Iconoculture: Minty fresh gone stale? Tired taste buds get a breath of fresh air with Breath Palette toothpastes. The polishes for pearly whites come in 32 unexpected flavors like Bitter Chocolate, Indian Curry, Sweet Salt, and Pumpkin Pudding.

The cavity fighters, invented in Japan, scrub tooth surfaces with super-fine microbeads and break down plaque with Xylitol. All 32 flavors have a menthol finish, and their fruity or exotic flavors come from infusions of natural fragrances. Despite the sweet selections, they’re free of sugar as well as synthetic surfactants and alcohol.

Many consumers are hungry for ways to spice up the medicine cabinet and their personal hygiene routine. Even mainstream brands like Crest are heeding the call with unconventional flavors. Give brushers a way to tease their tongues while they clean their teeth, and they’ll be sure to brush three times a day – maybe more.

Change of Paste [Iconoculture]

TrendCentral: This fancy pen does way more than just write. Packed with a tiny computer, camera, speaker and ink cartridge, the FLY allows users to do math, make music, play games, and schedule activities. When the user writes on special FLY paper, the pen’s computer recognizes what is written and performs the corresponding functions. The technology allows what is written to function in real time; a sketch of a calculator can be used to solve math problems, and a drum set can be played, recorded and sent to friends.

Tween Technology [TrendCentral]

Scotsman.com: OATS have traditionally never enjoyed the sexiest image. But today even the most stylish and faddish foodie will happily admit to starting the day with a bowl of porridge.

In an age when we are more aware than ever that we are what we eat, it was not long before the rather plain little oat underwent a glamorous makeover. Witness the Scotts Porridge Oats advert featuring a young lady ogling up a ruggedly handsome porridge-eating Scotsman's kilt. Soon after this, oatcakes appeared in deliberately more modern flavours - Nairns brought out cracked black pepper oatcakes, closely followed by stem ginger, mixed berry and fruit and spice varieties. Word spread of their appeal as a versatile, healthy snack and before long, oats were flying off shelves in all their forms. Sainsbury reported a 60 per cent increase in oat sales in the last six months, and according to reports by market researchers TNS last year, oats are now Britain's second favourite breakfast cereal, with the oat industry bringing in £79 million per year.

Now Anthony Stone, of Stoats Porridge Bars is taking things a step further by turning porridge into the latest takeaway food.

Stone hit on his idea for a mobile porridge bar after he became fed up with the lack of healthy snacks available when he travelled around the country in his former job as hotel manager. Dull sandwiches and greasy burgers were always available, but not always appealing. For more details, visit www.stoatsporridgebars.co.uk.

Porridge is the new fast food [Scotsman.com]

We Make Money Not Art: Ben Pell’s Walldrobe Wearpaper is a series of thin leather panels that you hang on your wall as you would artwork. When you’re ready to get dressed, you take down your chosen pieces, affix a set of nickel-finished wire snaps to them, and you're dressed! The system can produce a blouse, a shirt, a skirt, and a pair of shorts. Holes are punched into the leather to make it lighter and more comfortable, except where opacity is necessary for privacy.

"I was interested in looking at ways in which digital fabrication technologies--like the laser cutter or the mill--could be used to flesh out ideas about surface, graphics, and ornament," says Pell.

Each Walldrobe kit comes with a CD-ROM containing AutoCAD files that direct your laser cutter to etch patterns for garments onto each of the 12 leather panels provided. Aside from the CD and deerskin leather panels, the kit includes snaps and a tool with which to punch holes in the leather.

The kits may be ordered from Pell through his company, PellOverton. A prototype of Walldrobe Wearpaper is also included in "Technology, Performance, Ornament," an exhibit on view at New York City’s Urban Center Gallery until September 20.

Walldrobe Wearpaper [We Make Money Not Art]

PSFK: Genuardi's.com launched their home-delivery service today in some of regions of Philadelphia. Customers get to specify how ripe they want their fruits and how thick they want their steaks. Customers get free delivery on their first order. -Via Philadelphia InquirerAcme started home-delivery last year. And now grocers like Genuardi's are offering such services.

The deliveries are done in a 2-4 hour timeframe. The minimum order is $50 at Genuardi's and the delivery charge is $9.95---so the home-delivery option is useful only for ordering huge bulk orders as they charge only $4.95 for orders over $150.

