Daisymupp » Springwise

Urban farming expands onto school grounds

Daisymupp — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 09:05:59 +0000

Community-supported agriculture is not an unfamiliar concept for regular Springwise readers, nor are the often-associated add-ons of bicycle-based produce delivery and compost services. Canadian Fresh Roots Urban Farm offers all of these; what sets it apart, however, is a series of partnerships it’s formed with local schools in the Vancouver area to create urban farms on school land.

Fresh Roots produces and distributes organically grown food through a community-supported agriculture (CSA) program as well as pocket markets and restaurant sales in the Vancouver area. Much of the produce for that program is grown by local urban farmers and in participating neighborhood gardens, but of particular interest are the organization’s new partnerships with local schools to use school land. At Queen Alexandra Elementary, for example, the relationship began last year when the Vancouver School Board bought a share from Fresh Roots’ CSA for its cafeteria salad bar program. Since then, however, the partnership has expanded to include a model urban farm on school land, thereby adding to Fresh Roots’ production capabilities while creating an outdoor, hands-on, experiential classroom for the school community. Similar partnerships have since been forged with two other local schools, and Fresh Roots invites the participation of others as well.

Urban farming and CSA offer countless benefits in their own right for community nutrition and sustainability, but the addition of educational and nutritional benefits for schoolkids makes for a stellar win indeed. Green-minded entrepreneurs: one to emulate! (Related: Helping home chicken farmers manage & share their eggs — More bicycle-delivered farm produce, now in Minnesota — Now in Toronto, more homegrown veggies without the work.)

Website: www.freshroots.ca
Contact: info@freshroots.ca

Spotted by: Magda Dominik

Source : Springwise

App turns desktop wallpaper into a changing photo collage

Daisymupp — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 15:04:10 +0000

If variety is the spice of life, then most of us live a fairly bland existence on our desktop computers, whose background wallpaper we tend to leave the same, day after day. Enter Wallcast, a new application that transforms desktop wallpaper into a dynamic photo collage featuring a rotating selection of the user’s favorite pictures.

To get started, users of Wallcast — which is now in beta — create an online account, upload at least five pictures and download the free desktop application. Wallcast then turns the user’s static desktop background into an array of photos that’s refreshed every three hours, or however often the user requests. Users can select a background image from among various options offered by Wallcast. Meanwhile, each Wallcast account gets a unique email address, so pictures can be added online, by email or via a separate iPhone app. Even friends and family can be invited to contribute photos to a user’s Wallcast account, and Wallcast will detect and display those new photos automatically. Wallcast is available as a free download for PC and Mac; its iPhone app is available through Apple’s App Store.

Created by Canadian LimeFlag, Wallcast may well end up serving ads if its terms of service are any indication. If that’s the case, then an even better approach might be to offer consumers something like this as a brand butler service instead, with no ads to spoil the personalized effect. How could your brand help consumers personalize their computers even more…? (Related: Digital photo booth uses free photos as brand marketing tool — Collaborative photo books help groups tell stories — Online portal gathers wedding photos from guests.)

Website: www.wallcast.com
Contact: wallcast@limeflag.com

Spotted by: Marie Asselin

Source : http://www.springwise.com/lifestyle_leisure/wallcast/

Photography workshops inside a camera obscura on wheels

Daisymupp — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 16:13:01 +0000

There’s certainly no shortage of photography classes out there to help hone enthusiasts’ skills. What’s much less common, to say the least, is the chance to take a class inside a working camera obscura. Sure enough, though, that’s just what’s on offer through the Roulot’ographe, a mobile trailer that transforms into a giant camera obscura and photography lab.

Students who participate in Flash007′s workshops inside the Roulot’ographe, which is based in Luxembourg, don’t just get the opportunity to study a giant camera obscura, however. They also learn how to form a photographic image, they discuss the effects of light and chemical reactions, and they produce and take pictures through a small pinhole camera of their own creation. Digital photography is discussed as well. All that’s needed for the mobile studio to set up operations is proximity to an electrical connection and running water.

We’ve already seen the likes of Canon offer tryvertising workshops in scenic locations, but the Roulot’ographe definitely adds something new with its educational content, unique experience and flexible mobility. Photography brands, retailers and educators around the globe: be inspired!

Website: www.roulotographe.lu
Contact: neckel@flash007.lu

Spotted by: Petz Scholtus

Source : http://www.springwise.com/education/roulot/

On a bet, party people fit KLM flight to Miami using Twitter

Daisymupp — Tue, 28 Dec 2010 14:02:22 +0000

DJs, promoters, label reps and ‘professional party people’ from the Netherlands have persuaded Dutch airline KLM to add an extra flight to its roster. In a new twist on crowd-buying, the initiators of Fly2Miami made a bet with KLM on Twitter to organize a non-stop flight from Amsterdam to Miami.

