Future:Media:Change

Two “outreach bloggers” were selected via a competition process among Australian bloggers, the winners Joel Katz and Sharna Bremner will be heading out to Bangladesh to work directly with people living in the slums in Dhaka, both blogging about their personal experience as well as setting up facilities and training community members on how to use social media, audio, video and blogging to share their stories.

Location based social network Foursquare counted their 40 millionth checkin according to a tweet from one of their developers.

On Friday, Google announced that site speed is now part of its search ranking algorithm — that is to say your website will perform better on Google search results if it loads faster. But that’s not the only reason to pay attention to your site’s load time. Faster site performance also results in better user experience, more page views, more sales, and even lower equipment costs.

Are mobile phones the key to educating rural women? Do you want to read Twitter on a blog? Is Google invading your TV set? Can Twitter predict the future? Do you “Like” Coke on Facebook? Is Glenn Beck an asshole? These answers and more after the jump in the inaugural issue of FMC Wire

For a brand new social entrepreneurial outfit TANO design is already producing iconic designs. A quick look at their sleek site gives you the feeling of a fine balance between history and innovation, art and revolution.

In a similar way to Shepard Fairey’s iconic Obama image and Jim Fitzpatrick’s high-contrast drawing of Che Guevara, TANO’s designs are also centered around what its founder and designer Eddie Mandhry calls ‘iconic personalities’.

If you watched the Hope For Haiti Now special in January, you couldn’t help but notice all the stories being told about Haitian victims of the earthquake. Chances are you also couldn’t help but notice the tear running down your cheek or your hand reaching for the telephone. That’s because storytelling is the most powerful way of making an impression — and being remembered.

Six days in Rio and I’ve found the city brimming with a incredible network of organisations and projects using the web, film, sports, art, and research to foment lasting change. Read on to learn about the cutting-edge online community Viva Favela and Cara Mundo that uses film, graffiti and football to tackle the curse of armed violence.