We've seen a few examples of children's books that can be personalized with photos of the child who will be reading them, but it wasn't until recently that we learned of one that can be customized to feature a favourite toy instead. Sure enough, French publisher Typlume & Graphine offers a series of books called La Vie de Mon Doudou in which a treasured toy or security blanket is cast as the hero.

Parents or other gift-givers simply upload three photos of their child's security blanket or favourite toy: one head-on, one profile shot and one alternative view. From there, the company stages the "doudou" in various adventures and situations, such as sitting on the back of a cow or riding the Paris metro. Seven story themes are available, including "The day of my security blanket" and "My security blanket protects the planet." Each spiral-bound, hardcover book costs EUR 29.90 and is printed sustainably in France. Typlume & Graphine currently ships to France, Corsica, Belgium and Luxembourg. (Related: Gravanity books for kids — Narrate-your-own storybook videos — Personalized e-stories for kids on Kindle and iPhone.)

Website: www.laviedemondoudou.com
Contact: contact@laviedemondoudou.com

Spotted by: Fadila Merizak

While tech fiends are anxiously awaiting web tablets made by Apple and TechCrunch, a recently-launched French touchpad device could become the darling of culinary geeks. Made specifically for kitchen use, QOOQ is a touchscreen tablet that aims to coach and assist both beginning and experienced cooks.

For EUR 349, the device comes loaded with 500 interactive recipes and 10 instructional videos. Customers can add their own recipes and—for a monthly fee of EUR 12.95—get access to a further 2,000 recipes and 500 video, with 50 new recipes added every month. Membership also includes unlimited access to a culinary guide that covers everything from wine pairing to chopping techniques. Spillproof and wifi-enabled, QOOQ was developed entirely to be used in the kitchen. Placed flat on a countertop, it rests on 'claws' that keep it safely elevated from crumbs and damp prep areas. It can also stand upright, for easier reading and for use as a digital picture frame (the device is multi-purpose: it also includes a radio and a weather station).

QOOQ's founders hope to encourage people to rediscover the pleasure of cooking, while making their lives simpler with features like intuitive menu planning tools and automated grocery lists. QOOQ's interface and recipes are currently only available in French—for anyone in food publishing in other parts of the world, this could be a natural fit.

Website: www.qooq.com
Contact: contact@unowhy.com

Spotted by: Thibaut Bayart

It's been more than a year since we featured the toy rental service from Texas-based Babyplays, so we were pleased to see that a similar concept has now been launched in Europe. French Dim Dom offers a very similar service, with toy rental options aimed at kids up to 5.

Dim Dom offers toys for rent on either a short-term or a subscription basis. Grandparents expecting kids for a holiday visit, for example, are among the intended customers of the short-term plans, as are families hoping to arrange an assortment of toys for the duration of a family vacation. Prices on Dim Dom's short-term packages begin at EUR 49.95 for a selection of five toys for up to a month; all shipping costs are included, and return shipping labels are provided. The company's subscription services, meanwhile, follow a Netflix-like model that begins at EUR 19.95 per month for four toys at once. Toys can be kept as long as 12 months, but they can also be sent back and exchanged for free when children get tired of them. All of Dim Dom's toys are purchased new from official suppliers, the company says, and are thoroughly cleaned and disinfected between uses. When they reach the end of their useful lives, they are donated to charities and families in need.

Dim Dom currently delivers only within France, but it's already working on solutions for ownership-shy transumers in neighbouring countries.

Website: www.dimdom.fr
Contact: www.dimdom.fr/support-client/contactez-nous.html

Spotted by: Fadila Merizak

Air quality is a matter of urgent concern to residents of most large cities, and Paris is no exception. There are currently only 10 public sensors monitoring that important variable in the City of Lights, however, so a new initiative now aims to equip everyday citizens with a special device that can measure and report air-quality data regularly for collective use.

