Last night I made my may up to Mobile Mondays NYC. The topic of last nights discussion was 'Beyond Scores. Sports Brands & Their Mobile Game Plan'. Overall the discussion was thought provoking and focused less on sports and more on general industry trends. For example motivating factors for mobile content usage tends to share similar qualities across industries. Mobile Mondays is great outlet for anyone looking get involved, meet people and participate in the NYC mobile community.

Also yesterday, SharkRunners appeared on BoingBoing. Thank you Josh for sending that my way.

Sun continued its trend in profitability. Sun also recently released Sun SPOTS (Small Programmable Object Technology). After a quick review, I think I'll stick Arduino for now. Having the option to work with Java on the board is very appealing. However, the Atmel chip is more affordable (by far). I do hope that the community grows for this platform and that price comes down just a wee little bit.

The past few weeks, in between traveling to Vermont and Maine, I did some work for Area/Code helping out on SharkRunners. The game, designed and produced by Area/Code for Discovery Channel uses real shark GPS data as the basis for game play. Users are given a boat and a crew and chart a course in attempts to find and gather research information. The data is then sold giving players the opportunity to get a better crew, a better boat, equipment, etc... My Discovery login required for game play.

The proposition that water and electricity should be anywhere near each other is counterintuitive to say the least. That's what makes the Wet Lamp so appealing and intriguing. We learn from day one to keep toasters away from the bathtub. However, when learning about electricity, water analogies are common when discussing electricity's flow and volume. The Wet Lamp's aesthetic of simple parts and basic elements, brings out the beautiful visual qualities of water and light. While the proposition of underwater light bulbs is not new, the Wet Lamp's 'non-design' is what sets it apart, making it that much more appealing. More images of are available on the artists website.

"What are those ropes?" My roommate asked as we stood on the shoreline.

"Those are to keep people from swimming out too far." I told him, confused as to why he didn't know. "Don't you have have those in Sweden?" I asked.

"We don't. If you can't swim well, you don't go out that far."

I'm paraphrasing a conversation with a roommate from years ago that illustrates how we often blame others for not stopping us from potential harm. Even when the cause is the result of our own misjudgment, we blame others for not preemptively stopping us.

As a society we blame others for our own misfortune. Because of this blame, swimming holes and high dives at pools have been closing. I know it sounds silly (especially with a war going to talk about problems with our countries swimming situation), but there are deeper, fundamental values of society these actions reflect. Growing up in Vermont swimming holes and high dives created some of the most memorable experience of my childhood. However, because we have become a 'sue happy society', many children will never have experiences like this.

Earlier today this sentiment was echoed by a 20/20 article titled Summer Pleasures Spoiled by Lawsuits. I agree with author in that we are loosing something valuable as we attempt to protect our own self interests. Lawyers claim that the lawsuits are targeted at negligent property ownership. I don't agree with that excuse. Because of the potential of law suits we close off, shut down, and take away access to some of life's valuable pleasures. Why have we become a sue happy society? And, why do we blame our own misfortune on everyone else but ourselves?

Photo courtesy of Peter Miller.