Every day at 3 p.m. there will be a So You Think You Can Dance competition. And at 5 p.m. is a Fastest Feet Competition, to see who can generate the most energy by moving their feet. On Friday and Saturday nights at 8 p.m. local b-girls and b-boys will spark one-on-one break-dance battles on the energy-generating floor. Throughout the Games, Club Energy will be measuring which country is able to generate the most power by dancing in the BC Power Smart Dance Challenge.

The Toyota TVC below features an animated showcase of the technology.

Your World Today reported on SDC’s invention in early 2008. The world’s first sustainable dance floor was installed at Club ‘WATT’ in Rotterdam – Holland. Through successful collaboration with the Technical University of Delft in the Netherlands, WATT sports the world’s first ‘Piezo-electricity’ dance floor. The dance floor harvests energy from the vibrations created by dancing clubbers and uses it to power the club’s own LED lighting.

The dance floor is not the only sustainable aspect of Club WATT. Dutch architect Henk Döll is the visionary behind the club’s design, and has creatively integrated the latest innovations in sustainability to reduce the use of energy and water and decrease waste production. He is a founding partner of project SDC (Sustainable Dance Club) along with ENVIU. The project aims to ‘green dance clubs worldwide’.

These are always interesting events, one of (if not the only) event where you can get to meet the who’s who of Halifax’s tech-savvy innovative minds. Here we have the bloggers, the advertising creatives, the software gurus, and the entrepreneur dreamers congregating in one location for a bevvy and a chat. They share information, exchange cards, and discuss ways for project collaborations. It’s a relaxed atmosphere, and one that encourages innovation and social collaboration.

One such innovation came from a couple of Halifax developers that I met today (@coryschop and @JessyO), who just today launched a new Twitter application called “Tweepler”. They were featured on TechCrunch.com, one of the most popular technology review blogs out there.

The review can be found here. You can click here to visit and try Tweepler, or click on their logo below.

Halifax is full of young, innovative entrepreneurs. Can you imagine the possibilities if the city actually focused on nurturing these initiatives and providing our local talent with the resources they need to grow and florish?

Joggins mention dates back to the 19th century and the visits of Sir Charles Lyell, the father of modern geology who proclaimed the Coal Age fossil exposure in Joggins as the ‘finest example in the world’. The fossils have been used in Darwin’s ‘On The Origin Of Species‘.

With all this history etched upon the fossil cliffs of this old mining community, it was only fitting to contrast it with a state-of-the-art research institute. As earth has documented the evolution of life in this area, it will now breath air and provide energy to one of Nova Scotia’s (and Canada’s) leading examples of sustainable design and architecture.

The technologies and green-design concepts used for the Joggins Fossil Center are showcased in the diagram below. The company behind this regional architectural icon is WHW Architects. Click Picture to enlarge.

More Pictures are below:

Joggins’ green roof:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T3bsY6Cfqsw

Business Week reporter Kenji Hall gives a good overview of the state of innovation in the mobile communication industry of Japan and the options that Apple may be negotiating with NTT DoCoMo, Japan’s largest wireless operator. You can read the full article here.

I remember reading about one of DoCoMo’s innovations back in early 2005. The ‘Finger Phone’ (called “Finger Whisper”) used bone vibrations to conduct sound instead of ear pieces. I4U News reported that the Finger Whisper phone is answered by touching forefinger to thumb and then by putting the forefinger in the ear to hear who is ringing. The call is ended by again touching forefinger to thumb. The phone has no keypad but users can make a call by saying out loud the number they want to reach.

DoCoMo was prototyping the phone in 2000 and had anticipated launching to retail by 2005. I haven’t heard much about it recently though. I wonder if Canadian consumers would ever be attracted to something like this. After all, seeing someone walking down the street with his finger in his ear is no more strange than seeing people pace around the side walk talking to themselves (the usefulness of hands-free communication still does not justify how ridiculous people look like when using a bluetooth ear piece in public, specially when their hands are visibly free to hold up the phone like the rest of us mobile-yielding common folk).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHRgno77tFA

A ’behind the scenes’ look at Microsoft Surface was presented in July 2007 by the folks at popularmechanics.com.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kr1O917o4jI

A German organization called ‘The Great Pyramid‘ is attempting to erect a pyramid structure to be the largest in the world.