If Fly2Miami could get 351 seats reserved before December 6th, KLM would add a flight to its schedule on 21 March 2011, specifically for people attending the Ultra Music Festival and related parties. The initiative was prompted by a Dutch filmmaker tweeting about the lack of a direct flight from Amsterdam to Miami, a query that the airline’s Twitter team rapidly responded to with a wager. Exceeding everyone’s expectations, the flight was fully booked within five hours. “We can rightly call it a first — the first time KLM will deploy an aircraft following a request on Twitter”, said Martijn van der Zee, vice president of e-commerce at KLM. “Social media are becoming more and more important to KLM to offer information and service to our customers.”

From Carrotmob‘s crowds rewarding positive environmental change, to Groupon’s daily deals for groups, crowd clout — turbo-charged by social media — provides companies across industries with new opportunities to empower consumers while improving their bottom line, or at the very least, their brand image. (Related: Furniture shopping with the crowds — Broker creates local groups for collective solar purchasing — Travel agents bid on consumers’ dream trips — Crowd clout for social and political change.)

Website: www.fly2miami.nl
Contact: info@fly2miami.nl

Found at Springwise

Reflector strips make strollers more visible at night

Daisymupp — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 07:20:55 +0000

It wasn’t long ago that we covered Reflective Lace, the safety-minded and stylish embellishment that makes bicyclists more visible at night. Now bringing similar reflective qualities to baby strollers is Wagalum, a German maker of self-adhesive strips designed specifically to keep young children safe while on the go.

Billed as “headlights for prams,” Wagalum’s reflective sticker set includes eight pieces in four different sizes to provide all-around visibility for babies in strollers. The stickers’ microprismatic surface shines nine times brighter than comparable materials do, causing strollers bearing them to be seen six times earlier by other traffic participants and 85 percent less likely to be involved in an accident, Wagalum says. The strips meet all key DIN standards for traffic safety, and are apparently even officially recommended by the German police. Pricing online is EUR 9.90 for Wagalum’s eight-piece set.

Wagalum’s reflective strips are currently available at a number of stockists in Germany, but the company aims to expand to other countries soon, and it welcomes dealer inquiries. Retailers of children’s products: this one’s for you! (Related: Five business ideas focused on babies & new parents — Colour-changing sleep suit signals baby’s fever.)

Website: www.wagalum.com
Contact: info@wagalum.com

Spotted by: Elisa Huijsman

Found on : Springwise

Ten examples of brands dishing up details on food origins

Daisymupp — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 07:49:18 +0000

This is the fifth and final post in a series of articles on traceability. Written by Springwise, and supported by IBM. Check out our previous posts on informing consumers about child labour, milk tracking by a Swedish dairy, a registration service for product recalls and supermarkets offering increased food traceability, or read more about building a smarter planet.
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For today’s post, we’ve collected examples of ten food brands that give consumers access to information on the origins of their products’ ingredients. While these efforts are baby steps toward true traceability — and critics are somewhat justified in their assertion that images of verdant fields and smiling farmers are little more than marketing tools — smart brands are nonetheless moving in the direction of increased transparency.

1. Stone-Buhr — Buyers of Stone-Buhr’s All Purpose Flour can type in a lot code on the company’s website to see which family farms grew the grain. Stone-Buhr’s emphasis is on spotlighting the family-owned farms in the Northwest who supply it with certified sustainable wheat.
Website: www.findthefarmer.com

2. Coca-Cola — In the UK, Coca-Cola launched a web app that allows consumers to trace the origin of their can or bottle of Coke. Instead of divulging the sources of ingredients, Coca-Cola focuses on manufacturing locations, distribution and environmental impact. It estimates the carbon footprint of a drink, and shows the address of the factory it was made in.
Website: www.coca-cola.co.uk/environment/trace-your-coke.html

3. Askinosie — Missouri-based chocolate maker Askinosie invites customers to enter a ‘Choc-O-Lot’ number to view the chocolate’s geographical origin, as well as information about the farmers who grew the cocoa beans. The tool highlights the company’s commitment both to quality and to a fair deal for farmers. Askinosie buys directly from farmers in Mexico, Phillipines, Tanzania and Ecuador, and doesn’t purchase beans until they’ve met the farmers in person.
Website: www.askinosie.com

