Each day, we look at everything that is going on in the Sandbox, searching for impactful projects, stories and ideas by Sandboxers. We then repost the most interesting, inspiring or brilliant stuff here on our blog.

Today Max Marmer shares his idea on how to make visions of the future more anchored. You can read Max’s original blog post here and connect with him on Twitter and Facebook.

Recently I have been exploring the ideas of Ken Wilber. His theories are fascinating, but I’ve found when discussing his ideas with friends many have met them with great skepticism.

I agree he is not perfect. And after exploring others critique of him on the web, and thinking about my own experience of his text, I decided my biggest problems with Ken Wilber are twofold.

1) He implies too much consensus.

2) He does not engage in enough public discourse about his ideas.

However, it’s important to note that he has not built his theories, as far as I can tell on anything that is patently false. I think the reason he does this is expediency. His books are already 800 pages. If he had to discuss the debate on each of his assumptions that would be it’s own book unto itself, where he wouldn’t get the chance to present any new ideas, and that would hardly be worth the read.

I realized this problem is endemic to many of the authors and thinkers I’m most fascinated by: Clare Graves, John Smart, Kevin Kelly, Ray Kurzweil, Don Riso etc. They are all building models to better explain the past and present and predict the future, but some of their assumptions are based on scientific fact and some of their assumptions are unproven. And it’s often hard to tell which are which. Furthermore, some of their assumptions are built on top of their unproven assumptions.

Most people are not comfortable with any uncertainty, much less multiple levels of uncertainty, which is one of the main reasons why many of the theories of the authors I’ve listed above do not have much mainstream acceptance in the general public or academia.

However, we as a society cannot dismiss these people and their models. They are the visionaries who are attempting to climb the tallest mountain they can find and see farther than any man has seen before. Society needs to be giving these people more attention and resources, not less. We just need a better mechanism for separating the wheat from the chaff, and shifting much of the burden of truth verification off the individual reader. What we need is more transparency. We need to be able to more easily identify shaky mountains from ones based on solid ground. And we need to be able to separate the scientifically validated ground from the visions in the air. We need to make our models more explicit. We need more rigorous futurism.

I can imagine a tool that could provide a standardized format for:

1) Listing the core assumptions of the model, and separating the scientifically validated facts from the hypotheses.

2) The bold conclusions that follow if all the assumptions and presuppositions are true.

3) Monitoring and debating the scientific validity of all of the assumptions as the scientific community runs new experiments and gains new evidence.

4) Followers to discuss alternative theories based on the same set of assumptions.

5) Authors or other leading proponents of the theory to share their thoughts and analysis in real time as new evidence rolls in.

This could serve as underlying reference structure or metadata for any one of the visionaries listed above. This should be possible, especially as we move off the antiquated medium of distributing ideas on paper to more accommodating digital mediums.

Every day, we search the web for impactful content, projects and ideas by Sandboxers. Once a week, we choose the most inspiring, funny or brilliant piece and repost it here on our blog.

This week Tia Kansara presents a video she has recorded for the Earth2Hub project. Check out the project here and get the latest updates from Tia on Twitter.

Here is Tia’s statement from the video:

“Our world is governed by technology. And technology can be used for good or for ill. Aircraft can deliver explosives or they can deliver humanitarian aid. Drought resistant genetically modified crops can feed people or, if they are made sterile for yearly replacement, they can enslave people to the company that makes them. What ultimately runs technology is our value system. One set of values will use technology to exploit both people and planet alike, another set of values will use technology to boost our collective well-being. Earth 2.0 champions the global application of eco-friendly and human-friendly technology. As we all live together under one biospherical roof, no-one should be excluded.”

Meet Sandboxer Tom Currier! Tom is a 19-year-old entrepreneur and aspiring inventor passionate about renewable energy. He co-founded Black Swan Solar, a company developing disruptive technologies to revolutionize the energy industry. Find Tom on Facebook and Twitter.

1.Tell us the story of your latest project / occupation.

I have always been interested in energy and four years ago I co-founded the Minnesota Student Energy Project with two friends. Our initial goal was to raise $40k before we graduated to install solar panels on our public high school. We wanted to promote a mission of “educarbon”- educating students about renewable energy while directly cutting carbon emissions. After a lot of fun and hard work, we created a 330-student organization and raised $140k to put solar panels on three local high schools.

Coming from a technical background, the quotes for these systems were very surprising as the solar panels only accounted for 50-55% of system costs. What made up the other 50%?? Everything else (racking, wiring, inverters, labor, etc.) was lumped into a category called Balance of Systems (BOS). I started to learn more BOS costs and came to the conclusion that institutional solar research is focusing on the wrong piece of the puzzle. In particular, I found dual axis solar tracking to be an interesting area for cost reduction as it boosts annual system output by 38-40% over fixed tilt systems.

