Fashionable Scooterun!

Something that started with random doodling with a Lamy pen ended up as a thought for the future at many levels.
Our ongoing energy crisis and excessive dependence on fuel control the cost and the very supply of everything required on a day- to-day basis. A hike in fuel prices alters all aspects of our lives and makes us red-think our priorities.
There are other stress-related problems that come with rising expenses. We socialize and meet less because that incurs an expense, making us opt for interacting via social media. This leads to stronger attachment to devices and a sedentary lifestyle, an incubator of health problems.

What if we attempt to encourage ideas that reduce, if not totally dissect ourselves from clinging onto fossil-fuel tech; in turn makes us healthy in the process and looks good?

Here's an idea - a scooter that runs on a chargeable battery, which gets powered by an exercise machine that 'winds' up and charges the battery. The more you work out, the longer the distance the scooter can go on a single charge. This kind of a system would surely affect the day's routine. We look healthier, travel more using clean technology. If we look good doing this, we spread the idea of alternative and sustainable technology.

So the 'Scooterun' could be made of fibre-plastic, making it light. Solar cells on the front and side panels could power up the electricals. If functionality and creativity allow, the panels could be fashionable. Even if power runs out while you are on the move, a pedal system at the heels drives a set of cogs, much like a pedalling in a 2-seater boat, or a 10-speed bicycle. A pillion rider could also add to the rotary engine.
Making this work will need more than traditional marketing and selling methods. For this to stick, the idea would have to be ingrained into the socio-cultural need, spread virally and championed by youth- students in the local university, which becomes a need very soon for the masses.

A lot of audacious ideas that appear impossible, improbable or rediculuous today will see the light of day in the nearer future. This will happen because we will not have the luxury of choice. From our childhood days, watching Captain Kirk with a beamer phone, we never could imagine a handheld device that could do so much, more so in the hands of 'poor' people; whatever the definition of poor is anymore. So these things can be done. An incentive to stay healthy to keep our expenses down, could be the de-facto tomorrow.

Fashionable Scooterun!

Something that started with random doodling with a Lamy pen ended up as a thought for the future at many levels.
Our ongoing energy crisis and excessive dependence on fuel control the cost and the very supply of everything required on a day- to-day basis. A hike in fuel prices alters all aspects of our lives and makes us red-think our priorities.
There are other stress-related problems that come with rising expenses. We socialize and meet less because that incurs an expense, making us opt for interacting via social media. This leads to stronger attachment to devices and a sedentary lifestyle, an incubator of health problems.

What if we attempt to encourage ideas that reduce, if not totally dissect ourselves from clinging onto fossil-fuel tech; in turn makes us healthy in the process and looks good?

Here's an idea - a scooter that runs on a chargeable battery, which gets powered by an exercise machine that 'winds' up and charges the battery. The more you work out, the longer the distance the scooter can go on a single charge. This kind of a system would surely affect the day's routine. We look healthier, travel more using clean technology. If we look good doing this, we spread the idea of alternative and sustainable technology.

So the 'Scooterun' could be made of fibre-plastic, making it light. Solar cells on the front and side panels could power up the electricals. If functionality and creativity allow, the panels could be fashionable. Even if power runs out while you are on the move, a pedal system at the heels drives a set of cogs, much like a pedalling in a 2-seater boat, or a 10-speed bicycle. A pillion rider could also add to the rotary engine.
Making this work will need more than traditional marketing and selling methods. For this to stick, the idea would have to be ingrained into the socio-cultural need, spread virally and championed by youth- students in the local university, which becomes a need very soon for the masses.

A lot of audacious ideas that appear impossible, improbable or rediculuous today will see the light of day in the nearer future. This will happen because we will not have the luxury of choice. From our childhood days, watching Captain Kirk with a beamer phone, we never could imagine a handheld device that could do so much, more so in the hands of 'poor' people; whatever the definition of poor is anymore. So these things can be done. An incentive to stay healthy to keep our expenses down, could be the de-facto tomorrow.

Technology - glue that bonds

Just in case you think that technology isolates us from family and friends, and that we are getting lonelier and less communicative, think about where you get your tech tips from these days. Its not other tech sources. The most useful information on apps and websites, truly useful ones, comes from chatting with family and friends.
Technology creates conversations today. When thinking about some of the recent apps on my phone or useful websites I look up daily, I realize that these tips came from face-to-face conversations with family and friends. Rarely do we take tips from assumed sources like websites or magazines or their Twitter accounts. Here's a list-

1. Sound hound - music identifier app- shared by friend during dinner
2. Visual.ly - infographic website- through family get-together
3. Rome Subway Surfer - loaded on phones of family members
4. Whatsapp privacy settings - woke up to this while chatting with family
5. Tango - video chat app over data service
6. True caller - app that identifies callers, tip came from family
7. http://500px.com - Photography website - suggested by a colleague
8. QR code maker - http://qrcode.littleidiot.be/ - discovered with colleagues
9. How to activate check boxes in Adobe Flash - found with colleagues -
http://www.webdesign.org/flash-swish/flash-tutorials/how-to-use-checkboxes-and-radio-buttons-in-flash.21240.html
10. Camera RAW editing - Photoshop plugin for better controls on a photo - tipped by colleague
11. Minimize all apps on iPad by drawing inward all fingertips- chatting with family, and watching nieces play with iPad

So share with others what you use, and you get back much more. Karma is the social app!

Technology - glue that bonds

Just in case you think that technology isolates us from family and friends, and that we are getting lonelier and less communicative, think about where you get your tech tips from these days. Its not other tech sources. The most useful information on apps and websites, truly useful ones, comes from chatting with family and friends.
Technology creates conversations today. When thinking about some of the recent apps on my phone or useful websites I look up daily, I realize that these tips came from face-to-face conversations with family and friends. Rarely do we take tips from assumed sources like websites or magazines or their Twitter accounts. Here's a list-

1. Sound hound - music identifier app- shared by friend during dinner
2. Visual.ly - infographic website- through family get-together
3. Rome Subway Surfer - loaded on phones of family members
4. Whatsapp privacy settings - woke up to this while chatting with family
5. Tango - video chat app over data service
6. True caller - app that identifies callers, tip came from family
7. http://500px.com - Photography website - suggested by a colleague
8. QR code maker - http://qrcode.littleidiot.be/ - discovered with colleagues
9. How to activate check boxes in Adobe Flash - found with colleagues -
http://www.webdesign.org/flash-swish/flash-tutorials/how-to-use-checkboxes-and-radio-buttons-in-flash.21240.html
10. Camera RAW editing - Photoshop plugin for better controls on a photo - tipped by colleague
11. Minimize all apps on iPad by drawing inward all fingertips- chatting with family, and watching nieces play with iPad

So share with others what you use, and you get back much more. Karma is the social app!