Facebook app allows you to compare energy use with your neighbors

From Cyprus Mail (the island in the Mediterranean): Find out how much electricity you consume compared to your friends, those in your neighbourhood, or even your district with Facebook application ‘Social Electricity’, which uses data from the Electricity Authority of Cyprus (EAC) to help people save energy.   I love this idea. I’ve always wanted to know …

Sharing my joy of visiting the farmers market

Through the crowds and into the market a world awaits me. Exotic fruits, luscious vegetables, and peculiar personalities. An uncharted world for one raised on the supermarkets of America. I learn simple things like knowing to smell a melon or mush a peach (but only on top). It is a food education and the market …

Do you know your baker?

Everyone needs a good baker in their life. Especially, if you live on the farmers market diet, and you’re a guy. For some reason, dudes need, not like, but NEED bread on a regular basis. Maybe it’s the higher muscle mass or something, but (most) girls simply don’t care about bread. For me, it’s huge, …

*Enjoy Handplanes turns bodysurfing into art

*Enjoy handplanes set themselves apart in the bodysurfing industry by turning their creations into one-of-a-kind art. It is amazing, the creativity and beauty they put into these little planes, with everything from DIY craft to pure artist illustrations, simple coloring and classic lines. Of course, one has to mention that all of these handplanes are made …

Airbnb has biggest night ever – while guests stay on private islands, in castles, & on boats

Last Saturday Airbnb had a pretty amazing night:   Not long ago, we told you about the 10 million guest nights booked on our site. Little did we know that our community was just getting warmed up…After a few massive weeks of travel, plus a bit of excitement in London, we saw our biggest night in history take …

Get your Masters (Fine Arts) in Paris – low-residency creative writing program from NYU

This sounds like pure torture…   The MFA Writers Workshop in Paris constitutes an intimate creative apprenticeship that extends beyond traditional classroom walls. Over two years, students and faculty convene regularly in Paris for five intensive ten-day residency periods (held biannually in January and July). While in residency in Paris, students participate in a vibrant …

Modern world: Bookstores with cafés increase sales – those without decrease

As Independent Booksellers Week gets into full swing, the Booksellers Association has released figures to suggest outlets with cafés are likely to have higher sales than those without. Figures based on a survey of 40 BA members reveal that bookshops with cafés saw a 3% growth in overall turnover in 2011, whereas those without experienced …

San Diego Surf Film Festival – beach clean-up and handplane demo

This weekend is the San Diego Surf Film Festival and if you’re attending, you might want to come to this community event. On Saturday morning (8-10 AM) the festival is hosting a beach clean-up and handplane demo at La Jolla Shores. There will be coffee, sweet treats, bodysurfing, and a give-away, in addition to the clean-up: As …

Tony Hsieh: Delivering Happiness to Downtown Las Vegas

Beyond the casinos, past the clubs, over the glittering, multi-million dollar hotels that light up the Las Vegas Strip, beat the quiet drums of innovation and progress. Change is afoot. Las Vegas is on the verge of a renaissance, thanks, in part, to the fantastical vision and persuasive passion of Zappos CEO and Delivering Happiness …

The state of media on the rez – American Indians in 2012

American Indians and Alaska Natives typically live in more rural and isolated locations of the United States, areas that generally have waited longer for internet broadband access. Many tribal lands still have only very limited connectivity. As a result, many Native people have moved straight to mobile internet, accessing digital content through cellphones that do …