Social Entrepreneurs

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Another young person on a mission is Ariel Zylbersztejn, a 27-year-old Mexican who founded and runs a company called Cinepop, which projects movies onto inflatable screens and shows them free in public parks. Mr. Zylbersztejn realized that 90 percent of Mexicans can’t afford to go to movies, so he started his own business model: He sells sponsorships to companies to advertise to the thousands of viewers who come to watch the free entertainment.

Mr. Zylbersztejn works with microcredit agencies and social welfare groups to engage the families that come to his movies and help them start businesses or try other strategies to overcome poverty. Cinepop is only three years old, but already 250,000 people a year watch movies on his screens — and his goal is to take the model to Brazil, India, China and other countries.

-- Nicholas D. Kristof for The New York Times

Mr. Kristof was the one who introduced us to Kiva.org, which was about loaning money to budding entrepreneurs in the Third World. Now he discusses social entrepreneurs, idealistic people working through the system to bring real change to impoverished peoples. It is always a bit chastening to see that there are people who don't just gripe and wax cynically upon the world, but who actually go out to change it.

xXx

Social Entrepreneurs

♠
Another young person on a mission is Ariel Zylbersztejn, a 27-year-old Mexican who founded and runs a company called Cinepop, which projects movies onto inflatable screens and shows them free in public parks. Mr. Zylbersztejn realized that 90 percent of Mexicans can’t afford to go to movies, so he started his own business model: He sells sponsorships to companies to advertise to the thousands of viewers who come to watch the free entertainment.

Mr. Zylbersztejn works with microcredit agencies and social welfare groups to engage the families that come to his movies and help them start businesses or try other strategies to overcome poverty. Cinepop is only three years old, but already 250,000 people a year watch movies on his screens — and his goal is to take the model to Brazil, India, China and other countries.

-- Nicholas D. Kristof for The New York Times

Mr. Kristof was the one who introduced us to Kiva.org, which was about loaning money to budding entrepreneurs in the Third World. Now he discusses social entrepreneurs, idealistic people working through the system to bring real change to impoverished peoples. It is always a bit chastening to see that there are people who don't just gripe and wax cynically upon the world, but who actually go out to change it.

xXx

Will Books Finally Go the Way of Vinyl Records?!

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PRINTED books provide pleasures no device created by an electrical engineer can match. The sweet smell of a brand-new book. The tactile pleasures of turning a page. The reassuring sight on one’s bookshelves of personal journeys.

But not one of these explains why books have resisted digitization. That’s simpler: Books are portable and easy to read.

Building a portable electronic reader was the easy part; matching the visual quality of ink on paper took longer. But display technology has advanced to the point where the digital page is easy on the eyes, too. At last, an e-reader performs well when placed in page-to-page competition with paper.

As a result, the digitization of personal book collections is certain to have its day soon.

-- Randall Stross for The New York Times

I cannot imagine making that transition myself, having no will to do so, but then I may be just part of a dying world, but it's my world as I die along with it. But then I also once thought that I would never get on the Internet!

xXx

Will Books Finally Go the Way of Vinyl Records?!

♠
PRINTED books provide pleasures no device created by an electrical engineer can match. The sweet smell of a brand-new book. The tactile pleasures of turning a page. The reassuring sight on one’s bookshelves of personal journeys.

But not one of these explains why books have resisted digitization. That’s simpler: Books are portable and easy to read.

Building a portable electronic reader was the easy part; matching the visual quality of ink on paper took longer. But display technology has advanced to the point where the digital page is easy on the eyes, too. At last, an e-reader performs well when placed in page-to-page competition with paper.

As a result, the digitization of personal book collections is certain to have its day soon.

-- Randall Stross for The New York Times

I cannot imagine making that transition myself, having no will to do so, but then I may be just part of a dying world, but it's my world as I die along with it. But then I also once thought that I would never get on the Internet!

xXx