website to to browse through.

Watch their awesome mixplay video (have sound on)(gets really nice after 2:00) of 4 dancers bustin out some sweet robotica moves, mixed along with matrix-like slow motion moves, mashed up with great beats, locks, and freezes. Some may think the films been edited, but my guess is it’s real time and purely mad skillz! They held a live version during the holidays in one of their stores in Japan and someone made a remix of their original with a more upbeat tempo here.

I’ll post all 3 videos after the jump. (Have your sound on)

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First came Jef Hans Multi-Touch screen a few years back, then came the over-marketed super hyped iPhone, followed by Jef’s bigger brother wall, then Microsoft launches a huge table sized Surface Computing idea, followed along with a hilarious parody of their surface table, and now this early developmental video of a multi-touch laptop which also has the same IR sensor as the super fun Nintendo Wii, that you can make at home. I wonder whats next.

I’m not a huge fan of touch sensors/screens when it comes to function…for the cool factor, yes I like it, and for the community multi-user reasons I love it, but when it comes down to one person using a touchscreen via a capacitor (the electronic component that detects touch) I’ve never fell in love with it. First off, if you have ever used a touch screen before on a remote or even on a laptop to turn up/down the volume, you’ll know instantly that there is no user feedback which us humans need. We can live without it, but it just isn’t as good, though there are some developments into piezo-electronic screens that vibrate once your finger does something.(The Wii vibrates when you hover over objects which is nice in the remote) Then there’s GelForce,a must watch (video demo) which is pretty fascinating technology because of the simple implementation and the scalability.(It’s incredible to play with)

I’ll post all the videos of each technology after the jump.
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“Kiva lets you connect with and loan money to unique small businesses in the developing world. By choosing a business on Kiva.org, you can “sponsor a business” and help the world’s working poor make great strides towards economic independence. Throughout the course of the loan (usually 6-12 months), you can receive email journal updates from the business you’ve sponsored. As loans are repaid, you get your loan money back.”

I’m not one to usually seek into these money gathering foundations but I have a few friends who can’t stop talking about how successful, exciting, professional, and rewarding Kiva is. Having the friends approval, a great NewYorkTimes video review, many other press reviews, and over 70,000 people loaning over 7 million dollars so far, I think I’m sparked to make some needed loans.(as little as $25) The money may not be an investment for more money, but the reward is more than money could buy.

Learn more about Kiva.org, browse through their business listings, check out their blog, and join the club.

What happens when a mayor decides to ban advertisements in a vibrant city of 11 million people with more than 8,000 billboards? Impossible, insane, absurd, or just plain genius? Well this is what happened this past January when mayor Gilberto Kassabs “Clean City” law was introduced in Sao Paulo Brazil banning any form of advertising throughout the city to rid of “visual clutter”. (reminds me of the “advertising is graffiti” stunt, or my dislike for posters in Milan)

I’ve always wondered what an ad-free environment would be like, how a persons behavior would change, or what a city’s culture and personality would become. I’m not sure how long this law will last, but for a huge city, its a definite moment to figure out the overall affects of ads in our spaces for the good or worse. The results have been surprisingly uplifting, peaceful, educational, and positive. As much as I hate and love the art of advertising, I must admit I can’t live without it, but then again, I’ve never lived in such an environment.

Read two articles by BusinessWeek and NPR(with a MP3 interview) then skip on over to photographer Tony de Marcos Flickr set of the changing cityscape, with insightful comments here.

I’ll post the articles with the MP3 interview and some pictures after the jump.

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“What will our world be like in 2050? This set of cards identifies some of the leading drivers of change that affect our future.

Each card depicts a single driver. A factoid and rhetorical question are on one face, backed up by a brief indication of the breadth and depth of the content on the other face. The set was devised by the Foresight & Innovation team at Arup, a group tasked with exploring emerging trends and how they impact upon business of Arup and its clients. The publication serves not only as a vibrant visual record of research, but also as a tool for discussion groups, personal prompts, for workshop events or as a ‘thought for the week’.”

I’ve had these cards for a few months (thanks TED) and they rock! Very inspirational, educational, great coffee table item, easy to read, and an amazing conversation starter for big topics in technology, our environment, economics, political culture, and social awareness in a globally changing sustainable future.

Drivers of Change website.
Drivers of Change Blog
Buy Cards here.

Sony just showed off a series of pretty sweet concept ideas on environmentally friendly sustainable electronics in Japan.”One of the more interesting devices of the lot is the Spin N’ Snap digital camera (pictured above), which you charge up simply by placing your fingers in the two holes (which also double as a viewfinder) and spinning it around a few times.”

Check out the pictures via Engadget or the whole article via DigitalCamerWatch.

Personally I love kinetic powering ideas though it’ll take more than one twist to take a picture most likely. We already have the hand-cranking 100$ OLPC laptop, so why not have a minority report like fling-charging camera. I’d buy one.

Here’s an intriguing proposal to help rid the carbon problems in earths atmosphere; vent it out to space! I’ve never thought of such an idea, but then again, I never really understood our atmosphere scientifically as Mr. Wong below describes. I’d also question what happens when it’s all out in space? Is space the solution for all of our problems? anyhow, just thought ya’ll might like this read:”This week’s issue of The Economist reports on an interesting scheme proposed by Alfred Y. Wong, professor of physics and director of the Plasma Physics Laboratory at the University of California, Los Angeles, to rid the Earth of carbon dioxide emissions. Wong posits that a conveyor built in the Arctic could take advantage of the Earth’s magnetic field to expel emissions into outer space.

The Antarctic and the Arctic are the only two sites on the planet above which the sky opens up to space. There, particles from the sun that get through and cross the atmosphere could be harnessed for their gigawatts of power to lower the concentration of greenhouse gases by expelling them.

read the rest after the jump… via treehugger
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Here’s another pretty sweet interactive visual music map suggester(TuneGlue). You type in a band name, expand to see “like-bands”, delete a few, lock down the primaries, and after a few clicks you have a dozen more bands to check out.

The interface is simple, the branching is nice, and the suggestions are pretty good. It would be cool if a “listen” button was incorporated into the pod options rather than seeking a sound sample on your own. Be awesome if you could use this software for your own desktop mp3 collection as well..fun times at parties if ya ha a big touch screen for guests.(Microsoft Surface Table, or Jef Hans multi-touch wall)

Don’t you hate it when someone sends you a file format that your computer doesn’t read? If so, give Zamzar.com a try which offers free online file conversions (up to 100mb) for videos, images, documents, and music formats. They even have a nifty little URL video conversion section to download streaming videos to savable formats rather than squinting into the source code.

Zamzar reminds me of YouSendit.com which helps you store and send files across the net (up to 100 megs). So now you have online format converters and online file senders. I haven’t used Zamzar much, but I’m sure many of you will find it handy though the conversion types are basics and nothing super fancy yet(designers: no ai, psd, sldprt). Check out their conversions list here.

If you missed out on the huge All Things Digital conference(D5) this week check out the highlight videos on their new website including many clips of the highly anticipated Steve Jobs with Bill Gates side by side discussions. Go to allthingsd.com and click on the “D5″ tab in the videos section for this past years videos and get your geek on!!!

Great video by “Royksopp: remind me”. Watch it above or click here. I’ve seen stills from the video a few times, but I never knew it was an animation, which seriously rocks! Some incredible, simple, vectored “information communication graphic art work”(aka the art seen in those airplane emergency inserts) Check it out, be jealous of the sweet graphics, and great music to go along with it.