Engadget: One day in the future, we're sure that everyone will be strong, good-looking and above-average. But today, given that 16 percent of American children aged 12-19 are overweight according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there have to be ways to get kids into more healthful habits. As we all know, everyone's supposed to be exercising regularly in order to stay well and fit -- thankfully, kids have a new type of fitness center in Mountain View, California (home of Google!) which aims to appeal to the children of Silicon Valley reared on a steady diet of gadgets. Overtime Fitness, which opens tomorrow (and restricts membership to kids 13-18) includes a regular workout equipment area, a "study center" with PCs, Macs and free WiFi (for the Linux laptop-toting set?), a DDR-clone called "In The Groove 2" and the Cybex Trazer, a virtual reality-type game that maps physical movements to the on-screen action.
Overtime Fitness gym for teens includes video games [Engadget]
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UberPhones: Just in case the m300 looks familiar, your brain probably remembered Samsung's prototype cellphone watch instead which was never released commercially. The m300 GSM cellphone watch is the first one out in the market, with features that range from USB and Bluetooth connectivity to a 99 phone number book. Battery life is not too shabby with a 70 hour standby time. The m300 will be available worldwide in time for Christmas, so you can pre-order yours today.
m300 GSM cellphone watch [UberPhones]
Gizmodiva: It's Kitty's world, folks. We just live in it. Though for guarding purpose dogs are the best options over cats. The canines are alert and scary (at least when needed) as opposed to the felines who are sluggish and gullible all the time. But this USB Kitty begs to differ! It’s a watch-cat for your computer. When you’re working on PC, you need to leave your chair for answering nature’s call or whatever else. But at such times, children or spouses make the best of it and try to peek into what you have been unto. When you walk away from your computer and there somebody wants to touch your PC, it will meow, hiss and sing melodies in order to scare away the intruders.
USB Kitty, a watchcat for your Computer [Gizmodiva]
FutureWire: Bytes, a new cafe in the UK town of Canterbury (of Chaucer fame), is making a name for itself with its high-tech ordering system.
Aside from helping Bytes save money on wait staff and menu printing, the touchscreens allow the restaurant to build a database of customer preferences, and to change items and prices on the fly. The touchscreens also double as game consoles, keeping the kids occupied.
So far, patron response to the touchscreens is overwhelmingly positive, and the owner is already considering opening a second location. As long as customers respond just as enthusiastically to the food, Bytes appears to have a bright future.
Restaurant Touchscreen Ordering a Hit With Patrons [FutureWire]
The Cool Hunter: Who would have thought a dental clinic could be this cool? The 10,180-square-foot clinic (called KU64 after its Kurfürstendamm address) is located in Berlin and was designed by the hot firm, GRAFT, the same people that were behind Berlin's new super lifestyle Hotel "Q".
The incredible design makes you feel like you're in an A-list Hollywood members bar - certainly not the usual ambiance associated with utilitarian spaces like this one which houses eight dentists. The cocoon like spaces are filled with light, creating an elegant sense of flow and space. It makes even a session of root canal seem inviting.
KU64 - The world's coolest dental clinic [The Cool Hunter]
Post-Gazette.com: Maybe the writers finally ran out of ideas for the MasterCard "Priceless" ads. That's what it looked like earlier this year when they sat an actor down in a chair and had him type out empty spaces, inviting viewers to try filling in the blanks themselves.
Apparently, the ad copywriters were just up with the latest fashion.
This is the moment of in-your-hands consumer advertising -- the kind generated by the masses rather than for the masses. From Emerald Nuts' make-your-own contest to Mozilla FireFox's posting of consumer-produced spots at firefoxflicks.com, the creative directors seem to be handing over the work to us common folk.
There's marketing powerhouse Procter & Gamble, responsible for such memorable ad icons as Folger's Mrs. Olson and "99 and 44/100 % pure'' Ivory soap, offering a $1,000 prize to food-service professionals who can come up with the best pitch for the Dawn Grease Fighting Arsenal used in cafeterias and restaurant kitchens.
