CNN.com: A 22-year-old design graduate has invented a gadget that could make asthmatics' lives a lot easier. Frustrated after seeing his asthmatic friend struggle to breathe in smoky bars, Adam Bates decided to design a wallet-sized inhaler.

Bates, who suffers from mild asthma himself, said inspiration for the 6mm-thick Thinhaler came from an asthmatic friend, who would leave her asthma in haler at home if it would not fit in her bag or she would complain about having to take a bag out with her because her inhaler was too bulky.

Bates' design can fit into a wallet, in the slots normally designed for credit cards. The Thinhaler will not be any more expensive than those already on the market, and could cost as little as £2-3.

New invention to help asthmatics [CNN.com]

Market Launcher: The Roadside Message Board is the latest in road safety and protection. Although it was invented to aid motorists when a vehicle needs to be left unattended, it has a thousand other uses. One of the reasons that people need the Roadside Message Board is that many cell phones don't work in remote or rural areas because of poor reception. Many people use cell phones to call for help and leave their cars unattended in the process.

The Message Board is about the size of a standard license plate, so it fits comfortably under most car seats or above the sun visor. The next time you find yourself in a crowed parking lot late at night, just pull out your Message Board, moisten the soft suction cups and activate the attention-getting flashing red light. Attach it to your windshield and you'll never have trouble finding your car again. It can also be used for messages around the house, at the office or on store fronts.

This license plate-size message board with reversible suction cups can also be used for non-emergency messages, store front or home. This is a necessity for every vehicle, this would make the perfect gift! Plus, it is assembled by companies who employ handicapped people to do the work.

The Roadside Message Board U.S. Patent # 6,688,027 [Market Launcher]

Trendsetters: If you need more evidence that art is hot, you need look no further than last week’s Art Basel Miami Beach show, which attracted an eclectic mix of collectors, artists and glitterati from all over the world to the already sizzling surroundings of South Beach.

While the visceral appeal of art is always high, it has reached even greater heights now that luxury is back in vogue. And leave it to the Swiss to bring an event to the land of eternal plastic that exemplifies America’s chief economical driving force: shopping.

The hot art market is behind the art hotel phenomenon. Here San Francisco artist Tim Gaskin shows off his Hotel Des Arts room.
What other “mall” lets you buy a Picasso for $13 million? Or has a fleet of BMWs ready to wisk its big-spending clientele to their next high-profile appointment? It’s perhaps even more noteworthy that Miami has moved to the forefront of art and entertainment. In March, the Winter Music Conference will occupy the center stage of heat.

Art [Trendsetters]

Market Launcher: Easy Climb incline anti-rollback system for wheelchairs was developed to fill a need for manually-operated wheelchairs to negotiate inclines without roll-back. Normal operation of a wheelchair results in roll-back on an incline as the operator releases his/her grip on propulsion ring to prepare for a new grip to maintain forward motion.

Easy Climb will allow extra freedom to wheelchair users, help to conserve their energy, increase their safety, and lower their frustration level as they negotiate inclines. An increase in self-sufficiency for wheelchair users will be obtained by using Easy Climb as there will be less need for assistance when operating on inclines.

Easy Climb operates quietly and efficiently, adds very little weight, adds small percentage to overall cost, and fits in the established confines of wheelchair design. It is readily adaptable to wire spoke design or cast wheel and spoke design. Easy Climb can be fitted to many designs of wheelchairs by modification of axle in respect to its attachment method to the wheelchair.

"Easy Climb" Incline Anti-Rollback System for Wheelchairs [Market Launchers]

BusinessWeek: At a hip singles bar in Las Vegas earlier this year, attractive urbanites were busy typing messages into their cell phones. But messages like, "Who's the hottie at the end of the bar?" weren't just going to friends -- they were being posted on a giant video screen as part of a promotion at several events organized by Anheuser-Busch (BUD) and Maxim magazine.

