L.A. based architectural design company, OPeX studios, initiated a public project titled “Square Inches of Love” with the goal of demonstrating the power of collective effort and creativity and the ability of virtual efforts to render great outcomes towards a socially sustainable future. It has been designed as a unique type of open-participation exhibition that begins online and gets transformed into the real world as a touring installation.

Each participant purchases space on a one million square inch exhibition base to use as their canvas for sharing brand logos, art, design, photography, ads, messages, etc. The cost is $1 per square inch of exhibition real estate and there is no minimum; therefore, individuals, companies, and organizations can have very minimal cost of entry. During this online portion, fifty percent of all proceeds collected will be donated to St. Jude. Another part of the value in participation is promotion. New submissions are displayed in a “Sidebar Slideshow” for a month and linked to participant websites. Submissions are also permanently on the “List of Love” page linked to their website. And there is an explorable Progress Grid showing each submissions future placement on the real world exhibition.

With the other 50%, OPeX studios and partnering companies will undertake the transformation of collected submissions into a custom-printed fabric base, the fabrication of 3D structures that mount over the base to provide interactive exploration routes for the exhibit, and the touring of the installation through an estimated 30 locations across the United States. The free-of-charge touring exhibition will display the results of the collective effort and provide guides for fun educational ways to explore the exhibit.

Tipped by Mark Reeves! Thanks!

Acceptional offers the only online database of college admission essays from the top 25 U.S. universities, searchable by many factors. Taps into the widespread use of technology and social media among students to seek information, allowing users instant access and insight into the traditional college essay process. Students who upload essays are paid each time their essay is viewed, so it functions as a sort of social marketplace, making for a more transparent college application process.

Idea contributed by Sohil. Thanks!

overstockArt.com announced today the official launch of its mobile website, m.overstockArt.com. The launch represents another milestone for the company as it continues its strides in technological innovation and maintains itself as a leader in the online home décor industry. Customers can now conveniently access the popular online art gallery’s collection of more than 60,000 reproduction oil paintings and decorative ceramic tiles on their BlackBerrys, iPhones, Droids, and other small-screen mobile devices.

Art Sumo allows you to discover the work of under-appreciated artists in the small corners of the globe. Members receive an email each day featuring one amazing painting, at an exclusive price.

Once you sign up, you will receive one email each day highlighting a beautiful, original painting created by an unsung artist from the small corners of the globe, at an incredible price. Like it? Then snap it up quickly, because it’s the only one in the world and it will probably be gone tomorrow.

Idea contributed by Lindsey Engh. Thanks!

Every voice has a distinctive wavelength and frequency, making it one of the most unique identifiers of you as a person. When recorded and converted into visual form, your voice’s sound waves generate a one of a kind and completely personalized artistic masterpiece.

Bespoken Art has mastered this audio to visual conversion process in order to provide you with the ability to transform your words, wedding vows, songs, and laughter into a 100% customized piece of art, guaranteed to be a great “conversation piece”.

Idea contributed by David Caulkins. Thanks!

Springwise: The e-library, based in Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, has four hundred titles in its collection — available in English or Chinese, and in ePub or Zinio formats — which can be read in the airport, but not taken away or downloaded onto the user’s own device. Set up by Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou, the library is run by the airport duty-free shop, and was created in collaboration with Taiwan’s government-funded Institute for Information Industry, costing over NTD 3 million. There are currently only thirty devices on which passengers can read the ebooks, which, as an article on ARN points out, is limiting when considering that the airport handles up to 17 million passengers a year.

Taiwan airport introduces world’s first ebook library [Springwise]

Reveries: A pop-up gallery in New York City is dedicated to the art of the peanut-butter sandwich, reports Marshall Heyman in the Wall Street Journal (3/5/11). The Nutropolitan Museum of Art, on Mulberry Street, is sponsored by Peanut Butter & Company, “a specialty sandwich shop on Sullivan Street, as well as a purveyor of such fine goods as white-chocolate flavored peanut-butter.” The exhibit features photos of some exotic peanut-butter creations whipped up by its founder, Lee Zalben.

Lee says he got the idea for the Nutropolitan after a customer challenged him to come up with a different peanut-butter sandwich for each day of the year. As it was, Peanut Butter & Company was making 20 varieties, “including the Pregnant Lady, which features pickles.” His new creations include peanut-butter and Pez. “It’s candy-licious,” says Lee. “The Pez is like a substitute for the jelly.” He says that it is positively “tutti-fruitt.”

Nutropolitan Art [Reveries]

Springwise: Focusing initially on education, business and the social sciences, UK-based Reference Tree aims to give higher-education students a way to purchase just the portions of the textbooks they need to efficiently complete their coursework. Publishers including Elsevier, Taylor + Francis, Sage, Hodder Education, McGraw Hill and Cambridge University Press have already signed on with the service, which adds features such as the ability to highlight and annotate text and — coming soon — the ability to collaborate with peers through shared notes and comments. Chapter pricing begins as low as GBP 1.50.

For students, electronic textbooks by the chapter [Springwise]

Springwise: Cinemas around the world are faced with the challenge of recapturing the public’s imagination, creating a compelling experience to drag customers away from their smaller-screen rivals. The latest attempt we’ve spotted has taken a micro approach, creating a tiny cinema from a 1960s caravan to showcase films from the local area.

The Sol Cinema seats just 8 adults or 12 children in quirky surrounds, featuring two tiers of plush seating and an LED projector. A dedicated usher sells tickets and shows the audience to their seats. Furthermore, the entire operation is powered by a 120W solar panel and lithium batteries. The cinema is part of a non-profit project and is available to organisations wishing to showcase short films in their local community. It has already toured a number of music and arts festivals in the UK.

Mobile micro-cinema powered entirely by the sun [Springwise]

LATimes: Livescribe of Oakland sells a chip-powered ink pen equipped with a camera and audio recorder that’s designed to help people remember precisely what was said when they review their handwritten notes. It synchronizes its voice recording with the pictures it takes of the words as they are jotted down. If the pen is tapped on one of the scribbled words, it replays what was said when that note was taken.

Microchips are making football helmets, toilets and even cat doors smarter [LATimes]

TrendCentral: Positioned as Pandora for the fine art world, Art.sy helps users discover new artists by making intelligent recommendations based on the art that they already like. The service leverages the research of The Art Genome Project, an ongoing study of the characteristics that connect and distinguish works of original art. So, if the only work of art you know is the minimalist canvas above your couch, you’ll have no problem finding creations to populate your space. Once users have exhausted the online database, they are encouraged to request an introduction to an artist or work at a nearby gallery and experience it in person.

Art Access [TrendCentral]