I awoke a couple of days ago to the morning news anchor spouting off the day’s top stories. Usually the morning news is full of fluff that goes in one ear and out the other, but the last report I heard before leaving my house caught my attention.

The Internet is running out of addresses. [Gasp!]

Yes, it was always inevitable, I suppose, but in the story the anchor declared a time limit—one year. By the end of 2011 there will be no Internet addresses left. I laughed at first, but during my commute I couldn’t stop thinking about this foresight. Could it really be possible? Do we really only have a year before we all start scrambling for any address we can get our hands on? There have even been reports that an IP address black market will arise.

It turns out that with all the mobile devices and the growing number of Internet users in general is the primary cause for our imminent IPv4 (Internet Protocol version four) failure. First introduced in the 1980, IPv4 is what today’s Internet was built upon with its 32-bit addresses allow for approximately 4 billion IP addresses. Unfortunately, experts say we will use all these up by next September. So what’s the world to do? In the meantime, check out this countdown on Twitter to either induce an emotional collapse or perhaps just a laugh.

Good news is there is a solution: IPv6 (gold star to anyone who can explain the leap over IPv5). Without this 128-bit address protocol (that’s 340,282,366,920,938,463,463,374,607,431,768,211,456 addresses) Internet growth is slated to go downhill. The problem, like with most other global issues, is all about the benjamins—millions of devices need to be updated to be compatible with IPv6. Without the upgrade businesses could lose out on traffic from users connecting to the web on new IPv6 addresses.

So, will this make people go pre-Y2K crazy, or will it be more like the actual Y2K? Will we break the Internet? No, but either way I’m sure hilarious T-shirts and hysteric Facebook statuses are just around the corner.

I know it’s taboo to talk about winter in the middle of a Chicago summer, but I am going to break my own rule and do it. Last year my husband and I bought a quaint 1920’s tutor style house in Elgin, an older suburb of Chicago. We were first time home buyers, which meant not only did we have a new mortgage to pay every month, but we also had to purchase some bigger ticket items to help maintain our small slice of Americana. We went ahead and got the lawnmower (great deal off Craigslist) and several other items, but we decided to hold out on the snow blower. Needless to say 3 shovels and seemingly 1,000 snow days later, we caved and got our little 5.5 horse power Honda.

As my husband was snow blowing our driveway one morning, I looked outside to see that each one of our neighbors was doing the same. I counted 7 snow blowers going up and down their respective drive and walk ways and then each retreat back into their homes. It was actually shocking to me that I had never noticed this before and a little disturbing that none of these 6 other snow blower owners had ever offered to help us out after seeing us over the past couple months with our little shovels.

By no means do I mean to hate on our new neighbors, as they have been more than generous as we have gotten to know them, but my point is more about wondering is it good or even right that we collect so much stuff and keep it to ourselves? Is sharing what you have a thing of the past? Do we really need all these snow blowers?

The answer, of course, is no. We don’t need all this stuff and the truth is we know it. In fact most of us have probably let out exasperating sighs when looking in our garages, basements, closets and at the cost we pay for storage spaces. (According to The Self Storage Association, there is over seven square feet of self-storage for every person in America.)

So we have a lot of things. Authors Rachel Botsman and Roo Rogers in their book What’s Mine is Yours suggest that there is a reason we have been collecting all these things. The 20th Century in the United States was defined by hyper-consumption. Credit, advertising and what we owned were the measures of value in society. So no wonder you have to rent storage space!

In the same book though, Bostman and Roo say that things are shifting and that the 21st Century is one of Collaborative Consumption. This means instead of measuring value in the gaining of things, value will be determined by reputation, community and what we can access. This idea has interesting implications across all areas of life, but especially around the stuff we own.

There are many reasons for this shift in thinking. The financial downturn is one, along with efforts to be more environmentally conscious. People and businesses are continually looking for ways to save money and reduce their footprint. In addition to these factors, faith and trust in big government and large corporations is beginning to wain and communities are starting to look inwardly to provide for themselves and their neighbors. For the first time in a long time, bartering is on the rise. So is sharing.

This brings me back my neighborhood of snow blowers. Be it for financial reasons or environmental, communities and groups of neighbors are starting to pool their resources to meet the needs of the group. From family style dinners to sharing of lawnmowers or other appliances people are sharing what they have.

