Added 16 October, 2013
There was a time when musicians looked to record sales to make a living. Now that source or revenue has all but dried up, as consumers download songs cheaply, or even free. That has bands looking elsewhere for revenue, like concert ticket and T-shirt sales. It also has groups looking at non-traditional brand extensions that both raise awareness...
Added 15 October, 2013
Disney Research, the R&D arm of the Disney Corporation, has developed a touch screen that you can not only touch, but feel. What is fascinating about this is that the screen can simulate the feel of physical objects without changing shape. What?! According to the company, when your finger slides along the surface of the screen, slight...
Added 15 October, 2013
Palo Alto, California, which served as an incubator to Google, Facebook, Logitech, Intuit, Sun Microsystems, Pinterest, PayPal and other leading high-tech companies is clearly on the cutting edge. But it still comes as a surprise that the Palo Alto City Council has voted to require all new homes being built in the city to be prewired with electric...
Added 14 October, 2013
One thing that America's NSA scandal taught not only trend watchers, but everyone, is that everything we store on cloud-based servers can be accessed by a third party. Companies like Amazon, Google and Microsoft are reeling from revelations that many of the largest computing and telecommunications firms either provided "back doors" for government...
Added 14 October, 2013
Bookstores and libraries are suffering worldwide. But that's not the case in India where Eloor, a chain of privately-owned public libraries are thriving and growing. Now with at least five branches in south India, the library has a unique business model in that it does not have a reading room or charge a membership fee, but charges a tenth of the...
Added 14 October, 2013
We've already written about smart socks and smart helmets. Next up for sportspeople are smart gloves that offer wearers vital information during a bout of exercise. X-plore.XGX ski gloves are made with a built-in GPS receiver that collects information and displays it on a screen you can see while on the slopes. That means, anywhere you go, you can...
Added 11 October, 2013
London-based Meantime Brewery is one of the most technically advanced brewers around. They are also quite and marketing-savvy and understand that locally-sourced foods are on-trend. Also trending are items that are created by the same people who consume them. Back in March, the brewery planted hops in locations around the city, including the...
Added 11 October, 2013
Prescription eyeglasses are also an important fashion accessory, and many people who wear them keep several pairs to match different outfits and moods. A new company called Frameri is making eyewear customizable by creating a line of frames that all use the same lenses. Because wearers can easily swap the lenses between frames, they don't have the...
Added 10 October, 2013
Like many people these days, we are obsessed with beer. As we have pointed out before, the world in general, and Americans in particular, are living in a beer Renaissance. There have been times in history when there have been more breweries, but at no time has the quality been better and variety more broad. Witness the huge number of micro-...
Added 10 October, 2013
We live in a 3D world. We already have 3D films, and even some 3D televisions. So why are we still working on 2D computers? One of the main answers is that 3D computing takes a whole lot more computing power, something that couldn't be reproduced cheaply – until recently. Several companies are now stepping up offer 3D experiences that will someday...