"Round up" to make a difference

With the possibility of the "big issue" entering digital publishing, how can we ensure the unemployed continue to get the same share of profits? Sure there will continue to be hard copies available and people will continue to support this initiative, so does this mean a digital version is moot?

This has made me think about digital "change". 2cents, 5 cents. Small amounts in a physical sense, and when added up by thousands of people could end up being a substancial amount to homeless. Where do we find lots of change? Supermarkets!

With all supermarket electronic purchases, we could round up to the closest dollar or next dollar. The remaining change gets donated to a homeless fund. It could simply be a matter of those at the checkout asking "Would you like to round up for the homeless?" Hitting a button if the answer is yes, and an automatic calculation rounding up to the nearest dollar. A maximum donation would be capped at $1.

Which supermarket will be the first to take on this initiative?

The ipad face of melbourne photoshoot

To celebrate the release of the Apple Ipad in Melbourne, i'm inviting all new owners to Federation square on Saturday June 26st, 2010 @ 2pm to take part in the Ipad face of Melbourne photoshoot.


What to bring:

1. You apple ipad
2. A distinguishing portait of yourself uploaded to your ipad.
3. An apple (to be donated to the local homeless shelter).

Allow Myki tickets to "rollover"

Mobile phone users have long benefited from "rollover" plans where unused credit is rolled over to the next month. This benefits the user,when their usage is lower, for instance when they are on holidays.

With the introduction of myki the time is ripe to introduce this same scheme to public transport users. This initiative is all about expanding the public transport user base from office workers and students, to more casual users, that would otherwise catch a car. Obviously there should be limits on the rollover, similar to what telcos do, say two consecutive months, so casual users have incentives to travel more.

The thought process in this is casual users are hesitant to buy longer term tickets knowing their travel plans are sporadic. Giving them a safety net of 2 months to use their ticket should enourage them to make a longer term commitment to public transport usage. Hence providing a piecemeal step by step transition into becoming a permenant public transport user.

By also enforcing myki "touch" off to participate in this "rollover" initiative, the goverment provides an incentive for Melburnians to learn the touch off system. In the long run, benefiting the system by providing a better understanding of public transport user profiles.

Making myki a politcal winner - Single zone for all tram lines

Pakula's faced with a problem. Myki won't function properly on trams, let alone buses. Supposedly a "canyoning" effect is being blamed on cbd buildings for the poor reliability. I don't buy it, and besides there's a work around that could be a real political winner. Make the tram network a single zone.



That's right, lets turn this myki mess into a vote winner in an election year by making trams a single zone. This means abolishing the city saver ticket, which will dissapoint some people, but it also means abolishing zone 2 pleasing others.  Loss in revenue from one can hopefully offset the other.  Even Stevens!



Besides this initiative will have several other benefits. It will make the tram system simpler and easier to understand. It could boost patronage. It will make Melbourne a lot more accessible, especially to international students travelling to and from Latrobe Bundoora or Deakin Burwood. Importantly it simplifies the myki money calculation improving its reliability and allowing us to use myki on trams!! That's right this initiative will kill two birds with one stone. Liberals are you listening? Make it policy!!



The way I see it, the tram network is mostly inner city (zone 1) with only a few lines crossing into zone 2. Forcing people in Bundoora, Box Hill and Vermont South to pay a full zone 1+2 fare into or out of the city for an extremely slow ride can't be justified.

Odour masking clothing?

Surprise surprise another Australian innovation, this time from King Gee. King Gee have combined with CSIRO to develop an odour masking clothing using nanotechnology. Full article here. So what does this mean for water consumption? Can it be now acceptable for people to take less showers? Possibly not, for health reasons. But it does mean people can ride and walk to work more often without worrying too much about bad body odour. Let's hope this technology matures quickly and integrated into everyday clothing.

Ipads as tiles

Melbourne architectural firm ClarkeHopkinsClarke has come up with a novel way to use ipads, as mosaic walls! While the energy efficiency of the wall concept is questionable expanding this concept to a single tile in bathrooms and laundries could pave the way for water and energy efficiency improvements.

Could a mosaic ipad tile be used in the bathroom to calculate and CONTROL our water usage? Could a mosaic ipad tile be used in the laundry to show us the weather forecast, and prevent us from using the dyer?

Information or the lack of it is very important in controlling our behaviours. Let's get more information out there & make a personal difference.

Noise Cameras for main roads

There are various solutions to noise eminating from main roads. The house owner can add sound insulation via double glazing, thick curtains and a fence to block off the noise. The other option is to complain to the government and make changes in laws, requiring cars to emit a certain db level. The next step is to properly police these laws with noise cameras. Cars driving past residential areas that exceed 60 dB after midnight would have their number plates captured on camera.

The fine? A forced modification of their cars to meet strict noise regulations.