Will this be the future of grocery stores? This makes life a lot easier for customers who want to save time by ordering a months worth of groceries by a click-- and right to their doorstep. This model would work best in big cities and at universites where a large number of customers don't own cars. Maybe grocers should start thinking in this direction.

Home-Delivery Grocers [PSFK]

Entrepreneur: Betty Hung and Teresa Williams want their customers to throw their product away. To be more specific, the minds behind OneDerWear disposable underwear would just like customers to wear it and toss it.

The two friends came up with the idea while working in Comcast's marketing department. Hung, 33, and Williams, 35, frequently traded stories in the break room, and Hung managed to raise eyebrows when she mentioned she had to pick up some disposable underwear for her upcoming vacation abroad. "She said it was this product she used in Asia, and whenever [they] go on a trip, they take the product with them and just wear [their] underwear and throw it away. You don't have to re-pack it and bring it back," Williams says. "All of us were like, 'That is so weird.'"

But Williams became convinced of the product's convenience after she tried them out on a trip. The two began to talk about the potential of disposable, biodegradable cotton underwear and formed Break Room Concepts to bring the product to the U.S., using their marketing backgrounds and $20,000 from their parents for startup. After a trip to Taiwan to scout out a manufacturer, Hung and Williams came up with a few designs that would suit American tastes.

Top Drawers [Entrepreneur]

Ubercool: In case you haven’t noticed, water is everywhere, particularly the bottled kind. It’s such a hot commodity it has created a $46 billion market. In some countries, bottled water has even eclipsed beer consumption, and it could well overtake carbonated soft drinks as the world’s No.1 beverage.

A notable water of late is BORBA Skin Balance Water ($34 for a 12-bottle case), which comes in three formulas, each designed for different needs. The "Replenishing" pink flavor is formulated for dry skin and promises to reduce roughness and dryness by about half using "gelatin-complex aids."

Adult acne suffers should drink the lavender-colored "Clarifying" flavor to clear up imperfections. And there’s even a sea-foam green "Age Defying" formula said to reduce lines and wrinkles.

BORBA is the brainchild of marketing and skincare guru Scott Vincent Borba, who created the bargain-priced line of e.l.f. cosmetics — a favorite of beauty aficionados. BORBA deploys nano technology to produce tiny molecules packed with skin care ingredients. Once ingested it works at the epidermal level to help create clearer, healthier skin.

BORBA Skin Balance Water [Ubercool]

Tech Digest: In a move aimed at putting Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc. at the top of the growing mobile comic market, the company has announced plans to roughly triple the amount of comics made available for Japanese viewers. Mobile Manga has been around for about a year thanks to the development of technology to encode pictures for rapid transfer to the mobile phone screen. Customers currently have access to a selection of these comic books, pages of which are navigated around using the phone controls. It costs around £1.60 to buy around 5 new titles per month and Sony is set to expand the market by signing up a range of popular artists to exclusive contracts. Surely it is just a matter of time until this technology hits these shores as looking at graphic novels seems a more feasible use of mobile technology at its current stage, rather than lofty plans of streamed TV and so on. Anyone else thinking Mobile Marvel?

Mobile Manga [Tech Digest]

Cool Hunting: We got a sneak peek of the hot new Legacy kicks that will launch the footwear label, Run Athletics next month. Designed by Kevin Saer (Slanty Asian Eyed Rebel), the Legacy combines a vintage feel with modern materials. Subtle more high-end details include leather wrapping on the mid-sole and the rather unique suede front toe guard (click on the above images to zoom in). The colorways are mostly neutral, but each has a pop color on the tongue and heel.

One hunderd pairs of the first edition (the orange and brown colorway above) will be available initially only in the UK, Paris, Germany, and Amsterdam. Later installments will follow in about another month and eventually the complete line will be available in US independent boutique retailers.

Run Athletics Legacy [Cool Hunting]

U.S. Newswire: The sports medicine experts at ArmorSports believe there's plenty of truth to the old adage, "The best defense is a good offense." Their product, AirArmor is the first on the market designed for players to wear before they are injured to prevent damage to the knee and leg.

The FDA has classified AirArmor as a Class 1 medical device. A study published in the American Journal of Sports Medicine found that NCAA players who wore AirArmor saw a 95 percent decrease in the amount of knee and leg injuries occurring on the field.

AirArmor weighs only 22 ounces and is supported from the waist ensuring it is the least restrictive to the players' movement and agility while remaining securely in place with no migration. AirArmor was designed by an orthopedist with the most common knee injuries in mind: damage to the MCL and ACL.

