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Parents have long had a multitude of websites to choose from for community and advice, but until recently little has been available to serve the needs of what SavvyAuntie calls "P.A.N.K.s"—professional aunts with no kids of their own. SavvyAuntie, which just launched into beta last week, aims to fill that gap with a parenting site aimed at non-parents. Roughly half of American women today are not mothers, the site says, but they often have numerous nieces and nephews to dote on. New York-based SavvyAuntie.com helps such aunts connect and become savvier about kids, so they no longer have to rely on a mom or a parenting guide for advice. With sections devoted to expertise, activities, gifts and community, the site provides tools and information to help women who are aunties by relation or by choice—along with great aunts, godmothers and all women who love kids. Forums, groups, blogs, an Auntiepedia and other social tools are designed uniquely for aunties, as are the site's digital scrapbooks and a "digital fridge door" for kids’ artwork, both of which are coming soon. Savvy Auntie has also teamed up with Nickelodeon’s GoCityKids for information on restaurants, events and local activities suitable for visits with nieces and nephews in major cities throughout the US. As the site puts it, "SavvyAuntie.com gives Aunts a unique and modern approach to learn, connect, share and celebrate Aunt-hood." Membership on the ad-supported site is free. With considerable wealth and influence over roughly 85 percent of their household purchasing decisions, according to SavvyAuntie, P.A.N.K.s are a group worth targeting as they indulge the kids in their lives—and themselves. The advertising possibilities are compelling, needless to say. And what about localized versions of this site in countries around the world? Time to start thinking seriously about aunts! Website: www.savvyauntie.com Spotted by: Ozgur Alaz
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Earlier this summer we wrote about Now Play It, a UK-based site that uses artist-led video instruction to teach music fans to play their favourite pop and rock songs. Now, focusing on a different niche, a similar site based in New York targets professional classical and jazz musicians with a wide range of expert-taught lessons. Mucony offers video music lessons taught by some of the world’s finest classical and jazz artists. All the major instruments are represented, along with lessons in voice, history and theory, and teaching faculty hail from such prestigious institutions as the New York Philharmonic and Metropolitan Opera orchestras. A lesson for pianists on Schumann's Canaval op .9, for example, spans 30 minutes, while baritones can learn about pronouncing vowels through a 27-minute lesson; pricing for each is USD 5. In the next few weeks Mucony plans to relaunch with a new format that adds a raft of community features as well, the site says. Included among them will be job listings, master classes, live performances, a forum, downloadable music for sale and lessons for beginners. Making top-level instruction more widely accessible can only please musicians, and the upcoming addition of community elements promises to complete the picture. One to replicate in the other arts as well, or any place practitioners can benefit from the guidance of experts. Website: www.mucony.com Spotted by: Steve Andreacchi
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This past spring we wrote about ECHOage, a Canadian venture dedicated to doing away with wasteful kids' birthday parties and focusing them instead on giving one gift and supporting one cause. Now DreamBank—also out of Canada—is bringing a similar concept to the grown-up world. DreamBank aims to help people 18 and over fund their dreams by posting them online and inviting friends and family to contribute toward their realization. Posting a dream is free, and dreams must simply be valued anywhere between CDN 20 and CDN 20,000—examples currently on the site range from paying off student loans to attending the 2010 Olympics. Donating toward a dream is an eco-friendly alternative to traditional gifts, the site says, noting the many unwanted items that typically get exchanged each year, or are never used. It also helps a charitable cause. When they post a dream, users of the site are asked to choose a charity they'd like to support, with options including CARE, Doctors without Borders, the African Wildlife Foundation and Kiva. DreamBank deducts CDN 2.25 in fees from loved ones' contributions, and until the dream is realized, the rest gets pooled into one big fund, the interest on which is donated to the charity the user selected. Users of the site can connect and exchange ideas with other "dreamers," and they can also withdraw their donated cash at any time, closing out their dream. DreamBank, meanwhile, deducts 2.5 percent of their total funds when they cash it out. Launched earlier this month, DreamBank already has more than 30 dreams posted on the site. Financial partners working behind the scenes are PayPal and HSBC. Is this the gift-giving model for a new breed of consumers? With its focus on one big experience over many small possessions (most of the listed dreams are for experiences), DreamBank should definitely strike a chord with transumers. Website: www.dreambank.org Spotted by: Lindsay McDonald
