Daily BR!NK

Austin group creates the first package-free, locally-grown...

Wed, 19 Sep 2012 16:40:09 -0400

Austin group creates the first package-free, locally-grown grocery store in the U.S.

As you mentioned, a lot of supermarkets have bulk food sales — Whole Foods, another Austin-grown store, comes to mind. How is what in.gredients is doing different?

Well, I think a lot of grocery store or natural food stores had kind of started the way we are, but in their goals of finding organic products and other types of stuff, they started shipping stuff from, like, everywhere. And that’s great, but we’re kind of a greenfield-type situation, where we’re making a pretty strong commitment to limiting packaging and buying as local as possible, and we’re not invested in this whole wide array of products that you’re going to find in larger grocery stores. We’re trying to focus on a subset of all those things and keeping that at the core of what we offer…

Christian Lane, Grocer of the Future

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Why oh why hasn’t this happened sooner? Introducing, a...

Tue, 18 Sep 2012 20:19:18 -0400

Why oh why hasn’t this happened sooner?

Introducing, a forward-thinking condom wrapper that you can open with one hand. Here’s the info.

Part of the project ‘Preserving Human Dignity’ by Ben Pawle. A one handed condom wrapper designed to be easily opened, boosting feelings of confidence, allowing the individual to perform and sustain a mood without the awkward distraction of a difficult wrapper. The project evolved from a healthcare project concerning Hemiplegia, a stroke of the womb with debilitating mental and physical effects, with particular focus on how indignity manifests itself when performing simple daily tasks; working to reduce or prevent these moments from occurring by providing an inclusively designed intervention.

The project was selected to be exhibited at the Victoria & Albert Museum for the London Design Festival in September 2012. For more information about the full project, please visit: benpawle.co.uk

Nice job, Ben. We can’t imagine this type of packaging won’t be picked up by Trojan in the near future.

Cycling company creates brilliantly designed, high-end, foldable...

Tue, 18 Sep 2012 20:12:22 -0400

Cycling company creates brilliantly designed, high-end, foldable bicycle.

Foldable bikes have been around for a while and are gaining popularity in space constrained countries like England and Japan. What is Tern doing differently to disrupt this category?

Well, I think we’re not really here to disrupt the category and I think we’re not even really aiming at the folding bike category. The space that we’re looking at is people using bicycles for transportation.

In the US, a lot of the market has been recreational. It’s either mountain bikes or road bikes or bikes for kids to ride on weekends, and a lot less “Day in, day out, I’m riding to work.” So I think what we’re really focusing on is how do you make a bike that’s going to be suitable for riding day in, day out to get your errands done, to go to the supermarket — these things…

Joshua Hon, Pro Folder

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Freelance NYC publicist makes a splash in the lit scene, throws...

Mon, 17 Sep 2012 18:03:09 -0400

Freelance NYC publicist makes a splash in the lit scene, throws epic parties.

When you first moved to New York, how did you meet people and make your connections?

Well, when I first graduated, I moved back to Maryland and I moved back with my dad in the suburbs. I had no friends. I would drink a bottle of wine and talk to my dog.

That’s too funny.

One night I was watching Bridget Jones’s Diary, and I was like, “This woman is such an idiot. If she can have friends, I can have friends.” And she has this horrible dinner party that she just botches. And I was just like, “I’m going to have a party and it’s going to be the best party.”

So I made a list of everyone I wanted to be friends with — most of whom I had never even met. I hired my sister and her friends to serve drinks and food. And I spent an entire week’s wages on Calla lilies flown in from South America. It was amazing. And after that I had a million friends and I got invited everywhere.

Lauren Cerand, First-Class Publicist

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MIT researchers harness energy from microbes, predict the future...

Tue, 11 Sep 2012 17:35:14 -0400

MIT researchers harness energy from microbes, predict the future of fuel.

What would you like people to take out of your research, and this interview?

More awareness that there are alternative methods that we can employ to achieve a common goal. Everyone wants to drive their cars. There are many ways we can become independent in terms of fuel and save money at the same time. One of the main things I want to get across is that this is all happening as a result of academic research. People need to realize the importance of academic scientific research and the amazing things that can come out of it. Understanding this goes a long way to the next innovators. The academics of today are the innovators of tomorrow.

Jignan Lu & Chris Brigham, Fueled-Up Scientists

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Stanford researcher creates driverless racecar, aims for safer...

Tue, 11 Sep 2012 01:11:16 -0400

Stanford researcher creates driverless racecar, aims for safer roads.

