We've already featured bike-sharing schemes in Paris and other cities in Europe and North America, and recently we spotted a few like-minded efforts popping up in Asia.

First, at the start of this month Taiwan's Kaohsiung City launched its first self-service bicycle rental system, with 1,500 bikes available for rent at 20 transit points around the city. Operated by Tung Li Development Co., the service is accessible via membership—members pay a lump-sum fee in advance and use their membership cards to rent bikes—as well as to nonmembers, who can pay via credit card. Bikes are free to members for the first 30 minutes and TWD 10 for each subsequent 30 minutes, with a maximum of TWD 230 for 12 hours or more; for nonmembers, renting a bike costs TWD 30 for the first 30 minutes and TWD 15 for each half-hour thereafter, with a maximum of TWD 375. Ultimately, the service will be expanded to 50 rental sites along Kaohsiung City's mass-transit route, offering 4,500 bicycles for rent.

In Taipei, meanwhile, the city's YouBike effort kicked off just a week or so ago with a fleet of Giant-manufactured bicycles available at bicycle parking meters in five areas around the city. Six more rental spots will be added beginning next month, the China Post reported. Sponsored in part by Cardif Assurance Vie and its parent company, BNP Paribas Group, the YouBike Public Bicycle System uses the city's EasyCard as its membership card. Users simply place their EasyCard on the sensor zone of the bicycle parking meter; a green 'Take Bicycle' light then switches on, allowing the user to pull the RFID-equipped bike from the rack. The first 30 minutes of each rental session is free; after that, each additional 15 minutes costs TWD 10. Google Maps technology on the official YouBike website allows users to check availability in advance.

Similar programs have also recently launched in Changwon, Korea, and in Hangzhou, China, according to reports in The Daily Transit and the Bike-Sharing Blog. And no wonder, given the respite they offer from urban congestion, rising fuel costs and environmental concerns. There's no end in sight to the continuing spread of bike-sharing programs—or to the opportunities for potential sponsors. One to support in a two-wheeling city near you?

Websites: www.tinyurl.com/kaohsiungbikes — www.youbike.com.tw — www.hzzxc.com.cn

South-Korean product designer Hanyoung Lee has come up with a safety device that could make traffic lights obsolete, or at least improve their effectiveness. His so-called Virtual Wall is designed for busy city streets. Instead of showing a red light when it’s time for pedestrians to cross the street, Lee’s Wall projects a curtain-like, two-dimensional image of giant people crossing the street. The real pedestrians walk behind their virtual counterparts.

Lee’s design—which hasn’t made it off the drawing board yet—works thanks to a stack of laser projectors installed in poles on opposites sides of the street. Digital renderings of the Wall can be found on Yanko Design, and while there’s no word on an actual prototype, the device would likely cost more than traditional traffic lights. Thus, any city thinking of commissioning a Virtual Wall might consider flashing advertising messages over the heads of the virtual pedestrians in order to help offset the system’s cost. Another potential issue might be how to activate the Wall so as not to startle motorists approaching an intersection.

We generally don’t feature concepts that haven’t yet made it to market, but this one seems to present a host of business opportunities, as well as great PR potential for the first cities that implement it. Besides halting traffic at intersections, the projected images could be used to direct crowds at large events or form temporary virtual fences to warn motorists that road construction crews are working nearby. And how about smart deer crossing walls, that can both detect and project oncoming deer?

Website: www.yankodesign.com/index.php/2008/04/21/cant-cross-a-virtual-wall
Contact: hanyoungs@gmail.com

Spotted by: Harry van Praag

Back in 2006 we wrote about the Nike+iPod Sport Kit as an example of the growing number of branded brands—smart partnerships between brands —and now adidas and Samsung have launched an offering along similar lines.

miCoach, which was unveiled just last week, is an adidas-branded Samsung music cell phone equipped with stride sensor and heart rate monitor to provide on-the-go personal training. With one click, users can connect to the fitness features and begin a workout. On their first use, the system assesses their fitness level and places them in one of three categories. Users can then set their own goals, or let the system's personal coach—backed by more than 200 workout plans—guide them. Either way, miCoach provides instruction to encourage and motivate users along the way, such as advising runners to “speed up to power zone” or telling them that “15 minutes is completed.” Tapping the slider phone twice produces instant updates on the workout, and the 2-inch LCD shows a real-time visual display of time, heart rate, distance, speed and calories burned. Users can arrange workout music on the phone according to tempo or motivational value, while a 2-megapixel camera and 1GB memory capacity let them capture their workout milestones. The miCoach also features USB and Bluetooth connectivity for fast file transfers and seamless sync with the miCoach web portal.

The miCoach phone will be available in Europe starting in mid-March, with delivery in the US next year. European pricing will start at about EUR 195, according to the Associated Press. For more on branded brands, check out our sister site trendwatching.com's briefing on the topic. In the meantime, keep your eyes open for more of them!

