I think ideas are more a product of the times than they are of individuals, generally. Most important new ideas are invented in multiple places simultaneously.
I love music. And film. And I read a lot. And I'm fairly social online. I started Directed Edge because there's too much noise on the web that gets in the way of me finding the content I care about.
http://www.directededge.com/getstarted.html
With a link to the API at the bottom:
http://webservices.directededge.com/
Where would you have expected to find that information? If it was unclear for you it probably was for others too. Feel free to email me if you have questions.
In the event of default, the buyer delivers the defaulted asset (e.g. the failing mortgage) to the seller for a payment of the original value of the mortgage. I think I'll call this a "physical settlement".
Alternatively, the seller can pay the buyer the difference between the original value of the mortgage and the market price of mortgage. I think I'll call this a "cash settlement".
I think this will provide a way to distribute risk through the financial system. The benefits are numerous. For example, a lender of mortgages can turn around and sell their mortgages on the open market. This should lead to laxer lending practices.
After I had a nice startup exit in 2001, I found that I could try to change the world (or at least things I can see around me) much better through directed donations and angel investing. That lets me broaden my effect without doing the parts that I am not good at doing. I still like the startup game too. :)
Longterm:I can't really say what it is just yet, but we've got high expectations of ourselves.
Short term: Why you ask?When you consider some of the other acts up for nomination some of which I'd never heard of until yesterday (tokio hotel?), then you would understand - how can some of these artists (U2 is an exception) be classed as best acts ever when you've got the greats like the stones & beatles weren't even considered?
The nomination was a bit of a practical joke, but when you consider who else was nominated it transcended the prank for me into what it is now.
Well the way I look at it is like this, not everyone can single handedly save the world like Al Gore, there are many different ways you can change the world (for the better) and there are many small skirmishes I think need to be won in many areas.
For example, in this case, the thing that I believe is fundamentally wrong was a large organisation like MTV is dictating to the world what it's tastes should be (rather than asking them) by what they believe constitutes the best musical act ever, with a clear disregard for acts that are widely regarded as the greats (The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix).
Tokio Hotel is the obvious example here, I hadn't even heard of them until I saw the campaign to get Rick Astley nominated on reddit.
It's been happening with companies for years, not just related to media organisations (hey guys, buy Windows ME - it's the best thing ever!) and so in this case, a large organisation left themselves open to get egg on their face... in a very public way that goes completely against their standard operating procedure.
It's not just a fight against one company, it's an example to all organisations that people should decide what is good for them, not the other way around.
That being said, you can also look at it in a sarcastic/dark humorous manner.
"If Rick wins over Tokio Hotel, imagine all the emo kids that will suicide in disgust, thus making the world a better place"
Either would be an acceptable outcome.
I'm not changing the world. I'm building a useful tool that helps people save money when they want to attend a sporting event, concert, etc. That's about it. Not quite as glamorous as saving the world, but at least it's realistic and useful now.
1. What if someone has no interest in changing the world in the grandiose fashion that this question implies? Maybe the thought of saving all the babies in Africa doesn't make everyone feel equally great about their life. Not everyone can be a bleeding-heart humanitarian; society wouldn't function.
2. It's really vague. My personal answer to this question is, "We all change the world every single day simply by living and interacting with others." Therefor, I'm changing the world 24/7 and there's really nothing more I feel I need to do in terms of something that would have a far-reaching global impact.
Life goals should revolve around the core prospect of thoroughly enjoying life. Maybe an immediate goal is "go to the gym 5 days a week" and a long-term goal is "save enough to retire by 45." If changing the world will help you enjoy life more, then by all means, answer the question to help set goals. However, we should not assume that changing the world is universally something that people want to do.
My Dad never wanted to change the world, he just wanted to provide as good a life as possible for his family, make enough money to give his children what they need and (most of) what they want, and that's pretty much it. He didn't "revolutionize" anything. He didn't save any babies in Africa. He's just an awesome father and that's enough for him to be a hero to me. Corny? Perhaps, but a good example nonetheless.
Pick your favorite world changer, do you really think they would have been motivated for change if they did not constantly ask themselves 'what am I going to do about this huge problem?'
