The Green Dilemma.

If you are the government and have a pocket money of $40 million to be a better world citizen, would you:

1) Invest in a research lab to find a roadmap (however hazy it is) that will offset some 'unfavourable side effects' of alternative energy (e.g how not to dump nuclear waste in your neighbour's backyard).

OR

2) Provide grants to manufacturers (one or few, depending how much your millions can stretch but this is just hypothetically speaking), to decrease the highest carbon emission stage in their product lifecycle (which if you don't already know, is the usage stage) under the condition that the impact must be immediate and defined.

?

What would you do?

New application for YouTube playlist creation.

What if people don't need to download music anymore? What if we could arrange our own playlist via a YouTube application, so that it plays music videos which we like. What if it can track random tracks we may enjoy (e.g Pandora) and keep it playing in the background while we do whatever we need to do online? Do we need to own music anymore? How would that once again revolutionize the music industry?

Can advertising help Japan? Yes, we can!

Well, since we're always talking about ideation in our line of work, then I think this shouldn't be excluded. So, we're thinking of innovative solutions on how to help Japan to get back at her feet, while her people are so wonderfully, heartwarmingly, calmly and respectfully trying to help one another to hold the fort.

According to the news, Japan needs blood donors, money for aid, food, water and electricity. These are common needs which normally arise during natural disasters but they have a more serious situation looming, which is nuclear radiation.

So while the world is raising funds for aid and relief and countries are sending in their expert teams, maybe... just maybe we can help them by different ideas and solutions? Here are some that were kind of brewing:

1) Their economy is in a disastrous state. The government is pumping in money to sustain it and calling Japanese all over the world to send money back to the country. What if, we from all over the world can send 'investment loans' to Japan? Maybe the country will return the loan in 5 years, 10 years, or whatever stipulated years without interest? If 1 million people provide $100 and 500,000 people invest $1000 and 100,000 gives $10,000, we would have a total of $1.6m already.

2) This may sound very utopian, but if every family can take in another who has been a victim of the earthquake disaster for a short period of time instead of leaving the homeless in the shelter, this will give the government enough time to concentrate on recovery and rebuilding. In no time, Japan will be as good as new. I suppose, this works best within the country.

3) Stretching the idea from number two. Due to the radiation situation, what if the people around the world can loan a home to the Japanese until things are calmer and warmer? Especially for the elderly, pregnant women and children?

4) One of Japan's key economic pillars is tourism, what if we explore the possibility of 'voluntourism' instead? Normally, voluntourism is popular in third world countries but not somewhere like Japan, but this could be a good time over the course of a year for people from all over the world to not just visit the country, but experience her spirit in the face of such moment. People could help to rebuild the country by volunteering their time, money, resources and most importantly, encouragement. The Japanese thrives on the 'gambatte' spirit :)

5) Japan has always been good at building brands. And their brands have always been extremely nationalistic. Which is why, many corporations like Toyota, not only compete with its native competition, but also the likes of other brands, more so by nationality, namely Korean, Chinese, etc. What if these other national brands can put aside their nationalism and competitiveness for the sake of humanity, instead focus on donation to the Japanese people?

6) This must be a miracle, but what if we don't stop buying Japanese brands? But pledge our brand loyalty for the next two years as part of our 'economic donation' to help them back to speed?

7) A candlelight vigil in every country. People queue in silence with candles for minutes and even hours, till they reach the end of the line, where they get to send a video message to the people in Japan. The vigil itself allows others to experience the need for calmness and discipline in time of crisis. And for once, we're hoping that news channels will broadcast this to the Japanese instead of the other way round allowing the people to tune in to a specified channel 24/7 and watch hundreds, thousands, if not millions of people queuing with them, sharing messages that will lift any discouraged spirit.

Well so far, we only have seven ideas. Some definitely jolt you a little but before, before, before you switch into auto mode and say 'no, that's not possible', please, please, please consider thinking outside the line for once. You need innovative ways to help a country that already has a longstanding innovative culture.

While all these ideas were bubbling in the cauldron, I had a 'lightbulb' question. For every disaster that strikes somewhere, there is of course, a standard set of dire problems that need immediate attention. But almost, always, there is always an additional problem (or two, or three) that are entirely unique to the country due to its political, economical, technological, social, environmental, and even geographical nature. But the global solution to these problems are always the same. Fundraising. Yes, money is important and that we have already established before. But what else? Haiti after the disaster, sent the country back 20 years ago (or maybe more) but Japan who is a fairly prosperous country, will lose maybe 5 years of its future. I'm not implying that money aid is not important to them. But economic stability seems to me, weighs more in the long run. While we tackle immediate visible issues, how do we put in place a strategic plan to tackle mid to long term, invisible ones? Yes, the question is, what else?

