RobiNZ Personal Blog

Back A Dream in Honour of International Women’s Day, with Kiva

Kiva is a great way to support people around the world through microloans. Kiva gives you the power to help someone work towards improving their life through entrepreneurial activities or education. For a limited time new Kiva users can try it out and back a dream with a commitment-free trial. You can choose a woman whom Kiva should lend $25 to as your initial loan, at no cost to you. Looking at my Kiva portfolio, most likely due to the activities I prefer to fund, there is a pronounced gender bias! Back A Dream in Honour of International Women’s Day... Read more →

All my Tweets, Wordled

I requested my Twitter archive and created this summary with Wordle. A neat way to see what, and who, has got my attention on Twitter since joining in 2009 To make yours: Log in to twitter.com, settings and request your archive. Download the .csv file from the twitter email Copy the Text Column and use find/replace to change RT into a space (otherwise you get an enormous RT in the text) Go to http://www.wordle.net/create and paste the text in. I used the randomize button until got a layout I liked then fine tuned it with the font & colour selectors. Read more →

Intercontinental Ballistic Microfinance

Awesome to see this concept of web connecting lenders with microloan recipients literally take off: Intercontinental Ballistic Microfinance from Kiva Microfunds on Vimeo. Read more →

Technology reinforced sedentary lifestyle guilt

It’s winter and, apart from doggy walks & very occasional bike rides, I tend to hibernate a bit. It’s a chance to catch up with the MySky recording back log (like all the Dr Whos since David Tennant left) and other inside stuff. However our amazingly technological world reminds me what others are up to and makes me think I should be doing more. From my inbox today… Via Twitter I discover AKSitP friends who are “sailing from Mexico to New Zealand on their Lagoon 380 catamaran.” are now “Anchor down Papeete, Tahiti” (green arrow). @toastfloats are using a combination... Read more →

Stuck for a gift idea? Kiva is the gift that keeps giving

This holiday season, think about adding Kiva Cards to your holiday gift list. Give one to a Kiva fan or introduce friends and family to microlending by giving them credit to make a loan! http://www.kiva.org/ How Kiva Works from Kiva Microfunds on Vimeo. Read more →

F1 2010, simulated on the PC

It appears, from this, Codemasters’ upcoming F1 2010 release will be more than a “game”. As an avid F1 fan I can’t wait to see if the physics and game engine match the visual feast. Read more →

IMDB iPhone App is cool!

It really bugs me when I recognize an actor in movies, or TV, and can't place where from. The solution is invariably found on IMDB and their new (for us outside the US) iPhone application makes it easy. Search for titles, cast, crew and more with massive amounts of related info on every title. I also like the links to reviews outside IMDB's database and to Amazon. Its an impressive app that should be on your phone. (seen displaying my favourite ever movie "Local Hero") Read more →

Kiva, a treat, no trick

Lots of little loans can make a big difference. Congratulations Kiva! Kiva.org: Kiva Lenders surpass $100,000,000! Around 2pm today (Happy Halloween for those in the U.S.), Kiva hit a major milestone: $100,000,000 in loans raised It's a wonderful accomplishment involving 584,189 Kiva Lenders in our first 4 years of operations. Read more →

How Kiva works, a little goes a long way

A brilliant video showing how Kiva connects people all over the world. A Fistful Of Dollars: The Story of a Kiva.org Loan from Kieran Ball on Vimeo. Read more →

Top Gear on YouTube, and it's official!

Top Gear now have an official channel on YouTube, and you can subscribe, and they can (unlike other Beeb stuff) be embedded. So cool it will require an extension to the cool wall http://www.yout... Read more →