Weekly newsletter — 2 February 2011Spotted for you this week: an online car marketplace that rates cars by eco-friendliness, an in-store kiosk that recommends recipes based on the faces of its users, a crowd-sourced way for patients and doctors to find the right cancer treatment solution, and more. Our next edition is due on 9 February 2011. In the meantime, check out our daily postings on www.springwise.com, send us your tips, and please don't forget to tell your friends and colleagues about us. Much appreciated!
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Hot on the heels of the instructional wall stickers that we recently spotted, we've now come across a purely decorative solution for those who are seeking a more unconventional method of wall covering. Dutch-based 3DWalldecor has developed a range of three dimensional wall panels that can be used to decorate any room. The eco-friendly modular panels are made from bamboo pulp and are offered in four iterations: bars, dunes, moonscape and pads. They are both easy to apply and — if the four varieties do not offer enough character — they are also paintable. The company suggests that their product is not only suitable for home decoration, but could also be deployed a a variety of business settings such as shops, restaurants and offices. Currently available in the Netherlands, 3DWalldecor is seeking further distributors. Three dimensional wall decoration may not be to everybody's taste. However, every entrepreneur's appetite should be whetted by the endless opportunities to innovate using clever design and sustainable materials. Website: www.3dwalldecor.com |
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In recent weeks we've seen electric vehicles reaching a more mainstream audience using retail stores in Japan. Now bringing eco-friendly vehicles to an online audience in the UK, EcoForecourt is a new online marketplace that strictly limits listings to vehicles with emissions of 130g/km C02 or less. While the selection on EcoForecourt is not limited to electric vehicles, the site also highlights the benefits of purchasing a low-emissions vehicle. These include financial savings on road tax and parking, alongside the obvious environmental benefits. Buyers are able to search using a slider that determines the "Eco Friendly" rating for each car; from "Kinda Friendly" to "Ultra Friendly". More standard search options such as price, model and location are also available. Meanwhile, sellers can currently list their vehicles for free. The website also offers a selection of the latest news relating to green vehicles, and a number of tips for both buyers and sellers. We hear that EcoForecourt has met with a particularly enthusiastic reaction in London, where legislation means that the benefits of owning an eco-friendly vehicle are particularly exaggerated. Something to offer to increasingly eco-conscious consumers in other cities around the world...? Website: www.ecoforecourt.com |
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We've seen bloggers gain increasing clout over the years, culminating in their recent roles as samples purveyor, brand intermediary and on-site promoter. The latest spotting? Blogger turned big-name fashion label. Elin Kling is a well-known fashion blogger who has been covering Sweden's fashion scene since 2007. She's won several awards and served as head of fashion for Sweden's Expressen newspaper during that time, but it was only recently that she teamed up with clothing retailer H&M to launch a co-branded fashion line. Launching in Sweden this week, the new line's nine women's fashion pieces and two accessories reflect a modern, light and minimalist collection with bohemian influences. H&M is no stranger to collaboration, of course — having already teamed up with Stella McCartney, Rei Kawakubo of Comme des Garcons, Karl Lagerfeld and Matthew Williamson — but working with a blogger is a first for the company. Ten percent of sales resulting from the collaboration will be donated to UNICEF. All brands that still think the masses are just consumers: think again! Bloggers, reviewers and content creators of every kind may just be your next gold mine. (Related: Travel company gives bloggers free trips — Job contest lets bloggers become pilots.) Website: www.hm.com/se/ Spotted by: R.P. |
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New York City's Pod Hotel may give guests a way to connect online before their stay, but such capabilities are by no means ubiquitous. Aiming to bring similar functionality to the rest of the hospitality world, Israel-based IMGuest gives guests at virtually any hotel around the globe a way to find each other and hook up while they're away from home. Similar in many ways to airline-focused social networks such as Planely, IMGuest works much the way location-based services like Foursquare do. Users of the service begin by registering with the free service, either directly or through Facebook or Twitter. Then, each time they arrive at a hotel as part of their journeys, they check in virtually on the site and indicate