Monthly Archive for March, 2008

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The New Hotness: Free!

jackson published on March 27, 2008 in Uncategorized. 1 Comment Tags: cnn.com, Fandango, Free, Gmail, Photoshop, Skype, slashdot, South Park, wikipedia, youtube.

Ooooooh! You know what’s so hot right now?

Free.

It seems that there is money to be made in giving things away for free. We’re not sure how exactly, something to do with page clicks or banner ads or something, but the point is that the cost of good and services, especially online services is dwindling, and in many cases, that dwindling means that things are completely free.

Gmail: Free
Youtube: Free
Wikipedia: Free
CNN.com: Free
Slashdot: Free
Fandango: Free
Skype: Free

And now we’ve got two more runners in the “give it away, give it away, give it away now” race.

Photoshop and South Park.

Unlikely bedfellows, we know.

Check it:

(image via ars technica)
Ars Technica – “Photoshop now free”

And:

(from killerstartups.com)

Seriously, go to South Park Studios and watch every episode from every season, streaming instantly, when and where you want it.

Free! All for free!

What’s next?

Free cars? Free houses? Free clothes?

Where will it all end?

We’re excited to find out!

(Solar) Power to the People.

jackson published on March 27, 2008 in Uncategorized. 0 Comments Tags: decentralized power is smart, NY Times, Solar Energy Industries Association, solar panels, solar power.

Good Morning All!

The NY Times has a great article online about the ever-cheapening cost of solar panel installation. Seems the companies that install solar panels have figured out a novel way to cut down on the cost to the homeowners.

Read it here: NYtimes “Pay for the Panels, Not the Power”

Some of the highlights:

“Some 148 megawatts of solar capacity came online in 2007, up 46.5 percent from the 101 megawatts installed the previous year, according to the Solar Energy Industries Association, a Washington trade group.” A nearly 50 percent increase! Great. We wonder what the numbers for 08 will be.

“California’s Million Solar Roofs program includes incentives that could translate into an $8,000 rebate for a typical home solar system. New Jersey’s solar incentive program has been so popular — the state went from six solar installations in 2001 to 2,712 at the end of 2007 — that it has run out of money. It is moving from cash rebates to rebates in the form of certificates that can be bought and sold to help companies meet required emission reduction levels.”

Yay solar! From six installs in 01, to 2,712 in 07? We like those numbers.

Power, and where you get it, is one of the defining issues of our lives. Any steps towards decentralization are positive steps.

“Hierarchy”
Power plant goes down, no power for all.

“Democracy”
One power node goes down, the others take up the slack. Minty!

After all, there’s only one person who should be controlling the power you use, and that person is you.

Power to the people, for the people, by the people.

Have a great day.

Love to all,

Team SuperForest

Dinner With Barack

jackson published on March 26, 2008 in Uncategorized. 0 Comments Tags: Barack Obama, get the vote out, progress, swissmiss, vote.

“Make a donation to Barack Obama’s campaign in any amount between now and 11:59 pm EDT on Monday, March 31st, and you could join Barack and three other supporters for an intimate dinner for five.”

Thanks to swissmiss for the heads-up.

Oh yeah! And don’t forget to..

Inspiring Website: AGoToB.com!

jackson published on March 26, 2008 in Uncategorized. 0 Comments Tags: AGoToB.com, carbon neutral, inspiring website, Severine Von Tscharner Fleming, smart solutions to modern problems, Trikke, Zappy scooters.

SuperForester Severine just told us about an amazing website: AGoToB.com.
This quote from their site explains everything:

“London 1909: average speed of horse and cart = 7mph
London 1999: average speed of motorists = 6mph”

Cars in the city are slow, smelly, and loud. AGoToB connects you with ways to get around quickly, efficiently, and improve your environment at the same time. No gasoline involved.

Take your pick! You want people-powered? All electric? A mix of both?

Here’s the main menu, you just click on an icon.

AGoToB.com is UK-based it seems. We need something like this in the USA!

Is anyone in the US doing this?

Anyway, a great site.

AGoToB.com

Mongolian Felt Making!

jackson published on March 26, 2008 in Uncategorized. 0 Comments Tags: D.I.Y., felt, inspiring process, making is fun, Mongolia, Mongolian Felt making.

Good Afternoon All!

Wow, we’ve become obsessed with felt!

Having written about Stephanie Metz spurred us to inquire more, and that led us to the wealth of info online about felt and how one makes it.

Here’s our fave so far:

Gorgeous.

