Hullo folks, Gord here with another IdeaWarz winner, one that’ll warm the heart of any Richard Garriott fan, or parent of an Evercrack junkie.

Congratulations to Game for the idea, Virtual Education Gaming Institute! (Yes, community members are already helping brainstorm up a new name.)

Game has already created an environmental board game called FoulplayTM, designed to augment science and social studies curriculums.

Game’s Virtual Education Gaming Institute, is for middle and senior high school students who would prefer to learn school curriculum through reality based strategy games in a virtual world. Students select from a number of virtual classroom game experiences designed to introduce science and social studies curriculum in a manner that is engaging, collaborative and challenging.

Combining addictive gaming and learning is the holy grail of education. Sure, you can take 50 kids, cram them in a room with books, and yell at them when ever they stop reading… it may be effective (depending on how loud you yell), but it doesn’t scale very (try cramming 100 more kids into the room).

But combining MMORPG and learning? If you can crack that nut, we could force all sorts of learning into those little punks. To effectively play online games, plenty of learning already occurs. Social norms in that environment, how to program keyboard macros, knowledge of the capabilities of each race of character, the effects of caffeine on a developing nervous system.

Yet so far, there are few examples combining multi-player online games with learning. There are interesting interactive exhibits in Second Life, but I’ve not seen any described as addictive… perhaps because it is not designed as a gaming environment and so the addictive aspects of gaming are difficult to leverage.

Back in grade 7 I was trying to convince my teachers the value of M.U.L.E. in teaching microeconomics. The school had a no-Atari-800 policy and I’m still bitter. I could have pwned the whole class! Here’s hoping Game will succeed in putting some addictiveness back in learning.

Some info concerning MMORPG style learning submitted by community members:

• Christine - The Kids are Alright - How the Gamer Generation is Changing the Workplace, and Games that Make Leaders
• Saigon - Education in and for the Information Society, and Summit on Educational Games (findings report)
• GordonMcDowell (yes I’m community too) - Second Life Insider’s summary of Teaching Sites

Honorable Mentions:

• Best Painkiller: Hospital Connections by Gods_Light
• Best Viagra: My Pop-Up Video by thecougar
• Most Entertaining: Underwear Sound Blocker by Moogy
• Jasmine’s Pick: Music My Way by Laracee

The number of ideas submitted each week keeps going up… which may not be a good thing. Somewhere between 5 and 1005 is the optimal number of ideas our members can possibly review in a given week. Wonder what that number is? Should we constrain this? Or not worry that any given community member can’t review every idea, and a random sampling is enough?

We could limit the number of ideas submitted per member per week, but that harms members with come up with a constant stream of good ideas. How about limiting the how many ideas can be re-submitted in a week? Or forcing an idea to be revised before it can be resubmitted?

Would love to read your thoughts, let us know what you think. Be part of the wisdom of crowds by voting in next week’s round and…
May the best idea win!

Weekly IdeaWarz has another winner! Congratulations to Kevin_Cox for his idea, Open Render Networks.

Here’s the Pitch: For Everyone who uses a computer the Open Render Network is a public processing powerhouse that optimizes performance, speeds render time, and accelerates innovation without investment in IT infrastructure. Unlike high cost commercial computer grids our product is cheap or even free.

Cambrian House community and staff are divided over the merits of this idea. Some are adamant this idea is great only in theory and would not support a viable business model, yet it won this week’s tournament by a landslide! Certainly there are examples of network computing (yes similar ideas have been implemented) but we can’t find a commercial success story to date.

Will Open Render Networks destroy the competition? Or co-exist in a comfortable niche? Will Kevin_Cox build a new peer-to-peer computing structure from the ground up? Or can he leverage existing technologies and still make a buck? Will he arrange for possible competitors within the community to meet untimely deaths? Or will they band together to knock this one out of the park?

Check out our video for more discussion on Kevin_Cox’s idea!

Honorable Mentions:

• Best Painkiller: Mobile Phone Application Tester Service by fish99
• Good idea but misunderstood?: Babybookpro.com by mannymix03
• Most Entertaining: JinxMyBoss by Tournesol
• Christine’s Pick: mobiFlick by Me_

In the last 7 days, we received the most idea comments in a 7 day period ever, and the most votes in a 7 day period since the very beginning of idea voting in Aug 2006. We say that’s some nice feedback on the current tournament format, no?

Would love to read your thoughts, let us know what you think. Be part of the wisdom of crowds by voting in next week’s round and…
May the best idea win!

YouTube Remixer

YouTube has officially launched YouTube Remixer, a new service that allows users to edit their videos from within YouTube itself.

