Driving Sustainably
Toyota builds a sustainable car dealership in Texas
Read more...
Toyota Motor Corp. (Toyota, Japan) has built the first environmentally conscious car dealership in the country to be registered for a rating from the U.S. Green Building Council.
The sustainable facility, Pat Lobb Toyota in McKinney, Texas, was designed by Gensler (San Francisco). The 53,000-square-foot, two-story facility recently celebrated its grand opening.
Sustainable design elements include water-efficient bathroom faucets and high-efficiency lighting. An aluminum exterior is made up of 80 percent recycled materials, and the carpet incorporates recycled automotive windshield glass. Additionally, a car wash uses recycled water, and waste oil from oil changes will be used to generate heat in portions of the building during winter.
The only camera that doesn't add 10 pounds!
The Remember Ring utilizes patent pending Hot Spot™ technology to help you remember your wedding day. 
Office in a Bucket, created by innovative minds at Inflate, is a portable inflatable meeting room/chill out area housed in an easily transportable bucket. 
The Coca-Cola Company unveiled its Far Coast brand of premium brewed beverages today to an awaiting Toronto marketplace. Far Coast offers a wide range of coffees, teas and other exotic brews and infusions that are inspired by different cultural adventures in music, art and legends from around the world including, espressos, cappuccinos and lattes. Toronto has been chosen as the test launch city and the first concept store will launch September 22, 2006 on Bloor Street. Unlike Starbucks, which advertises sparsely and markets around the experience in its stores with ties to music and movies, Far Coast marketing is less place-based and focuses on how drinking the brand can help consumers experience exotic locales. 
Launched earlier this year at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, Starbucks Salon is designed as a place for an interactive exchange of ideas and entertainment forms. In an effort to modernize the traditional role of the coffeehouse, the temporary performance venue will emerge at cultural events and gatherings to celebrate budding artists, art forms, and established talent yearning to explore new artistic disciplines. Starbucks describes Starbucks Salon as a,“nomadic, interactive coffeehouse, gallery and performance venue all rolled into one.” The Starbucks Salon runs every day from September 8th through September 17th at 76 Green Street in New York city. Starbucks says, it is an, “inviting, eclectic environment featuring an amazing array of current art, constantly evolving music curated by a host of celebrated Djs, dynamic projected visuals and free nightly performances.”
After three decades with the same face McDonald’s is undergoing a major redesign of its 30,000 restaurants worldwide. Why the lift? Well, the answer lies within their brand promise as being “forever young”. This is no easy feat, considering the fact that many McDonald's take on the local flavor of its locations around the globe.
Building on its success, W has blown the hotel category out of the water again. This time they’ve created a concept called aloft. According to W travelers want more from their hotel than just a place to sleep. They want a place they can socialize, relax and meet others. W kept all this is mind, when they created aloft. They want to offer their visitors a “fresh, fun and fulfilling alternative to the same old, concrete, and polyester hotel experience.”