All these efforts to encourage consumer-generated marketing may look like a cheap trick to get free ideas, but advertising executives say there's more to it. What's actually happening is the industry is trying to plug into a very connected online audience that has little patience for traditional ads.
On Marketing: New approach to ads lets you do the work [Post-Gazette.com]
New Business Ideas/Opportunities Featured In This Issue:
SERVICES
Artistic Babysitters
Artist/sitters arrive (on time) toting toys and supplies, guaranteeing hours of creative play. The on-call babysitting service is staffed entirely by working actors, musicians and visual artists.
LIFESTYLE & LUXURY
One Stop Cut
Guise, located on Halsted in Lincoln Park, is the creation of Brad Habansky who was looking to create a one-stop shop where men felt comfortable; and that he did.
Ready Daddy
The bag has a nice, manly look, and includes all the pockets and flaps you'd expect from a good diaper bag, including a vinyl changing mat, a video that gives good step-by-step instructions on things such as bottles, diapering, car seats, and other baby skills.
RETAIL
Unmanned Stores
Calling Get & Go Express an “unmanned c-store” might be a bit misleading. It not only doesn’t have a staff, but the goods are all stocked in machines facing outward.
MOBILE
The Invisible Code
Fujitsu unveiled a new type of “invisible” barcode, called FP (Fine Picture) code, which allows data to be embedded directly into color print photographs.
Mobile Concert
Cingular is using innovative new technology that lets its customers dial a number that connects them to a live feed of the Stones rocking the Stade de France, in Paris.
FOOD AND BEVERAGE
Fruity Ice Cubes
Children can thus pour spring water over Ice Kids fruit ice cubes and enjoy the same tastes as their favorite juices without consuming extra sugar.
MARKETING
Virtual World Marketing
Menti can create objects within the game that detect the presence of another player’s avatar. The avatar is then invited to touch the object to take part in a GMI survey, with questions and answers delivered through the game’s chat interface.
BRANDING
Workspace Brands
Companies are increasingly coming to terms with the idea that the workspace, is an under-utilized brand asset.
ENTERTAINMENT
Game of Faith
Eternal Forces is based on the best-selling Left Behind book series about the apocalypse. But it's the apocalypse without dismemberment or graphic bloodshed, though the game has an element of violence that some Christians argue is counter to teachings of the Bible.
AGRICULTURAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL
Burning Garbage
A Florida county has grand plans to ditch its dump, generate electricity and help build roads -- all by vaporizing garbage at temperatures hotter than parts of the sun.
Green Pass
The Menlo Park (Calif.) company sells "green tags," which cost up to $80 a year and which are designed to offset the emissions a car spews into the air during that period.
View this issue of the CoolBusinessIdeas Newsletter by clicking here. Subscribe for free by clicking here.
Cool Hunting: Fruitree is a concept piece designed by Chia Shee Loh, Antonietta Fortunato and Elena Godenzi. They were motivated to solve the out of sight, out of mind problem with fruit that goes uneaten and spoils. The fact that fruit grows on trees does not go unnoticed in this design, where the results are both decorative and literal. Circulating air is pushed throughout the Fruitree, keeping the fruit fresh longer.
Fruitree [Cool Hunting]
Iconoculture: When the choice between babysitters is a 16-year-old with text-message OCD or the Next Big Thing on the New York art scene, parents are keeping Sitters in the City on speed dial. The on-call babysitting service is staffed entirely by working actors, musicians and visual artists. Artist/sitters arrive (on time) toting toys and supplies, guaranteeing hours of creative play. As one might expect, Sitters in the City conducts rigorous criminal and personal background checks on all would-be sitters.
There's an undeniable cool factor when kids can point to a movie poster and say, "Hey Mom, wasn't that my babysitter?"