the purpose of their stay along with who they'd be interested in meeting there. IMGuest’s database currently includes more than 140,000 hotels worldwide. From there, users can browse for like-minded guests in their hotel, connect by sending a message and set up face-to-face meetings. The service even informs users in real time when new users check in at the same or a nearby hotel, or when someone checks out their profile. In fact, users can also reportedly elect to “follow” their favorite fellow guests to get alerts when their paths cross again. For participating hotels, IMGuest offers guest statistics and analytics along with confidential survey capabilities and a way to reward guests with special benefits and activities. Hoteliers around the globe: how about you? (Related: Trip-planning site helps find others to travel the world with — Connecting airline travellers for a shared cab.) Website: www.imguest.com Spotted by: Jim Stewart |
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Available to preorder from today, the Domino Project's first book will be released this March. Poke the Box focuses on the value of initiative, which Godin believes is an urgent priority in the "economic emergency" caused by the death of the industrial age. Delivering on the promise to offer content in a variety of formats, the book is available in 5-packs and 52-packs; allowing readers to share it with their friends and colleagues. A deluxe edition is also available, alongside the standard print edition, audiobook and e-book. We have seen authors embrace new media tools in the past, and it should be no surprise to see a new publication chasing all methods of distribution. However, the Domino Project has set out a clear manifesto for the ongoing distribution of content using the latest media available — not only on-trend, but also endeavoring to keep pace with ongoing innovation. It will be fascinating to see if the success of the Domino Project matches its ambition... Website: www.thedominoproject.com |
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If a vending machine can reward consumers with ice cream when they smile, then why shouldn't one be able to recommend recipes based on their facial features? That, in fact, is precisely the premise behind the Next Generation Meal Planning Solution (PDF link), a kiosk that was debuted recently at the National Retail Federation Convention in New York City. Developed through a partnership between Kraft Foods and Intel, the meal planning kiosk taps a technology Intel calls Anonymous Video Analytics, which makes it possible for the kiosk to determine not only how many people are standing in front of it at any given time but also their gender and age. Based on that information as well as factors such as the time of day, the kiosk can then tempt them with customized recipes and help them plan meals with directions to relevant in-store products. The kiosk is integrated with Kraft's iFood Assistant application for smartphones, making it easy to add recipes and shopping lists in real time via a 2D barcode scanner; it can also be tied into the retailer’s POS and loyalty card program and samples can be delivered through the kiosk's vending capabilities. There's no end in sight to the ways machines can interact with consumers — and the way marketers can put those new capabilities to use. One to be inspired by! (Related: iPhone app delivers nutrition analysis of supermarket foods — Vending machine rewards mental agility.) Website: www.kraftfoodscompany.com Spotted by: Jim Stewart |
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Sports fans face no shortage of opportunities to bet on their favorite teams and players, but that can be an expensive and risky pastime. Mojingo is a new site that lets fans exchange tips and information and participate for free in fantasy contests with real, cash prizes. Now in beta, New York-based Mojingo is not a gambling site, it stresses. Rather, users participate in all contests for free. Sports fans can use the site to share knowledge, research games and compete in fantasy contests for cash and non-cash prizes. Users begin by making picks on games against real-time betting lines. Each real life game has a contest associated to it, and when a user submits a pick, he or she is automatically entered into the contest for which that specific game qualifies. Each of the six major US sports are represented on Mojingo, and easy-to-use dashboards offer insight into each participant's current standings. Correct picks earn points for the users who made them, leading ultimately to a chance to win real prizes. Registration on Mojingo.com is free, allowing users to participate in any of the site's contests. Currently, ad-supported Mojingo focuses primarily on American sports and US-based fans, tapping into the massive market of sports fans while steering clear of the murky world of gambling. Who will bring something like this to other parts of the world? Website: www.mojingo.com Spotted by: David Swerdloff