These kinds of promotions have become rampant at sporting events, concerts, and ultra-trendy bars in the latter part of 2004, and they're poised to explode next year, say marketers like Alex Campbell, CEO of Vibes Media, a small interactive marketing firm that put on the Vegas event. Idle cell-phone users are being encouraged via big-screen TV, or video scoreboard, to text messages to one another, answer trivia questions, or enter sweepstakes. Sometimes, participation is as high as 30%, Campbell and others say.

It may seem like just a gimmick for restless audience members and barflies. But it's the beginnings of the much-hyped, much-anticipated rush to mobile advertising, in which marketers connect to consumers in a variety of ways via their cell phones. And industry watchers say 2005 is set to be the year a lot of big brands finally give it a shot -- despite the difficulties that still loom. At this early stage, it's still hard to predict a how much will be spent on mobile advertising since the cost of these campaigns can range from thousands to millions. But like spending on video ads online in 2004, this new category looks poised to go from virtually nothing to millions in pilot investments in 2005, agencies say.

Cell Phones Ring for Marketers [BusinessWeek]

Seattle Post-Intelligencer: Soon, that Starbucks latte in your hand won't just be a cup of coffee. It will be a talking point, the latest Starbucks idea coming to a corner near you.

Starbucks will begin printing quotes from various contributors -- be they actors, economists, philosophers or kings -- on all of its coffee cups in North America, beginning early next year.

The company said it hopes to generate discussions among its customers and baristas with the comment-bearing coffee cups.

The mega-coffee retailer declined to specify the kinds of statements it will run, or give examples, except to say that they will be on "life topics" that are "non-controversial" and will "delight and inspire" its customers.

It's hard to be relevant without being controversial these days, but Starbucks thinks it has the right formula to strike a balance.

Starbucks hopes to generate conversation with quote-spewing cups [Seattle Post-Intelligencer]

The Cincinnati Enquirer: Coca-Cola North America was looking for an innovative way to market its new Hi-C Sour Blast juice boxes.

These weren't just any old juice boxes, but the lunchbox drink of choice for millions of schoolchildren each day. The Sour Blast has a sour candy-coated straw that gives a burst of pucker-up flavor before that sweet Hi-C finally hits the mouth.

"Now, I'd like to hand everyone one of these juice drinks with the coated straw," explained Dan Walsh, a Houston-based senior brand manager for Coca-Cola. "But that, my budget does not allow."

Instead, he hired POP Marketing Group Inc. of Covington to produce its Tongue Tickling Tattoo candy in Hi-C's sour green-apple flavor.

Then Coca-Cola placed 2 million edible tattoos on a Hi-C advertisement in a double Teen People magazine issue this year.

The candy product insertion was an ad industry breakthrough, according to Walsh.

More than 10,000 Teen People readers subsequently logged on to a Web site to request more free samples, he says.

A tattoo with taste [The Cincinnati Enquirer]

Iconoculture: With a wing woman, aspiring players get by with some help from their lady friends – even if they don’t have any. Wing women put a fresh spin on escort services by giving guys nights out with foxy fairy godmothers. The catch? WW don’t date clients – they help them find dates. A feminine take on the “Wing Man,” these pickup chicks go out with guys masquerading as friends or coworkers. When Romeo spots prospects, his WW divebombs, striking up girl-girl chats peppered with anecdotes about how her “love-him-like-a-brother” pal “rescued my kitten” or “just got promoted.” Then Prince Charming swoops in and scores easy digits.

Since WW’s 2003 NYC launch, Wing Women has racked up 100 clients and 25 wing women (New York-WABC 7.3.04). And while it may seem a service to help the inept connect (like Geek Boy Services), founder Shane Forbes also sees efficiency as a draw. Established professional men just don’t have as much time to cruise and want a performance edge. Wing women are $50 an hour, but most men agree: Foolproof pickup artists are priceless.