The Green Watch, or Montre Verte, is a specially equipped device worn on the wrist that includes not just a time piece but also a GPS chip, a Bluetooth chip, and ozone and noise sensors. At scheduled times—or on request of the wearer—the watch measures and saves air-quality and noise data, describing them in qualitative terms such as "good" or "bad." Those values are then returned to the user via the screen of his or her mobile phone in the image of an eye, where the colour of the eye's pupil indicates air quality while that of the iris represents noise. Finally, via the mobile phone, the watch sends the data to an open platform called Citypulse, either in real time via the mobile carrier or by synchronization when the user hooks the watch up to his or her computer. All measures are time-stamped, geolocated and saved; from there, they become available to anyone who wants to use them—and who has committed to an ethical charter. Potential uses include public matters such as mapping and citizen warnings, as well as business applications, such as services for people who suffer from asthma.

The Green Watch program is part of the Cities 2.0 program developed by FING, or the Fondation Internet Nouvelle Génération, as a way to increase the number of environmental sensors in Paris while also motivating citizens to take steps toward sustainability. Data from beta tests performed in May, with sponsorship from the Région Île-de-France and the Futur en Seine event, are currently available on the project's website. One to emulate—or sponsor—in a less-than-entirely-sustainable city near you...?

Website: www.lamontreverte.org
Contact: lamontreverte@fing.org

Spotted by: PICNIC Amsterdam (The Green Watch will be demo'd at next week's PICNIC conference: 23 — 25 September.)

Regular Springwise readers may remember Vélib‘, the citywide bike-sharing scheme in Paris that we covered back in 2007. Buoyed by the success of that effort, the city is now apparently planning another ambitious initiative—this time involving electric cars.

Paris actually already has a car-sharing scheme in place with some 5,000 members, but it's privately run and uses traditional cars. Autolib', on the other hand—from automobile + liberté—is a large-scale, city-backed effort that will provide only clean, electric vehicles. Planned for launch late next year or in early 2011, Autolib' will place some 4,000 electric cars at 1,400 self-service rental and recharging stations in and around Paris for short-term, temporary use. The USD 14 million initiative will likely be operated as a public-private partnership, according to a BusinessWeek report, with oversight by an intergovernmental council. Drivers will not need to make reservations to use a car through Autolib'. Rather, two- and four-seat cars will be available for rent at stands by simply swiping a card in a reader; users will then be able to return the cars at any stand that's convenient. Prices haven't yet been decided, but they'll likely be in the vicinity of USD 6 to USD 9 per half-hour, with monthly subscription fees of USD 22 to USD 29, BW reported.

French environmentalists are apparently protesting Autolib's potential to encourage driving and worsen urban congestion. Advocates, on the other hand, say it could reduce carbon emissions by 22,000 tons a year while improving congestion, since fewer Parisians will feel the need to own a car. Either way, there's no doubt the city-backed approach will give the effort a prominence that would be difficult to achieve otherwise, and its similarity to Vélib‘ could make gaining acceptance considerably easier. One to watch! (Related: Parking operator launches car-sharing service — Hertz launches global car-sharing service.)

Website: www.paris.fr
Contact: service.presse@paris.fr

Spotted by: Rick Elders

From the Lacoste crocodile to Charlie the Tuna, countless brands around the globe use animals and plants to personify and represent them. After years of profiting from those species' images, such companies and organizations can now help preserve and protect them through a new French effort called Save Your Logo.

Nearly one-quarter of the world's mammal species are threatened or extinct, as are roughly one-third of its amphibians and one in seven of its birds, according to the International Union for Nature Conservation (IUCN) Red List of 2008. Launched last fall, the Save Your Logo program lets companies and organizations that use the images of such species donate to the Endowment Fund for Biodiversity to help protect them. Each organization can donate up to EUR 1.5 million over three years to the fund, which is held by the World Bank, according to French press agency AFP; the World Bank will reportedly add up to 33 percent. Also behind the effort are the Global Environmental Facility (GEF) and the IUCN. Companies without plants or animals in their logos can participate as well by supporting 'unclaimed' species, Save Your Logo says. Either way, funds received from the private sector are distributed to organizations that specialize in biodiversity and local conservation projects, with part used to finance the creation of an Emergency Fund for the conservation of lesser-known species on the IUCN Red List. Organizations that participate can enjoy a tax cut of up to 60 percent of their donation, limited to 0.5 percent of turnover, according to the Save Your Logo site.