New Product Prevents Football Injuries; AirArmor is First of its Kind Worn Before Knee Injuries Occur; Photo Available [U.S. Newswire]

The Epoch Times: As the heat of the summer season drags on, a jaunt into the cool mountain air is a welcome escape for summer vacationers. After the white blankets of snow melt from the slopes, the mountains reveal their green grass and colorful wildflowers. Fresh air, warm days and cool nights are a welcome change from the hubbub of sticky heat in a crowded metropolis.

Usually regarded as winter wonderlands, ski towns and resorts have capitalized on their pleasant summer weather to attract tourism by providing visitors a unique mix of nature’s beauty, diverse culture, adventure and value. They offer urbanites and wilderness novices a taste of the rugged mountains without sacrificing the comforts of modern restrooms and coffee bars.

There are many ski towns to choose from for a summer ski resort getaway, including mega resorts and quaint villages. Loyalists return year after year to the same place where they discovered welcoming charm and hospitality. Make your choice based on convenient geography and access to your preferred activities. As the end of summer nears, seize the opportunity to take a memorable trip into the mountains before they once again turn cold and frozen.

Ski Resorts: The Perfect Summer Getaway [The Epoch Times]

Entrepreneur: As an African-American, Dr. Rick Kittles wanted to know who his ancestors were and their countries of origin. So the geneticist decided to create a database of African lineages.

After working on this database for several years, Kittles, 38, who holds a Ph.D. in molecular biology, joined forces with businesswoman Gina Paige, 38, to start a company that allows African-Americans to confidentially obtain information about their genealogy.

By using DNA technology, the company aids individuals in determining maternal or paternal ancestry. Customers go online (www.africanancestry.com) to order a $349 kit, use swabs to collect their cheek cells and then send their samples to the company via Express Mail. After the DNA is extracted from the swabs and sequenced, Kittles matches the sequence to his database of more than 25,000 African lineages and 389 ethnic groups.

African Ancestry has more than 3,000 clients, including celebrities such as actor LeVar Burton, director Spike Lee and Congresswoman Diane Watson. The company earned $300,000 in 2004, and they expect to increase sales by 50 percent in 2005.

Back to the Root [Entrepreneur]

Iconoculture: Need another sign of kid-driven design? The Museum of Modern Art – a.k.a. design central – has created an in-house kids’ line of backpacks, lunch totes, and accessories called Modern Kids. The brightly colored goods are constructed of soft, textured materials and come with collectible cards, each profiling one of five “Modern Kids” who has a specific creative interest. Some items, like the backpack and sketchbook, include a display pocket: The budding Da Vinci can slip in a postcard showing MoMA art or fill the space with a personal creation. Oversize zippers sport loops big enough to take on multiple charms.

MoMA is the place to shop if your kid “prefers Picasso to SpongeBob,” and its growing sense of design may turn the playground into the Factory (NewYorkMetro.com 8.05). Museum stores now put stock in kid-friendly wares. Putting their style stamp on fine, kid-friendly design gives fashion-conscious parents a reason to buy.

CREATIVE PACKING [Iconoculture]

WSJ.com: assengers waiting to board a Virgin Atlantic Airways flight at London Heathrow airport may get an unexpected invitation on their cellphone these days.

Under a new advertising program, transmitters are beaming out text messages to the phones of people walking by to ask them if they would like to watch a video-clip ad on their phone's screen. The commercial, aimed at passengers in Virgin's first-class lounge, touts a new SUV, the Range Rover Sport.

Two London companies are behind the new ad approach -- Maiden Group PLC, which has handled billboard advertising for 80 years in the United Kingdom, and Filter UK Ltd., a small firm specializing in the transmitter technology.

Commercials by Cellphone [WSJ.com]

PressBox.co.uk: The O2 Detox treatment is a safe, straightforward process. It simply involves immersing one's feet into a footbowl filled with water.

Whilst immersing your feet in the water positive and negative ions are emitted by the machine which re-energise the body. This type of machine is described as a detox machine because the response of a rebalanced body is to excrete any excess toxins via the kidneys, liver, bowels and skin not only DURING but also AFTER treatment. Therefore you will experience the beneficial effects of a detox experience.

O2 Detox Foot Spas - new launch [PressBox.co.uk]

TrendBlog: The heat wave doesn’t seem to be breaking. But help is on the way. There is some really cool stuff out there. Here is our collection of cutting edge cooling devices, much hotter than air conditioner, ceiling fans, etc.

