There's always something brewing in the PopTech community. From the world-changing people, projects and ideas in our network, a handful of this week's highlights follows.

• 2010 speaker Eli Pariser, whose talk we released this week and whose book, The Filter Bubble, was released yesterday, offers 10 easy ways to pop your filter bubble and get off the personalized web.

• Artist Zach Lieberman (PopTech 2009) will be participating in Seven on Seven, an event in which seven artists are paired with seven game-changing technologists in teams of two to develop something new—be it an application, social media, artwork, product, or whatever they imagine—over the course of a single day during. The seven teams will unveil their ideas at a one-day event at the New Museum in New York City on Saturday, May 14th, 2011. 

• OK Go (PopTech 2010) will be screening thier video "White Knuckles" in the 8th Annual LA 3-D Movie Festival this Saturday. Down with 3D? There's more where that came from. 

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Image: The Filter Bubble

There's always something brewing in the PopTech community. From the world-changing people, projects and ideas in our network, a handful of this week's highlights follows.

• Hot off the press, eight minutes of auditory awesomeness from the one and only musical magic man, Reggie Watts (PopTech 2006, 2010).

• Designer Kacie Kinzer (PopTech 2009) explores what technology can reveal about empathy and cooperation via the Tweenbot, a cardboard robot she's built. Kinzer is taking her robots on the road - and in order to do so, she's started a Kickstarter campaign to create and distribute DIY Tweenbot kits. Earlier this week we checked in with Kinzer to learn about what she's been up to since she spoke at PopTech and her plans for Tweenbot worldwide domination.

• Inspired by the impressive and efficient work of Ushahidi and Medic Mobile following the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, the State Department has announced that they will host a series of “TechCamps” in different parts of the globe to bring together non-governmental organizations that are familiar with the problems with technology experts who might have innovative ideas about how to tackle them.

• 2008 PopTech Fellows Taylor Thompson and Nathan Sigworth are co-founders of PharmaSecure, a for-profit startup with a breakthrough solution to the $50+ billion, global pharmaceutical counterfeiting racket – which kills millions each year. Fast Company has named PharmaSecure one of 10 most innovative companies in healthcare.

• In the Wall Street Journal article, Building a Thinking Room, Jonah Lehrer (PopTech 2009) explores how architecture and design can influence our moods, thoughts and health.

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Image: RonenV

There's always something brewing in the PopTech community. From the world-changing people, projects and ideas in our network, a handful of this week's highlights follows.

• MIT economist and co-founder of the Poverty Action Lab Esther Duflo (PopTech 2009) has been named one of TIME's 100 most influential people of 2011.

• The Curiously Complex Lifecycle of Symbion Pandora is a brand new animated CreatureCast from 2011 Science Fellow Casey Dunn and his team that features a little animal that lives on the appendages around a lobster's mouth, which the lobster actually uses to feed itself.

• Have you ever wondered about what Pop sociologist and best-selling author Malcolm Gladwell (PopTech 2004, 2007) consumes for media? Wonder no more. The Atlantic Wire has the scoop. 

• TechReview looks at Quid, 2010 Science Fellow Sean Gourley's project mapping innovation, and wonders if an algorithm can spot the next big thing.

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Image: CreatureCast

There's always something brewing in the PopTech community. From the world-changing people, projects and ideas in our network, a handful of this week's highlights follows.

• Live 4 Sendai, a live concert and fundraising event for Japan, boasted many familiar faces from the PopTech stage. The event was hosted by Ze Frank (PopTech 2004, 2005) and featured musical entertainment by Imogen Heap (PopTech 2004, 2005), Amos Lee (2008), Zoe Keating (PopTech 2007, 2009) among others. 

• In related music news, this week we discovered a beautiful video of cellist Zoe Keating (PopTech 2007, 2009) which is a part of Intel's wonderful Visual Life series. 

