Trendwatching: Prefer soap shows over reality TV? Then check out this case of GRAVANITY par excellence from The Netherlands: Soapshow, a multimedia concoction that enables any needy individual to create his or her own soap series, for all the world to see. Users create their own soap by posting texts, voice, pictures, and video of their daily lives onto their […]
Soapshow
RFID Tagging Getting Big
BusinessWeek: ProfitLogic’s software is already at work in Gap and Target stores, and President Scott Friend sees many more retailers following suit. The transformative technology that entails tagging merchandise with radio frequency computer chips (RFID) is on the horizon. But ask anyone at the 2005 annual convention of the National Retail Foundation (NRF) and it’s clear that most of the […]
Rising Giants
The Economic Times: These two gentlemen personify the global ambitions of their companies. Jalaj Dani, the thirty-something scion of Asian Paints practically lives out of his suitcase. He has to. Asian Paints, manufactures in 21 countries, are a licensee in 4, and sells in 65 countries, employing 1,400 people outside India from 22 nationalities . Since 1999, the company has […]
Back Seat Gaming
We Make Money Not Art: Backseat Playground , developed by John Paul Bichard, Liselott Brunnberg and Oskar Juhlin at the Interactive Institute in Stockholm, is a mobile gaming research project that will enable kids to play with the world outside their window from the back seat of a car. This augmented reality game uses a digital compass and a GPS-receiver […]
PetsMobility PetCell
Gizmodo: The PetsMobility PetCell is only a concept for now, but the patent-pending collar could be great—if you don’t mind spending a lot of extra cash on your pets. The idea is simple: it’s a cell phone and GPS unit on a collar, with its own private number. Using caller ID, it automatically picks up when an approved number calls, […]
Mobile Messaging Device
NewsFactor: Ogo from Cingular provides mobile workers with a relatively inexpensive way to send and receive e-mail and SMS messages. It will appeal to small businesses that want to communicate with their employees but do not need all the features of complicated PDAs or smartphones. Developed under the direction of AT&T Wireless, the pocket-sized Ogo is a low-cost, data-only terminal […]
Have It Your Way
Business Wire: During Thursday’s season premiere of “The Apprentice,” Trump’s management team served up a mammoth task to the latest crop of contestants: name, build, market and sell a new menu item at BURGER KING(R) restaurants. What the Trump trainees didn’t know is that Burger King Corporation would actually flip for the winning burger – the Western Angus Steak Burger […]
Keychain Plants
bTang reBlog: I love simple genius ideas. To sell small living plants for your keychain is a genius idea. Soroban Geeks reports about the latest fad in Japan. Tiny plants are placed in plastic domes to be carried around on keychains. They cost about $10 and measure 41x25mm. Japanese Keychain Mini Plants [bTang reBlog]
Sunglasses with a Digital Music Player
BusinessWeek: Often technology companies think just because a product is technically feasible that it will be commercially desirable. So they mix two products — a watch and an Internet news feed, for example — and come up with a technological jackalope, a hybrid product that does neither of its functions particularly well. So when I first heard of the Oakley […]
Go Partying with PartyBuddys
NYTimes.com: Dressed in a sober business suit, Jorge Lima, 30, a salesman for a pharmaceuticals company, looked out of place among the gyrating house music mavens at Cielo, a lounge with a futuristic theme in the meatpacking district known for a rotating cast of celebrity D.J.’s. But Mr. Lima didn’t mind. On a recent Saturday night, sitting at a private […]