Archives for July 2012

Last week, we were honored to see Brett Solomon, the Executive Director of Access, on the SF New Tech stage.

Brett didn’t demo anything, per se, but he did share news of how the internet is under constant threat, as well as some of the things Access is doing to help protect it.

One of the major initiatives Access recently launched is the Access Tech Innovation Awards which will provide $100,000 in prizes to individuals, organizations or networks that have the best actionable ideas of how to use information technology to promote and enable human rights or deliver a social good outcome.

Access Innovation Prize

Awarding $100,000 to the best innovations to help protect human rights online.

Prizes are divided into five categories:

Blackout Resilience: $20,000 will go to the best actionable idea to help build an open-sourced, blackout resilient technology for use by activists and human rights workers in conditions where there is a need for alternate communications infrastructure to the one put in place and/or controlled by the authorities. For example, where there has been a communication network shutdown.                           

Making Crypto Easy: $20,000 will go to the best actionable idea to properly integrate encryption into an existing product/system, educate users as to how to use encryption and/or build a community who use encryption by default.                        

The Bounty: A $20,000 bounty will be granted for the best patch for a disclosed or as yet undisclosed vulnerability in a program/platform or software used by human rights defenders and activists.

Golden Jellybean: This is an unthemed category. $20,000 will go to the best actionable idea of how communication technologies can be used to promote and enable human rights. This could include funding a researcher for $20,000; the development of a training guide for activists; a new censorship circumvention program; or an initiative to detect surveillance equipment on the network

Access Facebook Award: $20,000 will go to the best actionable idea of how to use the Facebook platform to deliver a human rights, human development or social good outcome. We’re looking for initiatives across the spectrum – from enhancing freedom of speech and expression to improving the economic well-being of a disadvantaged group. If you are applying for the Access Facebook Award – please read this.

Applications will be evaluated based on the impact, likelihood, innovation, and sustainability of the project or idea. For more information about the awards or to apply, please visit the prize website: https://www.accessnow.org/prize.  Applications are due August 15th.

Feel free to share the award information with anyone you think may be interested.

.@Accessnow Tech Prize: $100K to give away across 5 groups for ICT ideas 2 promote human rights. http://bit.ly/N1BMjP #netfreedom


photo by btrax



Hey SF New Tech Peeps! All the videos from our July 10 event with AccessNow.org, Syntellia, Clustrix, PoolParty, Fenrir, TheAppBuilder, Freedom Registry are posted.

Demos AccessNow, Syntellia, Clustrix, PoolParty, Fenrir, TheAppBuilder, Freedom Registry:
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photo by Adolfo Foronda



Happy 4th everyone! All the videos from our June 20 event are now posted. See the great presentations from Reddit, Waze, Crowdflower, Factoid Games, iBroadcast.tv, Zero1 and more here.

Travelling by car these days can be a bit much to deal with because everyone is always on the go (traffic) and gas prices aren’t quite so friendly on your pocketbook. Waze, a very intuitive, free app for your smartphone (iOS and Android) helps you get from point A to B in several different ways.


First and foremost, Waze has always been saving you time by being a fun, community-based GPS traffic and navigation app. Currently, with its latest update (3.2), you’re now able to save money by making it easy to save on gas, and who doesn’t want that? Waze helps you find the cheapist gas around you, or along your route. It also has specials at select gas stations. Simply redeem your digital coupon when you arive at the participation station and save. All the pricing, much like everything at Waze is updated by you, the community.


Another new feature is adding a stop along your “route”. You can choose through multiple “Search by Category” features. This feature is kind of like Foursquare’s explore option that they just added, however you get realtime ETA to both your stop and final destination.

Download your free app today and start saving time and money in the coolest waze possible.