Tax benefits aside, of course, the effort will not only help endangered plants and animals, but also promises to add that much-sought-after sparkle of genuine corporate generosity to the images of those who participate. Lacoste and French insurer MAAF—which uses a dolphin in its logo—have already jumped on board. Jaguar, Puma, Peugot, Geico, Exxon, Taco Bell and countless others... what about you?

Website: www.saveyourlogo.org
Contact: www.saveyourlogo.org/en/contact

Spotted by: David Licona

Earlier this year we wrote about Sears' MyGofer experiment blending online shopping with curbside pickup, and recently one of our spotters alerted us to a like-minded effort that's already well underway across the ocean. At French hypermarket chain E.Leclerc, customers can order online and have their purchases loaded into their car two hours later at no extra charge.

Leclerc's initiative began in late 2007, when it opened its first Express Drive in Roques sur Garonne near Toulouse. With a selection of nearly 3,000 available products, customers then could place their orders online—or via touch terminals in the local Leclerc store or parking lot—and then go to a curbside pickup area to have it loaded into their trunk. Today, many more products are available through the service—including groceries, fresh produce and frozen goods—for curbside loading at more than 20 Leclerc stores. The prices of all products ordered via Express Drive are the same as those in-store; customers simply arrive at their local store two hours after they place and pay for their order online, and it will be loaded into their trunk free of charge. A standard shopping list can even be saved online to speed ordering on subsequent visits.

After years of separation of online and off, it's a sign of maturation that retail is beginning to blur those lines, blending the best of both worlds. The same is happening in consumers' own lives too, of course, so they increasingly expect it everywhere. Any company hoping to win their business had better deliver! ;-)

Website: www.expressdrive.fr
Contact: www.e-leclerc.com/c2k/portail/conso/plus_services/service_conso/plus_services_contact.asp

Spotted by: Florent Lesauvage

Pop-up hotel rooms and luxury camping are both concepts we've written about on numerous occasions, but it wasn't until recently that we had seen a variation on the theme designed specifically for stargazing. Sure enough, French tourism company Bocages has created a pop-up cabin for four that features a transparent dome in the roof, a telescope and a sky observation kit.

Carré d'étoiles are portable and reversible cube-shaped structures crafted with recyclable wood. Included in each parquet-floored cabin are a double cabin bed, a sofa bed for two, a kitchenette with refrigerator and hot plates, shower, toilet, wardrobe, electric heating, a bio-ethanol fireplace and cast-iron garden furniture for outside. In addition to modern conveniences like flat-screen TV and connections for MP3, phone and internet, Carré d'étoiles cabins also come equipped with bedding and towels, and extra services such as cleaning and breakfast can be added. Black-out blinds, meanwhile, facilitate use of the telescope and stargazing kit.

Just launched this year, Carré d'étoiles have now been installed in several holiday spots in France. Pricing is EUR 25,000 per unit, according to a report on Forum Eco; structures are delivered fully equipped and ready to use, with an ROI ranging from at least 10 percent in the first year of operation to 30 percent or more in following years, Bocages says. One to set up under the starry skies in your neck of the woods...? (Related: Elqui Domos geodesic astro lodges — Farm camping in cottage-style tents.)

Website: www.carre-detoiles.com
Contact: info@carre-etoiles.com

Spotted by: Patrick Moizo

Europcar is teaming up with Nissan to offer electric vehicles for hire. Low emission rental vehicles are nothing new for Europcar (or many other rental agencies, for that matter); models such as the Toyota Prius have been part of its 225,000 strong fleet for years. However, it seems to be the first time that a rental company and car manufacturer are jointly offering a design that’s not just low emission, but no emission.