Mobile Network

Researchers are turning cars into nodes that ‘talk’ to each other, forming a new type of wireless network. As cars enter the mobile network, drivers can download multimedia - including movies, images and songs - or get real-time information about traffic.

EBay vs Google

When Google invited eBay sellers attending the eBay Live! party in Boston this week to the Google Checkout Freedom Party — which was designed to poke fun at eBay’s restrictive policies — eBay got a little upset.

id Software’s new game engine

John Carmack showing a demo video of id’s Engine Tech 5. Anyone remember Quake back in the day? This video makes me miss my polygons!

Levi’s Steel Phone

In tune with its young consumers, the Levi’s(R) brand is adding a fashionable, steel mobile phone to its range of lifestyle accessories.

And finally my inapropriate but funny links of the week…you have been warned!

The Swear Jar

Congratulations LoveTech on winning this week’s weekly IdeaWarz. She is now C$100 richer and has secured a spot for her Idea, Angelic Crowd in the IdeaWarz - Tournament of Champions. We’re looking forward to seeing where this Idea goes!

Haven’t heard of her Idea yet? Here it is: Not all people who submitted good ideas can immediately form a team to execute its development into a product. Angelic Crowd will provide seed funding assistance to qualified projects in exchange of: 50% of RP or 20% of equity when the business is incorporated. The seed fund will be used to pay for services in: Hiring the Project Leader, Developing the Business Plan and Developing the Technical solutions.

CB2 Child Robot

The 33 kilogram CB2 is literally beyond words in its freakines. Apparently it emulates “the physical ability of a 1- or 2-year-old toddler, can turn over and stand up with assistance”.

Interactive Paper

Paper Four, a research project in Sweden, is developing an interactive paper. “Boring billboards can be turned into interactive displays by using conductive inks to print touch sensors and speakers onto paper, say Swedish researchers.” - NewScientistTech

Bump Top

a fresh user interface that takes the usual desktop metaphor to a glorious, 3D extreme. This technology has been in development for over a year now. Hopefully someone will finally integrate this into an Operating System.

Photosynth Prototype

The Photosynth Technology Preview is a taste of the newest - and most exciting - way to view photos on a computer. Our software takes a large collection of photos of a place or an object, analyzes them for similarities, and then displays the photos in a reconstructed three-dimensional space, showing you how each one relates to the next.

“10 Things That Would Have Been Nice to Know When Starting My Facebook Application”

If you’re building a Facebook Application, you may want to pay attention to some of these tips. Might save you some time and headaches!

And finally my inapropriate but funny links of the week…you have been warned!

Car Alarm that will actually catch your attention

Congratulations to fossiloflife, who’s nO nAmE yEt!…claimed top spot in our inaugural weekly IdeaWarz tournament.

His idea: nO nAmE yEt!… may not have the best title we’ve ever seen (or does it?), but the idea to build a site dedicated to transparent, true news coverage from all points of view was intriguing enough to capture the attention of loads of community members and secure him a win!

The pitch: For everyone who wants to know the truth, in the world of the media war the site is a eye opener to the world of truth that lets you analyze the same news in different points of view. Unlike others or even Google which shows you news but not the truth our product will help you identify the truth by comparing different news articles which are conflicting in nature, so that nothing other than the truth reaches you!

Of course we’ll have to wait and see how the idea will actually be implemented, but this new spin on citizen journalism is definitely interesting. If you want to help fossiloflife brand his idea with a memorable name, send him a message or leave a comment on his idea.

Jasmine, our resident media fancy pants and news junkie said citizen journalism is gaining momentum and credibility. In fact, take a look at sites like NowPublic and AssignmentZero that crowdsource news stories and photos from citizen and professional journalists. The idea of building a site where multiple angles to a story can be written and viewed to ensure the story is well-rounded and not polished by corporations or governments is great.

Good luck fossiloflife and we’ll see you in the first Tournament of Champions in August!

We’d also like to address the issue of CHEATING. Cheating is just plain bad for your karma. We believe people are inherently trustworthy, so step up and be trustworthy. The floodgates have opened for feedback and discussion – so join in on the debate.

Be part of the wisdom of crowds by voting in next week’s round and…
May the best idea win!

It’s all about the “crowd” at Cambrian House – wisdom of crowds (such as comments, feedback and filtering of ideas) and participation of crowds (such as finding the perfect team of people to help launch an idea into reality). IdeaWarz is Cambrian House’s poster child of “wisdom of crowds” because top ideas as ranked by community members immediately gain entry into the competition and winning ideas get to bask in fame and fortune. This week we chose to turn up the number of winners by creating weekly mini-tournaments and a quarterly tournament that’ll have Mark Burnett wishing he’d thought of it (well, maybe not quite).

