If you are a Zipcar member and want a quick way to set up reservation, take a look at this iGoogle gadget that allows you to create a reservation right from your iGoogle page.

Once you sign in to the system you should be able to quickly set up a reservation using the Zipcar mobile interface. None of your information is kept in the gadget: it all goes through Zipcar just like a standard web page.

If you don’t already have a iGoogle page, it’s easy to set one up. Just go to iGoogle and sign in using your Google account (or create a Google/Gmail account if you don’t already have one). Then you can add this (and many other) gadgets to your home page.

If you like the gadget you can use the link at the bottom of the gadget to give feedback or promote it (on Twitter, Facebook, your blog, etc…).

If you live in the Boston area and ride public transit, you should check out this iGoogle Gadget that makes tracking buses easy. You can set up to 3 stops (perhaps near your home/work) and it will show all the latest arrivals in real-time. Note that it only serves a few lines currently (click here to see the list of lines served). The number of lines/stops served will increase as MBTA adds more tracking services.

It’s a great way to make sure you don’t wait in the rain, or miss your next bus. Go here to add it to your iGoogle page(if you don’t use iGoogle currently it’s easy to sign up).

Once you have added the gadget to your homepage you will see instructions on how to add stops. You can click on the link at the bottom of the gadget to search for stops (on the NextBus website). If you like the gadget you can use the link at the bottom of the gadget to give feedback or promote it (on Twitter, Facebook, your blog, etc…).

If you live in Chicago and ride public transit, you should check out this iGoogle Gadget that makes tracking buses easy. You can set up to 10 stops (perhaps near your home/work) and it will show all the latest arrivals in real-time.

It’s a great way to make sure you don’t wait in the rain, or miss your next bus. Go here to add it to your iGoogle page (if you don’t use iGoogle currently it’s easy to sign up).

Once you have added the gadget to your homepage you will see instructions on how to add stops. You can click on the link at the bottom of the gadget to search for stops (on the CTA website). If you like the gadget you can use the link at the bottom of the gadget to give feedback or promote it (on Twitter, Facebook, your blog, etc…).

If you live in the San Francisco Bay Area and ride public transit, you should check out this iGoogle Gadget that makes tracking buses easy. You can set up to 3 stops (perhaps near your home/work) and it will show all the latest arrivals in real-time.

It’s a great way to make sure you don’t wait in the rain, or miss your next bus. Go here to add it to your iGoogle page(if you don’t use iGoogle currently it’s easy to sign up).

Once you have added the gadget to your homepage you will see instructions on how to add stops. You can click on the link at the bottom of the gadget to search for stops (on the 511.org website). If you like the gadget you can use the link at the bottom of the gadget to give feedback or promote it (on Twitter, Facebook, your blog, etc…).

If you live in Portland, OR and ride public transit, you should check out this iGoogle Gadget that makes tracking buses easy. You can set up to 10 stops (perhaps near your home/work) and it will show all the latest arrivals in real-time. If you select on the [map] links next to each stop and bus you will get a popup google map that shows their location.

It’s a great way to make sure you don’t wait in the rain, or miss your next bus. Go here to add it to your iGoogle page (if you don’t use iGoogle currently it’s easy to sign up).

Once you have added the gadget to your homepage you will see instructions on how to add stops. You can click on the link at the bottom of the gadget to search for stops (on the Trimet website). If you like the gadget you can use the link at the bottom of the gadget to give feedback or promote it (on Twitter, Facebook, your blog, etc…).

This very brief TED talk describes why neurological disorders are yet another potential disaster facing the world in the next 40 years:

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Although I find Kurzweil's insights when it comes to alternative (in this case, exponential) thinking, he has been wrong about the consequences of his predictions at almost every turn. Some samples of his predictions for 2009 (from his 1999 book, The Age of Spiritual Machines) :

"The majority of text is created using continuous speech recognition."
"Most routine business transactions (purchases, travel, reservation) take place between a human and a virtual personality. Often, the virtual personality includes an animated visual presence that looks like a human face"
"Human musicians routinely jam with cybernetic musicians"
"[technology for handicapped individuals] result in a growing perception that primary disabilities do not necessarily impart handicaps"
"The neo-Luddite movement is growing"

His predictions for the performance and capabilities of technology are good, but I would not trust his ideas about what we will do with all that performance and technology.

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TED continues to amaze with great talks. This one on the nature of creativity is fantastic:

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A couple years ago I read “Trickster Makes this World” by Lewis Hyde and really enjoyed the book. The book is a study of mythology in the vein of
“Hero with 1000 Faces” by Joseph Campbell. The difference is that Hyde describes the archetype of the “trickster” (Loki, Coyote, Raven, etc..) rather than the “hero” (
I just watched this talk by Emily Levine where she describes (in a very humorous talk) the essential points of the book. I, like Emily, really identify with trickster: