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MEXICO CITY Mexico indicated Wednesday it expects the downturn in the U.S. will mean much slower growth this year for its own economy, which depends on its northern neighbor for the bulk of its trade and investment.The Treasury Department said it was lowering its forecast for Mexico’s 2008 economic growth to 2.8 percent from 3.7 percent - a 24 percent drop.”It is expected that the prevalent international economic scenario in 2008 will be less favorable for Mexico than what was anticipated,” the department said in a report posted on its Web site.Mexico’s gross domestic product is expected to have grown about 3.2 percent last year, the department said.More than any other country in Latin America, Mexico’s economic fate is tied to the U.S., its partner in the North American Free Trade Agreement. Mexico sends more than 80 percent of its exports to the U.S., which is also Mexico’s largest source of direct foreign investment and remittances.Mexico’s central bank on Wednesday also lowered its growth estimate by half a percentage point - to between 2.75 percent and 3.25 percent, compared to its previous estimate of 3.25 percent to 3.75 percent - also citing the U.S. downturn.Banco de Mexico said it expects there will be 620,000 jobs created in the formal economy this year, down from 756,000 in 2007.The bank also said remittances from Mexicans living abroad - the country’s second-largest source of foreign income after oil - had increased by a modest 1 percent last year compared with 2006, to $23.9 billion.It said it expected similar remittance growth in 2008.The lowered Mexican growth projections came on the same day the U.S. Commerce Department announced a growth rate of just 0.6 percent for the fourth quarter of 2007, the worst rate since 2002. Some fear a recession as U.S. growth - just 2.2 percent for all of 2007 - has stalled due to the ailing housing market and credit tightening.The Treasury Department said, however, there are “diverse factors that will mitigate the effects” of the slowing U.S. and global economy. It cited strong Mexican economic policies, increased spending on infrastructure, housing and other sectors, and anticipated high oil revenues.If it were not for those factors offsetting the U.S. slowdown, “the effect would have been much worse,” said Mauricio Gonzalez, president of the Mexico-based analysis firm Grupo Economistas Asociados.Latin America - especially Mexico - has always been hit hard by U.S. economic downturns. The region as a whole directs 50 percent of its exports to the United States, said Keiji Inoue, an economist at the United Nations.But Latin America is less vulnerable than in past crises, when a case of the sniffles in the U.S. economy prompted full-blown pneumonia across the region, economists say.One of Mexico’s strongest weapons is a huge public-private infrastructure plan proposed by President Felipe Calderon, who promised the government would spend $39 billion annually over his six-year term on roads, bridges, seaports, dams, and oil installations.Calderon noted the coming difficult times for the U.S. and global economy.”What we do not want is that this puts the brakes on the Mexican economy,” he said.In addition to Mexico’s infrastructure plan, the country is “revving the motors of our economy” with housing-construction projects, credit-lending programs, tourism development and diversification of its export markets, Calderon said earlier this month at a ceremony marking the start of construction on an $800 million dam.Such factors will indeed help to lessen the impact of the United States’ economic woes on Mexico, said Gonzalez, who noted that when former President Vicente Fox’s term began in 2000, Mexico’s growth rate dropped from about 6 percent to zero growth due to a U.S. drop from 3 percent to 1 percent.”That was not even a recession,” he said. “This time it’s not going to be that way.”If the U.S. does slip into a recession, the United Nations predicts Latin America as a whole would grow by only 2.6 percent, while Mexico’s growth would slow to about 1 percent, said chief U.N. economist Robert Vos.”That the U.S. downturn will affect us - there can be no doubt,” Gonzalez said.(This version CORRECTS year to 2007 from 2008 in 7th graf. )

MEXICO CITY Mexico indicated Wednesday it expects the downturn in the U.S. will mean much slower growth this year for its own economy, which depends on its northern neighbor for the bulk of its trade and investment.The Treasury Department said it was lowering its forecast for Mexico’s 2008 economic growth to 2.8 percent from 3.7 percent - a 24 percent drop.”It is expected that the prevalent international economic scenario in 2008 will be less favorable for Mexico than what was anticipated,” the department said in a report posted on its Web site.Mexico’s gross domestic product is expected to have grown about 3.2 percent last year, the department said.More than any other country in Latin America, Mexico’s economic fate is tied to the U.S., its partner in the North American Free Trade Agreement. Mexico sends more than 80 percent of its exports to the U.S., which is also Mexico’s largest source of direct foreign investment and remittances.Mexico’s central bank on Wednesday also lowered its growth estimate by half a percentage point - to between 2.75 percent and 3.25 percent, compared to its previous estimate of 3.25 percent to 3.75 percent - also citing the U.S. downturn.Banco de Mexico said it expects there will be 620,000 jobs created in the formal economy this year, down from 756,000 in 2007.The bank also said remittances from Mexicans living abroad - the country’s second-largest source of foreign income after oil - had increased by a modest 1 percent last year compared with 2006, to $23.9 billion.It said it expected similar remittance growth in 2008.The lowered Mexican growth projections came on the same day the U.S. Commerce Department announced a growth rate of just 0.6 percent for the fourth quarter of 2007, the worst rate since 2002. Some fear a recession as U.S. growth - just 2.2 percent for all of 2007 - has stalled due to the ailing housing market and credit tightening.The Treasury Department said, however, there are “diverse factors that will mitigate the effects” of the slowing U.S. and global economy. It cited strong Mexican economic policies, increased spending on infrastructure, housing and other sectors, and anticipated high oil revenues.If it were not for those factors offsetting the U.S. slowdown, “the effect would have been much worse,” said Mauricio Gonzalez, president of the Mexico-based analysis firm Grupo Economistas Asociados.Latin America - especially Mexico - has always been hit hard by U.S. economic downturns. The region as a whole directs 50 percent of its exports to the United States, said Keiji Inoue, an economist at the United Nations.But Latin America is less vulnerable than in past crises, when a case of the sniffles in the U.S. economy prompted full-blown pneumonia across the region, economists say.One of Mexico’s strongest weapons is a huge public-private infrastructure plan proposed by President Felipe Calderon, who promised the government would spend $39 billion annually over his six-year term on roads, bridges, seaports, dams, and oil installations.Calderon noted the coming difficult times for the U.S. and global economy.”What we do not want is that this puts the brakes on the Mexican economy,” he said.In addition to Mexico’s infrastructure plan, the country is “revving the motors of our economy” with housing-construction projects, credit-lending programs, tourism development and diversification of its export markets, Calderon said earlier this month at a ceremony marking the start of construction on an $800 million dam.Such factors will indeed help to lessen the impact of the United States’ economic woes on Mexico, said Gonzalez, who noted that when former President Vicente Fox’s term began in 2000, Mexico’s growth rate dropped from about 6 percent to zero growth due to a U.S. drop from 3 percent to 1 percent.”That was not even a recession,” he said. “This time it’s not going to be that way.”If the U.S. does slip into a recession, the United Nations predicts Latin America as a whole would grow by only 2.6 percent, while Mexico’s growth would slow to about 1 percent, said chief U.N. economist Robert Vos.”That the U.S. downturn will affect us - there can be no doubt,” Gonzalez said.(This version CORRECTS year to 2007 from 2008 in 7th graf. )

Words like “visionary” and “renaissance” are being used to describe the shift that is turning Garden City’s neglected corners into a model of urban renewal. Crime is down, rents are up, the cultural sector is igniting, and people in and around the area are excited about the future.The buzz started in 2005 when the city scrapped its comprehensive plan and invited the entire community to the rewrite. The resulting 49-page document won a Grow Smart Award from Idaho Smart Growth last year, not only for its inclusive process, but also for its innovative use of existing space and resources.An industrial stretch on Adams Street is slated to become a vibrant corridor like Boise’s Hyde Park. New zoning allows a Live-Work-Create district in the city’s Old Town that will have artists both living and working in affordable lofts. Design standards have been set that encourage attractive, integrated spaces in the commercial sector. The mixed-use Waterfront District development is going up between 37th and 35th streets. Bright buildings and bulldozers dominate the view from the south side of the Greenbelt, which will soon connect all the way to Eagle. The dream is grand, and some of it already has been realized, but how possible is the extreme transformation of a city with such a dark past? Can a place once known for gambling houses and shanty towns become, as it is sometimes called, “the heart of the Treasure Valley”? Will State Street grow into a tree-lined mall? Can the fairgrounds turn into a downtown core with its own skyline? Will boutiques, restaurants and neighborhood groceries pop up between used car lots, warehouses and bars?Garden City’s comprehensive plan boasts a “new vision for the future,” but most of the thousands of people who drive through the city every day are kicking back, waiting to see what happens.Meanwhile, a handful of individuals are carving out that vision. From business owners to artists to elected officials, these people are making the difference between a nice dream and a satisfying reality. All have hopes for the future, but in the 4.2 square miles on either side of Chinden, they are beautifying the present.We’d like you to meet some of these people. THE OTHER GARDEN CITYGarden City was named for the Chinese gardens that once thrived in the floodplains of the Boise River, but most of the gardens were gone before Donna Conn moved to 36th Street.The spirited 79-year-old’s mobile home and metal detector business, Conn’s Wampum Hut, look as though they’ve grown roots, a fitting metaphor for her connection to the place she’s called home for more than 50 years. Conn is a polio survivor, a mother, a journalist, an entrepreneur, a former dance band leader and Garden City’s unofficial historian. Over the years, she has involved herself in countless public hearings and community happenings, shaping the city just by speaking up, or as she jokes, “creating problems.” She was on the steering committee that helped draft Garden City’s new comprehensive plan and hopes it will combat a generation of stereotypes that would have outsiders believe everyone in the city has a bag of drugs in one hand and a gun in the other.”We came here in the mid-’50s, right before gambling was outlawed. We didn’t experience it, but we experienced the aftermath,” Conn said. “Everybody we talked to said, ‘Oh, you don’t want to move there.’ They had theories that there were red lights behind every bush, slot machines to lead you to iniquity. But once you got off the main strip, it was different.”The bad influences have changed, but the reputation lingers. Garden City has the highest density of registered sex offenders in Ada County (currently 54 of about 12,500 residents), and though the crime rate dropped almost 10 percent from 2005 to 2006 and more than 20 percent the year before, it is still relatively high for such a small city, as are poverty statistics. A 1999 census showed that 12.7 percent of the population was below the poverty line. The city is gearing up for another census in 2008, but City Clerk Pam Thomason said poverty numbers will probably be similar.”It’s going to change,” she added, “because the revitalization is starting to happen.” Conn is part of that revitalization, bolstered by memories of better times. Ron “Pinky” Lester had a skating rink just down the street, there were prize fights and movies in Centennial Park, and the now-defunct Garden City Gazette kept the community connected. With that community in mind, Conn plans to build a meditation garden in the old park and publish her own Garden City Bulletin, to celebrate “the good things.” “As the world updates and changes, Garden City is changing for the better along with it,” she said.CHANGE FROM THE BOTTOM UPIn a letter posted on Garden City’s official Web site, Mayor John Evans wrote: “Our city is, in many ways, undergoing a renaissance. We are rapidly moving from being just a small town surrounded by Boise and Eagle to being an attractive, vibrant and enviable city in the heart of the Treasure Valley.” Evans has witnessed that movement from many angles over many years. He was introduced to Garden City in the ’80s as a developer with Evans Brothers Construction. The three brothers took over an existing project on the west end of town and created the high-end subdivision, Riverside Village. Evans and his family moved to the area in 1988. Four years later, then-mayor Jay Davis asked him to serve on the planning and zoning commission. He joined the City Council in 1995, where he stayed until running for mayor in 2005. He took office in January 2006, amid a huge transition. “You kind of get vested in the community, living and working here. If you can effect some change, it kind of gets in your system,” Evans said. “What’s fun here is this change is being driven from the bottom up. These are not edicts coming down from the City Council. The steering committee is made up of people who live and work here.”IF YOU BUILD ITFour years ago, metal sculptor Irene Deely did something crazy. On a block of Chinden Boulevard occupied by High Desert Harley-Davidson and the old Ranch Club, she transformed a Chinese restaurant into a contemporary art gallery. She called it Woman of Steel, and as the name suggests, she stood on her own.”I’m learning that a lot of successful entrepreneurs don’t listen to the logic of something. They go with their hearts,” Deely said. “It became an installation piece for me to bring beauty into this place.”She called Garden City “the Left Bank of Boise” and compared its self-governing ways and myriad contrasts to the old West. She has brought some color to the commercial landscape of Chinden, from original works in her whimsical gallery to the striking aesthetic of its exterior to community events like the Chinese Dragon Parade, which Deely organized in September to celebrate the city’s past.”The