The Lady Is A Temp [Iconoculture]

Gizmodo: Sega has released more USB controllers for PCs, available in a variety of new colors, including the always sassy pink. I've never been a Sega controller man, myself, preferring the SNES pad on the whole, but I think it's fantastic that companies continue to release controllers from years past, despite a wealth of conversion dongles that let you use the original units via USB. Why? Because I like to spend money. (Thanks, Rom!)

More Sega PC USB Controllers [Gizmodo]

Popgadget: During the holidays, many families get puppies and kittens as gifts, only to discard them in shelters or on the streets just a few weeks later when the responsibility of taking care of a companion animal becomes tiresome. Perfect Petzzz is a better choice for anyone who's been begging for a puppy but may not be ready to actually care for one. The Perfect Petzz dogs and cats make breathing noises and smell like real animals. They just keep sleeping forever, though, without needing to be walked, played with, or fed, which doesn't exactly simulate the actual experience of having a real dog or cat but they could be a soothing (or creepy, not sure which) presence in a lonely house.

Perfect Petzzz [Popgadget]

Popgadget: Thank you nanotechnology for bringing us the windows that clean themselves.

Pilkington Activ Self-Cleaning Glass is coated in a chemical layer that reacts with ultra-violet rays from daylight to disintegrate organic dirt. Then when rain or water hits the glass, it simply takes the dirt with it.

The substances in the glass are normal household chemicals, and the huge reduction in spray-and-wipe cleaning supplies adds up to a greener window.

Self-cleaning glass [Popgadget]
Press Release

USA Today: It's just the thing for holiday procrastinators: customized gift cards that don't look "last-minute."

Several retailers and financial services companies introduced the option this holiday season for shoppers to put a personal photo or an image of a product on the card — or even to design the card.

Sales of holiday gift cards are expected to hit $17.3 billion this year, according to the National Retail Federation. But their popularity threatens to make them seem as impersonal as a $20 bill.

Customized gift cards can offer personal touch [USA Today]

Small Business Trends: The Death of Distance - "Telecommuters and remote workers are closing in. Recent improvements to enterprise voice-over-IP (VoIP) are promising to make the concept of location irrelevant." The article points out that users of enterprise VoIP are finding out the cool things that can be done with it, not just the cost savings. Those cool things -- such as integrating with Microsoft Outlook -- will help make distance among workers irrelevant.

Desktop Search Heats Up - The amount of data that users store on their desktop computers is exploding. A whole new industry has popped up to enable users to search their desktop files easily, including Google's desktop search tool, and startup Blinkx.

Rise in Web Services - The ability to transmit data on the Web and make it really useful, go the heart of Web services. By the end of 2005, 45% of companies will use Web services. Even bloggers: "Protocols like Really Simple Syndication (RSS) and Atom have caught on among bloggers, allowing them to make their content available to anyone to pour into their own web pages. By the end of 2006, most vendors of web publishing software will incorporate support for RSS in their products, according to Gartner."

Home Sweet Digital Home - Red Herring says that the digital home -- with interconnected devices all around us -- is finally becoming a reality. Computers and entertainment products are converging, to bring unprecendented amounts of entertainment and digital content to us in our living rooms. "The ultimate winners will be companies that adopt Internet-based platforms, open standards, and customer-friendly products, which could most likely mean startups with new ideas and innovative technologies."

Top Technology Trends for 2005 [Small Business Trends]

Frommers.com: My wife and I didn't want to leave our bed at the Hotel Delamar in Greenwich, CT. Sure, we were having a romantic weekend, but more than just love was preventing us from getting up -- the quilt and pillows made us feel like we were floating on clouds.

A good hotel room is full of delicious stuff -- pillows a lot more lush than my $19 Bed Bath & Beyond on-sale specials and bath products that make my $2.29 Rite Aid shampoo at home look like, well, $2.29 Rite Aid shampoo. Sure, it also helps that people are waiting on you hand and foot at a four-star hotel, but plush furnishings go a long way towards creating a luxury experience.