Sitters in the City combine caretaking with creativity [Iconoculture]
Josh Spears: Would you believe me if I were to tell you there was a place where one could get a haircut, a shave, shop and enjoy a cocktail? Well for you Chicagoans, this might just be your lucky day. Guise, located on Halsted in Lincoln Park, is the creation of Brad Habansky who was looking to create a one-stop shop where men felt comfortable; and that he did. In the front of this swank establishment is numerous barber chairs each featuring their very own plasma television. The main draw for me is the comfort of being able to get a good haircut (*cough* and manicure) and not have to worry about looking to prissy in front of your female counterparts, but the shopping at Guise is not too shabby either.
Guise Chicago [Josh Spears]
KioskMarketplace: Calling Get & Go Express an “unmanned c-store” might be a bit misleading. It not only doesn’t have a staff, but the goods are all stocked in machines facing outward. What’s more, it doesn’t have tobacco, alcohol, gas or lotto tickets — c-store staples. And its profit margins are even more distinct from its traditional cousin.
Founder Jeff Parsons is building the chain on a simple idea. He realized removing the employees would widen margins to the point that it was feasible, even without the traditional high-margin items that require employees to verify age. And he’s augmenting his efforts with kiosk technology: deploying DVD rental kiosks and ATMs in the mix.
The employee-free c-store [KioskMarketplace]
Pink Tentacle: On September 13, Fujitsu unveiled a new type of “invisible” barcode, called FP (Fine Picture) code, which allows data to be embedded directly into color print photographs. FP code consists of a series of faint yellow lines — said to be invisible to the naked eye — which are overlaid on the photograph during the printing process. Once encoded, a photograph can retain its original quality while serving as an “object hyperlink” to websites that users can access via mobile phone.
To use FP code, users must first download special free software to their camera-equipped phone. Then, when the camera is used to take a picture of an encoded photograph, the code is sent to a server where it is converted into URL data, which is used to connect the user’s mobile phone to the corresponding website. Text, video and audio content can then be delivered directly to the user’s phone.
Fujitsu develops “invisible” barcode [Pink Tentacle]
Iconoculture: Ice Kids are secured ice cubes, colored with natural fruit extracts like blueberry, lemon and strawberry. According to the website, "Children can thus pour spring water over Ice Kids fruit ice cubes and enjoy the same tastes as their favorite juices without consuming extra sugar".
Secured ice cubes are made with purified water, guaranteed free of things that can ruin a tropical vacation (E. coli, hepatitis) or an expensive single-malt Scotch (minerals).
Some consumers might find the benefits of high-priced ice debatable at best. But the addition of natural fruit flavoring lends a healthy twist that may justify the cost for some parents.
Safer, fruitier ice cubes for kids [Iconoculture]
Research Magazine: At the end of a hard day’s graft, hundreds of thousands of people now choose to escape reality to spend time in Second Life – a 3D virtual world. However, one man has figured out a way to take his work with him.
Mario Menti, a solutions architect at MR software and services supplier GMI, is experimenting with ways of surveying the 282,000 active residents of this online world.
Menti – whose Second Life name is ‘Mario Sonic’ – can create objects within the game that detect the presence of another player’s avatar (or character). The avatar is then invited to touch the object to take part in a GMI survey, with questions and answers delivered through the game’s chat interface. Surveys trialled so far are “very simple”, said Menti, consisting mainly of yes/no and multiple-choice questions, however open-ended responses can also be collected. Menti believes more sophisticated implementations are possible though, including virtual product or concept testing.