encouragement it brought to people was amazing,” Deely said. “Some were crying because the police had finally come into this neighborhood not for a drug bust, but to throw candy to children and be part of something positive.”One thing she celebrated that day was the new Live-Work-Create district, which she helped design. Deely plans to build affordable lofts for artists behind her gallery, no matter what happens to the property value.”It’s definitely a huge risk, and I recognize that,” she said, “but it’s one that’s worth fighting for because of the human impact.”A LITTLE HELP FROM THE UNIVERSESam Stimpert and Anneliessa Balk Stimpert took a similar risk this year when they decided to pull Visual Arts Collective out of Boise’s Linen District straight into limbo. They opened the alternative gallery two years ago to promote all forms of art, from classic theater to independent film to body manipulation. But they couldn’t grow enough while renting in Boise, so they decided to buy in Garden City. The plan was to team up with Steve Fulton and Pat Storey of Audio Lab recording studios to create a progressive, multiuse arts facility in a community on the rise.”We loved the idea of coming to an area where the city was actively participating in urban renewal,” Balk Stimpert said. “Being first is so much more exciting because you have a chance to shape a place and make things happen.”Fulton helped the Stimperts find an old warehouse behind Woman of Steel, but the price tag left them stranded. On an impulse, Balk Stimpert wandered into the gallery and ended up telling Deely about her dream. Even though they barely knew each other, something clicked.Deely and her husband, Bob, ended up buying the warehouse behind their gallery with the understanding that the Stimperts would eventually pay it off. They got the keys in September, but serendipitous paths aren’t always the smoothest.Fulton was able to get a small-business loan of $50,000, but the total cost of remodeling the 9,200-square-foot space will be closer to $200,000. The new facility, which features a gallery, performance stage, recording studio, green room, conference room and lounge was supposed to open in October, but it has yet to crack its doors to the public. One financial surprise after another keeps getting in the way, but solutions continue to present themselves.”I have no doubt in my mind,” Fulton said. “I don’t even have a thread of doubt in my body that it will happen.”"Absolutely it will happen,” Balk Stimpert echoed. “We’ve had such incredible support, emotionally, mentally. It’s something the community really wants, and the support has fed us. I believe that the universe is on our side.” MIRACLE ON 35TH STREETWhile most of America weeps over the current healthcare crisis, people with no insurance, no jobs and no hope are getting free care at the Garden City Community Clinic.It grew from the vision of a local doctor named Karl Watts who wanted to provide medical care to needy people in foreign countries. When he realized how great the need was at home, he turned his attention to the federally designated “medically underserved” community of Garden City.Called Genesis World Mission, Watts’ nonprofit organization finds ways to give people from Kenya to Nampa vital care they often can’t afford. Steven Reames is executive director of the 5-year-old Garden City clinic, which used to be a doublewide trailer operating one day a week in a parking lot. Now it’s a polished primary care facility on 35th Street with the means to treat everything from diabetes to tooth decay. Low-income patients come from as far away as Mountain Home and Canyon County and are served by volunteer doctors, nurses, physician’s assistants, nurse practitioners and dentists who donated $100,000 last year in hours for medical services alone. That doesn’t include supplies, pharmaceuticals and administrative support, even if it’s as simple as finding a stamp for someone who needs it.Reames insisted there is no typical patient, that affluent people down on their luck share the waiting room with single moms, ex-cons and immigrants.”We’re a place to help people get back on their feet and put some dreams into the ground,” he said. “When they walk in here and see that this is a nice place, all of a sudden their human dignity rises up and they say, ‘Hey, I’m a person.’”And the community pitches in. Handwritten blessings line the studs in what will soon be a dental wing, and goody bags form the recently re-formed Garden City Chamber of Commerce are ready for patients who could use, as Reames says, “a little extra love.”"Even increasing people’s hope for the future - that’s a big thing,” he said. “Everybody is responsible for their corner of the world. There are a lot of corners in Garden City, and we want to make sure our corner is beautiful.”Erin Ryan: 672-6734

Its easy to forget that as little as a decade ago all these innovations that are part of daily life had yet to be dreamed of. The effect can scarcely be overstated and there appears to be no slowing in the number of new ways that are being invented to use this new connectedness.