Want to make your home feel a little more like a top-of-the-line hotel? Order in room service from your nearest takeout place, call up the local maid service and buy bed and bath goodies from your favorite luxury lodging.

Hotel, Sweet Hotel. Making Home Feel Like a Stay Away [Frommers.com]
Hotel Home [PSFK]

USA Today: For years, Pat de Garmo's Christmas tree was her aging yucca plant.

She doesn't like the idea of killing trees, and the size of her yard prevents her from getting a potted one. So year after year she strung lights and ornaments on the indoor plant, hanging toy drums and colored orbs from its stiff branches.

For environmentally conscious consumers like de Garmo, a venture that rents out living Christmas trees is filling a void.

The Original Living Christmas Tree Company founded by John Fogel, 39, has rented out more than 400 Christmas trees this holiday season, starting at $55 for a 7-foot Douglas fir.

The trees are taken out of the ground, roots and all, put into pots, and delivered to families in the Portland area. Soon after New Year's, Fogel and his crew pick up the trees and deliver them to parks, school districts and other groups who pay around $10 to have the trees planted on their property.

Christmas tree rentals fill the void for some [USA Today]

VOA News: China is the toy-making capital of the world, sending $10 billion worth of toys around the world each year. Now, China is also becoming a toy-buying country.

Christmas is coming and children are begging their parents for the season's hottest toys. In Hong Kong, two little Chinese boys, both six years old, are very excited as their mothers take them to the Hong Kong branch of one of the world's leading toy retailers, Toys R' Us.

China Could Soon Become Booming Toy Market [VOA News]

JapanToday: Vodafone KK President Shiro Tsuda said Wednesday the Japanese unit of British cell phone service company Vodafone Group PLC will encourage its customers to shift to third-generation handsets for faster data communications. "Vodafone will offer its last 2G handset next year and no more 2G later," Tsuda said.

Vodafone has lagged rivals NTT DoCoMo Inc and KDDI Corp in shifting to 3G handsets. Of some 15 million Vodafone customers, only about 300,000 are 3G handset users. By discontinuing the provision of new 2G handsets next year, Vodafone will encourage customers to shift to the 3G handsets and will concentrate business resources on 3G services, Tsuda said. (Kyodo News)

Vodafone To Encourage Customers To Shift To 3G Handsets [JapanToday]

Business2Blog: The folks at Mars have now made it possible to print (nearly) anything on your M&Ms. Go to their site, pick a color, and type out a message. Yes, it has a censor, and the kids at BoingBoing have already had their dirty fun. Gift boxes (2oz.) for $4.25 and a less impressive 8-oz. sack for 9.49. So that's, what, $34 a pound. Not bad. Mars is getting Teuscher champagne truffle prices for M&Ms.

It still looks like this idea of mass customization is in the experimental stage. Many companies have tried it, Levis or Dell, for example. But is is hard to think of a company that has stuck with it because it has been an overwhelming success. (That is, a profit center, not a promotion.) The technology is clearly here. But the mass market hasn't quite caught up.

M&Mass Customization in Your Candy Dish [Business2Blog]

Iconoculture: From autism to Alzheimer’s, patients are finding some multisensory relief in Rompa’s Snoezelen (SNOO-ze-len). It’s a cozy, therapeutic room filled with multiple colors and lights, soft music, pleasing fragrances, plush pillows, and other sensory stimuli that turns agitation into calm and confusion into comfort. A contraction of the Dutch words for “sniff” and “doze,” this European import excites the senses, which, in turn, reduces anxiety and promotes relaxation.

More than 500 of the psychedelic rooms are now lighting up U.S. healthcare facilities with practitioners citing promising results in easing the aggression, apathy, anxiety, and restlessness of Alzheimer’s patients (AlzInfo.org 1.2.04). And beyond patients, it’s good to remember that multisensory environments touch everyone in ways we don’t yet fully appreciate. Mind, body, and spirit can be moved, soothed, and healed when every sense is engaged.