You have both a PhD in mechanical engineering and a passion for racing, so it seems like you’ve ended up in the right place. How did you come to do what you’re doing now?

In my undergraduate engineering classes at UPenn, I was fascinated by dynamics and control — the idea that you could describe how something moves mathematically and then calculate how to make it move differently. Wanting to learn more, I got a teaching fellowship to stay for my Masters and discovered in the process that I loved teaching even more than dynamics. I applied to PhD programs and got a call one evening from Prof. Karl Hedrick at Berkeley, who said he was looking for a “kick the tires sort of guy” for a project on automated highways. Head to California and get a PhD working with cars? Perfect.

Chris Gerdes, Autonomous Leader

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Woman takes matters into her own hands when she can’t find...

Fri, 07 Sep 2012 20:29:32 -0400

Woman takes matters into her own hands when she can’t find wheelchair-accessible auto options, starts business.

Now I have to ask: did you have any interest in the auto industry prior to doing this?

Not at all! [laughs] I had done many things before getting involved with Community Cars: I even wrote a memoir called “I Like to Run Too” when I was twenty, which took me six years to get published and talks about my disability. With the Kenguru, I just saw an opportunity to solve a problem that had been limiting me — and millions of other people — in my professional and social life…

Stacy Zoern, Entrepreneur With Drive

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Japanese researcher makes (electric) waves in the electric car...

Thu, 06 Sep 2012 22:25:00 -0400

Japanese researcher makes (electric) waves in the electric car industry.

Is there something about your work that really makes you excited? Perhaps contributing to the progression of technology, or the promise of positive environmental impact?

Yes, there is. More than 200,000,000 tons of CO2 are currently expelled a year from vehicles only in Japan, for instance. We have a dream to replace all the gasoline engines with EVs, and s ave our planet from an irreparable crisis.

Takashi Ohira, Electric Champion

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Founder of Getaround aims to positively impact one billion...

Thu, 06 Sep 2012 15:46:30 -0400

Founder of Getaround aims to positively impact one billion people, also loves the Beach Boys.

It seems like companies like Getaround (and now Getaway) or Airbnb are generating paradigm shifts in society. In addition to convenience, is there a vision and a philosophy that is associated with your company?

Absolutely. Getaround’s mission is to empower people everywhere to car share — ultimately reducing the number of cars on the planet.

We’re excited about the recent rise of the Sharing Economy — people are clearly starting to think differently about the things they own and how to effectively access the goods and services around them…

Jessica Scorpio, Car Sharing Specialist

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Welcome to Daily BR!NK’s special Auto Innovation Week, in...

Thu, 06 Sep 2012 15:42:52 -0400

Welcome to Daily BR!NK’s special Auto Innovation Week, in partnership with Nissan.

All of you should check out Nissan Innovation Garage immediately. They’ll be giving a $50,000 grant to the person with the most innovative idea to make it a reality. (They’ll also throw in a new Altima to sweeten the deal.) All you have to do is send them your idea.

In the meantime, Daily BR!NK will be bringing you five interviews with the most upcoming, influential innovators in today’s auto industry. Nissan supports innovators everywhere, and — as you know — so does Daily BR!NK. It’s a match made in heaven. Enjoy the week.

— The Editors

BR!NKer Yael Cohen, Founder of Fuck Cancer, does a 30-Second MBA...

Fri, 24 Aug 2012 00:45:00 -0400

BR!NKer Yael Cohen, Founder of Fuck Cancer, does a 30-Second MBA vid for Fast Company about leadership. Check her out! (And read our more-than-30-second interview with Yael here.)

Blog Exclusive: David Leal-Ayala, Master of Ink

Thu, 23 Aug 2012 20:11:00 -0400

Did you know there’s a device out there that will “un-print” printed paper? Spearheaded by researchers at Cambridge University, this device-of-the-future is currently in development, but its sheer existence has weighty implications for the future of recycling, carbon emissions, and the health of our planet.

Read our exclusive, blog-only interview with David Leal-Ayala below.

Interview by Eva Recinos

David Leal-Ayala

How does the un-printer work?

The un-printer uses the following principle: the laser energy is absorbed by the toner, generating a temperature increase, which leads to the vaporisation of the toner layer. The key is to find a laser energy level that is high enough to vaporise toner while it remains low enough to avoid paper damage.

Your device is not only a convenient invention but an environmentally-beneficial one. How badly is nature affected by our paper consumption and how can the device prevent further damage?