The Hyakko Ryou Ryou is a chilled bandana and wraps around your head like an ice bag. You will not only stay cool but also look like the coolest Karate Kid. The soothing coolness will last for about 30 to 60 minutes, than you have to wet it again.

Lifestyle: Stay Cool [TrendBlog]

BizReport.com: Monster.com may grow up to be a dinosaur. That was my first thought upon seeing a new breed of online job sites shaking up the recruitment industry.

Simply Hired and Indeed, upstarts less than a year old, are getting attention for their Google-like approach to helping people find jobs. They do for job listings what Google does for general information -- crawl or "scrape" listings from thousands of sites and create a free, searchable index in one spot.

The key difference between these sites and leading job boards Monster and CareerBuilder is that employers don't pay to be listed. Simply Hired and Indeed base their results on a crawling of the Web and mathematical formulas that attempt to judge the relevance of each job opening to a user's query, much as regular search results are presented on Google. As a result, Indeed and Simply Hired offer many more listings than Monster or CareerBuilder -- including some found at those sites, at specialty recruiting services and the sites of individual employers.

New Job-Hunting Sites Might Be Monster Killers [BizReport.com]

DailyCandy.com: Men love to think women are jealous of them.

Particularly when it comes to a certain appendage.

Yeah. Uh, huh. Whatever you say, boys.

In fact, the only occasion on which we experience such envy is when confronted with a nasty public restroom. And My SweetPee, a gizmo that allows you to “go” standing up, eliminates such unsanitary situations. Designed to avoid bum-to-seat contact, the flexible plastic doohickey is slightly cupped to create a bridge between you and whatever shameless excuse for a bathroom you encounter.

Facing toward or away from the toilet, simply point the wider end of the funnel to the bowl for a sit-free pee. There are both disposable and reusable varieties. Perfect for travel, they roll up so you can put them in your purse. The time’s not far off when women everywhere will have them.

Pee-ness Envy [DailyCandy.com]

Local6.com: A new company plans to unveil new high-tech tombstones with embedded flat screen monitors that would allow visitors to play memorial videos of the deceased, according to a report.

Joe Joachim, who says he wants to be the Walt Disney of the funeral business, plans to unveil the Vidstone this year at the annual funeral directors convention.

Joe Joachim, who says he wants to be the Walt Disney of the funeral business, plans to show the Vidstone this year at the annual funeral directors convention.

"What we're trying to do is create the ultimate funeral experience," Joachim said. "Funeral directors are realizing it's an important service we can offer, and and we're happy to offer it."

The solar-powered Vidstone will play a video of the person's life at the touch of a button.

It will not have speakers but a jack to plug in headphones at cemeteries.

Company Plans Video-Playing Tombstones [Local6.com]

The Post Online: One Ohio University senior is making efforts to promote the underground hip-hop community by forming a new company.

Titled Element 9, the company strives to perform many functions of a record label without tying its clients to strict contracts. Stu Pflaum, aka DJ Xplosive, officially began the company in mid-June, though it has been in planning stages for a long time.

Five artists currently work with Element 9, including Pflaum. Also in the mix are former OU students Detrick Rhodes (L.I.F.E.) and Jim Korte (KRES), DJ Kut Nyce and Almighty Texas Boiz. Korte also designed the company's Web site, http://www.element9hiphop.com.

Pflaum called Element 9 a "promotional outlet" and said the company's functions include helping artists secure royalties and publishing rights.

New business creates opportunities for hip-hop artists [The Post Online]

The Detroit News: Joel Fisher made selling toothpaste, antacids and toilet paper at discount prices popular when he started F&M Distributors with family members in the 1960s. Now he's tapping into another discount market with organic foods, natural products and alternative treatments.

Fisher opened Natural Food Patch, a 5,200-square-foot health food store on West Nine Mile in Ferndale, in 1999. With sales growing 20 percent annually, Fisher plans to open a second store in Macomb County within a year.

"This is the only industry with double-digit growth every year," said Fisher, 62. "No business that I've seen, after six years, shows that kind of increase." Organic products have gained widespread appeal as baby boomers get older and as Americans embrace healthier lifestyles.

Sales of organic foods and beverages -- which are produced naturally without pesticides, drugs and growth hormones -- surged to $15.4 billion last year, from $1 billion in 1990, according to market research firm Packaged Facts, a division of MarketResearch.com Inc. in New York.