• We talked to Dr. Raj Panjabi (Social Innovation Fellow 2010) and his colleagues who are on the front lines of the unfolding Ivory Coast refugee crisis. Their community-based health organization, Tiyatien Health, is on the ground working in some of the areas most seriously affected. 

• SwiftRiver, a product that brings structure to crowdsourced information projects built by Ushahidi (PopTech 2008, 2009) was profiled in the New York Times last week. 

• Eben Bayer's (Social Innovation Fellow 2009) bio-packing company, Ecovative Design, shows no signs of slowing down with the news that they are currently collaborating with the Ford Motor Company to develop a fungus-based, biodegradable foam for automotive bumpers, side doors and dashboards. 

• Abby Falik (Social Innovation Fellow 2008), founder and CEO of Global Citizen Year (GCY), which aims to institutionalize a global service “gap year” for young Americans between high school and college has been featured in the Christian Science Monitor to talk about how GCY is fundamentally transforming how young people understand and act on their responsibilities as global citizens. 

• Stephen Vitiello (Poptech 2010) has been named a recipient of the Guggenheim Fellowship, one of the top honors available for artists in the United States.

• Collaboration alert: Choreographer Gideon Obarzanek (PopTech 2009) and kinetic sculptor Reuben Margolin (PopTech 2009) connect.

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Image: Intel

There's always something brewing in the PopTech community. From the world-changing people, projects and ideas in our network, a handful of this week's highlights follows.

• In exciting news, Nathan Eagle's (PopTech 2010) firm, txteagle, has recieved $8.5 million in funding to expand work in fielding mobile phone surveys in developing countries.

• The automation technology experts at Festo (PopTech 2008) have created an amazing contraption that looks and flies like a bird. The giant manta ray they brought to PopTech's 2008 closing night party exhibits signs of early experimentation of the flight technology. 

• Ecomaterials Lab participant and textile chemical engineer Yiqi Yang recently presented a study to the American Chemical Society that described the creation of a new type of plastic polymer comprised of over 50% discarded chicken feather fibers.

If you'd like to receive a stream of these updates (and more) throughout the week in real time, follow us on Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook, sign up for our newsletter, and subscribe to the PopTech blog.

Image: SugarMtnFarm.com

There's always something brewing in the PopTech community. From the world-changing people, projects and ideas in our network, a handful of this week's highlights follows.

• Founder of Friendfactor, Brian Elliot (Social Innovation Fellow 2010) uses friendship to accelerate legal freedoms for LGBT people. A new Friendfactor feature, called Burning Questions, makes it easy to ask difficult questions when a friend or family member comes out. 

• Gidon Eshel, (Science Fellow 2010) a statistician with a focus on food, is featured in the documentary Planeat, the story of three men’s search for a diet that's good for their health, good for the environment and good for the future of the planet.

• Collaboration alert: Photographers Chris Jordan (PopTech 2007, 2009) and Kris Krüg are documenting the realities of global consumption on the Pacific island of Midway.

• In more photo related news, our 2010 photo manager, Morrigan McCarthy, is spearheading a new project called The Geography of Youth. It's a worldwide bike journey and documentary photography project exploring what it means to be a 20-something today.

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Image: Friendfactor

Photographer Chris Jordan (PopTech 2007, 2009) has returned to Midway, a remote island island in the middle of the Pacific, where he first began documenting, in 2009, the heart-wrenching scenes of countless birds killed by ingesting plastic. The project has since evolved into a feature film.

Following Chris Jordan’s expeditions to Midway and the lifecycle of the Albatross, “Midway” is more than just a documentary or a film about wildlife at risk. “Midway” brings us an opportunity for us to look at our world in close-up, to see how our lives are impacting the planet, and to find new approaches to moving forward.

Jordan’s crew includes Kris Krug, one of our official PopTech photographers, who is documenting the behind the scenes aspects of the trip.

Follow the Midway journey by blog or on Twitter.