To be fair, the paper industry is a highly energy-efficient and environmentally-conscious industry. Despite this, production of paper products ranks between the third and fifth most significant contributors to total global carbon emissions from the industrial sector. The paper industry therefore accounts for approximately 1-2% of total climate change gas emissions produced by human activity. The un-printer would allow you to extend the life of a single piece of paper, and by doing that, reduce its carbon footprint. We estimate that un-printing could at least halve the carbon emissions generated during paper recycling processes.

Do you think people will make the effort to un-print?

Yes, especially in offices, where there are massive amounts of paper waste. I believe it could be easy to develop a certain office discipline to educate people into re-using paper. This seems feasible, at least in Europe, where people are already highly-conscious about environmental issues.

Tell me about when you decided to become a scientist.

That’s a good question. I guess I became a scientist when I decided to quit my job as an engineering project manager and came to Cambridge to do my PhD. I was bored at my job and felt it was not challenging anymore, so I applied to Cambridge, and here I am.

Many scientists and inventors have probably thought of creating something like this, but what did it take for you to actually take steps to invent it?

That is true. As a matter of fact, the idea on removing toner from paper has been around for some time, but it has not been fully developed until now. People in the US and Japan have patented similar systems using lasers to remove remove ink or toner, but have failed to demonstrate their success level.

There was a previous PhD student, Dr. Tom Counsell, who started this project under the supervision of my current supervisor, Dr. Julian Allwood. I met Dr. Allwood at a conference in Manchester in 2008, where he presented the conclusions from Tom’s final results. I became interested in this project after attending his talk and started my PhD soon after, continuing Tom’s previous work. The reason why I decided to do this was that for the first time I felt I could use my engineering and science background to do something for the greater good, rather than just making money for other people working at their companies.

Would the machine be similar to a printer in term of how to use it? Are you aiming to have it connect with all types of computers?

Yes, I believe the best option would be to have it embedded in a printer, in a way that the machine could perform both actions, print and un-print.

And that being said, it seems the unprinter might be expensive. Are you aiming to have it accessible to the average laptop and computer owner?

Yes, current prices are high due to the high cost of laser technology, but costs tend to diminish with time as a technology matures. In addition, the capital cost of laser technology could be significantly reduced if it benefited from economies of scale instead of its current scientific use in a small niche market. The exact future price of the laser is hard to estimate and depends on complex variables such as demand and manufacturing costs, but other laser-based products have shown that significant price reductions are possible through economies of scale; for example, in 1984, the HP LaserJet sold for £2250 while current laser printers are sold for less than £50. So, ideally, one day the un-printer will be accessible to the average laptop and computer owner.

The ‘un-printer’ is an ambitious undertaking. What do you think will come after this for you — and is there anything else you want to tackle?

At the moment I have just finished my PhD and the project is in stand-by. To be honest, we had no plans of continuing with this project after my PhD, but after seeing the media attention that it has received, we have reconsidered that position. I am planning on continuing my academic career and I will try to continue with the un-printer project in parallel. This will highly depend on whether or not we can find companies who would be willing to invest money on this project and provide additional technical expertise in laser and printing technology. The next step is to build a full-scale economical prototype and tackle certain technical challenges that still remain before this could be commercialised.

What can Daily BR!NK readers do to contribute to your success?

I think the best way of contributing with this project would be to spread the idea that paper, as well as other materials, can be reused and should be reused, instead of recycled (down-cycled) or disposed into a landfill. Design engineers have never considered the possibility of designing machines and devices which would allow for an easy material recovery at the end of their life cycles. The result of this is that we are sending lots of valuable materials to landfills all round the world, and in the best case scenario we are recycling those materials, which is also energy and carbon intensive. Carbon emissions from the industrial sector are dominated by the production of five key materials: steel, aluminium, cement, plastics and paper. Reducing demand for these materials remains as the most effective way of minimizing the climate change impact from global industrial production. Re-using materials can help to achieve this goal and is one way forward.

We "Like" Washington Voters

Fri, 27 Jul 2012 19:40:59 -0400

How’s this for innovation? The state of Washington is now allowing — get this — voter registration via Facebook. Yes, Facebook.

While other forms of electronic voter registration has cropped up before, this is the first time a social network will be used for, well, civic duty.

Well done, Washington. Well played.

You can check out GOOD Magazine’s coverage here.

MIT researchers develop software to land unmanned aircraft using...

Fri, 27 Jul 2012 18:53:00 -0400

MIT researchers develop software to land unmanned aircraft using hand signals.