Former F&M owner's new business grows [detnews.com]

Iconoculture: Reservations and convenience services widen the range of possibilities for those who use pedal power. Why fight the crowd at the bike rack? Clancy Systems International's Bicycle Parking Network allows bikers to use their cellphones to reserve and pay for bike storage. Users locate available lockers online and then use their cells to reserve space and retrieve access codes for drop-off and pickup. Customer accounts are linked to cell numbers, enabling automatic monthly billing. Lockers cost $2 per day, plus a 10% "convenience fee." The service is available in Denver, at UCLA, and at select stations of San Francisco’s BART and Los Angeles’ Metropolitan Transit Authority systems. As bicycling continues to roll as a viable commuting alternative, services and amenities that cater to bikers' special needs – like parking stations with showers and changing rooms and valet bike parking – are going to become more important. Bikers dial up for quick and easy ways to protect their bicycle investment.

Ring Up A Rack Spot [Iconoculture]

BizReport: When students in Leslie Chernila's English class at the Art Institute of Washington write an essay about the work of Garrison Keillor, she has them send it off to a critic halfway across the country before turning it in. The paper soon returns, complete with comments about structure and word choice.

The service, offered by District-based Smarthinking Inc., is part of a growing educational trend that has millions of students logging on to get assistance with reading, writing and arithmetic. Once a dot-com pipe dream, online education is now maturing into a viable market. More than 2.6 million students in the United States were expected to study online through courses and tutoring last fall, up from 1.9 million in 2003, according to the Sloan Consortium, an online research group.

Online Tutoring Part of Growing Trend [BizReport.com]

Entrepreneur: At a speed-dating event last summer, Melissa English walked away with more business contacts for her sister Sonia's web design company than she did phone numbers for herself. At the same time, Sonia attended a business-networking event hosted by the local chamber of commerce and walked away with nothing. Sensing a perfect match between speed dating and networking mixers, the two sisters launched 5 Minute Networking. Their events give individuals from all industries the chance to meet 20 different professionals, one-on-one, in five-minute increments.

Their idea was an immediate hit-- the first 50-person event, held in Newport Beach in September 2004, filled to capacity within eight days of being announced. The company went national four months later, holding 25 events in 13 cities across the U.S. Melissa and Sonia only host local events; outside event directors are hired for events in other cities. "The response we get from events is absolutely phenomenal," says Melissa, 27, adding that they expect sales to jump from $300,000 in 2005 to $2 million in 2006.

Meet Market [Entrepreneur]

CoolBusinessIdeas Newsletter Issue 22: 01/08/05 - 17/08/05

New Business Ideas/Opportunities Featured In This Issue:

TECHNOLOGY
Tech Pets
Gen-pets, by Canadian sculptor Adam Brandejs are mass produced bio-engineered life.

Jerk-O-Meter
Ever wonder if that spouse, friend or co-worker on the other end of the phone is really paying attention? The "Jerk-O-Meter" may hold the answer.

DESIGN
Cool Designs
The latest from New York label Yoko Devereaux's Blue Boy Etiquette line uses meta-design to critique the Targetization of our lives.

TRANSPORT
SMS A Texxi
Technology firm Crane Dragon has begun testing a new taxi service in Liverpool that encourages travellers to text a taxi request via their mobiles.

ENTERTAINMENT
Wireless Poker
A law signed last month by Gov. Kenny Guinn made Nevada the first U.S. state to approve the use of wireless, handheld gambling devices at its hotel-casinos!

FOOD & BEVERAGE
JellyBelly Wine Bar
In the quest to demystify wine, Wine X magazine has teamed up with Jelly Belly candies to create the Jelly Belly Wine Bar.

On The Go Coffee
A 0.25-ounce single serving of coffee concentrate in pressure-resistant packaging that, when mixed with hot water, provides gourmet coffee on the go.

Whole New Cereal
The Cereal Bowl is a new breed of café fusing an old time favorite, with a new and exciting twist. Guests will be able to make their own cereal creations or pick from one of many unique combinations.

LIFESTYLE
Trendy Life
Dubbed “Babydisco,” this trendy toddler hangout is bound to leave an impression on the fashionistas and taste-makers of tomorrow.

Treadmill Therapy
An LA psychiatrist and a DC therapist are trying to ease the formal doctor-patient relationship with... treadmills!

