Google has just announced a new project:  Project 10^100 (pronounced "Project 10 to the 100th"), which is a global call for ideas to change the world by helping as many people as possible.  Here’s how it works.  You submit your idea by October 20th.  Google will cull through everything and post 100 ideas.  Starting on January 27, 2009, the world starts voting on those to choose 20 semi-finalists.  From there, an advisory board will choose 5 finalists.  Then, Google will spend at least $10 M implementing those final 5 ideas. 

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Just a quick update on the happenings at Jetson Green.  First, you may have noticed that the URL is shorter and easier.  I’m using www.jetsongreen.com now, so feel free to update your links (although the old ones will still work).  Second, this website is growing like crazy.  I love hearing about new projects from architects and developers.  I appreciate all the tips!!  With over 1,100 feedreaders and roughly 30,000 unique visitors per month, I’m constantly trying to think of ways to offer more and better content.  To that end, I’m looking for the perspective of additional writers:

• Paid Green Business/Real Estate Writer – I’m looking for someone that can write about 1x per week about how businesses are greening their real estate.  This writer would be capable of writing about companies like we’ve done in the past with Coca Cola, Office Depot, Best Buy, etc.  Maybe you’re a green commercial developer or a LEED AP business consultant.  I want you to write with us.
• Paid Green Interior Design Writer – I’m looking for someone that can write about 1x per week on the subtle details inside home and work spaces.  The perfect writer has an eye for modern, contemporary, cutting edge style and can write about paints, flooring options, countertops, tiles, etc.  This writer would be capable of writing about materials like VitraStone or Trend Q.  Maybe you’re a contractor, remodeler, or interior designer.  I want you to write with us. 
• Guest Writers  – I’m also looking for some unpaid guest writers that like the material on Jetson Green and want to contribute their own similar ideas.  Maybe you only want to write one or two articles, or maybe you want to write more.  We can talk about it. 

I look forward to hearing from anyone that may be interested.  Email me at jetsongreen at yahoo.com.  Just for disclosure, paid writers are independent contractors, paid monthly, on a per post basis. 

What does the future have in store for us?  In whose hands will design be?  What economic trends will prevail?  Bruce Sterling provides the answers to some of these questions.  But some of the answers are hard to understand.  He foresees monumental changes in the world of design:  a transformation of conventional users, with their currently available user-alterable gizmos, into “wranglers” with blobjects, spimes, and arphids in their pockets and briefcases. 

To visualize some of this future world, take a gander at Sterling’s web video: The Spime Arrives.  Someday, there will be a world where products are designed, visualized, and ordered online.  Consumers may be able to see products manufactured and shipped.  And products will be made of renewable, recycled materials, hailing from the closest, most efficient location.  Plus, when the product ceases to be useful, the manufacturer will take it back from us with a smile.  Trash will diminish, the loop will close.  This is a world where everything is downloadable.  Metadata is valuable and enables solutions. 

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