Wired News: NEW YORK — Picture an Elmo or Winnie the Pooh plush doll that knows a child’s name and favorite food, and tells stories and sings songs incorporating such personal details. Or a new version of Furby that recognizes voices and reacts with emotions from surprise to dismay, and responds to specific words a child says. These electronic toys, […]
Toys R Kids: High-Tech Playmates
Yahoo! Sends Driving Directions To Your Phone
Engadget: We were seriously wondering why Google hadn’t already rolled this out (especially with their movement towards the geographical with maps.google.com and their purchase of Keyhole), but Yahoo’s definitely beaten them (and everyone else, it seems) on the driving directions via SMS tip. Hit the “Send to Phone” link on their Yahoo! maps page and you’ll get the data via […]
QR Code Chocolate
RFID in Japan: A bit late for this year’s valentine’s day but Nippon COMSYS Corporation and Mary’s Chocolate co-developed a technology for printing 2D barcodes (QR Code) on the surface of chocolates. This technology could be used to allow consumers to access a website by taking a picture of a chocolate using their mobile phones. At the moment, QR codes […]
The Celebs Affair
BusinessWeek: From the recent Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Awards to the upcoming Grammys and Oscars, award-show season is upon us. And for a handful of specialty companies, it’s time to take their own stroll down the red carpet. Over the past several years, a cottage industry of professional gifters has capitalized on the union between award shows, product placement, and […]
Sparschwein Financial Investment
Springwise: With a name like Sparschwein, it has to be good! Indeed, Munich-based Sparschwein (German for piggy bank), is a new direct seller venture encouraging Germans to go on a domestic treasure hunt, exploring their basements, attics, cabinets, and garages for valuable items, especially fashion accessories, antiques, baby products, computers, electronics, cameras, domestic and garden appliances, design furniture, and certain […]
Nike’s Pop-up Store
Influx Insights: One of the latest incarnations of the pop-up store is Nike Runner’s Lounge. The lounge is the brainchild of one of Nike’s Canadian marketing partners and is designed to help runners prepare for the Vancover Half Marathon. It provides runners with a space where they can test drive Nike product, get information on local running routes, receive post-run […]
Doing the Laundry
San Francisco Chronicle: “The Brainwash Cafe is cool,” my friend tells me on the phone after I announce my plans for the evening. “I read my poetry there.” I never knew she wrote poetry, much less went anywhere to read it. “And the washers have names. It’s really cool.” I’d looked up the cafe on the Web: bright pictures of […]
RFID for Hospitals
WebWire: Patient safety will drive the use of the next generation of active-RFID (radio frequency identification) location tags from Radianse, Inc., an innovator of indoor positioning solutions (IPS) used to locate and associate equipment and people in hospitals. Radianse will show the industry’s first single-use active-RFID tag for patient location at the 2005 HIMSS Conference and Exposition (Booth 6655) February […]
Attractive Toilet
Yenra: Kohler will use its sponsorship of Olympus Fashion Week to introduce the Purist Hatbox toilet, a product that redefines common perceptions of what the traditional American toilet should look like. “Like the fashion industry, design is part of the fiber of everything that we do at Kohler to constantly develop new products that enhance the gracious living possible in […]
My Own Podcast
USATODAY.com: After getting a taste of the radio business in college, software designer Craig Patchett never lost his interest in broadcasting. But without a job in radio, it seemed likely to remain one of those unfulfilled passions — until something called “podcasting” came along. Now, Patchett’s creating shows and sending them out to the masses every day — not over […]