We’re thrilled to be working with Dr. Sylvia Earle and Mission Blue to help the ocean.    The vision of Mission Blue, a global coalition of more than 75 ocean-based non-profits, is to create a network of Marine Protected Areas around the planet to help maintain biodiversity, create carbon sink, and allow low-impact activities like eco-tourism to thrive. Today less than 2% of the ocean, which represents 70% of the Earth’s surface, is protected.  By way of comparison, 12% of land around the world is under some form of protection.   Mission Blue’s goal is bring Marine Protected Areas up to 20% by 2020.  Manifesto is working with Dr. Earle and her team to make a huge splash towards making this a reality.   We’ll be announcing more soon, so stay tuned.   In the meantime, to learn more about Mission Blue check out their website at www.missionblue.org.  And follow Mission Blue on Twitter and Facebook.  Both have great stories and images along with ocean news from around the planet.

Last week was officially ‘Rodriguez’ week at Manifesto London. Having been swept up in the excitement of the BAFTA and Academy Award winning documentary ‘Searching for Sugar Man’ we couldn’t get enough of the folky dulcet tones and the incredible man behind this inspiring story. Aside from the mesmerising music and captivating narrative it turns out that director Malik Bendjelloul captured part of the film using a $1 iPhone app that has been labelled the ‘instagram of film.’ The app, called 8mm Vintage Camera was created by Chinese developers Nexvio allowing retro and vintage filters to be applied to standard video footage. “When we ran out of money I started to use the Super 8 app on my iPhone.  The result was almost as good as the real stuff, quite amazing’ Bendjelloul told CNN in an interview before the Oscars. We at Manifesto believe this is a must see and challenge you not to be singing along to the soundtrack for days to come.

Our Mayor Bloomberg greeted the New Year with the Rockettes in Times Square; it seems like just yesterday he was kissing Lady Gaga to welcome in 2012.    Here at Manifesto, many great new adventures are afoot in the next 12 months.  Stay tuned!   We hope your 2013 is filled with much happiness, health and prosperity.    Happy New Year!

It’s that time of year again. Promises of ‘this year i’m getting my shopping done early’ are long gone and once again we find ourselves in the mad last minute present fiasco. We scramble the high streets battling hoards of tourists and waste time on whattogetmydad.com without realising that some people just do not need any more ‘stuff’ in their lives. So this year how about trying something new? Shopping for good has never been more popular so why not replace the gilt and guilt and embrace the true holiday spirit of giving. At ManifestoNYC we are hoping for a “blue” Christmas and suggest supporting Dr. Sylvia Earle’s Mission Blue to give some much needed help to our planet’s oceans.  So avoid the stress and chaos, the trivial gifts, the wasted pennies and take on the challenge of spending a little differently this year.

Weird and wonderful Britain at its finest. This week the UK is celebrating national egg week. What this festival is supposed to entail, aside from the obvious remains somewhat unclear, however some eateries are giving the holiday more than sufficient credibility.

The Lyttelton Restaurant in West London is serving up an enormous soft-boiled ostrich egg for one week only. Customers can enjoy the £60 feast, boiled with a small battalion of soldiers, scrambled or fried, the latter method of preparation being encouraged if time is of the essence.  And it doesn’t stop there. According to scientific surveys, a particular preference in how we enjoy our eggs can determine personality traits, social class, lifestyle choices and can even be linked to our star signs. If all this has your brain well and truly scrambled then check out the website to see what your breakfast could be telling you.

www.britisheggweek.co.uk

Look out for World Egg Day on October 12th 20012

Let’s be honest, it’s hard to go anywhere these days or get anything done without someone bombarding you with the inevitable question, ‘have you got the app for that.’ As a recent Apple convert I found within days of acquiring my shiny new iphone that I had lost the ability to think for myself and was becoming completely dependent on the one touch technology of the world of apps.  However in my effort to cull the ever-growing list of colorful icons on my screen, there is one that will remain firmly in its place.

Say hello to ‘Hailo,’ the revolutionary taxi app that is taking London by storm. Founded by Jay Bregman along with three London cabbies and backed by Skype founder Niklas Zennstrom, Hailo has since it launch last year raised over $17 million dollars in revenue and has already signed on 25% of London’s taxi drivers.  The app is free and allows passengers at the click of a button to find the nearest taxi to them get the name and number of the driver and confirm out how long it will take for the taxi to arrive. There are no additional service charges and drivers will wait up to 5 minutes before starting the meter. Its booming success is due to the fact that it is aimed at both drivers and passengers. Drivers spend less time looking for customers and don’t incur charges when cards are used and passengers get a truly unbeatable and professional service.

Just when I thought it couldn’t get any better, the other day I found myself up turning my bag on the street in a desperate search for my wallet. It had to be in there, I had only just used it 20 minutes ago to pay for my taxi! Suddenly my phone began to ring, I picked up. “Hello this is Chris, your cabbie, you seem to left your wallet in my taxi, I’m on my way back to you now!”

Watch this space NYC, Dublin, Chicago, Toronto, Boston for you will soon be saying hello to Hailo too.

https://hailocab.com/

Summer has finally arrived at ManifestoNYC’s London office and with the Olympics only days away there is a wave of excitement and anticipation on the streets of the capital.  The tourists have landed in their masses crowding every inch of the pavements, filling the air with a plethora of accents looking for PEECADEELEE Circus and LYECESTER Square!

Our New York office is right around the corner from the lovely Madison Square Park.  Several years ago, the city refurbished the park and its now a wonderful spot to get out to during the day.    There’s a dog run that Bella enjoys, lots of park benches, shade from tall gorgeous trees, and the fabulous Shake Shack.  If burgers aren’t your thing, you can always grab something at the enormous and quite fabulous Eataly across the street, or grab a water off a vendor and just hang out and watch the amazing parade of New Yorkers go by.   During the summer there are concerts, art installations, and many different happenings going on in the park.  Yesterday I ran into my friend Glenn Porter’s two nearly grown sons, Spencer and Harry, who are in town for the summer.  They were there with their dog Joe who flirted with Bella.   So lovely to see them all.   We’re grateful to have this incredible resource at our doorstep.   It’s a nice place to go recharge the creative batteries during the day.

Spending time commuting on the London tube this week has been enjoyable.  I know Londoners will be surprised to hear that, but compared to our New York subway system, its so well organized.    Not only that, but on four separate occasions, men have offered me their seat.   I don’t think I look old, tired, or especially in need of a seat (at least I hope not), so it’s been really great to see that chivalry is still alive in some parts of the world.    A special thank you to the gentlemen of London for your kindness!