USATODAY.com: To the relief of advocates for the mentally ill, the Vermont Teddy Bear Co. said Thursday that its straitjacketed “Crazy For You” bears are sold out and that it will not make any more. For weeks, advocates and Republican Gov. James Douglas have criticized the toy as insensitive. The $69.95 bear, marketed as a Valentine’s Day gift, came with […]
‘Crazy For You’ Bear Off The Market
Japan Bean Plants Sprout Messages
BBC News: Ever wanted to say “I love you” and never found the words? Well now you can buy a plant that says it for you. Two Japanese manufacturers, toy makers Tomy and Takara, have both produced bean plants which sprout to reveal a special message. Takara said its plant was “a new type of message card to convey your […]
Small Business Owners’ TV Channel
Small Business Trends: Here’s an excellent resource for small business owners and entrepreneurs: BusinessTVchannel.com. BusinessTVchannel.com is an Internet site where you can go to watch and listen to video on business topics of interest to small business owners. It’s like a cross between broadcast TV and the Internet. They offer a morning newscast. They also offer shows on topics such […]
Tech Trends in 2005
BusinessWeek: Welcome to 2005, the year the high-tech industry does…something. Truth is, you won’t find an awful lot of agreement on how things will turn out for tech this year. The most enthusiastic of forecasters say capital spending growth on tech could hit double-digits this year, while more dour Wall Street analysts say that’s just plain bunk. Certainly, plenty of […]
A Sweet Valentine’s Day
Wireless Developer Network: The digital images of Sweethearts® candy, the famous tiny pastel-colored candy hearts with sayings such as “Be Mine,” will be brought to wireless handsets by FunMail, a leading wireless entertainment company. In a deal brokered by Brand Central, The New England Confectionery Company (NECCO®) has licensed FunMail the rights to provide wireless wallpaper images of its world-famous […]
GPS School Bags Help Find Children
RFID in Japan: “Oribie Navi Land” is a GPS school bag for tracking kids. Japanese school bag manufacturer Kyowa and security systems and services company Secom are collaborating to release this product+service package this November. Secom’s GPS tracking device is called “KoKo Secom Communication Terminal” and attached to a side of a school bag to send realtime location information to […]
An iPod That Listens
The Register: A US firm specialising in metadata for music files is working with a voice recognition company to enable voice-controlled music devices for use where hand control is impractical. Gracenote is working with voice recognition specialist ScanSoft and early products will be aimed at Japan. Ross Blanchard, a Gracenote veep, said voice recognition would make devices easier to use: […]
Eat Your Heart Out
Entrepreneur.com: When former investment analyst Chuck DiRocco noticed that cookies were missing from the wide variety of snacks sold in video stores and at theater concessions, he started searching for a way to link cookies to Hollywood. Then the idea hit him: Create cookies in the form of popular movie stars, such as Renée Zellweger and Jack Nicholson. One cup […]
Cool
They’re words often applied to new clothes or new cars – not phones. But that’s changing, and Motorola’s Razr V3 offers a good example. The ultraslim, lustrous metal cellphone, introduced in November, has created a cachet of cool so strong that it should rub off on the company’s entire portfolio of phones, observers say. A cool phone could make for […]
Partnering Apple
BusinessWeek Online: The lust of iPod owners for their lovable little digital-music players is well-documented. But another group may be even more smitten with Apple Computer these days: The makers of the 400-plus iPod accessories that have stormed to market, from $19 plastic cases to $350 speaker systems. Take Tim Hickman, general manager of the three-employee company Speck Products in […]