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Guests at Jumeirah Hotels may be able to pre-order toothpaste or books for delivery before they arrive (see Shop-ahead service for hotel guests), but that won't help solve fashion emergencies that can crop up during a stay. For crises of a more sartorial sort, Net-A-Porter now offers an "emergency wardrobe service" for guests at select Soho House members' clubs/hotels. Forgotten pair of shoes? Embarrassing stain incurred at dinner? Guests at High Road House London, Babington House Somerset and Soho House New York need fear such adversity no more. Thanks to the brand-new initiative, they can now enjoy same-day delivery of items from Net-A-Porter's exclusive online collection of designer clothes, shoes, handbags and accessories, according to Vogue.com UK. Swing tags in each room promote the service, which reportedly launched last week. Who says luxury is dead? Through partnerships between like-minded companies like Net-A-Porter and high-end hotels, the premiumization possibilities are endless! Moreover, it's a great example of an online brand branching out into the offline world, getting physically closer to (new) customers without having to invest in expensive retail space. Website: www.net-a-porter.com — www.sohohouse.com Spotted by: Vogue.com UK via RK
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Earlier this year we wrote about Ecolect, an online library of sustainable building materials aimed at making it easier for builders to be green. Along similar lines, one of our spotters recently came across a Colorado-based store that showcases green products for building and the home. Aiming to provide the highest quality organic and environmentally friendly home products available, Natural Interiors offers a variety of flooring, counter tops, plasters, paints, cabinets and carpeting all based on natural ingredients, as well as a range of bedding, window treatments and mattresses. Cork flooring, for example, is made from sustainable tree bark, while a Natural Interiors counter top is fabricated from recycled bottles. Clay-based paints eliminate the volatile organic compounds found in most traditional paints; carpeting is 100 percent wool and chemical-free. Window coverings are made from rapidly renewable grasses, reeds, bamboo and hemp, and there's even a line of nontoxic deck stains. Meanwhile, Amsterdam-based Eco-Logisch offers Dutch consumers a similar array of earth-friendlier building materials, selling everything from bamboo flooring to rooftop wind turbines. While eco-mattresses and bedding appear to be increasingly common, green building and remodeling materials are still hard to find in many parts of the world. By bringing many of them together in one retail setting, ventures like Natural Interiors and Eco-Logish take the category one step closer to the eco-iconic mainstream. Coming soon to an area near you... unless you get there first! ;-) Website: www.naturalinteriors.us — www.eco-logisch.eu Spotted by: Bill McMahon
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For senior citizens, finding travel and other insurance can be a challenge, given the upper age limits most providers put on their services. UK-based Intune hopes to end all that with a range of financial services aimed directly at consumers over 60. Intune was launched last year by Help the Aged, a charity that works on behalf of older people worldwide, and all profits from its work go back to the charity, which has itself been providing financial services for more than 10 years. Age is not an issue in Intune's products, which include travel, motor, home and pet insurance as well as equity release, saver accounts, care fees advice, identity theft protection and funeral plans, among other services. Intune's travel insurance policy, for example, has no upper age limit, and it boasts that its oldest customer is 101 years old this year. The oldest participant in its winter sports coverage plan is 81. “We have found that older people holiday more widely than younger age groups, and for longer at a time—more than 121,000 trips of 3–6 months have been taken by this age group over the last year," explains Stuart Castledine, Intune's managing director. "The over-80s traveller has particular requirements which need accommodating, but they do not want a system which writes them off at a time when they should be enjoying life to the full.” Intune's main commercial partner for general insurance products is Liverpool Victoria. We've now covered supermarkets, health stores, driving services, being spaces and financial services aimed directly at senior citizens. Given the size of this mammoth demographic, none of it comes a moment too soon! It's still a wide open playing field for those who cater to seniors in a respectful and value-providing way. Who will bring services like these to booming consumers in the rest of the world...? Website: www.intunegroup.co.uk Spotted by: Simon Kirby
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We've already written about TerraCycle, the company that achieved a spot on the shelves of Home Depot, Wal-Mart and Target with its eco-fertilizer based on organic waste and worm castings. Now TerraCycle has found yet another way to create gold out of garbage by turning discarded wrappers and juice pouches into bags, pencil boxes and other accessories. As part of its ongoing mission to "eliminate the idea of waste," as its website puts it, TerraCycle has struck deals with large food and beverage manufacturers to collect the wrappers from their products and "upcycle" them into new, unique accessories. Through a partnership with Kraft's Capri Sun and Honest Kids juice makers, for example, TerraCycle collects juice pouches from individuals and organizations that have signed up to participate in