4. Dole Organic — Dole lets consumers “travel to the origin of each organic product”. By typing in a fruit sticker’s three-digit code on Dole Organic’s website, customers can find the story behind their banana or pineapple. Each farm’s section on the website includes background info, shows photos of the crops and workers and tells consumers more about the origin of Dole’s organic products.
Website: www.doleorganic.com

5. Chippindale Foods — Chippindale Foods supplies free range eggs to supermarkets in northern England. The company created wheresyoursfrom.com to allow consumers to find out where their eggs were laid. After entering the code printed on an egg carton, people can view pictures of ‘their’ farmer and hens, and read a history of the farm.
Website: www.wheresyoursfrom.com

6. Frito-Lay — Another big brand that’s embracing traceability is Frito-Lay. Its Chip Tracker lets consumers trace where a particular bag of chips was made, by entering their ZIP code along with the first three digits of the bag’s product code. The site returns a specific location along with its annual output. An associated map, meanwhile, highlights both growing and production facilities.
Website: www.fritolay.com/lays/chip-tracker.html

7. Fresh Express — A subsidiary of Chiquita Brands and purveyor of washed and packaged salad greens, Fresh Express allows consumers to find the origin of their salad through a ‘Leaf Locator’ on the company’s website. Fresh Express sources leafy greens from five US states and Mexico, and includes details on a location’s climate, growing season and agricultural history.
Website: www.freshexpress.com

8. Crop to Cup — Through Crop to Cup’s website, consumers can trace their coffee back to the farmers who produced it. Drinkers of Uganda Bugisu coffee, for example, can read a profile of Peter Guimuii, who is married, has six children and approximately 5,000 coffee trees. The detailed personal information provided underscores Crop to Cup’s goal of improving farmers’ livelihoods.
Website: www.croptocup.com

9. Domino’s Pizza — Pizza lovers don’t enter product codes on ‘Behind the Pizza’, which was created by Domino’s to give consumers more information on how their pizza ingredients are made. While the site does show manufacturing plants and farms it works with, the focus here is more on edutainment than targeted transparency.
Website: more.dominos.com/behindthepizza

10. Iglo — First featured on Springwise in 2008, ‘Woher kommt Ihr Spinat’ is still going strong. Created by Iglo, a European market leader in the frozen foods segment, the program gives consumers access to details on where their spinach came from. Offsetting its Big Brand reputation, Iglo displays pictures of the spinach grower and his or her family, alongside information about the farm.
Website: www.iglo.de

Found on : Springwise

London’s new bike lanes, branded with Barclays blue

Daisymupp — Fri, 22 Oct 2010 11:56:42 +0000

Transport for London is investing a record GBP 111 million this year in initiatives designed to encourage and improve bicycling in London, and a sizable chunk of that money is going toward “cycle superhighways,” or dedicated cycle lanes into central London from the outer portions of the city. Other cities are taking similar steps, of course, given the increasing popularity of bicycling; what’s particularly interesting about this initiative, however, is that Barclays is heavily involved in the effort, lending the superhighways not just its brand name but even its corporate colour.

Dubbed Barclays Cycle Superhighways, the new, Barclays-blue painted lanes are designed to provide cyclists with safer, faster and more direct journeys into the city. The new routes are clearly marked and easy to follow, thanks in part to new signs and road markings as well as information about journey times and links to other cycle routes. The first two such lanes have already launched–leading into the city from Merton and Barking, respectively–and 10 more will be introduced by 2015. In addition to reducing congestion and cutting emissions in the city, one of the goals behind the project is to increase cycling in London by 400 percent by 2025, compared with 2000 levels. Toward that end, Barclays has also branded a Cycle for Hire initiative within London, with 6,000 blue-emblazoned bicycles and 400 branded docking stations. A video on YouTube explains the cycle superhighways project in more detail.

Much the way brands using Save Your Logo can align themselves with wildlife conservation for improved karma and corporate generosity, so Barclays’ effort will forever link its brand in Londoners’ minds with bicycling and sustainability. Time to brainstorm some like-minded ideas for *your* generous brand…? (Related: Bank-sponsored bike-sharing in Canada.)

Update: Just discovered an independently launched social add-on to the Barclays scheme. In their words: “myLondonCycle is a social community built around the new Barclays Cycle Hire program in London. The goal is to bring even more fun into cycling with a little social game.”

Website: tfl.gov.uk/barclayscyclesuperhighways — group.barclays.com/About-us/Sponsorship/London-cycle-schemes
Contact: www.tfl.gov.uk/contact — sustainability@barclays.com

Spotted by: Hal M.