After introducing electric versions of existing models, Nissan plans to develop entirely new models that will be made available through Europcar. The company hopes to offer a wide range of zero-emission vehicles at all the usual rental locations like airports, train stations and local kiosks by the end of 2010. Besides helping Europcar stand apart from other rental companies and providing Nissan with a guaranteed market for a large number of electric vehicles, the alliance will give consumers the opportunity to try out an unfamiliar product in a real-world setting. (Related: Europcar lists CO2 emissions on customer invoices.)

Website: www.europcar.com
Contact: www.europcar.com/EBE/module/render/Contact-Us

Spotted by: Raymond Kollau

Showing customers the environmental impact of driving, French car rental company Europcar now lists CO2 emissions for its rental cars. The information can be found both on the company’s website, and on customer invoices, allowing conscientious drivers to take emissions into account when choosing a rental car, as well as reminding them after the fact. Customers are also offered the chance to offset their emissions via a collaboration with Climate Care. Instead of planting trees, Climate Care assists with the development of renewable fuel sources and more efficient systems—arguably a more effective way of tackling carbon emissions than planting trees.

Europcar’s CO2 information is currently available to customers in Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Spain, the United Kingdom and New Zealand, with Australia to follow soon. An easy improvement would be to add a quick guide to help users put those emission numbers into context. As consumers become more aware of their impact on the environment, they’ll increasingly demand information that will help them make better choices. More on that from our sister-site trendwatching.com—check out their thoughts on eco intel.

Website: www.europcar.com/CO2-Emissions
Contact: www.europcar.com/EBE/module/render/Contact-Us

Spotted by: Raymond Kollau

Consumers suffering from an excess of online oxygen and a shortage of the old-fashioned kind have long been able to rediscover life's natural rhythms in a farm camping vacation. A network of working farms in the UK and beyond offers a decidedly compelling twist on the classic notion.

Feather Down Farms are small-scale, working farms that offer cottage-style tents with "traditional interiors" including feather beds, wood-burning stoves and flushing toilets. A far cry from a rustic tent, the spacious accommodations feature master and bunk bedrooms along with an extra canopy bed—sleeping up to 6 in all. There is no electricity in Feather Down tents, but oil lamps and candles are provided for lighting and hot showers are available nearby. Children can get cosy with the barnyard creatures, and a farm store provides locally grown produce and necessities. Guests can also gather fresh eggs in the farm's henhouse each morning—or, at some UK farms, a private chicken coop is even available for rent, as are recipes, ingredients and implements for select farm-style meals. UK rental prices begin at GBP 195 for a 3-night midweek stay, including firewood or coal for the stove; a private chicken coop starts at GBP 10 for a midweek stay. Bicycle rentals are also available.

Targeting double-income families with kids, Feather Down Farms just recently expanded into the Netherlands, France and the US, with additional nations in its plans for the upcoming future. Farmers and agricultural entrepreneurs around the globe: one to get in on now? (Related: Nostalgia for hire — Try-before-you-buy urban chicken farming — Boutique camping.)

Website: www.featherdownfarm.co.uk — www.featherdown.com — www.unlitaupre.com — www.boerenbed.com
Contact: info@featherdown.co.uk — info@featherdown.com

Spotted by: James Cohen

Bees seem to be capturing an increasing proportion of the virtual ink on our pages of late, playing center stage as they have in our recent stories about urban beekeeping at Fortnum & Mason's and Toronto's Fairmont Royal York hotel. Adding to the buzz—so to speak—we just came across yet another bee-focused hotel.

In honour of Earth Day a few weeks ago, Paris-based Pullman Hotels & Resorts partnered with Bee My Friend to sponsor a beehive on behalf of each of its French hotels. The "Pullman Is Bee Friendly" campaign, as it's called, aims to help maintain honeybee populations and protect biodiversity in general. It's also created some sweet new opportunities for guests. Specifically, customers at each hotel now have the chance to sample three different honey varieties from Burgundy produced by the sponsored bees: a delicately flavoured acacia honey, a spring flowers honey and an all flowers honey from Morvan, the taste of which is said to reflect the sunny conditions and acidic soil of that region.