How did this project get started? Were you approached by the military, or was this just something you thought would be cool and the brass agreed?

Yale: The project is funded by the Office of Naval Research.

David: I have always been fascinated with creating ways for humans to interact with machines. I have built human-tracking and gesture-based human-machine interaction systems for over 10 years now. When Yale told me about this opportunity, I jumped on the chance to collaborate with him and Professor Davis.

Yale Song & David Demirdjian, The Unmanned Men

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Afghani telecommunications company proves that for-profit...

Fri, 27 Jul 2012 18:47:34 -0400

Afghani telecommunications company proves that for-profit businesses can improve the community.

It seems like Roshan picks up new projects as it goes… like you identify a problem and then start working on that. How do you identify problems? What steps do you take to figure out what to do?

Very early on when the strategy was set, we knew there were so many problems in Afghanistan that we couldn’t do everything. We said we’d look at problems that the community was facing and then evaluate which problems we could tackle with our expertise: business expertise and tech expertise (…)

Shainoor Khoja, Telecommunity Leader

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Young man goes from producer’s assistant on The Avengers...

Wed, 11 Jul 2012 06:50:34 -0400

Young man goes from producer’s assistant on The Avengers to Marvel’s Creative Exec for Iron Man 3.

What’s your role on Iron Man 3 that you’re currently working on?

My prior job on The Avengers, I was assistant to the Executive Producer, but now I’m a Creative Executive. What’s hard to explain about the Creative Exec role is that it’s so different at Marvel, in a good way, than at other studios because Marvel is so tied in with the comics, and the toys, and the merchandise, and Comicon…Part of [my job] is script revisions and keeping the script pages up-to-date. But I love it when I find myself on the phone with Creative Executives from Marvel’s other films, and we’re comparing notes about elements of our scripts — making sure they are honoring the overall Marvel Universe and timeline, keeping each other honest in that way (…).

Trenton Waterson, Marvel-ous Producer

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Detroit-based organization fights for sustainable, healthy food...

Tue, 10 Jul 2012 06:17:05 -0400

Detroit-based organization fights for sustainable, healthy food for all communities

Tell me about [your] book, Fair Food: Growing a Healthy, Sustainable Food System for All.

There is a need for a more national conversation about the solutions to a food system that is broken and not serving many of us…I’ve been involved with many fair food “solutionaries” over my career. I wanted to lift up the solutions that are actually working, to lay out the framework of what a fair food system would be like — a system that would work for our environment, our community, our economy, and, most importantly, I wanted to answer the question, “What can I do?” (…).

Oran Hesterman, Mr. Fair Food

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Homeless shelters rethought as community centers, designed by...

Mon, 09 Jul 2012 22:01:36 -0400

Homeless shelters rethought as community centers, designed by innovative architect.

And how is the [Haven for Hope] structure unique, sustainability-wise?

To start with, the whole area of the site was really a redundant portion of the city. It was an incredibly challenging and disconnected piece of the city. We felt it was very important to look at how the site itself could knit portions of the city together…The initial site planning was the most critical from a sustainable perspective (…).

James Andrews, Sustainable Architect

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Looks like we’re living in the future, kids. BR!NK loves...

Tue, 19 Jun 2012 16:27:38 -0400

Looks like we’re living in the future, kids.

BR!NK loves firsts, and this is a big one. The fist alternative gas station has opened in the United States.

From Business Week:

Last month, the chief executive officer of Propel Fuels opened the country’s first station where drivers can pump gasoline, ethanol, and biodiesel, cyclists can get tune-ups, and commuters can find public transit schedules. Backed by more than $19 million in venture capital and nearly $12 million in grants from the U.S. Department of Energy and the California Energy Commission, the 23-person Redwood City (Calif.) startup received yesterday an additional, $10.1 million grant from the commission to help build 100 stations around the state in the next four years.

Read the rest of the article here, and get ready for the future of alternative energy.

The BMW Guggenheim Lab, created by BR!NKers David van der Leer...

Fri, 15 Jun 2012 12:14:53 -0400

The BMW Guggenheim Lab, created by BR!NKers David van der Leer and Maria Nicanor, has opened in Berlin today after its first stint in New York City. As GOOD writes:

The BMW Guggenheim Lab is a unique project that combines some of the most innovative ideas and people dealing with urban planning, and brings those big ideas to cities across the world. … Focusing on citizen participation in the future of cities, the project, which runs in Berlin from June 15 to July 29, offers free programs designed to empower residents to change the city they live in.

Learn more about the Lab from our interview with the creators.