We always tell our clients, every one of their problems need a tailor-made solution. Likewise, likewise, how can we as a global community, put our heads together to tailor-make a solution for Japan, simply because like a good friend of mine had put it, "We are all citizens of Earth". How can we get our neighbour back on her feet quickly?

And because Cat is Japanese. I am responsible for reassuring him that his hometown is in good hands.

How to have a wardrobe of designer stuff and pay a fraction for it?

Is this possible? A designer clothing, shoes, bags and accessories bank? Shared by a group of friends? Good friends? Best friends? How do you avoid cat fights when you need the same pair of Blahniks that your bff decides to strut on to her company's party on the same night?

Inspired by a trail of fashion movies, chick flicks and lits, designer wear is now even more accessible than ever. Especially when you're talking about a segment of very independent female power (more on the spending, less on the will) that is growing in the middle upper class segment. Sure, they can afford a piece or two designer bags which cost RM5, 000 each but with the bombardment of media these days fueling this insatiable desire to carry the latest season badges, who can resist the addiction?

In UK I read, women (best girl friends) are sharing closets. They purchase bags and shoes of thousands of pounds at a fraction of the price because it's split between the 'owners'. The only setback is, your closet may not be living together with you for at least an agreed period of time. I think it has always been a common practice among sisters to share clothes and stuff especially if they're the same size and have similar taste. But among friends? What happens if one decides to migrate? How do we fight for the custody of our shoes? Do you think it's even possible for Malaysian women to do that? I think it is. Who would start first? Is it possible to do this amongst strangers? What about an online fashion bank? How would it be different from the rental concept? What can be shared and what cannot?

New law for Malaysian speeding ticket?

I've been thinking and comparing Singapore's drivers point deduction system with whatever existing traffic rule we have in Malaysia. A simple reason why probably Singapore's system will never be effective (or as effective) in our country is because of the rampant 'duit kopi' (in international language: bribery). Not that there's none happening in Singapore (I wouldn't know) but what I'm pretty definite is, none as rampant as Malaysia.

Well, then an idea struck me on how to duplicate this point system and yet keep it in a way that has the least inteference from our so-called law enforcers (and this I mean by majority of them. Not all but majority because we always have a few good men. Too few if you ask me). Imagine a system similar to Singapore's ERP and/or Japan's ETC equivalent. Imagine all Malaysians from now on have to pay an extra credit of RM200 into their driver's license account. Everytime one hit the red light or went over the speed limit, a certain amount of money will be deducted from this 200 bucks automatically. It could be really cheap, I mean RM20 for speeding compared to RM300 if you've really been sent the ticket. But what the positive points which I'd very much like to highlight are:
1) RM20 is BETTER than paying RM50 for you-know-what because in actual fact you never really have to pay that RM300
2) The 'beep' when money is deducted from your account will serve as a life time reminder to never speed when you're not supposed to. Ever
3) It really, really, and I mean REALLY makes you think twice about hitting that red light too
4) Equal treatment and equal punishment for all since the system must also be deployed using special set of traffic lights and speed trackers. This reinforces the importance of enforced law and not chance

Anyway, come to think of it. Instead of paying back the 'rakyat' (people) cash for the recent fuel hike, the government could use this system to reward citizens with good behavior. For those who never gotten their RM200 deducted, will earn interest. So in order to make more money, you've got to stay clean. If at the 11th month of your interest-earning period, you decide to go with the wind on KESAS, then so will your money.

Tell me if you think something like that would work here. Or in your country, wherever you are. Cause I think it's a pretty good idea, no?

Sign of caution.

What does this 'P' driving sticker truly mean? Yes, we all know it means 'Probational Driver' in Malaysia which you need to stick it on the front and back of your windscreen so that it projects high visibility to other road users. But really, what does it mean?


Is this merely a sign to signal other 'unfriendly' road users to be patient and give way? Or is it to tell other drivers that there is a newbie on the road. And the newbie, sometimes becomes the unruly one for various incomprehensible show off factors, which we need to beware of? You won't believe how much power men (or women) wield when they get behind the wheels. Which reminds me of an insight we discovered a couple of years ago when pitching for the Ministry of Transport. When people get behind wheels, they morph into different beings. Cold, impatient, rude, spiteful and they can even speak French when provoked (a different kind of French that is). Can't imagine that being your girl-next-door colleague, or your kids-hugging-wife-kissing dad, right? Yea, we all morph into horrible beings when behind wheels. You and I.