Website: www.micoach.com
Contact: wos.info@adidas.com

Spotted by: Bjarke Svendsen

Photos by Gwan W.S.

Springwise’s daily servings of new business ideas wouldn’t be possible without our network of 8,000 Springspotters who send us news of new business ideas whenever they spot them. Little wonder then, that we’re especially attuned to developments in the area of citizen journalism. We first reported on back in June 2003. The South Korean online newspaper has—by recent count—60,000 reporters who receive about USD 20 per published story, plus the glory of having their story appear on a website that’s read by millions.

Now comes word that OhmyNews is opening a school to help citizen journalists better hone their craft. Located in a remodelled elementary school 90 minutes outside Seoul, the facility will teach skills such as camcorder and digital photo use. Additional classes are designed to re-educate mainstream journalists on best practices in citizen journalism, and others are aimed at businesses and NGOs.

The OhmyNews Citizen Journalism School is significant for a number of reasons. First off, it further legitimizes citizen reports. And it does so on its own terms: the practitioners—and not old-school academics—are behind the effort. And the school will undoubtedly create a strong face-to-face community alongside the online newspaper’s massive online community.

Equally important from an entrepreneurial standpoint is the school’s location. Korea is perhaps the most internet-focused nation on the planet, where broadband connections are nearly as common as electrical wires. Bottom line: what happens in Korea isn’t likely to stay in Korea, which means there’s a ripe opportunity to start similar ventures elsewhere. As more and more citizen journalists emerge, readers and viewers will inevitably seek out the most prescient and finest reports. Which means that those who want to stand out as citizen journalists will seek training.

Website: english.ohmynews.com
Contact: internews@ohmynews.com

Spotted by: Bjarke Svendsen

Working with SK Telecom, McDonald's in Korea is testing food ordering by RFID (radio-frequency identification). A pilot program in Seoul's Shinchon neighbourhood lets customers place an order by pointing their cell phone at the items they want. Actually, it's not quite that simple—they first need to download software to their phone and then, seated at their McDonald's table, plug an RFID reader into the phone and aim their handset at a menu with built-in RFID chips. Items are automatically charged to their cell phone bill. As soon an order is ready, a message is sent to the customer's cell phone, letting them know that they can pick up their tray at the counter.

According to SK Telecom, McDonald's "Touch Order" system is the first in the world that lets customers use RFID to place orders at a restaurant. Like GoMobo, the company that enables members to order food by text message at a growing number of US restaurants, Touch Order allows customers to avoid queues, making the buying process faster and more convenient for both the restaurant and its patrons. One to watch if you're in mobile commerce or the fast food business! (Related: Food ordering by text message.)

Website: www.mcdonalds.co.kr

Spotted by: Bjarke Svendsen

Dubbed ‘crackberry’ by some, Pinkberry is the latest edible craze to hit West Hollywood. So fanatical are consumers, that they’re willing to line up outside the shop to buy some of its famous yoghurt tang. Pinkberry's frozen yogurt is made from real yogurt – fermented milk, and that's it. Unlike many other commercial frozen yoghurts, Pinkberry is sour, tangy, creamy and not overly sweet. Non-fat selections include plain and green tea, flavoured with real green tea powder, and there's an array of toppings on offer. Sugar lovers don’t go uncatered to with toppings like chocolate chips, cocoa pebbles and cinnamon toast crunch. But the main deal is the heapings of fresh fruit such as mango, blueberries and watermelon. Smoothies are also available.

Owned by Sherry Hwang, the Pinkberry concept was developed when Hwang was denied permits to open either wine and cheese shop or small tearoom in her first LA space. So she took inspiration from Korean frozen-yogurt chains Red Mango and Iceberry. The Korean influence is definitely there, in the presentation of the yoghurt and the design of the stores. Pinkberry currently has 5 stores in LA (where the LA Times has dubbed it "the taste that launched a 1,000 parking tickets"), and one store in New York's Koreatown. The Manhattan space is decorated with Philippe Starck's crystal-clear Charles Ghost stools and Victoria Ghost chairs and wavy, repro pendant lights by Poul Christiansen. New stores are being developed in Chelsea, the Upper East Side and Soho. Stressing the purity of 100% yoghurt and fresh fruit, this could be a great franchise opportunity to take outside of the US and Korea.

Website: www.pinkberry.com
Contact: info@pinkberry.com

Photo by Adam Albright

Korean Seven CarWash manufactures powerful car washing appliances with steam jets that combine heat and pressure to clean. Eco-friendly, since it uses just one glass of water per wash and no chemical detergents or cleaners. The machines are safe, fully automatic and easy to use. They use high-pressure steam (maximum of 9 bar) to blow and steam off dust and dirt from automobiles, machines, electrical appliances, precision instruments as well as components and parts.