MOBILE
Mobile Boutiques
Xavel Inc. operates a cellphone shopping site, not a conventional outlet. It means the referred customer can be making the same purchase within minutes.

Egg Alert!
EggAlert will send a text message to your cell phone to let you know when it’s the best time of the cycle to conceive, or when to expect your menstrual period.

SERVICES
Fast Network
5 Minute Networking - give individuals from all industries the chance to meet 20 different professionals, one-on-one, in five-minute increments.

View this issue of the CoolBusinessIdeas Newsletter by clicking here. Subscribe for free by clicking here.

TheCerealBowl.com: The Cereal Bowl is a new breed of café fusing an old time favorite, with a new and exciting twist. Guests will be able to make their own cereal creations or pick from one of many unique combinations created by The Cereal Bowl Team. With over 35 cereals both hot and cold as well as 50 toppings the possibilities are endless. The experience does not end with the bowl. Cereal bars, oatmeal smoothies known as OatiesT, and cakes will take cereal to a whole new level. WIFI Internet, couches, televisions, newspapers, and periodicals will add to the ambiance of The Cereal BowlT.

Founded in 2004 by Kenneth Rader, Joshua Rader, and Michael Glassman,
the inspiration for The Cereal BowlT was a product of their college
days when they noticed that the average diet of a college student often times consisted of a bowl of cereal as a quick and appetizing
alternative. The Cereal BowlT expands on this enticing snack by
offering to South Florida a whole new way of partaking in one of
America's favorite eating pastimes.

The Cereal Bowl

USAToday.com: Ever wonder if that spouse, friend or co-worker on the other end of the phone is really paying attention? The "Jerk-O-Meter" may hold the answer.

Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology are developing software for cell phones that would analyze speech patterns and voice tones to rate people — on a scale of 0 to 100% — on how engaged they are in a conversation.

Anmol Madan, who led the project while he pursued a master's degree at MIT, sees the Jerk-O-Meter as a tool for improving relationships, not ending them. Or it might assist telephone sales and marketing efforts.

"Think of a situation where you could actually prevent an argument," he said. "Just having this device can make people more attentive because they know they're being monitored."

The program, which Madan said is nearing completion, uses mathematical algorithms to measure levels of stress and empathy in a person's voice. It also keeps track of how often someone is speaking.

Bored on the phone? Beware Jerk-O-Meter [USAToday.com]

TrendCentral: An LA psychiatrist and a DC therapist are trying to ease the formal doctor-patient relationship with... treadmills? With the knowledge that people are often uninhibited about their personal lives and thus very close with their personal trainers, Wayne Sandler (LA) and Jane Cibel (DC) are incorporating exercise into their sessions. Sandler has two treadmills in his office where he and some of his patients work out while he counsels them, and Cibel takes her patients through a full body workout that includes free weights and treadmills.

While we certainly aren’t knowledgeable enough in the field of psychiatry to know if these techniques are actually effective, studies have shown that exercise is an effective anti-depressant. Maybe in the future personal training will be a course requirement for aspiring shrinks.

Working Out Your Problems [TrendCentral]

TrendBlog: Realizing that Generation X has been busy (re)producing Generation Y and Z and beyond; the inventive European entrepreneurs behind d-i-r-t-y.com have come up with an idea that will no doubt make parents, children and young-at-heart designers happy.

Dubbed “Babydisco,” this trendy toddler hangout is bound to leave an impression on the fashionistas and taste-makers of tomorrow. The crew behind Babydisco describe it as “an initiation to different forms of contemporary culture (design, video, music)” as well as “an oneiric and playful introduction to club land. Children take possession of a reduced-scale entirely rebuilt club with strong design, where night-club clichés meet childlike universe in a soft jewel box. The discotheque becomes a free space, to which adults have no access, except for a minute glance through the door.”

Of course each one hour session is “by appointment only.”

Backed by French fashion store Colette, Babydisco has “get-em-while-they’re-young” executives rubbing their palms with glee.

Baby Disco [TrendBlog]

Entrepreneur: When Candy Palmer-Steele's goddaughter went away to music camp for the summer, she remarked how much she would miss the local coffee shops she frequented with her friends. That comment inspired Palmer-Steele to send her a care package--with a twist. Palmer-Steele bought 100 percent Arabica beans, filtered water through the grounds and squeezed out the concentrate a little at a time. Twelve hours and 16 ounces later, Palmer-Steele sent the concentrate to her goddaughter in a glass bottle, with directions to mix one table-spoon with hot water. "I mailed it off with my fingers crossed," Palmer-Steele says of the first incarnation of Javette.

