Pop!Tech '09 - The mayor, FLAP, robots and more "Gee Whiz" moments

While Pop!Tech is filled with lots of discussion, humor and insights, there are plenty of moments that standout and make you stop what you're doing. I'm not going to give a full blown rundown of all the interesting things I've seen and heard the last few days, but there have been a few Gee Whiz moments. There are of course many, many others (and check the Twitter stream to catch a few), not to mention the fact there's still a day left in Pop!Tech.

The FLAP Bag:
So what is the FLAP bag, and what does it have to do with Pop!Tech? FLAP stands for Flexible Light and Power, and it's a prototype bag being tested at Pop!Tech that allows people to generate their own energy. The bag features solar tiles attached to the bag along with a small battery. The bag can provide light and also charge small devices via a USB cord, like a cellphone. Drawback? It takes 6-7 hours of sunlight. Upside? It can be used in rural areas and developing countries (like parts of Africa) as an energy source.

ReCaptcha:
You know those annoying word puzzle-like things you find now whenever you want to get free email, join a social network or leave a comment on a blog? That's a Captcha, and it's Luis von Ahn's baby. Originally a tactic to cut down and weed out spammers, von Ahn took a step back and realized a lot of wasted human power goes into dealing with Captchas. He told the Pop!Tech crowd people around the world waste 500,000 hours writing Captchas. So now he's using that power for good, or specifically the digitization of books. He's rebranded it as ReCaptcha  and now every time you figure out a ReCaptcha on places like Ticket Master, Facebook and more, you're helping a computer somewhere figure out a word it can't recognize. That shakes out to 45 million words digitized a day, equivalent to 4 million books digitized a year, von Ahn said.

Diagnostics for All:

For the last several years Pop!Tech has tried to help foster innovation and new ideas through its Social Innovation Fellows program. One of this year's fellows is Hayat Sindi, a researcher from Saudi Arabia who has developed a piece of medical technology that could completely change how people are diagnosed and treated in developing countries. It's a tiny piece of fabricated paper treated to respond to different chemicals. When I say tiny, I mean roughly the size of a postage stamp. So instead of getting costly, cumbersome equipment (or as is the case in some countries outdated equipment) to patients in out of reach areas, health care workers can just use these tiny stamp-sized devices to test for things like HIV or tuberculosis. Consider my mind blown.

Tiny Robots & Lasers:

Anytime you combine robots and lasers its bound to be cool. (Or, if science fiction has taught us anything...deadly.) At this year's Pop!Tech they claimed an old garage on Main Street and turned it into the "Creative Reuse Workshop," where everyday objects were transformed into lasers and robots. Lasers? Yes, Mike Gould not only knows how to make lasers, but can show you how to make one with a lunchbox, a CD, some glue and a laser pointer. Robots? On the other side of the garage you could learn how to make BEAM robots, or tiny robots made from objects like paperclips. Extremely MacGyver-y. Let's all pray the robots don't become self-aware...and arm themselves with the lasers.

Mr. Mayor - John Fetterman:
In the mix of discussions, announcements and general re-imagining taking place at Pop!Tech, along came John Fetterman, the big, burly, tattooed mayor of Braddock, PA. And to say Braddock is city ravaged by time and economics is an understatement. A one-time population of 20,000 is down to just shy of 3,000.What's up in Braddock? All the critical societal indicators, including unemployment, crime, school suspensions, drug arrests...the list goes on. It's bad, and recently worse as the largest employer and provider of health care announced it's shutting down. And yet, Braddock, and its mayor endures. Fetterman seems to want to will Braddock out of its current state (he makes roughly $110 a month.) Through efforts to save, renovate and revitalize the town's remaining buildings, creating programs to get young people involved in arts and culture and supporting urban farming Fetterman is trying to turn Braddock around.

Photo credit: Kris Krug. To see more photos from Pop!Tech check out their Flickr page.