Permalink : http://springwise.com/transportation/cyclesuperhighways/

Five businesses that build on the growing popularity of bicycles

daisymupp — Fri, 14 May 2010 11:31:43 +0000

The attraction of cycling as a green, healthy, and cost-saving form of transport is huge for consumers, especially so at a time when the environment and world financial woes dominate the zeitgeist. Businesses doing something a little different for cyclists are a strong bet for success. Here’s five we recently spotted:

1. GREEN GOOSE — As part of their package of web services allowing users to track healthy lifestyle achievements, Green Goose’s bike-mounted sensors record cycling activity and upload the data over wifi. The company also provides services to help employers encourage cycling to work.

2. E-WERK — The energy generated pushing those pedals has long been tapped to power lights using a dynamo. But why stop there? German manufacturer Busch & Müller sells a dynamo-powered power supply allowing users to charge phones, MP3 players and other mobile devices. E-Werk comes with a selection of connectors including USB.

3. VELOCOMPUTER — Some cyclists may prefer not to fit an assortment of paraphernalia to their bikes, be it for security, aerodynamic or purely aesthetic reasons. VeloComputer is a mobile phone-based alternative to traditional bike computers and uses the accelerometer built in to many modern smartphones.

4. THE HUMBLE VINTAGE — If a cyclist is away from home and hasn’t got their bike with them, they may want to rent something with a bit of personality that doesn’t clearly signpost them as a tourist. Melbourne-based The Humble Vintage refurbishes classic and vintage cycles as a rental alternative to the ubiquitous MTB.

5. BICYKLO — Aiming to make it easier to find the perfect cycle tour, Bicyklo aggregates thousands of tour offers from hundreds of operators worldwide into a single database, allowing cyclists to search by area, duration and type rather than have to seek out individual operators and investigate what they have on offer.

Spotters: Doug Jost, Robin Benjamins

Low-cost bicycles for (not only) the rural poor

daisymupp — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 15:30:13 +0000

We’ve written about a few different efforts to help disadvantaged people in Africa by providing refurbished second-hand bikes from the developed world. Unlike such initiatives from Baisikeli and Bikes for Africa, however, Worldbike designs and distributes brand-new bicycles that are inexpensive and built specifically to withstand harsh rural conditions.

California-based Worldbike’s bicycles are designed to handle large loads, rough terrain and inclement weather. They’re configured to be not only affordable, but also maintained and repaired locally. Through partnerships with international and local agencies, private companies, foundations and NGOs, Worldbike even helps arrange microcredit financing for bike purchases and supplement sales with support from funders and private donors. Its bikes have already been brought to Cuba, Mexico, Rwanda, Senegal and Thailand, among other areas. However, as the company also notes, “the same cargo bike we deliver to rural Africa also turns heads on the streets of Seattle.” An official US version of the bike is now being configured, and proceeds from all purchases will help support bike distribution efforts in Kenya.

A shining example of what our sister site calls the functionall trend, Worldbike has already attracted funding and partnerships with companies and foundations around the world—time to add your brand to that list? Alternatively, how about brainstorming some functionall offerings of your own…? (Related: Single-use toilet bag turns human waste into fertilizer — Water bottle’s plunger-style filter purifies instantly.)

Website: www.worldbike.org
Contact: info@worldbike.org

Spotted by: trendwatching.com’s monthly trend briefing

Facebool tool prints and mails personal newsletter

daisymupp — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 13:09:07 +0000

Facebook may have 350 million or so users, but there are still plenty of friends and loved ones out there who can’t connect online. We’ve already covered UK-based Peggy Mail, which lets Facebook users sent printed postcards to their offline friends, and now there’s News from YOUs, which goes a step further by enabling them to send a complete, personal newsletter instead.

News from YOUs is a Facebook application currently in the works that will automatically share users’ Facebook news and photos in a printed newsletter aimed at grandparents and other offline relations. Users will begin by logging onto Facebook and opening the News from YOUs application. They then select the friends and family members on Facebook whose news and photos they want to include. From that selection they can edit content as they wish, deleting status posts or updates as they see fit. Next, they indicate who they want the newsletter sent to, and Detroit-based News from YOUs will do the rest, printing the custom newsletter and putting it in the mail.

There’s no word yet on News from YOUs’ pricing or availability, but it seems safe to say there’s still plenty more room for more apps to bridge the online and offline worlds. Keep the OFF=ON innovations coming! (Related: An online address for the offline world.)

Website: www.newsfromyous.com
Contact: info@newsfromyous.com

Spotted by: Margarita Barry