The most excellent Tumblr of the Sunlight Foundation
A Corporate Responsibility App Inspired by ‘As Goes Janesville’
Inspired by the Independent Lens film As Goes Janesville, the BizVizz app serves as the transmedia component of the documentary, enlightening users how specific companies behave when it comes to corporate and social responsibility.
There’s a scene in As Goes Janesville (airing tonight on Independent Lens), towards the end, where the city council votes to approve a $9 million incentive package for Shine Medical Technologies. Shine is a startup looking for a town in which to set up their medical isotope operation and, like many companies, it is compelling cities to compete with offers. Though Janesville is desperate for jobs after losing their GM plant, $9 million is 20% of their budget. This is the scene that inspired BizVizz, our corporate accountability app.
Companies claim to be job creators and to contribute to our economy, but how do we judge their claims? BizVizz makes their records visible by putting the metrics of corporate citizenship in the hands of ordinary people. Allowing you to see shareable tax data, jobs data, and other financial information hidden in regulatory documents, BizVizz turns you into a smart, conscious consumer.
How Sitegeist used great design to make census data cool
How can a design firm and a non-profit focusing on government transparency come together and make data look cool? The Sunlight Foundation and designers from IDEO teamed up to create Sitegeist, an app using location-based data to help you understand where you are.
Google Analytics stats turned into beautiful, easy to understand website analytics for iPhone almost in real-time. Build your infographic. Watch traffic from Facebook, Twitter and Search. (via Analytiks for iPhone - Google Analytics stats made beautiful for iOS)
Sitegeist - Ground Yourself with Data
Sitegeist is a mobile application that helps you to learn more about your surroundings in seconds. Drawing on publicly available information, the app presents solid data in a simple at-a-glance format to help you tap into the pulse of your location. From demographics about people and housing to the latest popular spots or weather, Sitegeist presents localized information visually so you can get back to enjoying the neighborhood. The application draws on free APIs such as the U.S. Census, Yelp! and others to showcase what’s possible with access to data.
A competitor to Nike’s fuel band.
Einstein’s Brain Now an Interactive iPad App
The brain that revolutionized physics now can be downloaded as an appfor $9.99. But it won’t help you win at Angry Birds.
While Albert Einstein’s genius isn’t included, an exclusive iPad application launched Tuesday promises to make detailed images of his brain more accessible to scientists than ever before. Teachers, students and anyone who’s curious also can get a look.
Want to take a look inside the human body? As Apple says, “There’s an app for that.” With funding from the National Science Foundation, Green-Eye Visualization has developed Powers of Minus Ten — an interactive tour of the science behind cells and genetics. Get it on iTunes.
New weather app combines high design and usable data in a crisp infographic-style interface
IBM’s Augmented Reality App Exposes the Sugary Sins of Breakfast Cereal
As we become more and more concerned with what we’re putting into our bodies, the ritual of standing in the grocery store aisle, staring at the ingredients list of a packaged food item, has become all too familiar. But it doesn’t help when the ingredients are printed in a teeny-tiny, nearly illegible typeface.
To help combat eye-fatigue, IBM is developing an augmented reality shopping app that speeds up the process of determining whether a product meets a shopper’s ingredients criteria. And this unnamed app extends well beyond food.
![LiquiData: Sharing Smartphone Itineraries on a Multitouch Table
LiquiData[liquidata.org], developed by several students of the University of Applied Sciences Potsdam, is an application for a multitouch table which reveals one’s movement data through a city on a map, as captured by a smartphone.
The gathered data from the last trip through the city is visually “poured out” on a map and makes the paths and places visible while all unvisited places stay covered by a semi transparent dark “fog”. If 2 people each put their phone on the table simultaneously, then both their paths are shown, and any overlappings are shown. The idea here is that these persons then can discover what places they both visited and liked.](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m5a5lluGpb1qhn3smo1_1280.jpg)
LiquiData[liquidata.org], developed by several students of the University of Applied Sciences Potsdam, is an application for a multitouch table which reveals one’s movement data through a city on a map, as captured by a smartphone.The gathered data from the last trip through the city is visually “poured out” on a map and makes the paths and places visible while all unvisited places stay covered by a semi transparent dark “fog”. If 2 people each put their phone on the table simultaneously, then both their paths are shown, and any overlappings are shown. The idea here is that these persons then can discover what places they both visited and liked.
Apple reportedly putting acquired map technologies to good use in iOS 6
A switch away from Google’s mapping data in favor of Apple’s own in-house solution is imminent, according to a report by 9to5Mac. Citing “trusted sources,” the site says the Maps application for iOS will be done “completely in-house,” mapping data and all, thanks to Apple’s acquisition of Placebase, Poly9, and C3 Technologies over the last couple of years. Apple’s deal to use Google’s Mapping data is also said to be expiring soon, opening the door for Apple to begin experimenting with its own technologies.
Great Kickstarter project (note: also a colleague related project)!
ArtAround SF Smartphone App: Find & Map Art
We are struck by how little we know about the beautiful art around us we pass by everyday and wanted to do something about it. The ArtAround project is about mapping the beautiful art in San Francisco, and, perhaps, change the way you understand and explore the city with a web and mobile application that lets you find, comment on, and share street and public art.
Saving the whales? Now there’s an app for that, too.
An interesting new iOS app launched today called Whale Alert. Though it’s available for anyone, the iPhone/iPad app is intended primarily for use by workers in the shipping and maritime industry. It “combines science and technology to help save critically endangered North Atlantic right whales by reducing threats of collisions with large ships along the East Coast of North America.”
Android Orphans: Visualizing a Sad History of Support
The announcement that Nexus One users won’t be getting upgraded to Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich led some to justifiably question Google’s support of their devices. I look at it a little differently: Nexus One owners are lucky. I’ve been researching the history of OS updates on Android phones and Nexus One users have fared much, much better than most Android buyers.
Generate an Infographic Showing Your iPhone Photo Habits
Photo Stats is a new iPhone app that can help you visualize your iPhoneography habits by automatically generating interesting infographics showing things such as where you snapped photos and the time of day you shoot the most.