And some people are even making a business of it. Remember all the stuff you have in your basement, closets, storage spaces that have been collecting dust for months? Years? You don’t want to sell it or give it away, but it could still make you some extra cash. Could be someone in your area might be willing to rent it from you. You’re not using it anyways right? Renting or loaning it out might be a good way to bring in a couple extra bucks.

The site NeighborGoods.net helps you do both of these and helps you find others to borrow or rent from.

Other sites are popping up all over connecting people who have something with people who need something. Craigslist and eBay are the big players we all know about, while Zopa (peer-to-peer lending), Swaptree (swapping goods) and Zipcar (carpooling) serve on a more personal/local level.

Sharing does have its risks (I’m sure you have already gone through all the reasons why no one is going to touch your stuff) but the reality is collaborative consumption is the way society is turning and like many technological advances there are some really big benefits.

Like most things, I suggest start small and be smart. If you don’t already, lend something you own to someone you know. And maybe borrow something from them. Set dates or a time frame for the loan so you know when you will be getting your property back and vise versa. As you become more comfortable and a little less attached to your things, possibilities are endless.

Let us know if this is something you’ve tried. What are the cons and pros you’re experiencing? Is there anything you wish you could borrow or lend?

The newest promotion from Neenah Paper is hot off the presses, and it’s designed to inspire creativity. Put down that Wacom pen and pick up an X-Acto: the “Striking Every Time” piece for Oxford and Esse premium papers is more than just an engaging visual and tactile experience for recipients. It asks you to interact, and includes several clock faces that you can assemble and actually use – the kit includes a working clock motor.

Conceptualized by Neenah and articulated by Design Guys in Minneapolis, the kit features eight unique designs that are sure to appeal to a wide collection of designers. Says Steve Sikora of Design Guys, “Credit goes to three designers here: Beth Ketter, principal designer, Jai Theige and Joe Anderson. They created the eight paper clock faces included here. We had a riot dreaming them up.  As an aside, we collect a lot of clocks; have for years. We’ve amassed a nice collection of mid-century modern clocks, some by notable companies like Howard Miller, others pure kitsch. We have one room that holds most of our workstations that is ringed with giant clocks. For 14 years they have served as a reminder of the value of a client’s time — and thus a designer’s time.”

For those that are a little more adventurous we encourage you join in the fun and create your own clock face designs. Just click back to the main blog page and scroll to the bottom to see the “It’s Contest Time” ad.  Click on “Get Started” visit to request some free (can’t go wrong with that) samples of Oxford and Esse papers to build the clock of your dreams! Have a go at playing the role of clockmaker and submit it into the contest.

We had the privilege of working with Neenah to create the online portion of this exciting promotion. The goal was to interact with the design community that is already involved in Against the Grain, on the blog and through Twitter. By creating an extension of the blog, the interaction and overall feel are unified and familiar to those exploring the entries.

By visiting neenahpaper.com/clockcontest, users can take a photo of the time-telling work of art they created and enter it into a contest to potentially be used in Neenah’s next iPhone and iPad app. On the site, visitors will find all of the current entries and be able to vote on their favorites. Find a gem? Want to promote your own? Facebook and Twitter “share” links allow you to post the creations in the wide world of social media and gain those important votes.

Check out neenahpaper.com/clockcontest to see what all the hub-ub is about. We’re excited to see what ingenious clock designs the great community here comes up with. So get going – time’s tickin’.

(I successfully wrote an entire post about clocks without one reference to Ke$sha’s Tik-Tok. Oh, wait…)

2006 was an exciting year for Rule29. Lots of cool experiences, opportunities and recognition. From creating Mr. Cato and traveling the country to tell his story, to designing and helping curate the American Red Cross 125th Anniversary Art book, to working with DC Comics in creating the Superman Returns collector’s edition, to hitting up the New York Stock Exchange and witnessing the bell ringing of a big listing for one of our favorite clients, to working with Rand McNally illustrating and redesigning a school atlas, and so much more. Check it all out here.

So what were you doing in 2006?

