Celebrity Cruises is jumping on the creative cocktail trend by hiring bona fide mixologists to staff many of their onboard bars. Most bars on cruise ships are pretty decent – you usually have your champagne bar, your martini bar, a big lounge with live performers, and a nightclub offing dance music of one kind or another. But Celebrity Cruises...
In Vienna, Austria, architects are planning to build the world's first wooden skyscraper. At 24 stories, it will be the world's tallest wooden building, and house a hotel, apartments, offices and a restaurant. About 75% of the tower is expected to be made from wood and architects say it's construction will save about 28 hundred tons of CO2...
The green trend and sustainability is one of the biggest trends for the rest of our lives, and we are seeing it embraced by people and businesses all over the world. What's interesting is that governments are now getting into the act, making laws and pronouncements that don't just make greening a social trend, but a legal one as well. Now the...
We are entering the Decade of the Brain. Knowledge of how our own brains function is expanding at a record pace and companies and entrepreneurs are finding innovative ways to give us regular people insight into the way our own heads work. Los Angeles-based Melon, for example, is finding ways to combine scientific developments with the latest...
A deepening trend sees companies attempting to harness the power of “lifestyle brands” by expanding into all manner of product lines unrelated to their signature offering. By encouraging consumers to embrace not only just a single product, but an image, attitude, or, indeed, a lifestyle, companies of all stripes are inspiring new levels of...
What is the latest trend in luxury travel? Listen. Yes, it's silence. The world's wealthy travelers are not just paying to get away from it all, they are paying not to hear it all either. We're now seeing hotels – from luxury resorts to business-travel chains – marketing things like noise-free zones, triple-paned glass, soundproof walls, and...
In the last decade, spas have become the "must have" amenities for high-end resorts worldwide. If there is a fancy hotel in some beauty spot in the middle of nowhere, you can almost be certain that it's offering hot stone therapy in Zen-like, patchouli-scented rooms. What's interesting about this trend is that intense competition has pressured...
As technology takes over our lives, an increasing number of businesses are imposing limits on the use of various devices on their premises. First it was cell phone use, in cinemas and theatres. Now phones are being banned in many waiting rooms and at café cash registers. Can't you just buy a coffee without having your phone up to your ear,...
With social acceptance of LGBTQ identity at an all-time high, new toys, media, and other products marketed to children are beginning to reflect this shift in social values. Public debate was recently sparked in Argentina after a mother posted a photo online of what became known as the world’s first transgender doll. Named Pirate Fairy, the doll...
