Summer of Smart Sustainability: Hackathon 3

A reader reached out to me to let me know about the Summer of Smart Sustainability sponsored by the Gray Area Foundation For the Arts. This series of events have brought together individuals from different backgrounds interested in creating solutions to our commuting and transportation needs. They are looking at crowdsourcing, self reporting and sensor based solutions to find better ways to help people get around more effectively. If you have a laptop, the Android SDK and iOS SDK are free and if you have a techie background relatively easy to learn.

Also look at technologies from Nike such as the Nike+ GPS Sports Watch, Nike+ iPod and the Garmin Forerunner collect GPS data and can be used to track how many miles you DON"t drive and give encouragement. One of my favorite features of the Nike+ GPS Sportswatch is that it will remind you "Are we running today?" it may be possible to hack these devices to ask, as we not driving today. Battery life remains an issue, but we charge our phones nightly don't we.

Anyway, a world of opportunity out there. Too bad I found out too late.

Disclosure: I occasionally get notified of products, events, resources by PR agencies, companies, other bloggers, etc. My policy is to disclose the source of the information where there may be a commercial tie. Note: Commercial does not mean bad, these are legitimate ways of getting the word out. I will do my best to vet the product, event etc to determine if it is relevant to the audience of this blog. If I am unable to vet, I will simply note that I was informed and passing this along.