Tag Archive for 'Google'

Chrome for a Cause

afshawn published on December 15, 2010 in technology. 3 Comments Tags: , , .

Hello everyone!

For all you Google Chrome users, listen up. Google has just released a (free) extension called Chrome for a Cause. From today until December 19th, every tab you open with Google Chrome will go to support a charity. The extension keeps a running tab (no pun intended) of how many tabs you open and at the end of the day you get to chose one of 5 charities to “donate” your tabs to.

I’m a big fan of tabs (I use a web-based RSS reader so I open lots a day) and it’s really cool to see that number rise up with every new tab I open. Here’s how many tabs you need to open to make a difference:

  • 10 tabs = 1 tree planted
  • 10 tabs = 1 book published and donated
  • 25 tabs = 1 vaccination treatment provided
  • 100 tabs = 1 square foot of shelter built
  • 200 tabs = 1 person’s clean water for a year

You can download the extension here and here’s another blog post raving about it. Remember, this only lasts until December 19th so download the extension now and start surfing the web!

-Afshawn

Do this right now

jordan published on April 16, 2010 in technology. 8 Comments Tags: , , , , , , .

Most days I find myself seeking out SuperForestry things to post about, but today all I had to do was open my computer and IT found me.  And by “it” I mean my givoogle homepage:

Givoogle was google’s charity driven search engine that we posted about last year. It worked the same as google search engine, but for every 1000 hits, advertisers would donate money to the American Cancer Society.  Unfortunately after raising $6,569.89 to fight cancer, Google’s lawyers shut down the site, which, they said, was in violation of Google’s terms of service.

I was sad for the 1.5 seconds it took to read the above bad news.  Then I read on:

“We [Google] faced a dilemma – what to do with the more than 1 million monthly Givoogle visitors who want to save the world through searching? We can’t raise money for charity, but we CAN save energy – SavesWatts has a black background, which uses less energy than white.”

It’s a super small thing SuperForest, I know.  But it’s a small thing every SuperForester can do in 10 seconds, right now.  Set your startup page on your web-browser to www.savewatts.com.  Because a thousand people doing a little thing together snowballs into big change!

And if you crave more easy energy saving techniques, use BLACKLE for all your future google searches.  10 seconds, it’s so simple.  You can do this right now.

Go on, I triple dog dare ya.

-jordan

Why No One Cares About Privacy Anymore

jordan published on March 14, 2010 in zeitgeist. 1 Comment Tags: , , , , , .

As is the way with the world, or at the very least my experience in it… ideas often converge.  Start meditating on any one particular thought and you will find the universe answering in any number of unexpected ways.

Such was the case when scanning older SF posts last night I came upon Jackson’s thought provoking post on privacy. His call for an open world where sharing is the social norm and the walls and laws of privacy are torn down in the name of naked truth (I’m paraphrasing horribly here, please read Jack’s inspiring words)… sparked quite the debate in the comments section that followed.

In truth, it wasn’t really a subject I had given much thought before.  As a human I’m  very open and outgoing, with nothing I feel the need to hide, yet I’ve often been selective about sharing my personal info with the masses.  Jackson’s post began to reframe my entire perspective on the idea of privacy and it’s value.  That was last night.  And then this morning I awoke to find this article on Cnet News:

“Why no one cares about privacy anymore” (click to read)

It’s a like a research statician read Jackson’s post and then found 30 different sources to prove it.  It’s a long and fascinating article, well worth your time, that makes an extremely compelling case for why repealing privacy is not only beneficial for society, government, and business… but seems like the natural next step in social evolution in this internet age.  Below a few choice quotes:

“As a social good,” says Richard Posner, the federal judge and iconoclastic conservative, “I think privacy is greatly overrated because privacy basically means concealment…”

The truth about privacy is counter-intuitive: less of it can lead to a more virtuous society. Markets function more efficiently when it’s cheap to identify and deliver the right product to the right person at the right time.

Read the full article for more and Jackson’s post, and let the discussion continue!

Traffic Free Los Angeles

jackson published on February 8, 2010 in zeitgeist. 1 Comment Tags: , , , , .

Last night I took my brother to see the live stage production of the Pee Wee Herman Show (more on that later :)) Before leaving for the theater, we checked google maps and found that, thanks to the Super Bowl, most folks were avoiding the freeways. I’d never before seen them this clear and thought a screengrab was in order.

screen-shot-2010-02-07-at-62108-pm

Yay! Traffic free! Thank you, Super Bowl!

Life Magazine’s Archives – Early Aviation

jackson published on December 14, 2008 in technology and transportation. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , .

Good Morning SuperForest!

I was just browsing through Life magazine’s online archives and came across this wonderful photo from the early days of aviation.

Flying is amazing when you think about it. These pioneers had no road map, no blueprint, just a dream, and they achieved it. Imagine the adrenaline that must have pumped through these guys veins! Columbus and Magellan meet Orville and Wilbur.

Google has been kind enough to host the Life archives. You can see them here.

Remember: The only stupid questions are those that go unasked, and you can’t fly to moon on the power of naysaying. Live the dream.

Much love,

Jackson