For end users that is having good web/UI tools to help them. Another part of it is allowing programmers to express their ideas about data in a better way - It should feel like you are expressing normal program logic concepts that just happen to be backed by reliable, durable, fast, cached storage.
Theres a renaissance going on now, where lots of ideas from functional programming are filtering out and being adopted..thats wonderful for our craft. We spend a lot of energy comparing one language to another, but pretty much accept without question that SQL as the only-one-true-way of handling data. Or we make a big framework to wrap that in objects, and the framework generates SQL.
Databases could have much much better programming facilities out of the box, including an expressive modern extensible language and event callback mechanisms. It should be easy to just write a usable web site without stepping out of that language - optimizing the common usage scenario.
There must be a better way, it is time to make SQL obsolete.
If your interested in hacking on something like this as open source get in touch,
gord quantblog.wordpress.com
That's what I'm setting out to do. I've been self-employed now for just a little over 6 months, and already I've built networks and solved I.T. problems for a number of folks locally, at a fraction of what it would have cost them otherwise. People are happy enough that, even though I've yet to do any marketing at all, my business has grown beyond my ability to handle it, on word of mouth alone.
But I'm only bootstrapping right now. Eventually I want to make sure that the people with skills in various areas get all the exposure they want, and that the people looking for skills can find them. I want to make all kinds of resources more available to all kinds of people. I want design and produce everything from new software to revolutionary backpacks (not so much school packs, but packs for backpackers, climbers, photographers...).
I've helped launch a local Rotaract club, and I'm the sole founder of a local club for "solopreneurs". At just over a month old, the club managed to form some relationships that are helping us to launch my county's very first inexpensive shared office space for budding entrepreneurs.
So, a long way to go yet, but not too bad so far either.
Humanity will get through the energy crunch, probably with a 20-year depression and government commandeering of manufacturing resources to build renewable energy capacity. During that time there will be huge unemployment, war, and for many poorer countries, likely starvation. The food chain is deeply dependent on fertilizer, made from oil.
So the key for the next two decades is to do as much as we can to prepare for this period. Ideally we'd completely wean ourselves off oil and gas, like Sweden or Norway, but that seems unlikely to happen. But at least, it means investing in renewable energy capacity and technology, so that things don't completely grind to a halt.
Trouble is, this isn't really a computer problem, so how to help?
The goal is to make sure that no one ever has to repeat research to work around problems that have already been solved.
We feel some of our initiatives could single-handedly lower the computer expertise needed to work with open source software, cutting-edge technologies, and things typically reserved only for early adopters.
We're really excited about the potential here.
By making tools to encourage service learning, and continuing to pressure universities and colleges focus outward on community projects rather than the current curriculum. Exciting stuff!
-founded tennis team at school
-brought Challenge Day (tolerance, anti-bullying, community building)
-working on bringing solar panels, already have school superintendent, board member, green architect, and a consultant behind the project (not to mention the principal and a group of ~15 students).
Email me, I want to hear more. http://dl-client.getdropbox.com/u/10047/myemail.PNG
Another usage could be status updates on comfortable benches, bridges and rooftops.
Of course usage will be free and include a free iPhone (since most homeless are not very well connected to the cloud).
I can not provide any more details at this point since we are about to close a major round of funding, up in the 1* million range. Expect to see us featured on TechCrunch during the next few days.
I tried to keep the dialogue respectful to both the poster and the homeless, it is unfortunate that others have not. In my experience most people want to help in some way when confronted with homelessness, but they don' know what to do. Rarely do they wish to hand over cash. Rarely do they wish to have a conversation and understand the situation. Many are interested in aiding programs which empower homeless people to dig out of their situation. There is low-hanging fruit in connecting those who wish to help with those who are already organized to do so.
I think if we all solve one problem, collectively we can change the world for everyone.
Our mission is to facilitate $1 Billion of online giving through the Benevity Network from individuals, integration partners and corporate sponsors by December 31, 2013.
Cheers
We need a new party from the ground up with a million headcounts online.
We need to replace this jurassic congress of crooks and liars for a more accountable direct democracy.
We have the tools and the will, the time is right.