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Product life stories are a familiar concept by now to regular Springwise readers. Sometimes those stories derive from a product's source materials, such as Diana Eng's fortune cookie purses. Other times, however, those stories are more a matter of the history and acquisition of the product itself. Creating product stories of the latter kind is The Van, a two-woman Belgian enterprise that uses a Volkswagen bus to tour surrounding areas for unique gifts and then serves those treasures up in a curated online store. Home fashions, accessories and children's goods are the primary focus of The Van, which lists its products by category, price range and brand. Shipping is available primarily to customers in Europe, with free delivery within Belgium, Luxembourg and Holland on orders exceeding EUR 150. Currently, product descriptions list only the features of the items themselves, but we wouldn't be surprised to see The Van begin adding details of how they came across each product, thereby enriching the site's story-telling aspects further. In any case, the basic concept — a store curated through the travels of a quirky team — is ripe for emulation around the globe. Time to hit the road and go shopping...? (Related: Objects' stories, trackable & brought to life online — Laotian kudzu bags with a mission and a story — Curated marketplace shares one product story each day.) Website: www.thevangifts.be Spotted by: Noortje Berrevoet-Verhoeven |
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Netcycler is a service for giving away and acquiring secondhand goods without exchanging any cash. To participate, users list what they'd like to give away, along with something they'd like to get in return. Those “wishes,” as the site calls them, needn't match the commercial value of the items being given away. Using a unique matching technology, Netcycler then sets up “trade rings” that can include multiple people whereby each gets a wished-for item and is able to get rid of something too. Each resulting swap is different as a result; one, for example, might include an MP3 player, children’s clothing and a bookshelf — not equivalent in commercial value, perhaps, but evenly matched in satisfying the wishes of the participating users. Swaps on Netcycler are free; the company's revenue comes from additional services, such as an integrated shipping option. Netcycler currently operates sites in Finland and Germany, with a UK version now in closed beta. One to help bring to your neck of the cash-free woods...? Website: www.netcycler.com Spotted by: John Greene & Murray Orange |
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The NYC Big Apps competition is now in its second year, offering USD 20,000 of prizes encouraging developers to produce applications that "Help New York City become more transparent, accessible, and accountable." One recent entry caught our eye for its innovative concept and integration with Foursquare. DontEat.at aims to warn users when they check in to a New York restaurant that is in danger of being closed for health code violations. Max Stoller, a computer science student that developed the service, notes that there are 1660 restaurants in the city that scored 28 points or more on their graded inspections without being closed. These establishments are targeted by the Health Department for extra checks, but Stoller aims to give diners the information they need to avoid them altogether. To do so, users sign in to the website with their Foursquare login — giving the system access to their registered mobile phone number. They will then be sent a warning message if they check in to a poorly-rated restaurant. Max Stoller has already recognized the nationwide appeal of his concept, and is in the process of expanding it to other cities. We have no doubt that a similar service would achieve success in increasingly health-conscious cities around the globe. How can you harness the growing pool of publicly-available data to present the masses with genuinely useful information? Website: www.donteat.at Spotted by: Katherine Noyes |
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The virtual ink had barely dried on our story about SwipeGood when we received word of Pennies, a like-minded UK contender. Billed as “the electronic charity box,” Pennies aims to provide an “easy, affordable, private and secure way for people to donate between 1 penny and 99 pence to UK charities, big and small, as they shop and pay by card,” in the site's own words. Originally launched last November with the support of Domino's Pizza, Pennies gives shoppers the option to donate a few pennies — whatever it takes to round up their purchase total — when they pay by debit card, credit card or electronically. Using the service involves tapping just a single button on the Chip or PIN machine in-store, or clicking once on the mouse for an online purchase. Shoppers who approve the donation can, however, make a big difference, the site maintains. If just half of the UK's card holders approved just 8 pence a week in donations, for example — the full amount of which goes to the designated charities — it would generate an additional GBP 89 million every year, Pennies says. Most — roughly 75 percent — of donated funds go to the charities retailers have nominated. The rest goes to supporting children, the elderly, the sick or disabled and generally anyone who needs a helping hand. Shoppers can always view the selections of participating retailers and approve their donations. Travelodge and UK-based Zizzi Pizza are the latest retailers to partner with Pennies. Other retailers and charities around the globe: How about you? Website: www.pennies.org.uk Spotted by: David Lundholm |
