white spaces

White Spaces Together with Vivid Sydney Present IF Talks: Making Ideas Happen

Courtney van der Weyden — Thu, 23 May 2013 02:13:37 +0000

Gathering panelists with experience in getting ideas into action across Australia and the world. June 6 | Museum of Contemporary Art Australia MCA Lounge | 7.30 pm

From a comedian, innovation specialist, digital marketer, cancer fighter,…

A Zero Energy House

Courtney van der Weyden — Wed, 22 May 2013 02:33:36 +0000

The Soleta House is a prototype in a line of eco-friendly homes currently on display in Bucharest, Romania outside of the American embassy. The quasi-open plan house includes high-tech, clean energy systems that can be controlled with a smart…

Recharge Your Business

Angelique Milojevic — Wed, 22 May 2013 01:52:04 +0000

Sometimes, or often, you need to stop doing in order to move yourself and your business forward. It might sound contradictory because it’s the doing stuff that get results, right? But the ‘doing’ part of business doesn’t always get…

Why a bit of ‘Niggle’ is Important…

The Bull — Tue, 21 May 2013 23:48:11 +0000

A not often discussed but nevertheless critical ingredient for any successful and enduring business relationship is a bit of ‘niggle’. Notice I said ‘a bit’. I don’t mean it in a negative way but rather in …

PRO Files: The Critical Creative Society

Courtney van der Weyden — Mon, 20 May 2013 03:49:47 +0000

PRO Files is a new addition to White Spaces that will feature short films of people we deem of interest. It is a collaboration with 85 Productions. 85 Productions consist of a team of two that work in unison to create content that positions and…

The birth of ART…for Opportunities: An Interview with the Founder

Courtney van der Weyden — Fri, 17 May 2013 00:31:17 +0000

White Spaces recently sat down and spoke with ART for Opportunities (AFO) founder Lauren Ivery about her not for profit that was envisioned during a recent trip to the Thai-Burma border. Now a reality, AFO is raising much deserved funds…

A House Powered by Exercise

Courtney van der Weyden — Wed, 15 May 2013 03:21:05 +0000

Spanish design firm Elii has created the JF-Kit House, based on “an image of a possible future where citizens produce part of their domestic energy requirements with their own physical activities.”

Each room in the concept…

Argentina Ghost Town Re-Emerges

Courtney van der Weyden — Wed, 15 May 2013 00:52:52 +0000

An Argentinian town that was underwater for a quarter of a century has re-emerged as an eerie ghost town that according to the New York Daily looks like a bizarre, post-apocalyptic landscape that captures a traumatic moment in time.

The Epecuen…

Management Evolution

Marina Paronetto — Wed, 15 May 2013 00:34:21 +0000

Organizations are comfortable with the term ‘Manager’, but very rarely, maybe never I hear ‘Facilitator’. Managers usually implement projects, strategies, sometimes a vision. They are required to minimise waste, allocate resources…

Creative Start-ups find Home in Abandoned gas Station

Courtney van der Weyden — Mon, 13 May 2013 02:11:41 +0000

A retro style gas station in Los Feliz, Los Angeles is on the fast track to becoming a community orientated, multi-purpose space. It will be radically transformed into a ‘marketplace where start-up companies and individuals can…

App Transforms iPhone into Hearing Aid

Courtney van der Weyden — Mon, 13 May 2013 00:30:57 +0000

UK-based BioAid is an iPhone app that provides hearing impaired with a means to amplify the sounds within their environment. It transforms the iOS into a wearable hearing aid with the use of headphones. The way in which it works is quite simple.…

You get What you Tolerate…

The Bull — Sun, 12 May 2013 22:59:50 +0000

One of the hardest things to do in business is to let people go. It’s never an enjoyable task and most of us will have a few sleepless nights building up to it. We’ll also internally debate whether it’s “easier” just to persevere with…

Art Meets Science: Masks Created from Strangers DNA

Courtney van der Weyden — Thu, 09 May 2013 02:56:34 +0000

Information artist Heather Dewey-Hagborg has created a rather bizarre series of sculptures for her project Stranger Visions. The sculptures are based on pieces of information; DNA that has been extracted from objects located in public…

Ad uses Photographic Trick to Make it Visible only to Children

Courtney van der Weyden — Wed, 08 May 2013 02:10:07 +0000

Spanish organisation Aid to Children and Adolescents at Risk has created a bus stop advert that displays two different messages to adults and children simultaneously. Two messages are shown using lenticular photography technology that…

For the Family, Friends and Supporters

Rebekah Campbell — Wed, 08 May 2013 00:01:17 +0000

Every so often, an aspiring entrepreneur reaches out to ask for advice. Last week I met with a young man called Mark who contacted me on LinkedIn. He was passing through New York and heard I was here. Mark had a great startup idea and a well-formulated…

FailCon Comes to Sydney this May for Vivid Sydney

Courtney van der Weyden — Tue, 07 May 2013 02:19:46 +0000

It’s time to stop being afraid of failure and start embracing it! Brought you by 6.2 | An Innovation Lab and held in conjunction with Vivid Sydney, FailCon Sydney is a conference celebrating failure, shared through stories by fascinating…

What do you Dislike in Business?