How it works:

1. You submit an idea to Cambrian House.
2. Each Wednesday at Noon, voting starts. Community members vote on all ideas submitted the previous week.
3. Wednesday at Noon the following week, the top idea as rated by the crowds is awarded $100 Cambros (C$100) and secures a spot in the IdeaWarz Tournament of Champions.

Submit your idea and see what the crowd thinks.
May the best idea win!

No wait, I still have questions…

Holy cow batman, my idea is in this week’s voting - what do I do now?

1. Upload an image relating to your idea- pics say 1,000 words, and can serve as an awesome promo for your idea, or even yourself!
2. Complete your elevator pitch- elevator pitches have been a mainstay in the biz world for a good reason: they explain your idea in an energetic, yet concise manner. Want the crowd to vote for you? They better understand your vision.
3. Promote your idea to the world- share your idea on Facebook, your other fav sites, or e-mail your friends. From the My Ideas page, browse to your idea and click the ‘promote this idea’ link.
4. Keep an eye on your idea during the week, people will be posting comments and asking you questions. The more you engage them in conversation, the more invested they become, and the more polished your idea gets.

How do I vote on ideas?
Just go to the Ideas section on CambrianHouse.com and start exploring ideas, voting on ideas and lending your brilliance by posting comments and feedback.

I didn’t win this week’s voting, now what?
Tweak your idea and re-submit for next week’s voting by clicking the ‘Enter into next voting round’ link on the My Ideas page.

Or convert your idea into a business and get cracking. Not being Top Dog doesn’t mean you can’t connect with other members to make your idea better and commercialize it.

If an idea is not in the current voting round, can I still see it and vote on it?
You can view all ideas by clicking ‘All’ on the Ideas sub-nav bar. You can always leave a comment but can only rate the idea if it is in the current voting round.

Will IdeaWarz (ideawarz.com) still run monthly?
No, ideawarz.com will be the new home of our quarterly IdeaWarz Tournament of Champions.

How will contenders be selected for the Tournament of Champions?
The top idea each week (as determined by total points) secures a spot in the Tournament of Champions.

Why only quarterly?
If you’ve heard of American Idol, think of the Weekly IdeaWarz as auditions and the Tournament of Champions as the actual show where the champion wins BIG!

If you haven’t heard of American Idol…do you live in a cave or something?

Huh…I still don’t get it.
Each week there’s an idea competition with one winner - the idea with the highest total points.

Each quarter, the last 12 winners of the weekly competitions plus a few wildcards hand picked by experts (like celeb judges on American Idol), battle it out in the Tournament of Champions.

Why wildcards? What better way to test the wisdom of crowds then to pin the crowd against a few so-called experts?

Why the change?
Our vision is to be a Web 2.0 community where individuals and businesses can leverage the wisdom and participation of crowds for commerce. So we’re rolling up our sleeves and creating tools to unleash the power of crowdsourcing and make it available to everyone.

Weekly IdeaWarz means the crowd chooses to highlight ideas more frequently, the pace is more exciting, and more ideas get time in the spotlight - giving them the chance to attract team members to take the idea to the next level.

The goal is that we’ll release IdeaWarz as a tool available to members for their own projects/ideas. For example, Prezzle should be able to quickly throw up “PrezzleWarz” so people can select the Prezzle they’d like to see created next.

Hence, wisdom of crowds lets you determine the feature/product/idea that is more enticing to a market BEFORE spending energy and resources to build it.

Have your say by voting today and let us know what you think by leaving a comment!

World’s largest Indie MP3 store launches

PayPlay has just launched “the world’s largest MP3 download store” — a store selling more than 1.3 million indie music tracks, with a search engine that allows you to search for your fave artists and get similar indie artists in the catalog.

Microsoft Surface - Video of Bill Gates Showing off his Expensive Table

So Microsoft Surface looks neat, but the hardware alone costs around $10,000. So not sure if you’re going to see many of these for a long time. Neat hardware concept though.

Google Maps - Street View (Vegas)

Google Maps now includes a “street view” in 5 US cities. Hopefully, more will come. The link above is of Vegas. Here are also the best things found so far with the Street View

Intel Unveils World’s Thinnest Notebook

Codenamed the Intel Mobile Metro Notebook. Being a tiny 0.7-inch thickness, it is crowned the thinnest laptop ever. Weighing in at just 2.25 pounds and sporting Intel speediest processor, it is not just a thin, its also fast!

And finally my inapropriate but funny links of the week…you have been warned!

Someecards.com - When you care enough to hit send

YouSwear.Com - When foreign people swear!