After spending a few months of trying to understand the engineering contradictions that make these systems expensive, the solution to low cost tracking became clear. Around this time, I began my freshman year at Stanford and started working with a local law firm to file patents on my ideas. Once the core IP was protected, I started looking for a great business co-founder to help commercialize the invention. Five months of searching produced an intro to Wasiq Bokhari, and together we formed Black Swan Solar in June 2010.

2. What are you doing and how did you get there?

I think that acquiring more than 85% of the world’s energy from non-renewable resources is a fundamental problem that we need to solve very quickly.

The good- and also very bad- thing about our society is that we care deeply about making money. A case for solar energy built on a solid economic foundation (i.e. does not rely on government subsidies) will change the world simply because financiers love double digit IRRs for large projects with low technology risk. I left Stanford in March to work full time on Black Swan Solar.

3. Tell us about the biggest successes and failures in your life. What worked, what didn’t, and what did you learn?

Biggest failure: Seat Roll-Ups! I found school desks to be really uncomfortable, and so I tried prototyping a portable memory foam seat cushion. After a 15-unit beta test, I learned that I am very bad at making consumer products:)

For example, from the beta test exit survey:
1) How comfortable are school desks? Average= 2.5/10

2) How comfortable are school desks with the SRU? Average= 8.5/10

3) How awkward do you feel carrying the SRU around school? Average= 9.5/10

Biggest success: Understanding that invention is the elimination of contradiction and that good ideas become obvious after asking enough questions about core assumptions.

4. What do you want to achieve in

a) the next week: Work with my co-founder to close our next round of funding, work with our engineering team on the next design iteration, and hire a consulting firm to perform accelerated lifetime testing on the current prototype.

b) the next year: Install our first MW-scale system and perform extensive mean time between failure testing to validate a 20-year system lifetime.

c) the next 10 years: 1TW down, 14 to go:)

5. What was your most inspring moment during the last two weeks?

Having the opportunity to present Black Swan Solar to a group of people that I really admire and respect in cleantech.

6. How could other Sandboxers and the outside world support you and why would that be exciting for them.

If you are or know an awesome mechanical engineer with a background in low cost and high reliability systems, we would love to meet you!

7. Tom’s favorite:

-book: The Alchemist
-music artist: LCD Soundsystem
-place on earth: New Zealand
-travel destination during last year: Hawaii
-food: Sushi
-drink: Cappuccino

Sandboxer Marin Licina recently won the Philips’ Domestic Appliance Competition design challenge by delivering a brilliant project showing how to value experience over technology by trying to solve people’s problems.

The simple rationale behind the competition is to push the boundaries of integrated product design by combining Philips’ technological know-how with the creativity of 200 young minds. Marin Licina and his team created a revolutionary design for Philips’ recently launched AirFryer, a device that fries food using hot air instead of oil.

Marin’s concept, based on interviews with mothers regularly cooking at home, sought to take into consideration the two main psychological factors behind the preparation of food: to feel like a great cook and to ‘feed love’ to one’s family. His goal was to use the next-gen Air Fryer to enable zen-moments: a detachable light-emitting knob ‘breathes’ when the device is operating. Remotely connected to the pan, it can be taken away, allowing to relax for a while until the device vibrates, telling you that the food is ready.

The device is controlled by a portable control knob

In order to improve flexibility and add a touch of nostalgic old-school cooking, Marin’s design is an abstract fusion of a Le Creuset casserole pan and a Multi-mixer with different attachments: all the technology is hidden in the lid. This way, many types of bowls can be placed in order to make many types of foods: fried, but also sauce-based foods, pizzas, grilled food, cooking pastas and more. The food can be served directly from the bowl, reducing the cleaning efforts.

Commenting on Marin’s winning design, Alcides Marques, senior Design Manager at Philips, said: “There’s two things I thought when I saw Marin’s movie. First: Wow. I want to buy this. Second: Damn, I wish I had designed this.” After all, people want meaningful experiences, not blunt technology.

Wladimir Nikoluk is a Sandbox Community Manager. After 6 weeks in Zurich, he is still constantly inspired by the energy and creativity of the Sandbox community.

This post was written by Sandboxer Philipp Moehring and published on his blog – find the original version here.

I bought a Kindle about a month ago, and it was the best gadget purchase in a long while. I read about a hundred pages per day on it, because I take it everywhere (and I always think “it’s awesome” when I see it lying on my table).
I actually pre-ordered it when it was announced, but reneged on my decision to get the 3G version – which stupidly put me at the back of the waiting list when I reconsidered.

