Threshold Blog

Innovate or Die

Google and Specialized Bikes have teamed up to bring us the "Innovate or Die" Contest. They're looking for innovative new ways of channeling pedaling power into everyday energy use. Here's a video of one of their examples:

Get Satisfaction

Satisfaction launched their beta site this week. In it's infancy, it's a little difficult explaining what "people-powered customer service" is before the people are really there yet to power it. But the concept of this open conversation for any and all companies and products is really intriguing - I really hope it catches momentum.

Here's the description from the Satisfaction site:

"Satisfaction is a place for real people to get the most from their products and services, and for companies to get real with their customers. Everyone is welcome in our community, and we invite you to make your mark here."

Still not exactly clear what it's all about? I hear ya. For more insight, read the Community Guidelines.

I'm actually more excited about their use of social-network-portability with hCard supported profiles. Instead of creating yet another unique social network profile and unloading yet another eye-catching thumbnail image from your hard drive, you can start with one you already have from another site that supports hCards. This a great feature! So Web 2.5:

70's Style: The Longest "Running" Joke

The good news: Nike has re-released their classic running shoe designs from the 70's. The bad news: they're only available in the faux-aged, pre-worn variety. The Nike Vintage site is amusing though.

Free Flatpack Critters

Readymechs are free, flatpack toys for you to print and build. They are designed to fit on an 8.5"x11" page and printed with any printer. You’ll need double-sided tape, thick matte paper, and 10-15 minutes for build time.

Stumble!

"StumbleUpon lets you "channelsurf" the best-reviewed sites on the web. It is a collaborative surfing tool for finding and sharing great sites. This helps you find interesting webpages you wouldn't think to search for."

With over 2 million registered StumbleUpon users, I may be a little late to the party talking about this, but I don't care. For something this fun and educational you need to keep spreading the word. With this addictive app, you can stumble in and out of unchartered surreal and instantly enjoyable websites with just a click of a Firefox Add-on nav bar button.

So get out there and start stumbling! And then post a blog when you find something of interest.

Mac OSX/Widows Vista comparison...

http://www.informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=196800670&pgno=1&queryText=

Pink Tentacle

This is a pretty cool tech blog

Build a Better Mousetrap

The Cubes® Corporate Zombies

The mindless tedium of employment at GigantaMegaCorp has crushed their spirit and turned these once bright, flowering young go-getters into hopeless Corporate Zombies. They spend their days staring blankly at computer monitors and shuffling through the cube maze, occasionally grunting something about brains. Each set comes with four 2-3/4" tall posable plastic figures with eerie green skin that glows-in-the-dark and seven different plastic office accessories.

 

http://www.mcphee.com/items/11648.html

Six Million Dollar Foot

..all for the low low price of 20K!

New York Times - Animated graphic