The internet and the web have changed the way we keep in touch with family and friends, do business, form new relationships, leaving little of our lives untouched in some way or other, says John Allsopp, a software engineer, author and founder of the influential Web Directions conference series.
A decade from now, Ive no doubt well be similarly astounded with the way these technologies will have reached even further into our lives.
But predicting exactly what will be the next thing or which ideas will bomb and which will fly is fraught with difficulty. (Besides, if I knew for certain, do you really think Id still be writing for a living?)
What follows is a smorgasbord of websites, services, concepts and gadgets that at first glance seem to have little to do with each other but which taken together give a picture of where our brave new networked world may be heading.
THE CHUMBY - The creators of this bizarre little device have generated a huge buzz over the past few months - and its not even due to be launched until early in the year. The Chumby is a wireless internet device about the size of a rugby ball. It has no keyboard or mouse but instead uses software called widgets to display pretty much anything you want it to - all the time. For instance, it will act as an alarm clock, play your music, show you constantly updated news or track an eBay auction.
And the really interesting thing is that it is designed to be hacked - everything from the software code to the specifications for the case are freely available. No one, including the manufacturers, knows what owners will make Chumbys do once they are released. http://www.chumby.com
MICROBLOGGING - This involves sharing short messages among a group. Messages are typically posted from mobile phones via SMS or instant messaging. True microblogging obsessives will dispatch messages to the group dozens of times daily, updating their peers on even the most inconsequential details of their lives.
The best-known microblogging service is called Twitter and its best-known user is US presidential hopeful Barack Obama. Twitter has also spawned a host of imitators such as Pownce and Jaiku. Microblogging fans claim that, at their best, the mini-messages are almost haiku-like, while detractors question the usefulness of being bombarded with messages such as Just made cup of tea.http://www.pownce.comhttp://www.jaiku.com
EVERYBLOCK - This is still in development but EveryBlock is definitely worth keeping an eye on, if only because it is the work of young Chicago journalist and programmer Adrian Holovaty. He was the brains behind a celebrated project called chicagocrime.org, which overlays crime statistics from the Chicago Police Department on maps, thus providing a powerful graphic overview of crime in the city.
EveryBlock will use some of the same techniques to create hyperlocal news. The kinds of information Holovaty wants to provide include the results of house sales, scores from youngsters sports events, local crime figures and stories written by local people. http://www.chicagocrime.orghttp://www.everyblock.com
23ANDME - With the tagline genetics just got personal, 23AndMe allows anyone to unlock their own genetic history - and likely future. For $US1000 ($NZ1300) the service (named after the 23 pairs of human chromosomes) will reveal whether you have a predisposition to arthritis or Alzheimers or, more frivolously, why you cant stand tomatoes.
23AndMe customers provide a sample of saliva from which technicians extract the DNA for analysis. When the results are in, customers are given a secure login that allows them to explore their own genome at their leisure, revealing their genetic family around the world as well as their likely future health. http://www.23andme.com.
PEER-TO-PEER LENDING - Whether youre distributing music or books, auctioning off unwanted household items, wanting to bet on a horse race or looking for a soulmate, the internet can put you in touch with someone who is interested in what you have or are.
Kiva takes that idea and applies it to the established concept of microfinance - making small loans to the working poor to help them establish or expand businesses.
