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 […]
Unmanned Store
The Invisible Code
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 […]
Fruity Ice Cubes
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 […]
Virtual World Marketing
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 […]
Mobile Concert
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 […]
Life Bank
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 […]
Workspace Brands
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 […]
Ready Daddy
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 […]
Game of Faith
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 […]
Burning Garbage
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 […]