Her goddaughter liked it--inspiring Palmer-Steele to turn her idea into a business. Wanting to perfect her product, she hired several consultants and manufacturers and spent $30,000 on R&D over four years. The end result: a 0.25-ounce single serving of coffee concentrate in pressure-resistant packaging that, when mixed with hot water, provides gourmet coffee on the go.

New Brew [Entrepreneur]

Cool Hunting: The latest from New York label Yoko Devereaux's Blue Boy Etiquette line uses meta-design to critique the Targetization of our lives. Subversive styles include "Wall Art" (pictured here), a black on white splattered H&Mass Market, and a repeating blue Kmart logo with beige paint drips that comment on the ways designers like Isaac Mizrahi, Todd Oldham, and Karl Lagerfeld's designs for mainstream stores blurs the lines between high fashion and mega-consumerism. The collection is a co-creation with Amsterdam-based artist Bobby Collins, continuing Yoko Devereaux's tradition of collaboration.

Designer Imposters [Cool Hunting]

BizReport.com: It won't be long before gamblers are shooting dice while queued up waiting to see their favorite comedian. Or playing poker and roulette under a poolside umbrella. Even a trip to the buffet will no longer keep casino patrons from playing slots. A law signed last month by Gov. Kenny Guinn made Nevada the first U.S. state to approve the use of wireless, handheld gambling devices at its hotel-casinos.

It's a small step forward for casino companies aching to offer Internet-based gambling who are watching offshore competitors reap huge profits from a business that federal law bars them from entering.

Joseph Asher, Managing Director of Cantor G&W holds an HP PDA with a roulette wheel program, one of many gambling programs available, Thursday, June 23, 2005 in New York City. Nevada has become the first state to approve the use of wireless, handheld gambling devices at its hotel-casinos.

Mobile Gambling Devices May Get to Casinos [BizReport.com]

NetImperative: Technology firm Crane Dragon has begun testing a new taxi service in Liverpool that encourages travellers to text a taxi request via their mobiles, and then share the journey with other passengers going to the same area.

The ‘Texxi’ service allows users to text their house address and postcode to the Texxi SMS number.

The system will then aggregate other passengers wanting to go to the same area and confirm details of the taxi driver’s name and badge number to the passengers.

Passengers will be directed to pre-determined ‘muster points’ to meet up with their driver who will have received a text confirming each passenger’s booking reference.

SMS-based taxi carpool service launches [NetImperative]

DailyCandy: When it comes to describing your ideal mate, you’re never at a loss for words. Finding a lifelong companion? That’s another story.

Which is the exact opposite of your relationship with wine. Finding a bottle you like? No prob. Describing it? Hmm, that’s what we thought.

Wine X magazine understands your dilemma — at least the liquid part. In the quest to demystify wine they’ve teamed up with Jelly Belly candies to create the Jelly Belly Wine Bar.

Here’s how it works: Choose one of the 30 or so grape varietals on the site and then order the kit with appropriately matched beans. Want to know more about Napa County zinfandels? That’ll be two raspberry, a blackberry, strawberry, cherry, pepper, vanilla, and chocolate Bellys. Malbecs got you curious? Pop blueberry, plum, raspberry, cherry, and pepper candies into your mouth.

Belly Up [DailyCandy]

we make money not art: Gen-pets, by Canadian sculptor Adam Brandejs, consists of 19 plastic packages hung by hooks within a mock store set-up displaying streamlined, mass produced bio-engineered life. Each package consists of 3 layers of vacuum formed plastic surrounding a foam latex animatron: strange animals, grown and altered, by bioengineering, but obviously mammalian.

They are twitching, shaking, clawing, moaing and head-butting their packaging with twist ties to keep them held in place. Feeding tubes supply the creatures with nourishment, as well as electricity for the glowing "fresh strips" and fully working heart monitors.

Brandejs wants to emphasize that these are not plastic toys, but mass produced, copyrighted life; modified for consumption; life wired, up to serve. The animals have been deemed worthless and marketed as midrange children's toys. They are tethered for practicality, not for security, and the cables that bind them demonstrate their relationship of utter dependency and submission immediately upon birth. They are sleeping in their packages and complacently awaiting to join their new home as one more possession, a consumable form of technology, the latest and greatest.

Gen-pets [we make money not art]