So, instead of giving a donation to an organisation such as Oxfam to distribute, peer-to-peer lending lets you invest small amounts directly in a particular entrepreneur - such as Mohamad Marah in Kabala, Sierra Leone. With his $US200 loan, Marah has been able to expand his garment business, buying three extra sewing machines. So far he has repaid half the loan. More than $US15 million has already been lent through Kiva - and the default rate is claimed to be just .23 per cent. http://www.kiva.org
MOB RULES - The concept of a mob of networked citizens forming an irresistible force has been proposed and developed by, among others, futurist Harold Rheingold and Sydney web theorist and author Mark Pesce. Pesce has pointed out that in about the middle of this year every second person on Earth will have a mobile phone.
In just a decade, well have gone from half the world never having made a telephone call to half the world owning a phone, he said recently. In effect, he reckons, the people are the network and when that mob of people get together and decide to go in a particular direction they are virtually unstoppable. Just ask the record companies that have battled in vain for years to stop people sharing music or former Philippines president Joseph Estrada, who was forced from office in 2001 by mass protests co-ordinated by waves of SMS messages.
According to Pesce, the mob is faster, smarter and stronger than you are. Just as importantly, the mob is quite unpredictable - so expect a wild ride in coming years. blog.futurestreetconsulting.com; http://www.rheingold.com.
GUERILLA WI-FI - Having a wireless internet system set up at home is becoming increasingly common. However, tapping into the internet while out and about is still very hit and miss - and where it is available is often nose-bleedingly expensive (Telstra hot spots cost $14 an hour while Optus slugs users about $12 an hour).
Meraki is an internet start-up that aims to change all that by providing cheap - or free - wireless networks. Meraki sells a remarkable device call the Meraki Mini for $US49. Plug it in to your internet connection and it will instantly provide shared access to other users up to 50 metres away.
Put several Merakis together in a neighbourhood (and perhaps include a few of the more powerful versions that cover up to 350 metres) and they will instantly form a mesh network, giving internet access to anyone in the area. These guerilla networks are beginning to spring up in cities around the world, driven by people for whom internet access is a social-equity issue. Do internet service providers like this Robin Hood-style behaviour? Not at all. Can they do much about it? Er, no. http://www.meraki.com.
WORLD COMMUNITY GRID -The World Community Grid project is one of the latest examples of a concept called distributed computing. The idea, though not new, involves harnessing the computing power of many thousands of idle PCs around the world to try to crack complex scientific challenges.
Distributed computing first came to prominence with the Seti@home project, which uses participants computers to analyse radio telescope data in the search for extra-terrestrial life. World Community Grid takes the concept one stage further and aims to establish the worlds largest public computing grid to tackle projects that benefit humanity.
So far 343,000 members have donated a total of 128,000 years of computing time. Projects include one aimed at giving scientists a better understanding of cancer and another that is modelling the effects of climate change in Africa. http://www.worldcommunitygrid.org
LOOPT - One of many social networking services that capitalise on the global positioning software now standard on many mobile phones.
Loopt members register with the site and then, when one of their friends is nearby, their location is shown on a map plus a note about what they are doing at that time.
You might not want your location to be always visible - so, thankfully, users can turn off the service. http://www.loopt.com.
ONE LAPTOP PER CHILD - When marvelling at the potential of the networked world its easy to forget the 2 billion youngsters in the developing world who dont have the tools to connect.
The One Laptop per Child program is a bid to help bridge this digital divide with a machine called the XO Laptop that sells for just $US200. OLPC is a non-profit group established by Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor Nicholas Negroponte and supported by companies including News Corp, Intel and Google.
Under a Give One Get One scheme, donors give $US399 and they receive a child-sized XO machine and another will be sent on their behalf to a youngster in Afghanistan, Cambodia, Haiti, Mongolia or Rwanda. http://www.laptop.org.

As little as a decade ago all these innovations had yet to be dreamed of. Think back to the days before the internet existed. Think back to a world before google became a verb, before a user-generated encyclopedia called Wikipedia replaced Britannica and before Trade Me turned the country into one big garage sale.
Its easy to forget that as little as a decade ago all these innovations had yet to be dreamed of. The effect can scarcely be overstated and there appears to be no slowing in the number of new ways that are being invented to use this new connectedness.
A decade from now, Ive no doubt well be similarly astounded with the way these technologies will have reached even further into our lives, says John Allsopp, a software engineer, author and founder of the influential Web Directions conference series.
