This week, we’ve mostly been looking for interesting uses of collaborative technology: the brain gym happens to be an exception to this, but given the recent challenge set to us by Design & Print, and that Anzac Day is all about the power of remembrance, we thought it fitting…

Enjoy

A

Route planner with a wiki twist
Our recent KPMG win got me to thinking about onboarding sites and how some companies add distinct value to their employer brand by making relocating a pleasant experience. If you are looking to get to know a new city, local knowledge is invaluable and it was in this context that I recently came across Simpatigo, a sort of mix between Google Maps, the Rough Guide and Time Out.

Users select beginning and ending points for a trip they’d like to take, along with which categories of attractions they’re interested in—historical, budget, kid-oriented or restaurants, for example. Simpatigo then returns map-based driving or walking instructions along with descriptions of the relevant points of interest along the route. Not only can users search for and get travel routes, but—in Wikitravel fashion—they can also input local attractions of their own, which then get added to those Simpatigo includes on its routes.

Simpatigo presently only covers the US. Perhaps we could create a version for Europe?

Be part of one of the biggest global experiments ever to take place on the Internet.

The idea behind Shutdown Day is to find out how many people can go without a computer for one whole day, and what will happen if we all participate. The date is 3rd May (a Saturday, obviously, as the world would implode if this was tried on a weekday), so you have plenty of time to fully charge your laptop’s batteries (is that cheating?).

Regardless of the idea, the website itself is a vision of the modern web in all its community-based, interactive glory:
> recent registrants’ Google map mashups (http://shutdownday.org/map/)
> embedded YouTube videos (with calls to action to add your own – http://youtube.com/user/shutdownday)
> social networking applications (https://login.facebook.com/group.php?gid=12202129911)
> drag and drop interface (customise what information is displayed)
> user comments and a blog

What do cows have to do with being organised?
Remember The Milk is a to-do list manager. Are you excited yet? You should be – it’s a simple idea elegantly executed, enabling you to effectively manage your daily tasks from a number of platforms including the website itself, Google Calendar, iGoogle, Twitter, iPod Touch and Blackberry.

Applications like this give you a real sense of the move towards the web as a platform capable of providing functionality as well or better than desktop software, and reminds us all that the web has moved well beyond static pages of information.

Brain Gyms for Boomers
Health and exercise is front page news at the moment, spearheaded by a clever PR campaign for the Nintendo Wii game (cunningly labelled Wii Fit). For those of us who enjoy a more cerebral approach to exercising, what better way to keep your brain sharp than a weekly visit to the Brain Gym: sounds ridiculous? Well consider this – Nintendo Brain Gym has sold over 10 million copies worldwide and has spawned a generation of copycat alternatives; we created a brain exercising tool for HBOS and the medical community believes that there are links between your brain age and good mental health.

Anyhow, some smart cats from San Francisco have created a workout centre for the brain, based on the ever burgeoning health club model. Gone are the treadmills, free weights, exercise bikes and dreaded ergos, to be replaced with a suite of computers and other tools designed to keep a brain well-tuned. If you can get past the site design and cheesy photos, the idea makes a great deal of sense. If the idea catches on, I can see it being added to the David Lloyd or Canons’ facilities.

The Anzac Day tribute
They shall grow not old,
As we that are left grow old,
Age shall not weary them,
Nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun,
And in the morning
We will remember them.
Lest we Forget