Great presentation on open innovation by Brazilian entrepreneurs Gian Carlo Martinelli, Bruno Rondani and Rene Fernandes. Some Portuguese required. Even though presented in 2008, it is still very valid.

Want to see how the earth looks like from way way up in the skies? send a balloon equipped with some smart electronics and let it do some sightseeing for you. That’s what this group of hardware hackers did. Their balloon reached 70000 feet, aprox. 21 Kilometers of altitude and was discovered after landing thanks to it’s google android phone hacked with an app that send an SMS with it’s position whenever it got a cell phone signal. NASA, prepare for some competition in the skies!

via Wired

via Bornactivist

Monareta Rebaixada

Monareta Boom Box

Ceci Loucamente Tuned

Call it disruptive innovation or user innovation, bike tuning is one of the seeds of the DIY movement. Here in Brazil, specially away from the big cities, a whole lot is happening. Check the blog Ceci Brisa Tuning for example, and you will find numerous stories of custom bikes made by passionate users. They exchange tutorials and tips around their creations and are proud to show of their skills. We love it!

photos source: Ceci Brisa Tuning

via Downhill Berlin

The little video acompaning the new wired cover story, helps to explain this “new industrial revolution” we are entering on.

What if the whole idea of innovation awards and design prizes could be turned up side down to a bottom up decision process? What if we could show our appreciation to the people that inspires us, giving them something to be proud of?

After writing about the Madmax Bike spotted in Lyon, I started thinking that it would be awesome if we would be able to give an award to everyone that inspires us.

The Inspiring Bastard Awards is born, at least as an experiment. And the first one to receive the award is the creator of the madmax bike that made me think of this award in the first place. We don’t know his or her  identity yet, but as soon as he or she gets in touch we will send an Inspiring Bastard T-shirt.

For this to be a true bottom up movement, I imagine to set up a dedicated page on the Letsevo website, with a form where anyone can suggest an Inspiring Bastard, and send them an Inspiring Bastard t-shirt. In the website, there would be a page for every inspiring bastard, their stories and an indication for the person who gave him/her the award.

Who do you think deserves to receive an Inspiring Bastard Award?

I heard a Chinese proverb one day that I believe being of key importance to Innovation. It goes like this:

“Those who think it can’t be done should not disturb those doing it”

The reason I want to share this at the blog is that when it comes to building stuff that ain’t there yet, when focusing on creating anything new, the chances are that you will meet lots of people saying that it can’t be done. Now because you can not control the actions of others, you got to believe in your instincts and in what you want to achieve. Ignoring gives you the power to focus on what needs to be done. It’s Ok to ignore and to go for it, the hard work will pay off at the end. But remember! In the end, once the big step was taken, you should always stop ignoring, and take every feedback as a learning. Every invention will profit from some fix here and there.

If you are a madmax kind of guy, this is the bike you should be riding. I love to bump into this kind of creations, it really inspires me. This bike is so awesome, I guess it was made from an old moped frame, adapted to bike….any clues on which model? If you know the owner of this bike call him up to get some more info for us, we all want to know.

We got to love this ad from Norway.

via: designbivouac

With the theme “what does Brazil has to offer to world today?”, the first TEDx organized in Brazil has been creating a buzz in Brazil’s blogosphere. The date is confirmed: 14th of november 2009 at the Teatro Anhembi Morumbi. Check the confirmed voices at the events page

via @gcmartinelli

Hello! Welcome to my first post here. When I told Henrique that I was going to this event, he suggested I write a post for the site and share some of what I had experienced.  So here it is….

I had the pleasure of going to Friedrichshafen this year to attend three days of the Eurobike international bicycle trade show.  It was absolutely mind-boggling the size of this thing.  Tens of thousands of bikes in about 12 football field sized exhibition halls.  It took me three days of seven hours per day to see every booth, and I’m sure I missed a lot of what the show had to offer.  The big story this time was the rise of electric bikes.  There were two different test tracks where you could try any of the models from several dozen manufacturers.  This part of the industry is huge, and growing.  Fixed gear bikes are also all the rage, and everyone seems to have one.  There were a few notable bikes and accessories that I thought would be appropriate for Letsevo, so check out the pictures (and don’t forget to read the descriptions below the pictures) in the gallery to get a feel of where we’ve gotten to in this crazy cycling world.

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