Brought to us by Google and Specialized Bicycle Components, the Innovate or Die Pedal-Powered Machine Contest was a contest designed to inspire innovation and environmental change by highlighting the benefits of cycling.

The Challenge: Invent and put together machines that transform zero-emission human energy into new and useful purposes.

The Result: Success- hundred folds. Entries from all around presented their own ideas, the winner however, took a Playpumps-esque idea and made it mobile. The Aquaduct:  Mobile Filtration Vehicle, a bicycle that not only provides an environmentally friendly transportation, but also provides a means to create and move clean filtered water long-distances. It was designed to target problems in areas where clean water is not readily available, and as a result, leads to millions of deaths every year.

I present to you the winner the Innovate or Die contest, The Aquaduct:  Mobile Filtration Vehicle...

Be sure to also check out the other entries on their YouTube page here.

Sources:

• Google Blog
• Innovate or Die Contest Page

Following the successful turn out from last year's contest, DoGooderTV is once again holding their Nonprofit Video Contest (presented by NTEN and See3 Communications).

The premise of the contest is to highlight nonprofit organizations using technology to inspire and promote their cause. New technologies have created several compelling mediums to reach people, DoGooderTV is out to make sure we all see it.

Below is last year's winner from the organization Avazz, titled "Stop the Clash of Civilizations".

Submit your video here.

View this year's entries here.

Website: www.t5m.com

While still maintaining their intent on entertaining and inspiring, t5m now gives users direct access to original, broadcast interviews featuring famous personalities, events and news stories - covering headlines from fashion to the causes the stars support. t5m will feature an extraordinary range of people from actress Kate Bosworth to explorer Sir Ranulph Fiennes, author Barbara Taylor Bradford to musician James Blunt, and from world champion surfer Kelly Slater to actor Christian Slater.

Nelson Mandela's HIV/AIDS campaign, 46664, is the first cause to announce its involvement. The dedicated 46664 channel is already live as part of today's beta launch of t5m.com.

Charlie Muirhead, founder and CEO of t5m commented: "The next wave of entertainment is inspiration. Nothing else on the web offers such direct, unmediated access to the people and stories shaping the world we live in. We hope that t5m will be a much loved addition to every web user's favorites."

Albiet controversial, the motive and intentions are admirable; One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) is an innovative approach to empowering children in developing countries by providing them free laptops. The challenges of getting the XO laptop at the target price of $100 was a feat in itself, now the challenge of convincing people that this cause is worthwhile will be the tallest hurdle to jump.

From the OLPC website | Mission
The mission of One Laptop per Child (OLPC) is to empower the children of developing countries to learn by providing one connected laptop to every school-age child. In order to accomplish our goal, we need people who believe in what we’re doing and want to help make education for the world’s children a priority, not a privilege.

Since November 12th, OLPC has been offering a limited-time Give One Get One program in the United States and Canada. During Give One Get One, you can donate the revolutionary XO laptop to a child in a developing nation, and also receive one for the child in your life in recognition of your contribution. Thanks to a growing interest in the program, we are extending Give One Get One until the end of the year. Through this extension, and the increasing public interest in OLPC, we hope to give many more children the opportunity to grow, explore, learn and express themselves.

With the help of Microsoft, a poor neighborhood in Philadelphia recently opened  it's doors to a new type of school known as the "School of the Future". This highly anticipated project was originally put together in 2003; it houses classrooms that look like board rooms, advanced technology lockers, but most importantly, an approach to teaching that embraces and encompasses the next generation of technologies (even blogging).

Read more about the program and order the documentary at Microsoft's website. Also check out the NPR's report on the school.

Last week, I had the distinct pleasure of visiting National Public Radio headquarters in Washington and sitting in with Neal Conan on Talk of the Nation. The topic was the growth of social networks like Facebook and MySpace, and my role was discussing their impact on philanthropy, which I've been writing about for a while [latest story here]. Listen to the whole program, which was very informative.

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Here's a podcast about a nonprofit's launch in the popular virtual world Second Life. Josh Fouts joins the Secondcasters to discuss the launch of the USC Center for Public Diplomacy in Second Life on  Annenburg Island.

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The NetSquared Conference opens this week in the Bay Area, and we wish we'd been able to arrange the schedule to make it. An innovative program will spotlight the work of 21 organizations and causes as they compete for funding and recognition in technology and new media. Appropriately, Sean Stannard-Stockton's podcast this week features Daniel Ben-Horin, founder and president of CompuMentor and TechSoup, who are behind the NetSquared Conference. Daniel discusses the history of CompuMentor, how technology is transforming nonprofits, explains the vision behind NetSquared, and reflects on the use of “wisdom of crowd” techniques in philanthropy.

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Here's an interesting example of an organization using distributed video to bring attention to a cause - in this case, the American Jewish World Service's work with refugees and the poor in developing nations. FRom AJWS: "This clip, released to coincide with Passover, highlights our work and reminds viewers of their responsibility to help people around the world reclaim their freedom."

TechSoup bills this as "an eye-opening two-minute video on what Second Life, the online virtual world, is all about and what nonprofits can get out of participating."