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In the last five years the question I was asked the most was. “How are you doing this?” What they were asking was always about the countless articles and awards that LJ Urban was getting. We used to have a joke, if its been more than a week with no mention in the news of LJ Urban, something is wrong… I have been thinking a lot about that lately and weather or not I should tell about our secret weapon, I debated if I would be giving it all away or… Anyhow, I decided its best to just tell you and get it out there.

Without a doubt one of the biggest reasons that we were able to do what we were able to do was the guys at EMRL Floyd and Stephen are working on another level from the rest of us when it comes to getting a story told, they built this website and helped craft the vision for LJ Urban.  That is not to say that we were not authentic, that is just what is so amazing about them, its like they sat down with us and found the passion that was deep inside and pulled it out and brought it to life.  They should not call themselves an advertising company but rather a Business Consultant / Shrink.  They get to the bottom of who you are and tell the story like no one else can.

I want to thank them from the bottom of my heart for all they did for LJ Urban.  I know that they will play a major role in the next version of what we become…

Go check out their site www.EMRL.com

Levi

I did my homework, spent the time, ran around the building enough times and now I am finally ready to make my decision.

Twitter is lame. Twitter has no place in my life. Sorry Tweetheads. I am out.

I started the day with a goal. Vet out Twitter. Simple, by the end of today I am either in or out and its final after that. So far I went from 4 people to 25 following me and have posted about 8 times. I think I am in.
Want to follow me? If I get to 100 I am in for sure.

http://twitter.com/levibenkert

It all had to start somewhere….

This is one area where I guess I am a little behind on things. It seems I can not go a day without someone new telling me that they are getting a lot out of twitter and that they can not believe I am not using it.

If you don’t know what Twitter is let me give you a brief run down. The site describes itself this way: “Twitter is a service for friends, family, and co–workers to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent answers to one simple question: What are you doing?”

I however would put it more simply. The site is like a blog but shorter. Short and sweet and 9 out of 10 times pointless..,Sorry for the jab there I just can’t seem to make out why its worth more of our time to update the nameless faceless crowds on your daily routine.

So… Here is the question of the day. Are you into Twitter? If so, why? Convince me please.

Levi Benkert

There is a bottle of Seventh Generation dish soap on my kitchen counter right by the sink that has a little label on it that says “You have the right to know” and on the back it tells you everything that they put in the formula. Unlike many home products which don’t tell you anything at all about their ingredients, Seventh Generation is breaking that mold and it’s about time. But until they convince the rest of the market to be so open you really don’t have any other options…. until today. I found a way for us to find out what went into the things that we buy. It’s called GoodGuide a website that recently launched that takes on not only helping you know what chemicals are in your baby shampoo, but also lets you know if sweatshop labor used to make your t-shirt, and helps shed some light on the corporation and their practices that made that laundry detergent you use.

Just one more tool on the Internet that is giving us less and less excuses to be ignorant about our lifestyle and footprint here on earth.

Levi Benkert

On a sunny November in 2006 near the corner of Mission and 1st st in San Francisco someone fed a typical parking meeter. It was the coin drop that would be heard around the world. You see the coin was not meant to park a car but instead a park. REBAR a creative landscape design group had the idea to get people thinking about parking spaces and their wastefulness. “What if we parked a park in one of those spaces instead?” And the idea was born. In only 2 years the concept was replicated in over 200 cities around the globe. Park(ing) day is just another way that communities are forming with the help of the Internet. Just try and organize something so large scale in 1990. You could not do it with a 20 million dollar budget, but today with something as simple as a website and a PDF how-to manual, a good idea can grow around the world. Whats better is the concept is bringing people together and getting them to think differently.

Makes me wonder what other spaces can be rethought if only for a few hours to help bring communities together.

There has been so much focus on how the internet is making the world “flat” and connecting us to eachother no matter the distance but in reality I think that the most impact the internet has and will start to have even more in our lives is locally.

If are lucky enough to be one of the 15,000 people who live in Bourne England you are sure to know about the site that Rex Needle put together simply called Bourne. Not only does it give a detailed account on the daily coming and goings in the town it has a little about hundreds of residents. Sites like this are evolving and in my opinion will soon play a much more major role in the way a town works. Just like a newspaper kept us all in the loop for the last 100 years a website has the ability to connect us but on a much more real level. When information flows both directions we have a real chance to get stuff done.

If you happen to work in a few blocks in Downtown Seattle you have most likely heard of MSG150 a site run by a few guys who work in the area that started reviewing each and every restaurant in a 6 block radius of their job. Soon the group grew and each review has an opinion of every item on the menu of every restaurant they visit. The site is just one more step in the evolution of a hyper-local Internet. Just imagine what it will be like in the next 10 years.