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Are Plastic Water Bottles Finished?

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I practice yoga, running, and cycling several times a week (mainly to stay sane). For my yoga practice, I typically visit the TruYoga studios because it’s convenient – they’re downstairs from my office – and the roster of rotating teachers is incredible. Lately, I’ve been branching out a bit by taking advantage of Groupons and other deals in an effort to try new styles and mix it up a bit.

I noticed in tonight’s class over at Core Power Yoga that the studio offered bottled water to drink – but it was in glass containers, not plastic. It’s such a simple idea that makes so much sense. We already know that plastic bottles are not only toxic but wasteful.  It was great to see a little system in place where glass bottles were implemented. There was definitely some style happening there, too!

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When Relations Become Contextual

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Niche-based friendships – we already know they exist.

I have a girlfriend who’s a total foodie. Now, she’s not particularly health conscious or loves to cook – she simply loves to know everything about restaurants, worldly cuisine, and things like deals on produce. My theory is this: the reason she’s obsessed with food is because she’s obsessed with knowledge.

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Thoughts on Geolocation, Privacy, And The Advancement Of Technology

Apple and Google are both being sued under the recent discovery that the iPhone and Android smartphones track users wherever they go. 

Apple stated that they have never tracked users’ locations, but admitted to a bug that inherently collects user data by logging a complete history of travels by way of timestamped latitude and longitude. This week, they announced a software update that prevents the iPhone and iPad from storing these movements.

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Towncraft: Documenting A Music Scene In Little Rock, Arkansas

This post is syndicated from Yahoo! Music’s AS HEARD ON.

In 1986 there wasn’t much to do in the town of Little Rock, Arkansas. Out of boredom with their scene and armed with an intense interest in what was happening musically in the rest of the country, a group of local kids got together to create music. The result sounded like nothing they’d ever heard before, and created a spark that ignited a powerful underground scene in the unlikely conservative southern town. The scene rapidly grew over the next two decades and reverberated through the country, contributing to genres like punk, rockabilly, indie rock, and beyond.

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Call & Response: Rethinking Storytelling in Video

Here are a couple of quick wireframes I mocked up for a really cool contest hosted over at MediaShift’s Idea Lab, in conjunction with The Knight Mozilla News Technology Partnership. These ideas demonstrate how new web video tools can transform storytelling in the news. From APIs to Creative Commons, live-streaming tools to interactive maps, we now have the ability to craft stories in new and compelling ways. And when it comes to video, the opportunities are endless!

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Twitter And The Power Of Public Conversation

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Ah, the things we’re doing at this very moment. Some of us are in the office, others are at home with the kids. Some of us are traveling on a bus or a plane, and others are reading in a cafe. Our actions become symmetric as we balance each another out, flowing seamlessly through our day-to-day actions in a steady stream of life.

As for me? I’m perched at my kitchen table on a late Sunday morning. NPR news is streaming to the stereo. The window is open and tentative sounds of spring drift in. I’m eating half a grapefruit and debating on pouring myself another cup of french press as I occasionally gaze out the window, debating going to yoga at some point later in the day.

OR

“News. Coffee. Sunshine. Writing. Yoga soon. #SPRINGhasSPRUNG”

In certainly well over 140 characters you’ve gotten the gist that, well, I’m not doing much. And whether you take my general communicato with an extra shot of espresso or a whole lotta foam (likely the latter), we can acknowledge that Twitter grants us the ability to comment on our thoughts and actions freely and instinctively, as they occur.

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When Old Is New Again: From Cassettes To Multicolored Vinyl

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This post is syndicated from Yahoo! Music Stop the Presses!

Monetizing music ain’t what it used to be. In an age where digital music files are easily ripped, downloaded and distributed, the urge to pay for that great new album has steadfastly declined.

Alongside torrents, mixtapes, and social websites like Hype Machine, Exfm and We Are Hunted, streaming services like Rdio, Rhapsody, MOG and Spotify make music discovery easy.  It’s been reported that with an annual growth rate of nearly 95%, subscribers to cloud-based music services will exceed 161 million in 2016.

This makes it easier for an artist to share their work with the masses  – but how can the same artist pay the bills with the concept of free?

When it comes to the actual making money part, bands have no choice but to get creative. And many are doing just that – by inventing new channels and resurrecting familiar ones.

The indie-rock band Radiohead is perhaps the ultimate example of exploring new distribution opportunities in the 21st century. In 2007, they incorporated a “pay what you want” model for the album In Rainbows.

For their recent release The King Of Limbs, the band decided to offer up several options.  The album will come in two digital formats – either 320 kbps MP3s ($9) – or CD-quality, uncompressed WAV files ($14). For the super fan, the third and pricier option is a newspaper album ($48 + $53). It offers  MP3s or WAVs along with vinyl, CD, several large sheets of artwork, 625 tiny pieces of artwork and a full-color piece of degradable plastic to hold it all together.

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Shiny Toy Guns Heart Social Media; Yelawolf

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With the return of original singer Carah Faye, the electronic indie rock band Shiny Toy Guns are back in a big way. Carah’s return was announced last month and the single “The Sun” was recently released on their site.

I had the chance to chat with Carah and Jeremy on a Sunday afternoon a few weeks back during Grammy weekend. After a late night on the town, I met the duo for coffee in Hollywood where we chatted about the rebirth of Shiny Toy Guns, their upcoming album, all things social media…and their love of Eminem’s new artist Yelawolf!

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