Japan Today: Toy maker Takara Tomy Co on Thursday unveiled its “Savings Bomb,” a piggy bank which “explodes” and scatters coins if users fail to save for a long time. The battery-powered toy — designed as a cartoon-style, ball-shaped black bomb with a skull and crossbones logo — lights up, makes a noise, shakes violently and scatters coins if it […]
Exploding Piggy Bank!
Paper GPS
Springwise: Visitors to Sydney who want the scoop on where all of the best boutiques, cafes and galleries are need only point their browsers to Urban Walkabout to download attractive, pocket-sized walking maps in PDF form, complete with a detailed listing of shops and other attractions—for free. Maps are clean and concise and include information on buses, trains and other […]
Highly Priced Credit Cards
Born Rich: Gold and diamond covered business card is a cool way to show off your riches. Earlier, we saw the Hello Kitty gold business card and the Mitsubishi Materials Fine gold card and now, GK Power, a Seoul-based smart card maker and online game provider, has made a new high-concept card for the VVIP customers. GK Power has developed […]
Ccube: The New Age Communication
Ccube: Inspired by Thomas L. Friedman’s best?selling book, “The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty?first Century”, Ccube was born to provide a solution to today’s #1 Web concern: privacy. In 2006, founder Mahesh Lalwani leveraged his 15 years of high?tech architecture experience to develop a social utility to extend opportunities for human interaction and provide a valuable […]
BIZNESS! Newsletter Issue 56
Differentiation: Smart Marketing Strategies for the Solo Entrepreneur In business terms, to differentiate means to create a benefit that customers perceive as being of greater value to them than what they can get elsewhere. It’s not enough for you to be different–a potential customer has to take note of the difference and must feel that the difference somehow fits their […]
Hotel Furnishings Trend
USA Today: Wyndham Hotels’ new “Smart Chair” aims to do for in-room lounging and working what Westin’s Heavenly Bed did for sleeping. The Westin pillowtop-mattress bed, introduced in 1999, was an instant hit and is credited with starting a revolution in hotel bedding. The Smart Chair, designed by Michael Graves & Associates, is currently ensconced at select Wyndams (the Dallas-Fort […]
Frost Bite
easier Motoring: The irritation of nuts and bolts jammed in place by rust can be a thing of the past, thanks to car care specialist, Comma, and a new product which simply freezes components apart. The new product, named Frost Bite, has been developed by Comma’s scientists and uses a -30°C treatment to penetrate corrosion and release jammed components so […]
Stationery Art Form
The Cool Hunter: For the executive who has grown bored with his Blackberry, and sick of his stapler, comes this rather over the top stationary revolution. These elaborately detailed, all metal staplers from Jac Zagoory. Designs come in Gorilla, bear, dragon, Lion and more. These excessive must haves are brilliantly made, and have turned desk accessories into an art form. […]
Mobile Specs Fitting
Digital World Tokyo: Glasses and contact lenses are noticeably big business all over Asia, so it’s no surprise to see a Japanese optician combining sales of spectacles with the venerable mobile phone. Glasses superstore Megane Top (literally, ‘Top Glasses’) has just started a handy service where browsers of the frame selection on their mobile website can go one step further […]
Face The Music
Cool Hunting: Imagine an online social network that provides free, on-demand online music but without the legal anxiety of peer-to-peer networks. More interactive than conventional internet radio, though not as gratifying as Napster was in its glory days, Jango is a New York City-based music site with a large database of songs and artists and is instantly addictive. Now in […]