The Bull — Mon, 06 May 2013 01:36:47 +0000

I was once asked what I disliked in business. There are a few things but my pet hate is when customers don’t pay their bills on time. It’s even worse when clear payment expectations are agreed up-front, the goods or service are delivered…

Tech Company bans Email

Courtney van der Weyden — Fri, 03 May 2013 02:05:04 +0000

Nara’s vision is to humanise the internet and they way we search for information. The company seeks to make the internet more personalised through search recommendations and by eliminating the distracting noise that can interfere…

Empirical Innovation

Rui Rodrigues — Wed, 01 May 2013 01:02:31 +0000

People say that if you want to achieve things no one else has achieved you should do things no one else does. True, but you can always get some inspiration from specific contexts that have already generated some innovative thinking and who knows…

PivotDesk: Helping Start-ups who Need Space

Courtney van der Weyden — Wed, 01 May 2013 00:00:50 +0000

PivotDesk is a new online platform seeking to eliminate one of the biggest barriers start-ups face, finding suitable office space. The website is able to streamline the process for budding entrepreneurs and supports online transactions…

Citizens Collaborate for Smart Water Management

Courtney van der Weyden — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 03:35:39 +0000

IBM is leveraging the crowd In South Africa to keep track of water infrastructure and sources with their latest tool WaterWatchers. Launched on World Water Day in the City of Tshwane, the aim of the project is to help capture, share and analyse…

It Pays to be Dogged

The Bull — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 00:14:46 +0000

A while ago I was involved in getting a business out of voluntary administration. Eventually we only had one minor matter to deal with to allow us to complete the deal – we had to obtain a routine, written consent from a small counter-party.…

Splitsecnd, Your Emergency Contact

Courtney van der Weyden — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 00:39:04 +0000

Splitsecnd is a GPS-enabled key that instantly connects the driver of a vehicle to emergency personnel when an accident occurs. It significantly reduces the time it takes for life-saving care to reach victims. It is simply plugged into the…

What Would Entice you to Move to a Shrinking City

Courtney van der Weyden — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 23:26:46 +0000

The Niagara Falls Community Development Department is bringing a new generation of engaged youth into the town. The department is currently accepting applications for ‘urban pioneers’, luring them with the promise…

Good, Fast and Cheap – pick any two…

The Bull — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 02:37:48 +0000

A few weeks ago I was in a $2 Shop listening to a customer berating the sales assistant because the $3 toy they had bought 10 days ago no longer worked. It would have been amusing had it not been for how strident the customer had been with their…

Platform to Diagnose Medical Conditions

Courtney van der Weyden — Fri, 19 Apr 2013 01:43:21 +0000

CrowdMed uses the collective intelligence of hundreds of ‘medical detectives’ to assist in solving the world’s most difficult and unusual medical cases with the implementation of their online platform. The company…

How Oakley Tested their Wearable Platform

Courtney van der Weyden — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 23:39:03 +0000

Earlier this year Oakley introduced new product Airwave to their range that propelled goggle design and technology to the next level. With a built-in heads up display in the form of a fourteen inch feed that integrates GPS and bluetooth, …

Forensic Artists Proves Women don’t know Their own Beauty

Courtney van der Weyden — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 03:52:59 +0000

Dove’s public relations and marketing campaign Real Beauty launched in 2004. Ogilvy Toronto has breathed new life into the campaign enlisting the support and talent of a forensic artist. Artist Gil Zamora was employed to draw sketches…

Why Collaboration is Hard (and critical)

Josie Gibson — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 23:55:38 +0000

“No one can whistle a symphony.” HE Luccock

Nearly five decades ago, Gordon Moore noted a phenomenon that’s survived the passage of time.

The capacity of the integrated circuit had doubled nearly every year since …

The Meteoric Rise of Creative Professional Networking site, The Loop

White Spaces — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 23:41:30 +0000

LINKEDIN, FOR THE COOL KIDS

Late last week The Loop, Australia’s leading professional networking platform for the creative sector, relaunched ahead of expanding operations to the UK.

Sydney start-up The Loop is the brainchild of MTV…

Monocle Opens Cafe in London

Courtney van der Weyden — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 04:22:25 +0000

Global affairs magazine Monocle launched in London, 2009. It publishes ten issues a year, has a solid online presence and took to the air in 2011 with a twenty-four hour radio station. It was during 2011 that the publication launched their…

Words to Live by?

The Bull — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 01:21:33 +0000

One of the most enjoyable movies I have seen in a while is Act of Valor. It is a salute to the US Special Forces and the “stars” are active-duty Navy Seals. This makes it unique and lends an incredible sense of reality to the movie taking the viewers…

Announcing The Rise & Rise of Made Better in China

Ben Rennie — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 04:49:03 +0000

At a recent conference for the Australian Tourism Industry, I was asked to speak about consumer behaviour and emerging trends. During my research, all roads led to China.

The travel industry in Australia is in a good place. After…

Cafe Drive-in for Cyclists

Courtney van der Weyden — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 03:45:40 +0000

The Zurich city council has installed the ‘Velokafi’; a drive in platform for cyclists. Housed on the terrace of the Rathaus Cafe, are two wooden docking stations with tabletops, complete with a slot at the front that enables …

The Future of Passwords

Courtney van der Weyden — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 01:00:41 +0000

In the not to distant future it may be possible to access private and restricted information with a thought, known as ‘pass thoughts’ and will replace the need for passwords. This new body of research has been conducted at the University…

Don’t Give UP

Angelique Milojevic — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 01:39:38 +0000

In the early phases of attempting to grow a business, it’s chaotic. There never seems to be enough time, your energy is constantly drained, you have limited resources, it’s manic. You have to put out fires quickly before the next one pops…