Popgadget: Thank you nanotechnology for bringing us the windows that clean themselves. Pilkington Activ Self-Cleaning Glass is coated in a chemical layer that reacts with ultra-violet rays from daylight to disintegrate organic dirt. Then when rain or water hits the glass, it simply takes the dirt with it. The substances in the glass are normal household chemicals, and the huge […]
Self-cleaning Glass, for Lazy Bums
Customized Gift Cards
USA Today: It’s just the thing for holiday procrastinators: customized gift cards that don’t look “last-minute.” Several retailers and financial services companies introduced the option this holiday season for shoppers to put a personal photo or an image of a product on the card — or even to design the card. Sales of holiday gift cards are expected to hit […]
Top Technology Trends for 2005
Small Business Trends: The Death of Distance – “Telecommuters and remote workers are closing in. Recent improvements to enterprise voice-over-IP (VoIP) are promising to make the concept of location irrelevant.” The article points out that users of enterprise VoIP are finding out the cool things that can be done with it, not just the cost savings. Those cool things — […]
My Home is a Hotel!
Frommers.com: My wife and I didn’t want to leave our bed at the Hotel Delamar in Greenwich, CT. Sure, we were having a romantic weekend, but more than just love was preventing us from getting up — the quilt and pillows made us feel like we were floating on clouds. A good hotel room is full of delicious stuff — […]
The Business of Renting Out Christmas Trees
USA Today: For years, Pat de Garmo’s Christmas tree was her aging yucca plant. She doesn’t like the idea of killing trees, and the size of her yard prevents her from getting a potted one. So year after year she strung lights and ornaments on the indoor plant, hanging toy drums and colored orbs from its stiff branches. For environmentally […]
China, The Toy-buying Country
VOA News: China is the toy-making capital of the world, sending $10 billion worth of toys around the world each year. Now, China is also becoming a toy-buying country. Christmas is coming and children are begging their parents for the season’s hottest toys. In Hong Kong, two little Chinese boys, both six years old, are very excited as their mothers […]
Vodafone To Encourage Customers To Shift To 3G Handsets
JapanToday: Vodafone KK President Shiro Tsuda said Wednesday the Japanese unit of British cell phone service company Vodafone Group PLC will encourage its customers to shift to third-generation handsets for faster data communications. “Vodafone will offer its last 2G handset next year and no more 2G later,” Tsuda said. Vodafone has lagged rivals NTT DoCoMo Inc and KDDI Corp in […]
M&Ms, With Your Name On Them
Business2Blog: The folks at Mars have now made it possible to print (nearly) anything on your M&Ms. Go to their site, pick a color, and type out a message. Yes, it has a censor, and the kids at BoingBoing have already had their dirty fun. Gift boxes (2oz.) for $4.25 and a less impressive 8-oz. sack for 9.49. So that’s, […]
Multisensory Relief With Snoezelen
Iconoculture: From autism to Alzheimer’s, patients are finding some multisensory relief in Rompa’s Snoezelen (SNOO-ze-len). It’s a cozy, therapeutic room filled with multiple colors and lights, soft music, pleasing fragrances, plush pillows, and other sensory stimuli that turns agitation into calm and confusion into comfort. A contraction of the Dutch words for “sniff” and “doze,” this European import excites the […]
MP3 Player for Swimmers
DailyCandy.com: Does anyone exercise without an assistant anymore? We’re not referring to that overpriced trainer. We mean the MP3 player. Ubiquitous wherever people are sweating. Except the pool. Too bad, because you love the payoff of a good swim: toned muscles, non-stressed joints, smooth skin. You just hate the tedium. (If only Zero 7 and DJ Vadim performed poolside …) […]