Why is it awesome

Reading on it is great. Period. I prefer it to a book now – here’s why:
• It’s smaller and lighter than a book and fits in a coat pocket easily. I just have it with me all the time and take it out on every bus or tube ride.
• It’s better to hold in one hand than a book. You can grab it at every corner and you dont have to awkwardly bend the spine by spreading your fingers.
• The screen is perfect for text. Forget an iPad for reading a book (or lots of them, for that matter) – it will strain your eyes.
• You have all that stuff with you – books, magazines, articles. I always travelled with at least one non fiction and one fiction book, and got the economist and some fun magazine at the airport. Lots of dead trees to lug around – not anymore.
• I use Instapaper like a madman now. You can bookmark long articles on the web and they are automatically synced. My own personalised magazine, and givemesomethingtoread.com has great content (hat tip to Johannes).
• Do not think iPad vs Kindle – purpose, size, weight, value, and most importantly the screen are not comparable. You buy this to read books. Think discman vs iPod.
• Doing only one thing means you are focused, and it carries over from a paper book. You can’t do anything but read with that, either.
• I love buying books, and paper, and the smell, and all that. I am not missing it at all. I own a ton of vinyl, but I love my iPod – you get the point.

Features and 3G Version

I’ve yet to put a value on a lot of features like notes, clippings, and the 3G usage. I am only reading on it, and I am already hooked. The question of 3G or not is not really important – if you can afford the extra 40 pounds, just get the 3G version, I am sure you’re only gonna miss it when travelling a lot.
I like simplifying my life, and scratching the huge bookcase from my moving list feels great. Get your partner one for Christmas (I hope Isa doesn’t read my blog).

Oh, and check out my case:

I have been a Digital-Artists, a person that works with 3D-Applications trying to rebuild reality every day. But the way such an Artist works on this artificial reality feels well, very unreal.
It seems as if you have virtual clay in front of you, but in order to mold the clay in your hand, you need to break down your interaction into serialized steps for move, zoom, rotate and work. All of this with a Computer-Mouse that was invented at a time nobody ever thought of using a computer for 3D.

Today I am an Interaction Designer and I know that the work I am doing with my team will have a major impact on the way Digital-Artists work in the future. We have been able to create a new 3D-Controller that will give Digital-Artists a better connection to their work through a new way of holding virtual clay in their hand without any serialized steps.

In order to explain the impact of this controller, let’s have a quick look at what’s already out there: 30 years ago, a research institution called German Center for Aerospace (DLR) developed the SpaceMouse. It is in my eyes the only useable 3D-Controller for Desktops so far. The original intention of the DLR was to control robotic-arms in space and therefore the project went on a space-shuttle mission. This controller went on to be marked as “approved in space” and became a 3D-Controller long before computers were fast enough for artistic use in 3D. It is a controller for technical constructions built by technical engineers.

But in 30 years a lot has changed in software and computers. Computer games are nearly photorealistic, movies can be 100% virtual but look totally real.

Such realities need software that make it possible to create them in a very artistic way. Tools like Zbrush were designed to make use of today’s computing power in your desktop and let you work on your 3D-objects like you would sculpture in reality. Software like Bodypaint and Mari let you paint on 3D-Surfaces in a way you would texture objects in reality. This kind of software make movies like Avatar possible. Today 3D-tools looks more and more like sculpturing workshops, than technical construction-sites.

But the more artistic the work becomes, the bigger the need for new methods of interaction that feel natural and precise enough for those artistic needs.

True artists are simply not well enough connected to their virtual world. Their workflow demands them to hold and rotate objects with the precision their hand has, while the other hand works on the object on the graphics tablet simultaneously. These are the requirements of an up to date 3D-Controller, and these thoughts have driven me to be part of the 3D-Spheric-Mouse Project.

3D-Spheric-Mouse from Valentin Heun on Vimeo.

Unlike any other 3D-Controller the 3D-Spheric-Mouse uses a ball that gives you absolute control over your virtual work. This ball represents your virtual object which moves in the way you move the ball. However any rotation you perform with this ball will be transferred 1:1 to your virtual rotation. It lets you use the possibility of your hand to rotate objects, like you would really hold them in your hand. All movements are controlled by your fingers and not just by your hand. Because the 3D-Spheric-Mouse has such a direct connection to your virtual work, using it feels as natural as drawing with a pen tablet.

After having solved all the problems linked to this kind of technology and patented it, we can finally present a beautiful product.

It is ready to conquer the world and help 3D-artists to have a better connection with their everyday work.

Now we are looking for partners to help us to scale the project up to a level it deserves.