Offering eco-credentials along with (still) made here appeal, Pullman's Bee Friendly campaign is sure to win over many a green-minded (and sweet-toothed) consumer. One to emulate locally in your own specialty shop, restaurant or hotel...? (Related: Honey without the mess — Sweet snobmoddity.)

Website: www.pullmanhotels.com
Contact: www.pullmanhotels.com/gb/contact/ask-question-form.shtml

Regular Springwise readers may remember Swiss Netgranny and Danish Mormor.nu, both of which sell knit goods handmade by real-life grandmothers. Now a similar contender has emerged in France that throws some design-your-own flexibility into the mix.

Golden Hook is a company that lets customers design their own hat and then choose the grandmother they'd like to knit it. Users begin by selecting the shape of hat they'd like—classic, long or Peruvian, with pompom or without. They can then begin either with a blank hat or one of the site's existing designs and customize it, knit row by row, by clicking on a region of the hat and then clicking on the colour they'd like that stripe to be. On Peruvian styles they can even choose the hue of the strings by the ears, and for those with simple tastes a "Colour Up" option is available to make the entire hat a single shade. Customers then select their hat size and proceed on to view Golden Hook's gallery of grandmas, which gives photos and short bios ("married since kindergarten, a former dairywoman, she’s an absolute fan of the Wheel of Fortune," for example) for each knitter in the company's employ. After choosing the one they'd like to knit their hat, customers can send her a message and can even request that she sign her name on the hat's label. Pricing begins at EUR 42.

In this era of anonymous, distant mass production, there's nothing like knowing (and being able to share) the product life story of a locally handmade good (one that's (still) made here, as our sister site would say) to make a consumer value it more—and be willing to shell out more to get it. Plenty more opportunities where this one came from, too. Get those knitting needles started! ;-) (Related: Full provenance sweaters.)

Website: www.goldenhook.fr
Contact: www.goldenhook.fr/en/contact

Spotted by: Marc Raynaud

Connecting air travellers has been an ongoing theme over the past two years or so, as KLM and others have set up social networks to help fellow flyers hook up. While KLM's first effort focused on frequent flyers in China and Africa, however, a new network from Air France-KLM aims to connect travellers anywhere in the world.

Bluenity allows members to meet other people travelling on Air France or KLM online, at the airport, aboard the plane or at their destination. Members can use the site to offer tips and make comments on a variety of travel-related topics, or they can search for fellow passengers on a particular trip and arrange to meet them, exchange destination information or share a taxi on arrival. Membership on the site is free.

Despite its claim that it is the first social network for travellers launched by an airline, Bluenity is reminiscent of British Airways' MetroTwin and GenFlyLounge, launched recently by Lufthansa. And with more general sites like Dopplr already out there as well, connecting passengers across airlines, it's also not clear whether a single-airline network will "fly," so to speak. Only time will tell—in the meantime, one to watch! (Related: Enhanced networking for business travellers — Sympvertising and secrets for business travellers.)

Website: www.bluenity.fr

Spotted by: Marie Sedefian

Back in Springwise's early days, one of the first stories we covered was the car-sharing service from Zipcar. Fast forward almost six years, and the same topic has emerges again, this time from rental giant Hertz.