Someone told me that her mom puts the P sticker on even when she doesn't need to because she thinks it's 'safer'. What other meanings can we find in this sticker which is unintended but significant? Is it really safer when we see a P driver? Safer to whom? Or is the letter P another lame excuse for lame driving skills? Speaking of having stickers to signal caution to other drivers, Japan has a special one for elderly drivers who are 70 and above (70, if I'm not mistaken). Can we adopt something similar here? Can we have different stickers to signal different sort of drivers behind wheels such as the elderly, the handicapped, the pregnant, etc? Sharing more specific information like this, would it help people to change their expectations, attitude and behavior when they see different sort of stickers? Well, I think helping people to be more aware of the surroundings simply helps them to react better. No?

Ming and Aoki - should there be an age limit to entrepreneurship?

Unbelievable. What do you do when you have a multimillion dollar mom who has the fashion world on its knees? You come up with your own collection of course! I'm sure a lot of celeb kids are doing that but at the age of 7 and 4!? There are so many websites sprouting earnestly to get kids into business like teachingkidsbusiness.com, internetbasedkids.com, entrepreneurshipforkids.com, and franchild.com. Looks like mommies and daddies can't wait for their kids to grow up and bring some bread home too.

That reminds me of the online ethnography project that we've been working on lately, where Shaun found a lot of kids using their blogs to earn money and build their little business ventures, which was really interesting. It shows that the internet bunch is really different from their counterparts who did not grow up with the internet. The web is like a gold mine waiting to be discovered by opportunistic minds. I'm glad. Because this means we're bending rules which we were brought up to believe. Education = Degree = Career = Big money. It'd be interesting to note the social repercussions when education becomes active instead of passive. That would mean quaking the whole equation. Yes, I think we may be looking at a government change in a couple of years time if the status quo remains. Oh well, that's just my hypothesis but you can always beg to differ :)

By the way, my thoughts on the Ming and Aoki thing? Personally. I think it's quite disgusting after watching Kimora's reality show. I would applaud their creative participation of course, but geez, there's way too much attitude for those two little people. Wonder where they inherited that from...

A picture tells a thousand words. But one added with a few words tells a million.

My stumble upon a new journalistic docu-photography publication is honestly, most divinely, purely providential during my short transit in Dubai, a week ago. Sowar magazine is the new niche publication dedicated to satisfy those with an insatiable hunger for new photographic perspectives on the everyday and more often than not, the overlooked mundane life in Lebanon and Le Vant. I think we'd all do better by practise seeing things from different angles, you think?

This gave me an idea. What if someone produces a free mag which is totally user-generated? What if it takes everyone and anyone to contribute? What if everyone can be a contributing writer and/or photographer? What if flickr comes alive and takes the form of a free magazine? What if all you need is just an editor and a team of designers with a real eye for quotes and form? What if everyone can talk about everything they are passionate about? What if the magazine is called MINE? Because it does, in a sense, belong to everyone? Does anyone know if I'm unconsciously plagarizing this from somewhere? Any idea takers?

Wait no more.

Awhile ago, we talked about foodie blogger turned do-er. And were hoping to see more Malaysians 'do' instead of just 'talk talk talk talk talk'. I guess there's no need to duplicate a local webbie just to get people into the action. Newly launched imcooked does just that. Cook it, film it, share it. Now it's up to videocam makers to consider how to create vcams that can stand all that heat in the kitchen. I mean, it isn't easy to grind, chop, fry with your right hand and record all these actions with your left. Hmm. That just opens up a whole new can of... spaghetti, doesn't it?

Today's imagination: Taboo goes mobile.

Last night while doing some catching up with some friends, a wild idea came out - Mobile Taboo. For those who are not familiar with the game (where on earth have you been?), it's a game where your team members have to guess the word you're trying to describe without mentioning some key words stated on the card. Believe me. I've seen people shouting 'Donald' frantically when the word on the card is 'TRUMPet'. Ha ha ha. Hilarious.

Listen here mobile games provider (or Facebook app developers :), here's an idea which you can plagiarize :) Imagine, having taboo in your mobile phone with these specifications:
1) Each card will appear on your mobile screen with an in-built alarm which will go off if the card is not guessed within the time limit
2) The player's mobile will track highest scores between teams so that they can pause and continue whenever
3) Unlike the actual game where after a few rounds, Taboo-ians would be able to easily describe and guess every single card, the one on the mobile is update-able online. There could be millions of words out there categorized from Level 1 to infinity, or even according to categories such as verb, noun, famous people, animals, most wanted, you get my point. Great way to improve our puny little Malaysian vocab if you ask me.
4) Also, there could be many versions of Taboo in Malay, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, imagine the possibilities!
5) Two mobiles can be sync for a game so that Team A and B, each have their own screens

Now, translate all of the above into web application language. Instead of 'saying', you can 'type' the description within a time limit. Mention any taboo words, and you're forfeited. Wee~

Go on, plagiarise me!