Hit The Snoezelen [Iconoculture]

DailyCandy.com: Does anyone exercise without an assistant anymore?

We're not referring to that overpriced trainer. We mean the MP3 player. Ubiquitous wherever people are sweating. Except the pool.

Too bad, because you love the payoff of a good swim: toned muscles, non-stressed joints, smooth skin. You just hate the tedium. (If only Zero 7 and DJ Vadim performed poolside ...)

The gadget of your wet dreams (nyuk nyuk) already has its toes in the water: SwiMP3.

So how can a non-dolphin like you hear underwater? The player rests on the back of your head and ear-covering sound flaps rest on your cheekbones, all of which is held in place by the connected goggles. SwiMP3 holds about 30 songs and (although the manufacturer states otherwise) is so far only PC-compatible. Super-easy plug-and-play.

It works best when your head is fully submerged, so kick out that crawl. Do the backstroke.

And rock on, little fishie.

Swim Fan [DailyCandy.com]

Tech Digest: The fact that Knomo won Shiny Shiny's Accessory award at our awards evening the other week (yes, we know we promised to stop banging on about them, but we lied) will give you a clue that we're great fans of the bags. We've not actually covered them on Tech Digest yet, and since the company is promising to get bags out before Christmas to anyone who orders by the 23rd, we thought the time was ripe to point you in the direction of the website. This bag is called Bungo (they're all named after Wombles for reasons that are never made entirely clear). It's made from leather, has room for a 15-inch laptop and comes with all manner of inner and outer pockets. It'll set you back £150.

Knomo Bags [Tech Digest]

Mobile Digest: If you're looking to buy a 3G phone this Christmas, Which? would advise you otherwise. The company has pronounced 3G not suitable for human consumption since there are too many problems with network coverage. The bulkiness of 3G handsets was also given as a reason to ignore 3G and stick to smaller, more reliable 2G handsets.

Thing is, it doesn't sound like they've tested any of the newer 3G handsets, which are far smaller. Considering the extra stuff they can do, we've been more than happy to carry round handsets like the Sony Ericsson V800, the LG U8120 and the Nokia 6630. Our experience of the 3G networks in recent months has been really good, with both 3 and Vodafone providing reliable service. Granted, we all live in London, which makes things a lot easier, and if you live in the deepest darkest countryside you might have trouble making video calls. But if you're a city dweller and you want a 3G phone for Christmas, don't let Which? put you off. One thing to bear in mind, though, is that the tariffs and phone prices will inevitably go down in the new year. We also don't really rate the phones they do reccomend. There's no mention of the Nokia 7610, the Orange SPV-C500 or Motorola RAZR V3 handsets - in our book the best trio out there.

Why Which? is wrong about 3G [Mobile Digest]

Yahoo! News: For the average Japanese teenager, a cell phone is a must-have item, used for email, taking photos and keeping track of dates, in addition to the simple phone call.

But a quick stroll around the hip Shibuya district of Tokyo shows that cell phones in Japan have also become an important identity statement, with accessories like straps, antenna rings, photo stickers and fake gems reflecting the owner's personality.

That has made fashion accessories for mobile phones a big business in Japan, where even adults dangle at least a strap from their phones.

Fashion, function meet in Japan cell-phone culture [Yahoo! News]

Entrepreneur: The vibrant and ever-changing world of franchising is one where anything is possible. And every year, without fail, strong patterns emerge, revealing the industries that hold promise for the year to come. This year is no different. After months of careful research, we are pleased to present the franchise segments that have caught our attention and promise strong growth in 2005.

Expect the next 12 months to bring expansion across a variety of industries. Fitness and weight-loss franchises will grow as Americans continue their battle to get slim, tech consulting will be in greater demand than ever, eBay drop-off stores will spread rapidly, and children's tutoring/enrichment programs and senior care will maintain their spots in the limelight. Some of these trends are already visible in this year's Franchise 500®. So, without further delay, here's an in-depth look at the trends to watch in 2005.