GMI’s Menti builds surveys for Second Life [Research Magazine]
BusinessWeek: Are you going to miss the Rolling Stones playing Paris on July 28? Well, if you're a Cingular Wireless subscriber, you don't have to. Cingular is using innovative new technology that lets its customers dial a number that connects them to a live feed of the Stones rocking the Stade de France, in Paris. A buck ninety-nine gets you seven minutes of Jagger & Co. The clarity depends, in part, on the quality of your phone's speakers. But the call isn't to some Stones groupie holding up a phone from the bleachers. This connection goes straight to the band's mixing board. So, "the sound quality is superior," says Anthony Macaluso, founder of Single Touch Interactive, which developed the listen-live technology Cingular is using.
Here's how it works: Interested users register for the concert ahead of time by pressing pound (#) and 106, then hitting the send button as if they were making a call. Callers then confirm that they want the service. That's it. When the concert is about to begin, they get an automated call on their mobile phone letting them know the concert is starting. If you miss the call, you can dial pound 106 and tap right into the concert. You can also register on the Web at www.listenlivenow.com.
A Cingular Stones Concert [BusinessWeek]
dottocomu: TakaraTomy have come up with another great, wacky product in the Life Bank (Jinsei Ginkou), the riff on the coin bank that the 21st century has been waiting for. The Bank's screen shows you the life of a stick man who starts out as a poor pleb in a cupboard-sized apartment and develops into a rich bastard lounging under a chandelier on the 500 yen coins you feed him, all the while counting you down to your up-to-Y100,000 savings target. Then you open up the box and find he actually has spent all your money on 8-bit hos and lo-rez champagne.
TakaraTomy's fusion of Tamagotchi and coin bank [dottocomu]
Influx Insights: Companies are increasingly coming to terms with the idea that the workspace, is an under-utilized brand asset. There are a couple of interesting recent examples:
Marketing services companies are notoriously bad at marketing themselves and most of the big companies house their employees in cubicle ridden offices that look like insurance companies, but not the strangely named Fahrenheit 212 ( A unit of Saatchi), whose workspace has become the brand.
The Fahrenheit 212 logo and the bold signature palette of white, gray and an orange as bright as goldfish are ubiquitous in the 5,030-square-foot, eighth-floor offices, executed by David Howell, principal of David Howell Design.
Workspace as brand [Influx Insights]
Babygadget: As a young father, I hate the stereotype you often see on television and commercials of the bumbling dad. Does it take us a touch longer to pick up some skills when it comes to child-rearing? Sure, but that doesn't mean that we remain bumbling for the rest of our lives. I always enjoy when I come across products that are made for fathers, and also keep us better organized without making us feel like idiots. The Daddy's Tool Bag does all these things, and at $45 is also affordable.
The bag has a nice, manly look, and includes all the pockets and flaps you'd expect from a good diaper bag. The real value comes from the included vinyl changing mat, as well as a video that gives good step-by-step instructions on things such as bottles, diapering, car seats, and other baby skills.
The Daddy's Tool Bag keeps Dads organized and ready to go [Babygadget]
USATODAY: The streets of New York have never looked so barren.
An occasional taxi or bus motors down a boulevard as people wander aimlessly among eerily vacant buildings. Soon, black helicopters loom overhead and armed soldiers close ranks on the streets below.
This isn't your run-of-the-mill video game: Left Behind: Eternal Forces is based on the best-selling Left Behind book series about the apocalypse. But it's the apocalypse without dismemberment or graphic bloodshed, though the game has an element of violence that some Christians argue is counter to teachings of the Bible.
The game's creators say they hope to wriggle into the multibillion-dollar mainstream video game market by offering a real-time strategy option for serious gamers. Yet, they believe the faith-based theme is important, too.
Christian video game draws on popular book series [USATODAY]
Wired: A Florida county has grand plans to ditch its dump, generate electricity and help build roads -- all by vaporizing garbage at temperatures hotter than parts of the sun.
The $425 million facility expected to be built in St. Lucie County will use lightning-like plasma arcs to turn trash into gas and rock-like material. It will be the first such plant in the nation operating on such a massive scale and the largest in the world.
Supporters say the process is cleaner than traditional trash incineration, though skeptics question whether the technology can meet the lofty expectations.
