Springwise: As we’re rapidly moving towards Dan Pink’s right-side brain, design-loving, aesthetics-driven economy, an abundance of opportunities has opened up for smart designers. One sector ripe for the picking: computers. After all, Apple is pretty much the only company that currently steals the limelight with beautifully designed devices, not facing any serious competition from other established players. Is the new […]
Aesthetic Counts
Hyperdistribution
FutureWire: Mark Pesce, co-creator of Virtual Reality Modeling Language, has coined a new term to describe the peer-to-peer distribution of media content — hyperdistribution . Specifically, he addresses the use of BitTorrent technology to distribute television programming, and how producers and broadcasters are eventually going to have to come to terms with this new distribution method. Pesce asserts that television […]
Consumer Evangelists
Trendwatching: There is no stopping the trend of creative consumers contributing to, or even owning your advertising campaigns, both authorized and behind your back. Why? To feature on a website or billboard, or have one’s home-made commercial downloaded by hundreds of thousands of fellow consumers is just too much fun. We previously highlighted CUSTOMER-MADE campaigns orchestrated by Mercedes, Mazda and […]
One Buck Concept
One Buck Concept: When siblings Jackie Bell, 48, and Wayne Bell, 46, realized high-quality items were no longer readily available to stock their industrial salvage yard, they knew it was time to change gears. So they stuck with the concept of one person’s junk being another’s treasure and opened up a secondhand clothing store. The Bells placed an ad in […]
Friendly Touch
Iconoculture: Millennials get a chuckle out of cheeky products that play off of intricate relationship interactions. Be thankful they’re only passive-aggressive. ’Cause otherwise: Hello, horror-movie scenario. Needies interactive plush dolls – created by students at New York U’s Interactive Telecommunications Program – trade songs and flattery for hugs, then plot and scheme against each other to win human love and […]
Be A Boardgame Boss
Entrepreneur.com: Playing games is an important part of every childhood–but for sisters Callie and Pam Weiant, the homemade game their mother created for them as children inspired them to become entrepreneurs. The game had been popular in the Weiant family for years, and the sisters always thought it would make a great keepsake for other families as well. In 2003, […]
Love Fakes?
Iconoculture: As fakes become harder to spot – and more expensive – taking the low road has become more acceptable. And Millennials just love to make a stylish statement. Dutch design boutique Mind What You Wear takes faux up a notch with its Fakewear line. The popular faux designer bags are labeled, in spray-paint print, “Fake.” Just so we’re clear […]
Sleeping Partner Music
We Make Money Not Art: Aura is a prototype background communication device that aims to create a sense of emotional presence between two people who are separated by space or time. An augmented sleeping mask records sleeping rhythms and infers an emotional state of the wearer. This information is transmitted to a remote location and mapped to musical selections in […]
Connect For Music
We Make Money Not Art: The Haptic Gloves allow their wearers to create musical compositions by linking hands together. Each participants wears the gloves, headphones (through which they can hear their personal music) and a clip-on box housing circuits. As soon as they touch the gloved hand of another, they can hear their own music mixed with the other person’s […]
Fun With Service
Entrepreneur.com: While typical “Mommy and Me” classes can be great fun, Molly Snyder, 30, decided to give the old format a spin when she started Metropolitan Moms. Instead of classes focusing solely on the children, Snyder’s idea was to organize classes for moms who wanted to explore local New York City culture while taking their children along for the ride. […]