its "Drink Pouch Brigade." Each time participants send some pouches in to TerraCycle, Capri Sun and Honest Kids donate USD 0.02 per pouch to the charity of the collector's choice (they pay USD 0.01 each for pouches from other juice brands). Nabisco, similarly, has sponsored TerraCycle's cookie wrapper program, while ClifBar and Kraft's Balance Bar have sponsored initiatives to upcycle energy bar wrappers. There are also programs for corks, yoghurt cups, soda bottles and Bear Naked granola bags. Once TerraCycle gets the donated packaging, it converts it into bags and other accessories. Displayed on its site, for example, is a USD 9.99 tote bag available at Target.com that's made entirely from Capri Sun juice pouches. Also available are backpacks, pencil cases, homework folders and lunch boxes, all made entirely from TerraCycle's upcycled wrappers. Juice pouches and wrappers have proven a particularly difficult challenge to break down and recycle, so TerraCycle's innovative, creative and green solution is clearly a compelling one for companies struggling with that problem. For consumers, bags and other goods made from recycled packaging are not just eco-friendly, but they also offer the added benefit of a story behind every product. (Related: Eco-chic entrepreneurs.) Website: www.terracycle.net Spotted by: Flemming Birch
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With gas prices a topic of urgent concern, it's no wonder bicycle-related innovations are coming fast and furious. One of the latest we've spotted is the Zigo Leader, a bicycle that's easily convertible into several different forms. Much like the Danish trioBike, which we covered a while back, the Zigo Leader can be easily converted into any of four different modes: stand-alone bicycle; bicycle with front-attached kid trailer; jogging stroller; and traditional stroller. Converting from one mode to another is simply a matter of swivelling casters and attaching or detaching the "child pod" trailer, and can be done in 30 seconds or less, Zigo says. The vehicle also folds easily for storage. Priced at USD 1,349, the Zigo Leader will be available in August direct from the New Jersey-based company or through a network of dealers including bicycle shops and baby stores. It comes 98 percent assembled; shipping is available anywhere in North America, the EU and Australia. Accessories including a rain cover/bug screen and restraint harness can also be purchased. Will modular, pedal-powered vehicles become the new cars? We'll keep you posted. In the meantime, keep those bicycle innovations coming! (Related: Cargo bikes for greener business deliveries.) Website: www.myzigo.com Spotted by: Matthew Cua and John Boufford
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The ink had just barely dried (so to speak) on our stories about Orange's wind- and dance-powered phone chargers at the UK's Glastonbury Festival when one of our spotters came across yet another eco-friendly phone charger from yet another cellular company at yet another summer music festival. This time it was at last weekend's O2 Wireless Festival in London's Hyde Park, where attendees were given the chance to power up their mobile phones using O2 pedal power, a system that generates green energy on-site when users simply pedal a bicycle. Ten bespoke BMX and Chopper bikes were situated at various points across the O2 Wireless Festival site, fixed to the ground and designed specifically to generate enough energy to help recharge a mobile phone handset. The initiative was backed by many of the artists who played in the festival, and was the first of its kind to be introduced to the UK music festival scene, O2 says. No word on whether they plan ultimately to sell the technology to the bicyclist market at large. Can there ever be too much summer-music-festival-eco-phone-charging free love...? Let the trend continue! ;-) Website: www.o2wirelessfestival.co.uk
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It's not much good having a vast collection of photos if you can't organize and search through them in an intuitive way, but tagging capabilities have so far proven beyond the scope of most photo sharing websites. And while digital photography makes it very easy to shoot thousands of images, most digital photographers lack the time and patience to tag those individual photos. Tagcow aims to provide a convenient solution by automatically tagging users' photos with descriptive keywords that can later be used to find them. Tapping into the power of crowdsourced labour, Tagcow uses Amazon.com's Mechanical Turk to tag photos, applying a combination of human taggers and computer technology. Photos are typically tagged within 24 to 48 hours of submission. With prices starting at USD 9.95 for 250 photos, Tagcow lets users upload their digital photos to the site, which runs them through its "tag factory" to add descriptive tags. The photos and tags are then published to the user's Tagcow site, where they may be searched for based on descriptive attributes. Typing the word "soccer," for instance, might return every picture from a child's days on the field. Tagcow can also tag people, with the appropriate training, allowing users to sort their photos by the people included therein. In addition, Tagcow integrates with Flickr, letting users tag their Flickr photos through the Tagcow site without uploading them separately. Launched in March, Seattle-based Tagcow is interested in partnerships and other business opportunities. (Related trend: Life caching.) Website: www.tagcow.com
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