The 100,000-square-foot plant, slated to be operational in two years, is expected to vaporize 3,000 tons of garbage a day. County officials estimate their entire landfill -- 4.3 million tons of trash collected since 1978 -- will be gone in 18 years.
No byproduct will go unused, according to Geoplasma, the Atlanta-based company building and paying for the plant.
Synthetic, combustible gas produced in the process will be used to run turbines to create electricity -- about 120 megawatts a day -- that will be sold back to the grid. The facility will operate on about a third of the power it generates, free from outside electricity.
County to Vaporize Trash - Poof! [Wired]
BusinessWeek: Martin Hughes is not your typical hybrid-driving, clean-energy fanatic. Hughes and his wife, both longtime oil-industry veterans, zoom around Houston in no-compromise vehicles. His, a Nissan Xterra SUV. Hers, a zippy Volkswagen Passat.
Yet when Hughes heard last year about an environmental startup called TerraPass Inc., he was intrigued. The Menlo Park (Calif.) company sells "green tags," which cost up to $80 a year and which are designed to offset the emissions a car spews into the air during that period. After taking a small cut of each sale, TerraPass pools its members' fees and invests them in clean energy production, including wind power. Hughes checked out the service online last August and then forked over $129 for two TerraPass windshield decals. "I was impressed," he says. "It's a for-profit product that allows you to exercise your conscience."
TerraPass is channeling the good intentions of individual consumers concerned about carbon emissions, which are linked with global warming. U.S. companies are also adopting the certificates, in part because they wish to cater to this growing, green constituency. But the tags, which are now America's fastest-growing alternative-energy product, aren't simply a marketing vehicle. U.S. businesses have watched Europe and Japan adopt tough regulations on carbon emissions and say the tags could help them prepare for similar developments in the U.S.
It's A Little Easier Being Green [BusinessWeek]
New Business Ideas/Opportunities Featured In This Issue:
LIFESTYLE & LUXURY
SkyVentureArizona
Catering to those thrill seekers with an aversion to heights, airplanes, or both, SkyVenture boasts a true skydiving experience – without going outside.
Chumby
If Chumby, maker of this rugby ball-sized computer by the same name, has its way, then it will replace all of our bedside digital clocks with a stripped-down computer stuffed in a cuddly exterior case.
TECHNOLOGY
Fuel Cell Toys
Horizon Fuel Cell Technologies' fuel cell toys are small-scale vehicles powered by the energy source of the future.
SPORTS & GAMES
Bodypad Fighting
The Bodypad fighting simulator turns Xboxers' and PlayStation playas' bodies into gaming pads. Gamers with get-up-and-go don the goofy apparatus, then flail their way to gaming glory.
GADGETS
iPod Stories
PlayAway Books are like little iPods that contain books such as John Grisham’s “The Broker” and Dan Brown’s “The Da Vinci Code”.
FASHION
Own Purse Design
Be a designer for a day and create a unique handbag, tote or diaper bag just for you! B’s is a Sassy & Chic Purse Boutique offering super-stylish and trendy custom purses and accessories for women.
Best Fit Jeans
In an effort to aid consumers, websites have been created to analyze personal fit information to identify the “best fitting” brand and item for their particular body shape.
AGRICULTURE & ENVIRONMENTAL
Windsave Saves You Money
Sensing a real opportunity, British/Scottish Windsave launched the Windsave 1000 system, which is able to produce energy enough to run a TV, DVD player, computer, fridge/freezer and several lights.
DESIGN
Chocolate Rooms
The deliciously interactive rooms have graced some of England's most elaborate society parties, but Staite's Food Is Art catalog also includes one-offs like plates, tea cups, shot glasses and jewelry.
Tattooed Handphones
With its popularity, the RAZR has become available in all sorts of different colors, even pink. But now, Motorola wants you to be able to customize you super sleek phone even more.
