Open Ideas at the Open Source-athon

Wow: I learned a ton at the Hacks/Hackers Open(source).athon this weekend.

Check out the great writeup of the day for a summary of the event. Personally, I worked on recrafting some Associated Press Election data for a project we're working on at WNYC. I also had conversations that could lead to several collaborations, and even got some tips for programming in Ruby and Sinatra.

The day also gave me a great frame for my next hackathon, which is being run November 8 and 9 by Hacks/Hackers and Eyebeam, with support from WNYC and The Knight Foundation.

NYC Taxi Visualizations: The Pulse of the City

Fantastic presentation of GPS data from New York City Taxis in the New York Times today. So many stories embedded here, giving a wonderful sense of the city.

The ability to "play" the data is especially key. And the treatment itself hits all of my buttons. You just get it.

Beautiful.

This Is Not A Bag

So says the bag my new Timbuk2 bag came in.

No, it's actually a durable, waterproof San Francisco bike map!

Reduce, reuse, reuse. Nice.

Excellent Elevator Art

The elevators in this atrium beautifully blend the digital and the physical ... and celebrate books in the process.

They're in downtown Minneapolis at the Hennepin County Central Library.