Every year, the advertising world goes crazy for Superbowl commercials. In light of this past Sunday's game, as well as a nod to last week's hype surrounding Apple's new iPad, we couldn't resist (re)giving you a glimpse at the Superbowl ad that started the Apple revolution. It's from January of 1984.
Not so long ago, my sisters and I used to take the Chiquita banana stickers off the peel and stick them to the underside of the kitchen cupboard, which over time became a sweet little mosaic.
Unfortunately though, along with polar bears and newspapers, produce stickers are dying out. A recently developed technology now allows produce companies to apply a low-energy carbon dioxide laser beam alternative. Less paper and garbage is always good, but it also means a little less colour in our world.
So relish them while you can, because soon they will be no longer, which is bad news for Colorado artist Barry Snyder.
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.
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.
If someone 'Google'd you, what would they find? How accurate would it be? 'Personas' is a net experiment set up by a team at MIT. Type your name into the engine and the program will attempt to characterize you according to a predetermined set of categories, according to what the search engine can find online having to do with your name. The end result is a DNA like image dividing up the qualities of what your name brings up on the internet. What it really is, is a good reminder about the fallibility of the internet, and the information it digs up, not to mention the unspoken need so many have to classify classify classify.
Designer Neville Mars presents 'Solar Forest', a series of man made structures designed to charge the electric cars that will plug into the provided outlets in the trunks. Not only will your new electric ride be parked in the shade, preserving your groceries for a few minutes longer while you run into one more store, your car will actually recharge entirely off the grid, thanks to the 'photovoltaic' foliage (great term, eh?) that will turn to face the sun throughout the day. More images here.
The project was created as part of the efforts of a design collective called burb.tv, which focuses on the urbanization of China. See more of their innovative work here.
