Haft2Know

Curosity asks, "why?"
Playfulness asks, "what if?"

These are the first two lines of the brand values of Lego, who since 1932 has become the world's fifth largest toy manufacturer. Lego lives their values and earlier this year promoted a new level of playfulness in their retail stores by introducing a new kind of brand experience. With the technology of 'augmented reality', potential buyers of Lego products can now see an animated 3D model of what any Lego toy will look like when it's built, merely by holding the product box in front of a monitor. It's really quite amazing.

More videos of Lego customers can be found here.

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Happy New Year. In these early, dark months of the year, it's easy to feel light deprived, which can affect how you sleep, feel, think, or accept criticism. Philips thinks they've found a way to begin your day with the rising sun at your bedside. Starting a half-hour before your set alarm time, the Philips Wake-Up light gets brighter gradually, gently awakening your body with a pleasant glow, as opposed to the 'Evacuate the Reactor' siren you may currently experience. If desired, sounds of nature can be programmed to accompany your false dawn.

This link is gradually getting brighter.

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This holiday season, your tailor is being replaced by a robot. Alton Lane is a custom suit retailer in New York's Flatiron Building. In the shop, they've a black booth to step into - not unlike the security booth at the airport - only this one requires you be in just your underwear. Once inside, lights and lasers and 'the future' will then scan your entire body and record your exact measurements. Then, after selecting style and fabric for your custom duds, someone, somewhere on the other side of the world will fashion a suit made specifically for your body.

Three weeks and less than $500 later, your suit will arrive to your home. And shortly afterward, you'll no doubt be planning your next visit to Alton Lane.

AltonLane.com

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TrendWatching.com presents their annual list of top 10 consumer trends, for 2010. These are trends they feel will help shape global demand next year, and in turn, supply. Themes centre around the end of the recession, pragmatism of goods of services, and of course the environment.

The sociology of the city features high in the list. A hundred years ago, less than 5 percent of the world's population lived in cities. In 2008, that number crossed the 50 percent threshold for the first time in history. In the last two decades, urban population of the developing world has grown by an average of 3 million people per week. What does this all mean to those living in urban centres?

Another familiar one to us is known as 'Tracking & Alerting' - using wireless communication to notify potential customers of what's available, and where - at any given moment. A perfect example of this is this past Haft2Know, about a mobile truck that sells warm cookies and desserts and alerts its NYC customers to its whereabouts by its website, and its Tweets.

The trends are fascinating, and in depth. Check out all ten here.

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In our ongoing quest to find things to custom order on-line, our friends at Hipstery.com might be at the helm of the next wave of custom ordering, which is this. You don't actually design it / choose it / determine it yourself, you merely supply information to the seller, and based on what they discover about you, they select it for you. Hipstery.com will ask you a number of questions including "What's your preferred method of air travel?" and "At the movies, which armrest belongs to you?". Depending on your answers, a t-shirt is chosen to suit you and sent along. The burden of choice can be daunting.

Here it is

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One final story here that's truly bordering on frightening (or brilliant). Walmart now sells caskets online, along with a number of other funerary urns, vessels and pillows on which to rest your eternal head. For real. Here's the link.

Happy Halloween from all of us at Haft2.

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More and more, we can customize online everything we could possibly want. You can monogram clothing, engrave a coffee pot, publish a manuscript, and design your own credit card, all within the comfort of your own room. Here's another example of an idea that's not new, but so terribly appealing. Design your own Converse sneaks. Choose from leather or canvas; low or high top, and a vast spectrum of delicious colours. Somehow, I think we're not far off from customizing an entire wardrobe, without ever having to glance a salesperson in the eye.

Design your own sneaks here.

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Well if you've been unsuccessful in finding just the right Halloween costume for your dog, (yes, you read that correctly) you may want to pay a trip to your local Target store to peruse their selection of pet dress-up duds. The possibilities will make you laugh out loud, first at the unavoidable cuteness (you have to admit) and then at the ensuing absurdity of what this really means.

The pet industry in the United States was worth a staggering $41 billion in 2007, according to The American Pet Products Manufacturers' Association, up from $21 billion in 1996. You might think these numbers will fall as the economy makes us reconsider our spending habits, but apparently the pet industry is nearly immune to such fiscal fears. Those that will be the least affected by the downturn will be the ones most likely to continue buying spa days and velvet divans and uh, costumes like this, for Sir Barks-a-lot.

http://www.target.com/b/ref=sc_fe_l_1_1038602_6/601-2893872-4228155?ie=UTF8&node=343171011
http://www.pawpalaceonline.com/coats-jackets-luxury-coats-c-1_6_118.html

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In anticipation of their first retail outlet in Japan, IKEA has converted a commuter monorail in Kobe into a moving showroom, replete with brilliant colours and IKEA's own fabrics. The train's bold new look is a harbinger of happy times to come for many of the country's foreign residents who, for years have had difficulty locating affordable, non-Japanese style furniture for more western lifestyles. Surprisingly, the size of an average IKEA store in Japan will be approximately that of its European counterparts, (approx. 30000 sq. metres). In its initial phase of store openings, the company plans on opening 4-6 stores in the Tokyo region and 4-6 stores in the Kansai region. An online shopping component will follow.
http://www.ikea.com

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