Launched late last month, Connect by Hertz now offers car sharing in London, Paris and New York City. In New York, for example, members of the service can choose from among three plans, depending on how often they drive. All three give consumers 180 free miles per day and free gas; costs range from USD 50 per year with a rate of USD 10 per hour, to USD 125 per month with an hourly rate of USD 8.50. Insurance, roadside assistance, maintenance and cleaning are all among the benefits included. Similar plans are available in London—priced at GBP 50 per year with hourly rates starting at GBP 3.95, including congestion charges and 30 free miles per day—and Paris, where the annual fee is EUR 120, with hourly rates beginning at EUR 4. Three low-emissions cars featuring iPod connectivity are available in each location—including the Mini Cooper—and are kept in designated parking bays. Members can reserve them by internet or phone, and entry is via a smart chip-enabled Connect Card. More cities will be added to Connect by Hertz in 2009—as well as select university locations, the New Jersey-based company says—and members will benefit from reciprocal membership at any location beginning early next year.

Given that each car-sharing vehicle in New York eliminates up to 14 traditional passenger cars from the road, according to Hertz—with similar statistics in other locations—the environmental benefits of car sharing are clear. Now, with the economy a shambles and the U.S. auto industry in ruins, it's a better bet than ever that more and more consumers will be eager to throw off the shackles of car ownership and become transumers instead. One to emulate in cities around the globe! (Related: Zipcar uses mobile GPS to pinpoint nearest car — Parking & zipping — Making sharing even better.)

Website: www.connectbyhertz.com
Contact: www.connectbyhertz.com/contact.aspx

Spotted by: RK

When we covered La Petite Reine this past spring, it had already expanded beyond Paris to offer business deliveries by cargo bike in Bordeaux, Rouen and Dijon. Recently we learned that the company is in the process of expanding once again, this time beyond French borders.

To recap our earlier story, La Petite Reine's Cargocycles are available for hire to make small and medium-sized urban deliveries. With a cargo space of 1,400 liters, each 80-kg Cargocycle can transport about 180 kg of merchandise over distances of up to 30 km. Advantages of the man-powered vehicles are that they are faster than trucks in urban congestion, highly maneuverable, less expensive to operate and completely nonpolluting. Now, after receiving numerous international inquiries over the years since its founding in 2001, La Petite Reine just recently extended into Switzerland with a franchise in Geneva. Early next year, it plans to begin operations in London. Through a collaboration with Office Depot, the bikes will undergo a trial in Camden by which they are used to deliver stock from a central depot to nearby clients, according to a report in the Evening Standard.

There are few things more gratifying to us here at Springwise than seeing a good idea spread, and La Petite Reine continues to seek additional franchise partners. How about bringing a fleet of cargo bikes to the congested urban roads near you....?

Website: www.lapetitereine.com
Contact: contact@lapetitereine.com

Crowd clout has already wreaked havoc on industries far and wide, and now it appears the home furnishings industry could be among the next to get transformed. French site Myfab.com lets consumers collectively tell manufacturers which furniture items they want produced and then purchase them direct at near-factory prices.

Each week Paris-based Myfab posts a catalogue of items that are available for voting, inviting members of the site to indicate the ones they like best. Those that win the most votes get put into production by one of Myfab's factory partners and become available for purchase through the site. Whereas many major furniture brands carry prices up to 10 times what it costs the factory to produce them, the site says, Myfab's prices can be as much as 70 percent lower since no middleman is involved. Consumers who voted for an item during its pre-production phase get an additional 10 percent off. All factory partners must adhere to the site's charter of quality, and consumers are given a one-week trial period to decide if they're satisfied. Myfab ships to France, Germany, Switzerland, Holland and the UK. Delivery takes 9 weeks on average, and consumers can follow an item's progress online each step of the way. In addition to furniture, Myfab also offers products in fashion, accessories, sports equipment and watches using the same crowd-based voting model.

The lesson to be learned? Between transparency tyranny and crowd clout, companies are running out of places to hide. Better listen to the crowds, or risk getting crowded out! ;-) (Related: Shoppers team up for better deals — Reverse-boycotting: crowd clout meets eco-persuasion.)