But predicting exactly what will be the next thing is fraught with difficulty.
What follows is a smorgasbord of websites, services, concepts and gadgets that give a picture of where our brave new networked world may be heading.
The Chumby
The Chumby, due to be launched this year, is a wireless internet device about the size of a rugby ball. It has no keyboard or mouse but instead uses software called widgets to display pretty much anything you want it to — all the time.
It can act as an alarm clock, play your music or show you constantly updated news.
And the really interesting thing is that it is designed to be hacked — everything from the software code to the specifications for the case are freely available. No-one, including the manufacturers, knows what owners will make Chumbys do once they are released. www.chumby.com
Microblogging
This involves sharing short messages among a group. Messages are typically posted from mobile phones via text or instant messaging.
The best-known microblogging service is called Twitter.
Twitter has also spawned a host of imitators such as Pownce and Jaiku. Microblogging fans claim that, at their best, the mini-messages are almost haiku-like, while detractors question the usefulness of being bombarded with messages such as Just made cup of tea. www.pownce.com and www.jaiku.com.
EveryBlock
This is still in development but EveryBlock is the work of Chicago journalist and programmer Adrian Holovaty.
He is the brains behind chicagocrime. org, which overlays crime statistics from the Chicago Police Department on maps, thus providing a graphic overview of crime in the city.
EveryBlock will use some of the same techniques to create hyperlocal news.
The kinds of information Holovaty wants to provide include the results of house sales, scores from youngsters sports events, local crime figures and stories written by local people. www.chicagocrime.org
23AndMe
23AndMe allows anyone to unlock their own genetic history — and likely future.
For $US1000 ($1145) the service will reveal whether you have a predisposition to arthritis or Alzheimers or, more frivolously, why you cant stand tomatoes.
Peer-to-peer lending
Kiva expands on the concept of microfinance — making small loans to the working poor to help them establish or expand businesses. So, instead of giving a donation to an organisation such as Oxfam to distribute, peer-to-peer lending lets you invest small amounts directly in a particular entrepreneur. More than $US15 million has already been lent through Kiva — and the default rate is claimed to be just 0.23 per cent. www.kiva.org
Mob rules
The concept of a mob of networked citizens forming an irresistible force has been proposed and developed by, among others, futurist Harold Rheingold and Sydney web theorist and author Mark Pesce. In just a decade, well have gone from half the world never having made a telephone call to half the world owning a phone, Pesce said recently. He says the people are the network and when that mob of people get together and decide to go in a particular direction they are virtually unstoppable. Just ask former Philippines president Joseph Estrada, who was forced from office in 2001 by mass protests co-ordinated by waves of text messages. www.rheingold.com.
Guerilla Wi-Fi
Meraki is an internet start-up that aims to provide cheap — or free — wireless networks. Meraki sells a device called the Meraki Mini for $US49 ($NZ63). Plug it into your internet connection and it will instantly provide shared access to other users up to 50m away.
Put several Merakis together in a neighbourhood and they will form a mesh network, giving internet access to anyone in the area. www.meraki.com.
World Community Grid
The World Community Grid project is one of the latest examples of a concept called distributed computing. The idea involves harnessing the computing power of many thousands of idle PCs around the world to try to crack complex scientific challenges. World Community Grid aims to establish the worlds largest public computing grid to tackle projects that benefit humanity.
So far 343,000 members have donated 128,000 years of computing time. Projects include one aimed at giving scientists a better understanding of cancer and another that is modelling the effects of climate change in Africa.
Loopt
One of many social networking services that capitalise on the global positioning software now standard on many mobile phones. Loopt members register with the site and then, when one of their friends is nearby, their location is shown on a map plus a note about what they are doing at that time. You might not want your location to be always visible so, thankfully, users can turn off the service. www.loopt.com.
One Laptop Per Child
The One Laptop Per Child programme is a bid to help bridge the digital divide with a machine called the XO Laptop. Under a Give One Get One scheme, donors give $US399 ($NZ518) and they receive a child-sized XO machine and another will be sent on their behalf to a youngster in Haiti, Afghanistan, Cambodia, Mongolia or Rwanda. More information: www.laptop.org.