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California-based Cancer Commons was founded by a cancer survivor who believes he would not have found the experimental therapies that saved him if not for personal connections at the US National Cancer Institute, according to a CBC News report. Accordingly, the free “open science” initiative hopes to help others succeed as well by creating new ways of finding individually tailored cancer information online. Beginning with melanoma, Cancer Commons is being developed one cancer at a time in partnership with leading professional and patient advocacy organizations, pharmaceutical companies, medical centers, and health informatics companies. At the core of each resulting “commons” is a curated Molecular Disease Model (MDM) that lists the known molecular subtypes of that cancer and then links to the relevant pathways, diagnostic tests, approved and experimental (targeted) therapies, and clinical trials. Doctors and patients can input key factors and variables about the particular instance they're fighting, and the MDM will match those factors with the treatments that have been most successful so far. Clinicians and researchers, meanwhile, can post peer-reviewed clinical observations and data that may be too early for formal presentation but may still be useful for late-stage patients, for example, while physicians and patients can report outcomes and side effects. Ultimately, the site hopes to provide patients with “personalized, actionable information that can save lives, while providing the life sciences industry with a game changing infrastructure that will slash the time and cost of developing new drugs and diagnostics and getting them to patients". Cancer Commons is now working on standardizing the process by which its Molecular Disease Models are collaboratively created, and plans to apply it over the next year to other common cancers. While the site is free for doctors and patients to use, its revenue model focuses on pharmaceutical industry sponsorships. Medical and pharmaceutical entrepreneurs: one to get involved in? (Related: Health care by monthly membership — Global directory lets medical tourists find & review clinics — Online shopping for medical services.) Website: www.cancercommons.org Spotted by: R.P. |
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Wall stickers are nothing new to our virtual pages, but it wasn't until just recently that we came across wall stickers with a message. UK-based HU2 makes a variety of wall decals that remind users to turn off, shut down and unplug. In addition to its considerable selection of whimsical wall stickers, UK-based HU2 also offers numerous stickers that are designed to remind consumers of their eco-responsibilities. One, for example, portrays a tap pouring out money, and is designed for placement next to a wall's light switch; another uses imagery of a hamster on a treadmill to convey the necessity of conserving energy. Yet another for use on a computer reminds users that, “there's no reason to keep a laptop plugged in after it's been charged.” Then, too, there are recycling reminders and stickers with water-conservation themes. Pricing starts at GBP 12.90 per sticker. Made of PVC-free vinyl and shipped in eco-friendly packaging, HU2 products are available online for shipping worldwide. Sticky-minded minipreneurs: time to craft some green reminders of your own...? (Related: Sticky car art--now for laptops and walls, too — Taking wallpaper outside.) Website: www.hu2.com Spotted by: Murtaza Patel & Ana Camargo |
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The Solaroad project has been developed by the TNO research institute alongside the Province of North Holland, the Ooms Avenhorn Group and Imtech. The design was unveiled at concept stage yesterday and is scheduled to be installed in 2012. The modular system consists of thick concrete blocks covered in a 1cm thick layer of silicon solar cells, which are then protected by toughed glass. It is expected to generate 50 kWh per square meter per year — electricity that can then be used for street lighting, traffic systems, or for household use. The wave of solar innovations shows no sign of slowing down. Meanwhile, governments and businesses around the world are clamoring for a piece of the solar pie. Where does your brand fit in? Website: www.tno.nl/solaroad |
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Fast forward to last week
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