Version Control for Cooks’ Recipes

Garden/Small Farming Planting Optimization Tool

an NOAA weather alert app that doesn’t suck

Cognitive slavery (aka crowdslaving) in action.RT @ckundo: Just got a super-palindrome bonus on @foursquare: c-c-c-combo breaker!!!

— John Robb (@johnrobb) November 11, 2011

It’s a strong position that I’m not altogether agreeing with, but it resonated enough to make me think hard about why I use Foursquare. I decided to try to recreate the instant gratification and exhibitionistic thrill of Foursquare, but instead of a generic badge or canned message, I’d make something personal.

These drawing are unique and tangible, and give me a chance to practice my drawing. Here are some recent sketch-ins:

LG VX6100 via eBay

Just as a reminder, I’ve been on a quest to live a carrierless life for almost a year now. I’ve tried a bunch of stuff, including a hacked Android G1 running SIPDroid, an iPhone running Skype on wifi, and iPalm, and most recently, a 3rd Gen iPod touch with Skype and Google Voice and an EVDO 3G card. This last combination has worked out so well that I’ve hardly touched my Palm Pre in the past 3 weeks, turning it on just twice, once to check voicemail, and again today to switch the service to the LG phone.

Pick a phone, any phone...

The reason for the switch is that Verizon (and AT&T) require a data plan on all smart phones, in addition to basic voice features. This get expensive. Ah, whatever, just cancel the plan… Oh wait, the early termination fee for the Pre is $310. Three hundred and ten dollars. I knew this going into the contract, but it’s still kinda shocking. Well, what about downgrading? Hmm… I talked to Verizon and they told me I could in fact downgrade my phone and keep my old number, without extending my contract. Awesome.

Long story short, I’m now paying $20/month for 50 minutes of voice a month. No text. No data. And after all, that’s what the iPod data phone is for! (btw I had Verizon block incoming texts as well as web access, just in case Justin Beiber broadcasts my number on twitter and text messages jack up my bill.)

The Dream Team

3rd gen iPod Touch with Skype and GV

Hopefully one of these days Google will support mobile safari calls through their recently launched Google Chat VOIP service. Until then, iPod touch + skype backgrounding + Google Voice SMS + backup flip phone are faring pretty darn well. Hold that thought, I’m getting a call…

From the beginning, I’ve tried to keep the application simple, not just for the end users, but also for administrators. I’ve done this by using third party API’s to offload data storage and administration to those sites. It means that if you or a customer hasn’t already added your business to Yelp or Yahoo! Local, you can add yourself and show up in Bridge into Beacon.

This approach leverages high connectivity and remote resources to ease the burden on administrators, which increases the initial viability of the application. However, it seems antithetical to the idea of resilience and sustainability. I wonder, in using third party APIs to promote resilience, is Bridge into Beacon past the threshold between local production and global services? What are the tradeoffs, and are they worth it? It seems to me these are some of the same issues facing resilient community advocates. Hope some of you will weight in.

Acrobits Softphone works on 3G

Exploring a couple of new options for my carrierless life. Datajack + SIPDroid on the G1 is treating me well (minus a nagging echo for the other caller). I have been missing the iPhone some, so went scrounging and found acrobits softphone. I was excited to see that it allows calls over 3G (whereas Skype does not), and the call quality is great with good 3G. The downsides:

• still requires setting up a SIP number
• you have to jailbreak your phone to get the datajack sim card to work
• the app has to stay open to receive calls (jailbreaking may solve this one)

I think it would be a great alternative to iPhone users who don’t mind getting their hands dirty. Certainly beats Skype’s limitations, and doesn’t require an Android phone.

WordPress has the advantage of a standalone installation and very strong developer documentation. A standalone package is attractive because it does not rely on third party hosting, and could operate on a local mesh network without internet connection. Ning, on the other hand, is a hosted solution and the documentation is less comprehensive. However, setup is a cinch.

My inclination right now is to prototype a solution in Ning, then create a standalone WordPress package that can be installed on any server. I will probably end up creating custom plugins, especially for wordpress.

This conceptual model creates a set of new services that allow the smallest viable subset of social systems, the community (however you define it), to enjoy the fruits of globalization without being completely vulnerable to its excesses.

Robb believes that resilient communities are both a buffer and a preventative measure against massive destabilization at global and national levels, such as we’ve observed with the continuing economic crisis, and that we could see through cascade failures of vital infrastructural networks (like the power grid) through systems disruptions, i.e. sabotage. We can mitigate our vulnerability by circumventing our reliance on sprawling, highly interdependent networks through self-sufficient, localized nodes, aka resilient communities.

His argument is compelling, rooted in political, economic, and social theory, as well as real world examples. It is both frightening and engaging. This scope of the topic is mind boggling, and its implications are extreme. On the one hand we keep chugging along until catastrophe stikes; on the other, we drastically change the way we live. Either way, Robb is talking about a major paradigm shift, away from our current way of life. On the surface, it seems a romantic notion, but perversely so. The idea of reconnecting with your local community and the environment has the sort of pastoral appeal of a Wordsworth poem. However, the reality of it is more grim. As a result my feeling of commitment to local movements has taken on an urgent tone, and I feel compelled to take action.

That is where my thesis begins. I am struggling with nailing down a specific project, but the focus will decidedly be community building in Brooklyn, probably around DIY groups (urban gardeners, hardware hackers, craftspeople, etc). My expertise in web development along with the short timeframe is leading me in the direction of a website/mashup. I’ve considered creating a site to host listings of events(classes, farmer’s markets), locations (storefronts, hackerspaces, studios), and projects (documentation and schematics). Discussion would be a theme throughout, but maybe not explicitly defined in a forum style application.

I will update further as I continue to research, design, build, and test.

Right now the goal is to narrow the scope of my ideas into something I can accomplish over the next few months. Not a lot of time!

I just returned from visiting family in Oracle, AZ. I’ve been there before, but this visit was particularly inspiring. I observed the richness of the community and landscape, and the pervasive creative spirit.

Light Festival at Triangle L Ranch in Oracle, AZ

The town’s small size (population 3500), low visibility, high concentration of artists and creative people, and low saturation of technology tools make it the ideal testing ground for new approaches to social tech and tools to enrich community and connectedness. The town has a website and many of the artists there have some web presence. However, social tech goes much further than having a website. It leverages a variety of online and offline services, some customized, some 3rd-party. Furthermore, it’s important to democratize the technologies so that everyone in the community may use them.

I’m in the process of deciding how I might contribute to building a technology foundation for the community, while giving them the tools they need to continue building. Beyond specific technologies, training and education would be in order. Finding a few community leaders that can be proponents of the initiative, as well as some volunteers to take on and share technical training would be the main goals. Maybe a collaboration in Oracle can serve as a model for other small communities to spring-board into a more connected space. If you know of similar initiatives, please leave your comments.

All in all, feeling good about the move. Good riddance, ATT.