Inspiring Restaurant: Farmer Brown San Francisco!

jackson published on March 25, 2008 in Uncategorized. 0 Comments Tags: biodynamic food, Farmer Brown SF, inspiring restaurant, San Francisco, Soul Food.

Hello All,

SuperForester Nile just alerted us to a wonderful place: Farmer Brown SF.

Farmer Brown is a black-owned and operated restaurant in San Francisco, that, get this, gets all of their produce and meat from biodynamic black-owned and operated local farms. Love it, support it.

Their motto is: “Farm Fresh Soul Food”

Just typing those words gets the mouth watering.

If you are in San Fran and are in need of some great soul food, why not pay a visit to Farmer Brown?

Inspiring Artist: Stephanie Metz

jackson published on March 25, 2008 in Uncategorized. 1 Comment Tags: anatomy, felt, felted wool, inspiring artist, sculpture, Stephanie Metz, teddy bear skulls.

Stephanie Metz is a California sculptor whose medium is wool. Felted wool to be specific.

I saw her work online and was completely enraptured, but I must admit my total ignorance of felt and felt-making, which led to a few very pleasurable hours learning about felt. I digress…

Take a look at her art!

Her stuff is so quality!

Check out her site: Stephanie Metz

Strida Bikes–perfect wheels!

niki published on March 25, 2008 in Uncategorized. 1 Comment Tags: bicycles, Birthday gift, NYC, perfection, Strida.

My wonderful husband got me an amazing birthday gift this year!

He knows how much I love riding around NYC on my bike, so he surprised me with a lovely Strida bike.

At first, I must admit, I was scared to ride it. It looks completely different than what I am used to and the city streets are enough of a challenge. But, after one day of riding it, I fell in love.

The ease of getting in and out of doorways, elevators, hallways….the simplicity of the design and then folding it up and putting it in my closet! Heaven!

What else could you want? (Ok, I’d like to be able to lock it up on the street and know that it will be there when I return, but that is just not going to happen.)

All the skeptical thoughts I had about the bike were nicely cleared up by the section on their website where the designer writes his tips for using the bike and debunks any myths you might have regarding the bikes ease and performance.

This bike is pretty close to perfection.

Happy Riding!!
Niki

Pac-Man’s Skull

jackson published on March 24, 2008 in Uncategorized. 0 Comments Tags: inspiring artist, Le Gentil Garcon, Mrs. Pac-Man, Pac-Man's skull.

Don’t worry kiddies, Pac-Man is an immortal. This is just an artists representation of his skull. You can can tell it’s Pac-Man’s skull by the absence of the little red bow.

This wonderful piece is by Le Gentil Garcon, whose site is in French. I cannot read French. The images on the site are wonderful, and worth 1000 words, no French necessary.

Amazing Robotic Fish!

jackson published on March 24, 2008 in Uncategorized. 0 Comments Tags: inspiring fish, kneel before your metal masters, robotic fish, University of Essex.

Amazing Robotic Fish

“This self-guided robotic fish was developed by computer scientists at the University of Essex in the U.K.
The fish uses artificial intelligence and built-in sensors to avoid obstacles and respond to environmental changes. The fish’s battery lasts for up to five hours, though the scientists hope to one day program it to search for and access a recharging station when it runs low. This work has many real-world applications, including seabed exploration, detecting leaks in oil pipelines, mine countermeasures, and improving the performance of underwater vehicles.”

So cool.

D.I.Y. Solar Powered Bike Helmet!

jackson published on March 24, 2008 in Uncategorized. 0 Comments Tags: bicycles are great fun, go here buy this stuff, necessity is the mother of invention, Plato, solar-powered bike helmet, Solio solar charger.

Solio solar-powered charger: Gently used off ebay = $20.00-$75.00.
Bike helmet = $24.99

Charging your iPhone while biking through New York on a gorgeous Spring day = Priceless.

Seriously y’all, this both turned my Good Friday into a Great Friday and caused numerous passersby to turn and look.

And all it took was three hair ties looped together to hold the Solio to the helmet.
Worked like a charm!

Necessity, you truly are the mother of invention.

Do this, it feels great.

Yay!!!!

Green Car Gets Greener!

jackson published on March 24, 2008 in Uncategorized. 0 Comments Tags: fuel-efficient cars, inhabitat, inspiring car, Microjoule, the French are our allies, treehugger.

This is funny.

If you read the fine print you can see that the jump from Treehugger to Inhabitat was very good for the Microjoule. It seems to have improved the MPG by 1,773 miles.

Greener and greener.