All the Rage [Entrepreneur]

USA Today: Convenience is about to take on new meaning in the coffee aisle: single-serving coffee in a can that heats itself.

Beginning Jan. 2, consumers can buy a 10-ounce container of Wolfgang Puck gourmet latte at the store and heat it by pressing a button. No electricity. No batteries. No appliances.

"It will expand the way people drink coffee," says Puck, the celebrity chef with a growing empire.

How does the can do it? A single step mixes calcium oxide (quicklime) and water. It heats the coffee to 145 degrees in six minutes — and stays hot for 30 minutes.

It sounds like a technology used by soldiers to heat Meals-Ready-To-Eat. But MREs mix magnesium iron oxide and water and need several steps. This is one-step and self-contained.

Puck's latte hits stores at a point consumers are willing to pay a premium for quality products that save time.

Single-serving coffee can heats itself [USA Today]

Gizmodo: Alienware machines are overpriced and over-hyped, but you've got to admit, when they go top-end they usually do it right. Jason Cross over at ExtremeTech reviews their latest desktop replacement laptop, the Area-51m 7700, and it's pretty impressive—as it should be, since it forgoes most laptop parts and actually uses desktop chips crammed inside its not-so-portable 12-pound chassis. What you get in the end is a laptop that should rarely leave your desk, but provides most of the functionality of a full-size PC. Look, it even comes with all the fans of a regular-sized PC.

Alienware Area-51m 7700 Reviewed [Gizmodo]

Wired: A few columns ago, I mentioned my longing for a Treo 650. It's a cell phone, yes, but it's also a camera, an MP3 player, a phone book, an organizer. You can browse the web, check your e-mail, chat over IM, create spreadsheets and edit Microsoft Word documents, all from a device that fits in a shirt pocket.

With all of the business functions covered, I suppose it's no surprise that the next big thing in cell phones is to turn them into sex toys. In fact, one of the Wired News editors says it was a natural progression, considering everything else you can do with the dang things. (When I put him on the spot with "Would you buy one?" he responded, suavely, "I prefer specialized devices. I'm not an all-in-one kind of guy.")

Cell Phones That Do It [Wired]

Red Herring Blog: The media is self-organizing. Not the old fogies, such as daily newspapers, magazines, and television networks, but the legions of self-publishers and producers on the web.

In recent months, the rise of podcasting has sent a flare up over the trenches of old media, key figures have abandoned their posts in old media to set out into the new, and now Yahoo has announced a well-documented format for RSS media syndication that will support text, audio, and, now, video delivery. A new wiki-based news organization, WikiNews, will pioneer a form of news editing that, while it’s ripe with potential problems, is a provocative change from the passive consumption of news.

There’s something new coming, called "citizen advertising," that combines passionate advocacy and unsolicited evangelism on behalf of products. Some bloggers are working under new sponsorship models (disclosure: including me, your humble Red Herring blogger), and others are joining emerging blog publishing combines. BlogAds, AdBrite and Google AdSense, among others, are paving the bridge between existing and new advertising models.

The year the media will turn inside out [Red Herring Blog]

USA Today: Gillette announced Thursday its strategy to go after a bigger cut of the women's shaving market this spring, including two new products in its successful Venus line and — in an unusual move in personal care products — equality with similar men's products in price.

The company will roll out a battery-powered Venus Vibrance shaver, similar to its men's M3Power, that sends little vibrations to the skin to raise the hair for a closer shave. It also will add Venus disposables.

In a product category where women's products generally are priced higher than men's — on the assumption women will pay more for personal care — the suggested retail prices for the Venus Vibrance will be $9.99 to $11.99, equal to the new lower price the M3Power gets next month.

Price equality for essentially the same product could help nick the competition, one expert says.