One of our current interns, Dawn Bjork, is a lover of all things green and fashion related. We wanted her to write about her recent experience designing ecofashion clothing for the ReVamped show in Chicago. We think her work and ideas are quite amazing; please read about her participation and insight below!

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Just recently I was involved in a green fashion show called ReVamped. EarthShare of Illinois sponsored the event, and it was an amazing night! For those of you that do not know about EarthShare of Illinois, it is a non-profit organization that participates in public and private sector workplace giving campaigns on behalf of its member organizations. I was pretty amazed that I had never known until a few months ago about ESIL, seeing that they contribute to places that I visit and read about all the time, like Shedd Aquarium, Lincoln Park Zoo, National Wildlife Association, and more than 60 other organizations….they are pretty amazing.

The night was about celebrating and promoting the beauty of eco-conscious lifestyle practices. What was super amazing about the event was that it didn’t only promote some really cool fashion designers, it also awakened the guests to all sorts of green “things.” Eco-tools gave away some of the best make-up brushes that my eyelids have ever had swept across them, and they’re good for the earth! What I have found in my searches as I attempt to go as green as possible is a couple really cool sites that help show you the green life. EcoFashionWorld is a website that is the ultimate resource to all designers, brands, and stores in ecofashion. TreeHugger.com is also one of my favorites informing the world on eco-conscious practices. Along with them is Terracycle.net, which coincidentally supplied ReVamped with a gown made by designer Christina Liedtke that is being displayed at the Terracycle store in Times Square, made completely out of M&M wrappers (600 of them to be exact).

Although I was one of them, I must admit the designers’ concepts that were showcased were unbelievable. If we didn’t show that going green can be a fashion decision that stems to all angles of your life, I am not sure what would! Each designer spun their own story: Sarah Trutter made her pieces out of plastic garment bags, muslin and scrap fabric; while Sofia Vintage transformed vintage pieces into a new collection, bringing a completely new breath to old thrown out clothing. Ogi Merziers collection was also unbelievable. To construct one of her pieces, she collected empty chip bags and orchestrated a dress made from, well, someone’s garbage. I also went a completely different route and used old patchwork quilts and felted raw wool that came from one of the coolest animals on the planet, the alpaca. (On a side note, I was watching Jay Leno last night, and he had an alpaca on his show. The best part was that the alpaca master was speaking of how the alpaca could be a tremendous help in cleaning up the oil spill. He showed how the fibers soak up an enormous amount of the oil, and all that is needed is to shave the animals and soak it up. People may think I am crazy, but my love for the alpaca has now grown to an even higher level.) I also used cookie tins of old abandoned buttons that were forgotten and now have been given a new life.  Each one of us designers was inspired by and drew from the idea of bringing new life to what was garbage in someone else’s eyes.

Becoming green is definitely a trend right now; the question is whether or not it will be something that the world recognizes and realizes is life changing and could, if not done soon, be life threatening. This is one trend that in my book I hope is forecasted to last forever.

Are there any cool websites, designers, stores where you live that showcase the love for all things green? And don’t forget check out EarthShare of Illinois, become aware of their greatness for all that they do, and watch for next years’ ReVamped fashion show.

What do these three things have in common?

Rule29 just sponsored their second athlete (for the first mention, see here). Our athlete was Kona, Cheech’s mini Dachshund. Although this was a much smaller affair, the wiener races (or formally known as the Dachshund Dash) of Rochester, MN offered us the perfect opportunity to study three things: 1) corporate sponsorship, 2) uniform design, and, of course, 3) how to race a dachshund (or, maybe, how NOT to …)

It’s no secret that celebrities sell. When a famous person or athlete signs a contract with a company to promote their goods or services, it’s supposed to be a mutually beneficial relationship. Take Lance Armstrong for example. His slew of sponsors including RadioShack, Nissan, Nike, among others, benefit from his winning streaks along with his heartwarming story of cancer survival that align customers with their products. Nike launched several products and commercials during their partnership with Lance. And Lance benefits from the royalties that come in.

This can work the opposite way, too. Take Tiger Woods. He lost many sponsorships due to the scandals in his life. His sponsors did not want to be aligned with that type of morality, even if it didn’t affect his golfing skills. Customer perception is everything.