It is the Museum of New Zealand and outlines its key tasks as preserving and presenting the taonga (treasures) of New Zealands people and to interpret the countrys heritage for national and international audiences.
However, one look at the sub-headings on Te Papas website reminds us that museums are no longer about dusty vaults and cob-webbed corridors. The sub-headings include: kids, shopping, food and drink and functions.
The proponents of the proposed $24.6 million upgrade of Southland Museum and Art Gallery_ particularly the museums trust board_ no doubt have some vision of a smaller Te Papa-like asset for the region.
Board chairman Cr Darren Ludlow has already talked about interactive displays for kids.
In relative terms, theres no doubt about the enormity of the Southland Museum upgrade proposal.
You need only look at the scale of other capital developments in the city to get a sense of context.
Stadium Southland, built in 2000, and the Velodrome, built in 2006, came at a combined pricetag of $21.5 million, while the Civic Theatre upgrade weighed in at $16 million.
The museum trust board handily points out that other regions are investing heavily in heritage and the arts_ just look at New Plymouths Puki Ariki Museum, which cost $27 million to build from scratch.
Elsewhere in Southland, it notes developments such as Te Hikoi (Riverton Heritage Centre), Discover Fiordland in Te Anau and the Hokonui Heritage Centre and Eastern Southland Gallery in Gore as examples of areas forging ahead with cultural projects. The board also notes that the region has a rich history of celebrating cultural and philanthropic pursuits.
Southlands first museum was opened in 1872 by entrepreneur Andrew McKenzie who billed his home display as a collection of New Zealand and Australian curiosities, mostly stuffed animals.
In 1942, the Southland Museum opened on the Queens Park site where it still sits today_ although back then its founders may not have envisaged that one day a gigantic pyramid roof would be added.
Between 1960 and 1980 additions were made to the museum, including the tuatarium, observatory and a workshop.
In 1990, the pyramid roof was added.
In its presentation to community funders, councils and interest groups last week, the museum board restated its mission_ that of preserving and telling the story of Southland. This means charting peoples experiences and inspiring Southlanders to explore and understand the world around them.
It wants the museums collection to be managed and developed and public programmes to be maintained. Interestingly, the museum board also notes widening its community support base as a key goal_ somewhat of a necessity when the public purse is about to be raided.
The importance of the museum is being driven home by the board, which argues that people move to centres where heritage and culture are valued.
The 1990 museum model presents not only exhibition and storage space shortages, but the lack of space also limits the preparation of items, research opportunities for the public and commercial activities.
As well as more exhibition and storage space, the board wants improved educational areas, additional commercial space, an environmentally green energy-efficient building_ and, of course, more visitors.
It also needs to be a desirable destination for New Zealands best touring exhibitions, the board says.
Throughout the presentation pictures of Te Papa were used and its development is cited alongside that of more than 50 other museum redevelopments around the country as evidence of the importance of having a contemporary cultural asset.
Three options for the redevelopment were considered by the board.
The first was removing the pyramid structure, leaving a 2500 square metre core and constructing a new four level building, adding another 6000 square metres. The ball park figure for this would be $21.5 million, before additional costs.
The second option_ and that favoured by the board — is refurbishing the existing 4500 square metre building and creating a 4000 square metre extension on the adjacent tennis court site. This would come at a cost of $20.2 million.
The price tag for the latter ends up at $24.6 million after fitout costs ($1.1 million) and inflation at 5 percent for three years ($3.3 million) are added.
The third option was building a new museum on a central business district site within the city centre. This would cost about $25 million, plus the price to buy the land, plus the additional costs.
The board supports its preference by saying it would create the least disruption to the operation of the museum, the tuataras would remain on site_ and importantly no resource consent would be needed as a museum is already allowed for in the Queens Park Reserve Management Plan.
About $600,000 more a year would be needed to run the redeveloped museum. At the moment the museum has a $1.29 million annual operational budget, which would increase to $1.90 million.
As far as timelines go, the board wants a feasibility study completed by May, planning approvals secured by the end of next year, have detailed design and tendering done in early 2009 and construct the new building from late 2009 to an early 2011 deadline_ in time for the Southland sesquicentenary in April 2011.

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