The machines are fully automatic and efficient because washing and drying are part of the same process. As there's no water run-off, there's no need for a drain or collection tank. Combined with the fact that the units are relatively small and portable, mobile entrepreneurs can put the machines to work in parking lots of supermarkets, malls and residential areas. Useful for fleet companies, auto dealerships and car rental companies, too.

Website: www.7carwash.com
Contact: jhs4210@7carwash.com

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Update
Seven CarWash's website is currently unavailable. For more information on their products, please visit one of their distributors' websites:
www.ezysteam.com (Australia)
www.steamcarwash.net (United States)

The ringtones sector is rapidly expanding, due both to the proliferation of new channels and devices, and technological (quality) improvement. Two cases in point -- Nokia's 3300 phone & Korea Telecom's ringback tones.

With the way traditional music sales are going these days, ringtones for mobile phones may soon be the most profitable segment of the industry ;-) Now a USD 1 billion+ global market (source: Informa Group), new generation ringtones are increasingly indistinguishable from 'normal' digital songs and clips, and can be heard in a growing number of places, eminating from a growing number of devices.

Two recent smart new business ideas in this field:

-- The new Nokia 3300 phone, which doubles as an MP3 player, lets users download entire songs as ringtones, creating yet another market that has gone from analog to polyphonic to MP3.

-- And, all the rage in South Korea: personalized 'ringback tones'! A ringback tone is the (usual) boring 'ring ring' you hear when waiting for someone to pick up his or her phone (well, accepting a call, really, there's nothing to pick up anymore). But no longer so in South Korea, where, late last year, Korean Telekom (KT) began offering subscribers top 40 songs to replace the conventional ring. Millions of Koreans now subscribe to the service for about 1 USD per month; companies like ING Bank use ringback tones to get their commercial messages in your face/ear the moment you've dialed their number.

China is next: Beijing Mobile and Shenzhen Mobile, cooperating with KT and its tech partner WiseSpot, recently launched the ringback service, to the delight of 16,000 subscribers who signed up during the first week of availability. The US should follow by Christmas of this year. (Sources: Nokia, News.com, TheFeature.com, Planet Multimedia.)

Opportunities

If you're still sulking about missing out on the SMS and analog ringtone bonanza, new ring(back) tones may come to the rescue! The ringtones sector is rapidly expanding, due both to the proliferation of new channels and devices, and technological (quality) improvement. Check out TRENDWATCHING.COM's Jingle Casting trend for new applications, or see if you can arrange a meeting with the likes of KT and WiseSpot ;-)

No one wants to read papers online. Or so many of the old school news publishers still want us to believe, even after years of non-stop growth in the number of potential online readers. Well, South Korea's internet newspaper OhMyNews is proving these 'dinosaurs in digital denial' wrong, with a vengeance.

In a country where close to 70% of all households subscribe to a broadband internet service (source: Morgan Stanley), and where next generation cell phones are as widespread as last-generation phones in the U.S., three-year old OhMyNews is getting 14 million pageviews a day, with 1-3 million active readers a day.

The big twist: OhMyNews uses 26,000 'citizen reporters', who send in stories and pictures, which make up 80% of all content. And it is all done online, 24/7. OhMyNews pays up to $20 per article, though for many citizen reporters, getting their name in the paper is the real reward. Facts are checked by a staff of 40.

Fiercely outspoken, OhMyNews has successfully challenged the traditionally conservative press in South Korea. In fact, the online newspaper has already been credited with having swung a presidential election, and influencing the government's stance on the North Korea issue. So much for paper! ;-)

Opportunities

Now let's see which other 'young' democracies will succumb to new online papers the moment internet access becomes ubiquitous amongst younger generations. Equally interesting, with start-up costs so low, the OhMyNews phenomenon should aspire to many ambitious 'new style' publishing moguls in tired democracies, too! Everybody is online, which means plenty of readers and citizen reporters. Will the new Turner or Murdoch please get up?

Well-equipped hideaways for playing games and watching movies

Popular for years now, South Korean 'Video Bangs' (private mini-cinemas) are quickly becoming 'DVD Bangs' ('Bang' is Korean for a public space or room which can be rented for a short period of time).

Ever since the introduction of VHS, video bangs have been doing good business, combining the privacy of a living-room setting with larger-than-at-home screens, top-notch audio system and in-house catering, with the pleasures of escaping one's apartment or flat. The latter being more than a premium for South Korean youngsters, as they often continue to live with their parents for quite a while after reaching partying-age.

Needless to say, PC Bangs (for playing games) are hugely popular as well, with online broadband access turning gaming into a multi-media, global and real-time adventure, all from one's own reclinable leather chair.

You may just want to change the name before you introduce this business concept in English-speaking nations ;-)