Find us on http://www.axsotic.com

Anna Lee Anda is from New Zealand residing in Australia while completing her MSc in Information Systems. Anna Lee on Twitter.

Tell us the story of your latest project.

Currently my thesis is exploring ways technology can encourage people to exercise more, the focus with my research is using mobile applications, a running program specifically for young people with mental illness, I will also be looking at motivating young people without mental illness. I’m also involved with The Hive as I’m interested in entrepreneurship and fostering in the community. I help with the online communications to the members. We are a not-for-profit and we volunteer our time to organise it, as do the speakers who come and pass on the pearls of wisdom to the members.

What are you doing and how did you get there?

I moved to Melbourne to do my Masters after having a difficult time graduating at the peak of the global financial crisis and used the move to get involved with as many things as this beautiful city has to offer.

Tell us about the biggest successes and failures in your life. What worked, what didn’t, and what did you learn?

When I completed my undergraduate studies, during my summer vacation I took the initiative to organise a fundraising cocktail party for the Christchurch Community Hospital a local hospital desperately in need of funds of which my friends and I got everything sponsored and all money was able to go directly to the hospital. I think it was great to get business support, have fun and in turn give it all back to the community. I haven’t had major failures, touch wood. I believe you can turn any failure into an opportunity, lesson or simply put turn it into an experience.

What do you want to achieve in the next week, the next year, the next 10 years?

Next week – I’d like to get more reading done related to my research Next year – It’s time for me to do more travel and also find a job which is aligned with my studies. I love the idea of working for a start up, the culture really suits the way I think and how I do things.

What was your most inspring moment during the last two weeks?

I went to the Hive talk from the founder of a social entrepreneurship which he is trying to make self sustainable, all profits going to both local and foreign aid. I think it’s great when people go for it, risking it all for a quite unselfish goal.

How could other Sandboxers and the outside world support you and why would that be exciting for them.

It would be good to talk to other people who have the same interests in HCI or it would be those who know about work opportunities in the future.

Anna Lee’s favorites:

- book – The Alchemist – Paulo Coelho

- movie – Amelie

- place on earth – Spain

- travel destination during last year – Cairns, Australia

- food – my mother’s cooking – failing that, char kway teow (fried noodle dish originating from my mother’s home town)

- drink – non-alcholic – ginger tea, alcoholic – 42 Below Manuka Honey with Ginger beer

- quote – And, when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it. – from The Alchemist

A lot of traveling happening in the Sandbox team right now. Antoine just came from Singapore where we hosted an event with the Minister of Entrepreneurship (huge thanks to Sandboxer Andi Brenner for the amazing organization!), and our team will be at Digital, Life, Design Conference in Munich and at the World Economic Forum in Davos next week.

Please drop us a line if you’ll be in Munich or Davos, we’ll be hosting a Sandbox dinner in both cities. Sandbox member Suhas Gopinath will be speaking at DLD and is a Young Global Leader of the WEF.  Marc Bernegger,  Co-Founder of Amiando (Europe’s leading event organization platform) was selected as a “Technology Pioneer 2010” by the World Economic Forum as the only company from Germany.

Congratulations to our fellow Sandboxers from Poken for winning Best European / Real World Gadget.

Furthermore congrats to Amiando for being “highly commended” in the category Best Web Application Or Service and to the founders of Amiando Felix Haas, Armin Bauer, Markus Eichinger, Dennis von Ferenczy, Sebastian Baerhold and Sandboxer Marc Bernegger for being listed as finalists in the category Best Startup Founder(s).

Our good friends from Amazee and Doodle got listed as “highly commended” in the categories Best Social Innovation (which benefits society) – (Amazee) and Best Bootstrapped Startup (less than 3 years old) – (Doodle).

A complete list of winners and finalists can be found here.

source: http://io9.com

There is a lot of research done on energy saving, but it leaves a wide field open to innovators, imagining revolutionary appliances for old and new technologies. When I heard about this floor transforming movement into energy, I tried to imagine other places or things that we use, where energy is lost, that could be collected instead. What about a computer that would re-load it’s battery when typing on the keyboard?

An average person types between 30-50 words per minute. Considering that the average word is 4 to 6 letters long – say 5, typing on a computer equals pushing down a button 150 to 250 times per minute. Wouldn’t that produce enough energy to power a notebook, or at least increase its battery life? Plus it would have a wonderful effect on our productivity: imagine you’re 5 hours in the plane without a power plug. Should you rather watch a 2 hour movie, or frenetically type this report you should have done weeks ago, which would keep your battery going for the whole journey?

What are some other ways we can apply this technology?
What could be other ways to easily save energy in our daily life?

This article has been cross-posted on the IncuTANK blog.