Upgraded Office Wares
Minneapolis-based russell+hazel, founded by a former architect, is a range of aesthetically pleasing office supplies that combine a designed look with durable quality.
View this issue of the CoolBusinessIdeas Newsletter by clicking here. Subscribe for free by clicking here.
Iconoculture: At last – energy independence for toys. Horizon Fuel Cell Technologies' fuel cell toys are small-scale vehicles powered by the energy source of the future. Its H-racer miniature fuel cell car features an onboard hydrogen fuel cell system. Fill 'er up at the miniature hydrogen refueling station.
Sure it's educational – but more important, it's cool! Toys that offer a taste of tech to come appeal to kids and tech-loving grownups (or their "children within").
With all the press that fuel cell tech has gotten, curiosity over hydrogen-powered engines is high. Toys with the tech offer an affordable way to check it out.
Horizon's fuel cell toys [Iconoculture]
Iconoculture: The Bodypad fighting simulator turns Xboxers' and PlayStation playas' bodies into gaming pads. Gamers with get-up-and-go don the goofy apparatus, then flail their way to gaming glory. Bodypad's system of straps wraps around gamers' fists, elbows and knees. Instead of mashing buttons, players then kick, punch and choke at nothing in efforts to defeat their virtual opponents. The 'pad doesn't require special software and works with many existing games, including dance and sports games.
Bodypad fighting simulators add physical kick to videogames [Iconoculture]
Gush magazine: PlayAway Books are like little iPods that contain books such as John Grisham’s “The Broker” and Dan Brown’s “The Da Vinci Code”.
They come with ear buds and a lanyard to wear around your neck so people can still see what you’re reading or in this case listening to. I’m still a fan of regular books, but these would be good for traveling.
PlayAway Audio Books [Gush magazine]
TrendCentral: Catering to those thrill seekers with an aversion to heights, airplanes, or both, SkyVenture boasts a true skydiving experience – without going outside. Resembling a space station smack in the middle of a desert landscape, the Arizona location features a vertical wind tunnel 14 feet in diameter and 15 feet long, with wind speeds of 150 mph to simulate a free falling experience. No prior skydiving is necessary, and potential “jumpers” need only a 20 minute training to participate. For interested flyers not located in the Eloy area, SkyVenture has facilities all over the country and around the world, so now there’s no excuse not to jump.
SkyVentureArizona [TrendCentral]
Iconoculture: The deliciously interactive rooms have graced some of England's most elaborate society parties, but Staite's Food Is Art catalog also includes one-offs like plates, tea cups, shot glasses and jewelry.
Playful, whimsical and delicious? Art has never been more enticing. Consumers gravitate toward experiences that challenge and stimulate all their senses.
Food Is Art claims to provoke deep thoughts about our relationship with food, but let's face it – chocolate rooms are more about indulgence, which doesn't come cheaply in this case.
Food Is Art creates edible chocolate "rooms" for ultra-indulgent party hosts [Iconoculture]
I4U News: When you talk about mid- and high-end mobile phones these days, it's tough not to mention the RAZR name, the line of products that made Motorola's mark on the map so explosive. With its popularity, the RAZR has become available in all sorts of different colors, even pink. But now, Motorola wants you to be able to customize you super sleek phone even more.
Motorola has teamed up with tattoo artist extraordinaire, Ami James, to create new versions of the RAZR that will have laser-etched images from James embedded onto the outside casing of the phone.
RAZRs To Get Tattooed [I4U News]
TrendHunter: Be a designer for a day and create a unique handbag, tote or diaper bag just for you! B’s is a Sassy & Chic Purse Boutique offering super-stylish and trendy custom purses and accessories for women.
B’s has been featured in Us Weekly, In Touch and other magazines. Here’s your chance to have your very own B’s Purse and walk in style this season!
Design Your Own Purse Online - B's Purses [TrendHunter]
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