Bit sized tasks [Volunteerism]
A platform called "The Extraordinaries," allows people who have even a few minutes of time to volunteer for a cause. With an iPhone app, volunteers donate their time. The for profit company gets paid from nonprofits who are looking to outsource these micro-tasks.
Pretty cool.
The Benjamin Button Effect [Immortality]
Scientists have found a jellyfish (Turritopsis nutricula) that may have unlocked the keys to immortality. It has the uncanny ability to revert back to a sexually immature stage right after it reaches sexual maturity.
Basically, it yo-yos between adult and teenage years.
While the possibility of immortality certainly has its draws, I'm not sure I want to live my life between the ages of 14 and 20 forever.
HT: Telegraph
Crowd-Sourced Mapping [Bing]
I've been a fan of Photosynth since I first heard of it during a TED presentation. While traveling to Jordan, I made a synth of El-Dier Monastery in Petra (Transformer 2). With geotagging, this will help to create a visually stunning and detailed user experience.
To compete with Google Maps, Microsoft has laced photosynth technology to create Bing Maps. Competition is always good. Both Google and Microsoft have been making incredible improvements to their mapping technology.
You can read more about it at Fastcompany.