TECHNOLOGY
- Last month, Xbox LIVE launched its highly anticipated forum for indie gamers, called the Community Games Channel. The new forum allows independent game developers and designers to take their Xbox 360 creations public within a community space. The platform is similar to what YouTube is for filmmakers and to what MySpace is for musicians. The Xbox Community Games Channel is aiming to recreate the immense social networking success of both sites.
- In Japan, more than 50 million (about half of all cell phone users) carry phones capable of serving as wallets. Consumers in their 20s and 30s are the main users of "wallet phone" services. 700 million people worldwide are expected to own a wallet phone by 2013.
- Vlingo is a new voice-powered user interface for phones that enables users to send text messages without typing. Users simply say the message, confirm it's correct upon Vlingo's receipt and send. While it's currently only available for iPhones and BlackBerry smartphones, the service is expected to expand to other devices.
GREEN
- In the ever-expanding fight against climate change, a small town outside of Barcelona, Spain recently added solar panels atop mausoleums in the city's cemetery. The power produced by the 462 solar panels - energy equivalent to the yearly consumption of 60 homes - flows into the local energy grid. The panels, which were erected at a low angle so as to be as unobtrusive as possible, are expected to keep about 62 tons of carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere. Flat, open, sun-drenched land is scarce in the area, so the cemetery soon emerged as the only viable spot to move ahead with the city's solar energy program.
NOM-PROFIT & SOCIAL CAUSES
- Plus 3 Network is a new site dedicated to combining exercise and charity, aiming to help consumers get corporate sponsorship for their everyday exercise activity. Consumers begin by signing up, for free, and choosing the cause they'd like to support. Plus 3 then matches that cause with a corporate sponsor willing to make donations for each mile of exercise activity. Consumers then record their walking, running, biking or swimming activities on Plus 3, either by manually entering them on the site or by uploading GPS data that includes the course, the pace, the distance and the date. Corporate sponsors donate anywhere from $0.0033 to $0.2 per mile. Social networking features allow users to form groups and add friends for joint activities. Plus 3 is paid by its sponsors for the opportunity to connect with members, keeping the site ad-free.
FASHION & RETAIL
- Joining previous Payless guest designers Lela Rose, Abaete and Patricia Fields, among others, is Christian Siriano of Project Runway fame. He will lend his skills to a line featuring handbags and footwear, called Christian Siriano for Payless, debuting Fall 2009. Siriano, who inked a multi-season deal with the affordable retailer, will unveil his first collection at his runway show at New York Fashion Week in February.
- This February, H&M will launch its first ever home collection of textiles and accessories. The new home collection will be available exclusively online and through mail order catalogs.
TRAVEL & HOSPITALITY
- Global banking giant HSBC is offering passengers at Heathrow Airport a chance to select magazine articles on topics of interest and have them bound into a hardback form for their flight. Travelers browse the diverse selection of loose-leaf articles, which focus on four general topics: home and abroad, commerce and politics, health and sport and media and culture. Once they've made their selections, travelers simply take their articles to HSBC's binding bar to be neatly bound. The effort is part of a campaign to promote HSBC's global presence.
MARKETING & ADVERTISING
- Dr. Pepperrecently announced that, for the first time, it is promoting a professional athlete on its bottles. The athlete on the label is not a traditional sports star, however; he's 21-year-old video gamer Tom Taylor. Taylor, who spends up to 15 hours a day practicing Halo 3, is under contract with the Major League Gaming sports association. He will appear on 175 million 20-ounce Dr. Pepper bottles from January to April.
- Microsoft is launching a new line of graphic tees dubbed "Softwear by Microsoft," available at select retailers beginning December 15th. The software giant collaborated with rapper Common, who contributed designs to the collection. The line features 80s-inspired MS-DOS fonts and a Bill Gates mugshot tee. The clothes are the latest extension of Microsoft's "I'm a PC" consumer marketing campaign.
- Blockbuster recently announced it will offer huge discounts on DVD rentals, charging just 99 cents per rental in January. Dropping from a current rental rate close to five times that amount, the movie rental giant hopes to entice cash strapped consumers after the holidays.
MEDIA