Their website notes:

“The Great Pyramid can potentially be any human being’s grave or memorial site. As monumental as it is affordable, it serves those of all nationalities and religions. Individuals who are either unwilling or unable to have their physical remains buried there can also opt to have a memorial stone placed instead. Stones can be custom designed with any number of colors, images, or relief decorations. The Great Pyramid will continue to grow with every stone placed, eventually forming the largest structure in the history of man.

The Egyptian pyramids were build for eternity but only for one single person. This pyramid is open to every individual. Rather than hastily burying one another or allowing our ashes to be scattered, as a small stone in the pyramid we can remain part of our species’ constantly shifting and ever-expanding tableau.”

The website gives a size comparison and notes that all stones are identical in size and are positioned at random in the Great Pyramid. After only few thousand stones have been laid, the Great Pyramid will have reached massive proportions. Even if only a small percentage of all current and future living decide on a Great Pyramid stone, the monument will outsize the Giza Pyramids very soon. In only a few decades it will be the largest structure our civilization has ever built.

(Spotted on Trend Hunter)

Two days ago, BusinessWeek Magazine picked up the story and provided two more concept pictures that I did not include in my previous post. Given the popularity of the Masdar post (one of the most searched posts on the blog), I am posting the new pictures here.

Did I also mention that the Communications Manager of Masdar City is from Nova Scotia?

Masdar will be developed in phases centered on two plazas. The first stage includes construction of a 60-megawatt photovoltaic power plant that will supply electricity for constructing the rest of the city. This will be followed by a 130-acre main square. Foster finished the initial phase of master planning this spring.

Designers estimate that it will take 10 years to build out the entire city, but the phased approach will allow Masdar’s university to open by 2009, with 30 percent of the student population housed on site. Its students will be encouraged to participate in the development of the city while working on graduate degrees in sustainability.

Engadget, the premiere technology and electronics blog, is having a field day with this. Orbo hopefuls thought Steorn was waiting for the Live Earth Concert day to unveil the clean energy technology.

Steorn is a small technology firm based in Ireland. In 2006, Steorn claimed that it had developed a new, physics-defying, technology that produces free, infinite, clean energy. This claim, if proven, would violate the first law of thermodynamics and the law of conservation of energy, which establishes that energy can not be created or destroyed.

In explaining their claim, Steorn have further stated that, by ‘free’, they mean that “the energy produced is done so without recourse to external sources”. By clean they mean that “during operation the technology produces no emissions.” By constant, they mean that “with the exception of mechanical failure the technology will continue to operate indefinitely”. (Wikipedia Article)

In August 2006, Steorn took out a full-page ad on the Economist announcing their technology and challenging scientists to test it. (For the marketers here, a full-page ad on The Economist runs at about $160,000 USD for one issue). Since then, several PR stunts have been executed by Steorns contracted PR company Citigate Dewe Rogerson. (Click image below for full page Economist Ad).

With the cancellation of the demonstration, Orbo-believers have even less grounds to stand on, while the skeptics rejoice in “I told you so!” euphoria. As for myself, I am not sure yet if I should file Steorn in my ‘Crazies’ folder along with Raelians, Scientology, and MacDonald burgers that actually look like the picture.

MySpace was founded in 2003 by Tom Anderson & Chris DeWolfe. Two years later in 2005, Tom (then aged 28) and Chris sold MySpace to Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp for $580 Million.

Facebook was founded by Mark Zuckerburg, Chris Hughes, and Dustin Moskovitz, each currently 23 years old and pulling an approximate $50 Million in annual revenues from Facebook (2006 estimate).

These are examples of young techies who showed parents around the world that “playing with computers” can be a very profitable “sport” for their kids. (All photos were acquired from Wikipedia.com. Chris Hughes photo from Beet.tv)

And now, among Halifax’s hidden young tech stars, Rami Nasser, age 26, seems to be following in their shoes.

A self-described ‘web entrepreneur’, Rami has a number of online ventures already, the latest of which is a YouTube for science heads.

