RSSMarketplace introduced me to the idea of the convertible shopping cart the other morning. The problem is that people need a place to live, and that a decent shelter can be provided by working off the form of the shopping cart. By providing a personal place for people, homeless people can begin to regain their dignity. EDAR, or Everyone Deserves A Roof, has developed an early production model that can begin to address the problem.
This system could also provide a good solution to temporary housing following disasters, it is enclosed, sits off the ground, folds up and provides some storage for personal effects. People can participate in the project by donating a unit or more to organizations in need.
OK, trying a different article...
I like that recently more video content has been you tube based. Many of us worry about security issues with newer versions of flash, and 90% of flash videos claiming to be version 10 are actually in the old format anyway. You can often dig out the link to the videos and play it.
Using version 10 to encode videos basically adds a different wrapper around the same content and forces the old players to fail while displaying "Upgrade now!"... I suppose you might have a revenue reason for doing this, but just in case you don't:
If the whole "remix, reuse, and violate the EULA" philosophy is real, might I ask you to stop encoding content in 10 and use 8 or 9 by default for videos? Linux folks can easily view the older video encodings - and there's a reason google sticks with version 8.
Just hoping... :)
Also, the captcha image would be trivial to decode using image filtering, but my eyes are apparently not accurate enough! Is that a p, or a u or an o? Hmmmm, I seem to lack contrast enhancement tools. Even my monitor's adjustments do not reveal the correct letters, forcing me to try alternate possibilities!
10 minutes later:
After a while, I realize that it makes NO difference what I enter - the captcha will fail!
Reply to this comment
For the $500 that one EDAR unit costs, you could provide 10 people with a small dome tent and a trolley.
There is only one winner here, and that is the manufacturer. This has NOTHING to do with charity. This is pure greed and vanity.
Reply to this comment
First of all, this is a early production model. So yeah, it's gonna be expensive. But then it's built for s pecialized purpose - a combination mobile storage locker that converts to sleeping quarters.
Secondly, I don't know how often you set up dome tents, but they are not quick or easy to set up. EDAR converts to sleeping quarters in 30 seconds.
Personally, I'm a bit uneasy with enabling the homeless by just giving them something that keeps them homeless, but I can understand it's an imperfect solution to a complicated problem.
Reply to this comment
In early production models like this, the price has to reflect the development costs. Once they get the idea worked out properly, then they can design a good manufacturing workflow. If they can get enough orders, then they can achieve a better economy of scale. For me, it is important that they saw a need, and developed the best idea they had to address the need. Homelessness is a very complicated issue. In this case, the folks involved in EDAR chose to focus on providing a dignified way for people to get privacy and shelter.
The radio program I listened to that turned me on to the project interviewed a young girl, who was happy to have something kind of like a room where she could be alone and do her homework. This design keeps her off the ground and out of a cardboard box. That should help her focus on her schoolwork.
These could also be used for disaster relief, where people could get one of these soon after an earthquake, tornado, hurricane or other natural disaster. It would likely be tough for the manufacturers to crank out a zillion on short notice, but maybe it could make a difference for some vulnerable people.
Thanks for your input!
Chris
Reply to this comment