When it comes to perception on race day, however, the uniform is also key. Our little racer, Kona, turned out to be the only dog with an official uniform. This earned her some bonus points and lots of extra attention. People noticed the Rule29 on her uniform and chatted amongst themselves about this professional looking athlete. Design does catch eyes, even during crowded competitions.

However, when it came time to run, we learned that looks aren’t everything. There were about 50 wiener dogs participating that day, running in heats of 5 at a time. The crowd was surprisingly large, and Kona was startled by, or maybe terrified of, the noisy people and dogs surrounding her. Although in training things seemed to be in her favor, as you can see below, she didn’t display quite the same speed on race day. Maybe the Rule29 athlete didn’t come out on top that day, but it was fun. We’ll see if we’ll be able to continue our sponsorship of our little athlete, but we think we can give her another chance. I mean, what could be cuter than a bunch of wiener dogs racing to a finish line?

Food for thought or just for fun.

Click here for a couple quick clips of the race

All of this connecting and interacting with people you would have otherwise never known has its benefits for sure. The sharing of information and experiences has made us the most informed generation yet. With all of this information at our finger tips we are able to react to people in need faster and more efficiently than ever before. When the earthquake in Haiti hit, people all over the world were able able to mobilize and start working to raise money in an effort to help those effected. The team at R29 even threw our hat into the ring and participated in The Haiti Poster Project, which was a strictly online effort, to do our part.

Like most things, though, there are negatives that accompany these positives. When everything is just a click away sometimes making connections in the community in which you actually live becomes difficult. While participation in online communities can be beneficial, often times there are people in the home next door that could genuinely use a helping hand.

Reaching out to people in our immediate area, though riddled with potential difficulties, does have long term benefits. We are all aware of continuing trends towards sustainability and eco-friendliness, and like all of industries we are a part of, there are growing implications of what “going green” means for community. Local governments are already encouraging their citizens to make adjustments that would help the earth; offering public transportation and bike lanes for commuters, providing space for community gardens as well as farmers markets so people are able to purchase locally grown food. Community based activities are also on the rise as park districts and libraries hold free or low cost events. As a result, people are staying closer to home. This gives everyone the opportunity to get to know their communities and the people in them in a whole new way.

This summer we have taken this challenge to heart. We recognized that though we love serving people with design, there were some opportunities we were missing by staying behind our screens. By location, R29 is a part of the Fox River Valley community, so we decided to start there, and more specifically the towns that surround Geneva.

We began asking questions about the type of people who live in our area and what their needs might be. Through questions and some research, we found that homelessness was a big issue in our area. Initially it was difficult to imagine that in such an affluent area people would be living in cars or on the streets. When we looked into what was being done to help this issue we found an organization called Lazarus House located in St. Charles.

Started in 1997 as a warm weather shelter, Lazarus House has grown into an emergency shelter open 365 days a year with 24/7 staff support. They help individuals and families get back on their feet and provide them with tools to live a healthy and rewarding life.

Lazarus House is also significantly supported by the community. Business and individuals regularly provide meals, goods and services to make sure the shelter stays in the black and is able to continue its good work. So when we called up to see if we could help out they were more than happy to have us come over and check it out.

Never having served in our local community before there was some anxiety as to what the experience might be like. It turned out to be great. The job they gave us was to create grid system on a memorial/honorarium wall so that people could find their loved one’s name when they came to visit. It seemed like a small, and not so significant job initially, but as we worked staff members would stop and thank us for helping and express how this took something off of their plate and how grateful the families would be.

It felt good to help.

We also got a tour of their facilities and learned about the other services they provide such as transitional housing, a two year program designed to give people the tools they need to succeed at their goals and function as contributing members of society. After all the work and touring, we sat down and had lunch with a couple of the people Lazarus House served to hear a little bit of their stories.

This was our first experiment with venturing out and meeting our neighbors. Stepping out from behind our computers and going out into the world was difficult as it required much planning and making sure work was complete, but it was well worth it. There will be sure to be more as it feels good to know the people around you and lend a helping hand.

If you have not already, see what the community you live in has to offer, or better yet what can you offer it? It could be much better and more real than anything online.

Are you tired of certain political scenarios and want to change them? Here is some great advice on how to do just that. What current issues do you wish you could change or help bring to a vote?