Gillette hopes to power shaver sales to women with Vibrance [USA Today]

BusinessWeek: During a long, 1,500-mile drive home from their son's college campus, David Pippenger and his wife were talking duct tape. Not for plumbing, furniture repair, or even the rare heating-duct patch. No, they were discussing fashion accessories. Turns out Pippenger's son, Jonathan, was sporting a duct-tape wallet his cousin had made for him for Christmas.

That wallet was causing a stir at Evergreen State College, in Olympia, where Jonathan had just returned for the spring 2002 semester. But as novel as it was, the wallet was also sticky, a bit stinky, and not exactly flawlessly made. But with more than a whiff of entrepreneurial spirit, Pippenger wondered, "If we could make a better duct-tape wallet, could it sell?"

Turns out, the answer is yes, very much so. While it's hard to imagine the fashionistas of Paris and Milan clambering for duct-tape accessories, Pippenger's duct-tape dreams have happily turned into a thriving business. Ducti, the company that grew out of those late-night musings, will mark its third year in 2005, and Pippenger, who is also a writer and producer for independent films and commercials, thinks the business is entering its best holiday season yet. He hopes Ducti will sell more than 100,000 of its fashion novelties, double the sales of a year ago and equal to the previous three quarters combined.

An Idea with Sticking Power [BusinessWeek]

MP3digest: At both MacExpo and CES Ten Technologies displayed the naviPlay - a Bluetooth wireless adaptor that allows third-generation iPod owners to ditch their earphone cords. Basically its transmitter plugs into the iPod while its adaptor can connect with any type of headphones or speakers. Its battery will run for about eight hours before it needs a recharge – spookily enough that’s the same as the iPod The naviPlay will debut in the US in the spring. There's no price for the adaptor yet.

Wireless iPod coming soon [MP3digest]

Bizjournals.com: After launching new products and services for Golden-based Adolph Coors Co. and Broomfield-based Level 3 Communications Inc., Heather Shepardson wants to get a piece of the $8 billion Christmas decoration market.

Shepardson, 36, recently introduced the Ever-Green Water System, a plastic box disguised as a Christmas present. The product fits neatly under a Christmas tree, providing a 2.7-gallon reservoir of water through a plastic tube.

Currently vice president of enterprise data services at Level 3, Shepardson said the Christmas novelty is doing so well that she's thinking about quitting her day job and devoting all of her professional attention to the new endeavor.

Finally, a Christmas tree idea that holds water [Bizjournals.com]

Business 2.0: The second Internet boom is quietly taking shape -- and this one looks like it's going to last. Here's how six innovative businesses learned from the past and have begun to make the Web work for them.

How to Make Money on the Net [Business 2.0]

MPIO has received the highly rated iF product design award from International Forum Design for its MPIO FL300 flash MP3 player.

"Design is a focal point of our product development, so this success is a result of our heavy investment in product development," said Marcelino Kim of MPIO. "The MPIO FL300 is just one example of how we develop fashion accessories to appeal to the digital generation." This is the second time that MPIO has won an iF product design award. Its FL100 flash player received honors in 2003.

The sleek and stylish MPIO FL300 weighs less than an ounce and is smaller than a pack of Tic Tacs -- delivering high performance digital music in 128MB and 256MB capacities. With this sapphire blue MP3 player, consumers can listen, dance, and sing along to their favorite tunes for as long as ten hours with only a one hour charge. The FL300 also features a clock, alarm, digital recorder, and doubles as USB storage.

Nearly 750 companies from 31 countries submitted more than 2,000 product entries for the iF product design award. The 14 member-jury selected winners based on design quality, processing, innovation, functionality, and ergonomics.

"There is a tendency for people to focus less on technology and more on style when selecting things like mobile phones and MP3 players, but also other electronic appliances as well. Personal products are taking the market by storm, which is opening up new options for the way we design and use products," said Bill Moggridge of design firm IDEO.

Yenra Page
The Power Of Design [BusinessWeek]
Whimsical but Practical [CoolBusinessIdeas.com]