‘ScienceHack‘ is an online video repository for all things science that has some web communities buzzing with speculation. However, this is not the first venture by Rami to create positive internet chatter. His online whiteboard ‘to-do’ application ‘WorkHack‘ landed him good mention in at least 8 publications and several blogs.

But, who is Rami Nasser? Rami is originally from Syria. He came to Halifax in 1999 to pursue a degree at Dalhousie University. Following his graduation, he decided to strike it out on his own as a consultant. Like many immigrants to Canada, Rami had an ever-present entrepreneurial fire fueling his various ventures.

I asked Rami about what drove him to create ScienceHack. He said it was more of a ‘necessity mother of invention’ scenario. Being a science man himself, he had an overflowing library of bookmarks to science videos online. He first tried to organize these videos in a blog, but that did not work very well. Therefore, he decided to create a site to house all such videos, as he was sure that, like him, there must be others out there who have the same need.

Rami’s web applications are free to use. Like YouTube and other similar web ventures, the revenue model for Rami is based on advertising. The trick now is to drive as much attention to his sites. As a young startup, Rami, like all others, is restricted by a limited marketing budget. However, in a border-less online world, this issue is manageable.

Rami’s main marketing strategy is to utilize the blogosphere to create buzz about his ventures among the right circles. Online social networking has a mushroom effect, and some professional tech blogs have a lot of influence in shaping public opinion about which new internet services fly and which should be disregarded. In this area, Rami has so far managed to create the right kind of attention.

When asked about the advantages or disadvantages of Halifax being the headquarters for his online ventures, he mentions that, given his particular line of work, it would be easier to run things from a city like Toronto. Young techies with entrepreneurial ideas and passion are in short supply in Halifax. Many such ventures require a community backbone of like-minded individuals who are willing to contribute to the success of the project at the grass-root level.

For example, in Toronto, Rami would be able to get together with a group to bounce his ideas off other people like him for feedback, and he will have access to others who might be willing to contribute to his project with complementary skills that he may not have. As you can see from the YouTube, Facebook, and MySpace examples, a group effort is the common theme.

For now, however, Rami is flying solo.

This is an easy method that I learned during my Computer Science days. It’s called the ‘Doomsday Algorithm’, and you can learn to do it in your head without much practice.

Here is a good explanation of how it works, copied from the website Rudy.ca.

February 28/29

To use the Doomsday Algorithm in any year, we first need to know the ‘Doomsday’ for that year, which is essentially the day that we will use as an anchor to be able to guess any other day in that year.

Doomsday is February 28 or 29. In other words, Doomsday is always the last day of February. In normal years, Doomsday is February 28, and in leap years, Doomsday is February 29.

In 2007, which is not a leap year, the last day of February is Wednesday the 28th.

Once we know Doomsday, it’s pretty easy to get the day of the week for any day in February. This is done by adding and subtracting, using multiples of 7, and you should be comfortable doing this in your head, otherwise the rest of the algorithm will give you trouble! Luckily, most people, through practice or whatever, are good at mentally picturing a month if they have something to anchor it on, and Doomsday is this anchor. For February, it’s always the 28th in normal years, and the 29th in leap years.

Example: what is this year’s Valentine’s Day, February 14th?
Answer: Doomsday 2007 is Wednesday the 28th of February. So one week earlier, the 21st is also Wednesday. Another week earlier is Wednesday the 14th. So Valentine’s Day 2007 is a Wednesday.

Example: what is this year’s Groundhog day, February 2nd?
Answer: Doomsday 2007 is Wednesday the 28th… Wednesday the 21st… Wednesday the 14th… Wednesday the 7th… and then we have to go five days back, to get from the 7th to the 2nd. So Groundhog Day, February 2nd, is, um, Friday this year.

If going back five days is hard (and it often is, looking back over a weekend), there’s a little trick we can use here. Going two days forward gives the same day of the week as five days back. So if February 7th is Wednesday, then two days forward is Friday the 9th, which is the same day of the week as seven days earlier, Friday the 2nd. Remember, all we’re after is the day of the week, so “-5″ is the same as “+2″ but “+2″ is usually easier to do.

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Even Months

Okay, the last day of February is Doomsday. Once we know what day of the week Doomsday is, we immediately know the day of the week of certain other days in the year. There are actually 52 (or 53) other Doomsdays each year, all on the same day of the week as “the” Doomsday at the end of February.