Website: www.myfab.com
Contact: www.myfab.com/NousContacter.aspx

Spotted by: Lamia Aloui & Yves-Alexandre de Montjoye

As we like to say, everything can upgraded, and everything can be personalized. And safety helmets are no exception. French brand Les Ateliers Ruby already sold bespoke helmets, and now also offers their high-end service online. Using the Ruby Costume A-La-Carte configurator, customers can choose from ten graphic decorations, 26 colours and three types of paint finish. Only one helmet type is currently available but another will be added later this month and two more models will appear by spring 2009. Prices are EUR 657 for a plain paint job or EUR 710 for a custom paint job.

For those who feel the configurator isn't enough for their personalization needs, the direct input of Les Ateliers Ruby is given as part of its offline Made-to-Measure service. Customers can make an appointment to receive expert advice on their envisaged design. Fortunately for worried parents and spouses, the emphasis on style hasn't sidelined safety: Les Ateliers Ruby ensures helmets meet national safety standards for both US and European customers, with Japanese requirements being met next.

Car sales continue to drop, but as reported by CNN Money, "scooter sales were up 66% in the first half of 2008 compared to a year ago, while motorcycle sales overall only ticked up 0.5%." Time to start catering to the new scooter set? (Related: Stylish helmets for urban cyclists.)

Website: www.boutiqueruby.com
Contact: contact@ateliersruby.com

Spotted by: Tristan Daeschner

We've seen cone-shaped pizzas, super-fast pizzas, pizza vending machines and pizzas on antique wheels, but it wasn't until recently that we discovered balloon-enabled pizza picnics. Yes, that's right--Parisian restaurant Pink Flamingo Pizza allows customers to order their pizzas for delivery to the picnic spot of their choice through the help of a distinctive pink balloon.

Pink Flamingo, which has two locations--one in Canal St. Martin, and a new one in Marais--is already well-known in the city for its original and creative pizza varieties. "The Bjork," for example, features smoked salmon; "The Ghandi" is topped with spinach saag and Baba Ganoush; and "The Almodovar" offers a paella theme. Even more charming, however, is that patrons of the restaurant can order their pizza for delivery to a picnic spot such as the banks of the nearby Seine. Upon ordering, they simply tell the restaurant where they plan to dine and are given a pink helium balloon to take with them. Pink Flamingo's delivery staff--who travel by foot or bicycle--then spot the customer thanks to the eye-catching balloon. Prices for Pink Flamingo's pizzas, whether delivered or eaten onsite, begin at EUR 10.50.

For all those who thought there was nothing new under the sun in the world of pizza delivery--innovation strikes again! One to emulate in picnic-friendly cities around the globe. (Related: Beach barbecue on call.)

Website: www.pinkflamingopizza.com
Contact: pinkflamingopizza@gmail.com

Spotted by: Lamia Aloui

Marrying strangers in Second Life, throwing sheep on Facebook, living as an orc in World of Warcraft... The digital world can make reality feel rather disappointing at times. Here to bring some of the magic of cyberspace into people's physical lives is Mir:ror, a web-connected dish that gives weird and wonderful new functions to the objects placed on it.

Users plug the Mir:ror into their computer using the USB connection and affix the supplied RFID tags to the objects of their choice. They then program the objects using an online interface, causing the action of their choice to occur when the object is placed on the Mir:ror. The choices are practically limitless, with examples including paper files being used to open digital documents on the computer, coffee mugs telling Facebook friends that a user is online, and presents triggering songs and e-cards.

Mir:ror was developed by Violet, the same French company that created the internet-enabled Nabaztag rabbit. Available from stockists throughout Europe and in the US, a pack that includes one Mir:ror, three of its colourful 'Ztamp' RFID tags and two singing and dancing mini-rabbits can be purchased for GBP 36. 12 extra Ztamps can be bought for GBP 16.

Other brands can learn a lot from Violet's innovative approach, not least its ability to make cutting-edge technology friendly and accessible to everyday users. By enhancing an infinite number of objects, Mir:ror shows just how much potential the off=on trend has, and how the surface is only just being scratched. One to pair up with to give your products exclusive or newfound digital functions, perhaps...

Website: www.violet.net
Contact: contact@violet.net

Spotted by: Gregory Armene