We've had some amazing people join GiveGetWin recently. While on Skype with Chris Dame, he mentioned how we're living in the future with cheap power-generating bricks -- the kind that used to cost tens of thousands of dollars and take a lot of man-hours to set up when he was working worldwide as an innovation consultant.
He wrote this up, and an introduction of himself and what he does below. He's a really neat guy, so you're going to enjoy meeting him and getting to see his work on philanthropy implementation, design upgrades, processes, and recruiting at GiveGetWin coming forwards. Here's Chris --
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We are living in the future. 15 years ago, the only way to talk to an average person who was busy was by mailing a letter or voicemail, and now we have a list of options. 10 years ago, it was ridiculously difficult and expensive to get video onto the internet, and now it’s a button away. There is hardly anywhere on Earth that takes longer than a day to get to, and your phone is exponentially more powerful than any computer a decade ago.
I design innovative new products and services around the world for a living, and watching the present catch up to my designs is one of the most exciting things I can think of. Eight years ago I was working with Intel to design a computer that could withstand constant use in the sweltering, dusty environment of rural India and Africa where electricity was unstable. We finally settled on a design about the size of a tank engine that incorporated a car battery, a satellite hookup, a labyrinth of air filters that needed to be changed daily, and a keyboard so sealed from the air that the keys were hard to press. Not beautiful, and each computer cost $10,000 to make, but the villages were happy to finally have internet access out in the middle of nowhere.
Four years ago I was working on a completely different project in rural India, and we were developing what was essentially the next generation of that behemoth. This time it had shrunk down to the size of a large suitcase, slightly too big to carry onto an airplane, but small enough to check. The insides had been upgraded as well, offering stable electricity for long periods and packing an entire server and cel phone antenna inside for internet access. The details aren’t important, but when we were recovering from a long day researching outside, we could plug into the internet and it treated us like we were back home in San Francisco, which made life so much better.
Now there’s BRCK, “your backup generator for the net”. A non-profit company in Kenya has shrunk all of this down to the size of a brick, and it only costs $200. It provides 8 hours of electricity when the power goes out, automatically switches between WiFi and 3G depending on the signal strength, can survive being thrown around in the back of a Jeep bouncing through the countryside, and has software that backs everything up to the cloud, along with whatever apps people develop. And just to rub it in, it looks really stylish.
No matter where you are in the world (and I am writing this from Mongolia, where the internet and electricity are unstable at best), you can always have a solid internet connection, one email away from everyone you know. 15 years ago the first email addresses were appearing in magazine advertisements. We are living in the future.
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I’m Chris Dame, an Innovation Consultant based in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia for another two weeks before heading around Southeast Asia again. In 2010, I left my job and sold off everything in my downtown San Francisco apartment except a handful of things that fit in my backpack, and I’ve been adventuring the world with just that ever since.
I know that “Innovation Consultant” sounds like a made up job, so let me break down what I do.
Phase 1) Deep research by living with people and getting inside their lives, figuring out what their real problems are, not just what they think they are.
Phase 2) Design potential solutions for these problems, making them as quickly as possible.
Phase 3) Get these prototypes in the hands of people who need them to see if they help people in real, measurable ways, including pure joy.
The goal is to fail as often as possible as quickly as possible so the best solutions rise to the top. If this is successful, the bugs are hammered out and it is sent to the masses. If not, I start all over with new things learned. I’ve done this for everything from worldwide medical services to children’s toys, helping Fortune 100 companies and small third-world artisans alike find their best voice in ways that help real people. Thankfully, it’s always been fun and rewarding.
GiveGetWin is an amazing concept I believe in, and I want to help take it to the next level. Great people giving amazing information, as well as making sure even more people are helped in the most effective ways. I’m here to help you be your best, and with the momentum GiveGetWin already has, I’m just helping aim the greatness.
If you want to know more about me, check out some of my adventures.
How to pack to travel the world indefinitely
My visits to Burning Man, North Korea, and getting kicked out of Vietnam.
And feel free to say hi. I’m here, and it’s always great to hear from like-minded people.
Do say hi to Chris! He reads the comments here, or go visit him at Travel True, and we'll keep you update as we work together behind-the-scenes at GiveGetWin.