So each month has a special day which we remember, because it is on the same day of the week as the Doomsday at the end of February. Just keep in mind that the entire year is determined by the Doomsday at the end of February, and that all the other Doomsdays within the year are on the same day of the week.

Let’s begin with the even months. These are months 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, and 12, i.e. February, April, June, August, October, and December. Actually, we never do February this way, because it’s special, and we’ve already covered it.

For even months (not including February), the Nth of that month is a Doomsday (i.e. the same day of the week as the last day in February). This is a delightful coincidence, and it’s so easy to remember:

• April 4th is a Doomsday
• June 6th is a Doomsday
• August 8th is a Doomsday
• October 10th is a Doomsday
• December 12th is a Doomsday

Neat, eh? Now we can simply work our way around any even month based on its Doomsday.

Example: what is this year’s Christmas Day, December 25th?
Answer: Doomsday 2007 is Wednesday. So December (even month) 12th is the Doomsday for December, so it’s also Wednesday. Two weeks later, December 26th is also Wednesday, so Christmas this year is Tuesday December 25th. Easy! In fact, after you do the Doomsday algorithm often enough, you just start remembering things like Christmas is always the day before Doomsday.

Example: what is this year’s Canadian Thanksgiving Day, the second Monday in October?
Answer: Doomsday 2007 is Wednesday. So October (even) 10th is Wednesday, and so two days earlier, October 8th is Monday. This has to be the second Monday of October, since a week earlier is October 1st, but a week earlier than that is in September. So the Canadian Thanksgiving, the second Monday in October, is Monday, October 8th.

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Odd Months

Now let’s do the odd months—months 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, and 11, i.e. January, March, May, July, September, and November.

Skip January and March for a moment.

Consider the following mnemonic phrase:

I work 9-5 at the 7-11

“Nine to five” is a common working day, and 7-Eleven is a chain of convenience stores. The phrase means:

• for the 9th month, Doomsday is the 5th
• for the 5th month, Doomsday is the 9th
• for the 7th month, Doomsday is the 11th
• for the 11th month, Doomsday is the 7th

This gives us Doomsday for May, July, September, and November. Now we just work our way around again within each month, using Doomsday for that month.

Example: what day is this year’s July 4th?
Answer: Doomsday 2007 is Wednesday. The Doomsday for July (7th month) 11th is Wednesday. So one week earlier, July 4th is also Wednesday. In fact, after you do the Doomsday algorithm often enough, you just start remembering things like July 4th is always Doomsday.

Example: what is this year’s Labour Day, the first Monday of September?
Answer: Doomsday 2007 is Wednesday. September (9th month) 5th is Wednesday. So September 3rd is Monday. This has to be the first Monday in September, because seven days earlier would put us back into August. So Labour Day this year, the first Monday of September, is September 3rd.

Now March.

Doomsday, the last day of February, is often also called the “0th” of March. You might have to think about that for a moment, until you realize that the next day is the 1st of March. So if the “0th” of March is Doomsday, then the 7th of March, exactly one week after the last day of February, no matter whether it’s the 28th or 29th, is also Doomsday.

Example: what day is this year’s St. Patrick’s Day, March 17th?
Answer: Doomsday 2007 is Wednesday. March “0th” is Wednesday. March 7th is Wednesday. March 14th is Wednesday. Go three days forward, to get to Saturday, March 17th.

Finally, we have to be able to do January.

The easiest way to calculate January’s Doomsday was described at Rudy.ca by reader Bob Goddard:

It’s January 3rd three years out of four, the non-leap years. It’s January 4th only in the fourth year, the years divisible by 4.

This is so much simpler than what I had before (which involved January 31st and “January 32nd”). Why couldn’t I have seen the simple way?!

Example: what is this year’s New Year’s Day (January 1st)?
Answer: Doomsday 2007 is Wednesday, and since this year is not a leap year, January 3rd is Wednesday. Go back two days, and January 1st is Monday. Simple, eh? Thanks, Bob.

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If you learn the above, you will be ready for the next step: other years and centuries! You can learn that on Rudy.ca.