Technology
- After discontinuing its classic Instamatic film, Polaroid is rolling out a new version of the instant camera, the Polaroid PoGo. The digital camera has a built-in color printer that cranks out 2-by-3-inch, sticky-backed prints in the same amount of time it took images to appear on the old school prints. The PoGo will hit stores in March, retailing for $200.
- Due soon from Motorola is the MOTO W233 Renew phone, the industry's first cell phone made using recycled plastic from water bottles. Not only is the plastic housing of Renew 100 percent recyclable, but it is also the world's first carbon neutral phone. Through an alliance with Carbonfund.org, Motorola offsets the carbon dioxide required to manufacture, distribute and operate the phone through investments in renewable energy sources and reforestation. In addition, a postage-paid recycling envelope is included in the packaging, making it easy to return old phones for recycling at no cost. The phone will retail for around $130.
- Looking beyond the eco-impact of paper, a Dutch creative agency has developed a new font called Ecofont that's designed to extend the life of ink cartridges and toner. Setting out to explore how much of a letter could be removed while maintaining readability, the group found that the best results were achieved using a font in which tiny circles were intentionally left blank in the middle of each line, much like Swiss cheese. Available for Windows, Mac OSX and Linux, the resulting script uses up to 20 percent less ink than traditional fonts and is free to download and use.
Tourism & Travel
- A new hotel in Switzerland takes the term "no-frills" to a new level. Part art installation, part low budget hotel, the Zero Star Hotel is set up in an air-raid shelter and dispenses with nearly all the traditional amenities hotel guests have come to expect. Essentially a low-budget hostel in which guests sleep in a shared, barracks-style room, the walls are concrete and there are no windows or heating - hot water bottles are all that's on hand to keep guests warm. Beds range from bunks to more traditional double accommodations, and guests must take turns showering in a communal bathroom. A live-cam broadcasting images from outside is the closest thing to a view. The bunker, by Swiss law, must be convertible back to military use within 24 hours. Rates are between EUR 6 and EUR 16 per night.
Finance
- After the holiday gift-giving season, it's fairly certain many consumers received gift cards they didn't really want. Enter GiftCardRescue, an online service that allows users to exchange their unwanted cards either for different gift cards or for cash. Consumers begin by creating an account and providing the details of the card they have (its value must be between $25 and $200). GiftCardRescue will then indicate the redemption value it's willing to pay - typically between 60 percent and 80 percent of the card's value. The consumer can then elect either to receive cash via PayPal, or they can select a new gift card from the site, up to the redemption value of their original card.
Non-Profit & Social Causes
- A new effort from Open Air Cinema uses inflatable movie screens to bring outdoor films to remote areas in Africa. The company recently launched a subsidized program to provide NGOs and small business owners with everything needed to distribute information, education (e.g. training films about AIDS awareness) and entertainment (e.g. the Rwanda film festival, "Hillywood") on an inflatable, outdoor movie screen. Open Air's kits, which include screens, blower fans, generators, digital projectors, DVD players, sound mixers and cables, have already been used by the United Nations and FilmAid in refugee camps in Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda and Uganda.
Marketing & Advertising
- In an effort to find new, unconventional ways to raise ad revenues, the February issue of Esquire features a flap in the middle of the cover, next to an invitation to "open here." Opening the window reveals quotations from articles inside the issue, adjacent to an advertisement for "One Way Out," a new series on the Discovery Channel. Those who leave the window unopened do not see the ad or the quotations. Esquire is considering another kind of unconventional cover, with a pull tab, for its June issue.
- California based WePOWER is now offering windvertising, a branded media platform that combines wind energy, animation and advertising. Advertisements are placed on WePOWER's PacWind turbines. Each of the turbine's air foil blades reflects an image, and as the blades spin, the images appear to move - essentially creating an animated ad. Energy from windvertising-equipped turbines can also be used to power corresponding billboards.
- British media agency Curb offers low-impact advertising, using only natural materials. The company uses rainwater to clean logos into grubby pavements, creates sand sculptures of all sizes, burns patterns and logos into wood using magnifying glasses, offers a ‘logrow' service to cut logos into turf and imprints snow-covered surfaces with laser-cut stencils. Many well-known brands, including Adidas (immortalized in grass), Volkswagen (commissioned a sand sculpture) and Budweiser have utilized Curb's services. Curb claims to be the world's first and only media agency to exclusively use this sort of "cleanvertising."
Media
- The Chicago Tribune, responding to readers who asked for an easier-to-digest daily, recently began printing a new tabloid edition of the paper. Subscribers will continue receiving the traditional format newspaper, while the tabloid-style version will be for sale weekdays at newsstands. Each version will carry essentially the same stories, and the price is unchanged at 75 cents.
- Sovereign/Homestead Publishing recently launched a new bimonthly green lifestyle title, Organic Beauty. The magazine is aimed at affluent, educated women seeking eco-friendly beauty products, with content focused on natural and organic hair, skin and body care. The magazine retails for $4.99 in stores all over the U.S., including Whole Foods, Wild Oats and Barnes & Noble.
- Hearst Magazines has decided to shutter Teen and its Web site, teenmag.com. The winter 2008 issue will be the last, although the annual Teen Prom issue will continue to be published.
- Walt Disney Publishing's Wondertime is folding. The 3-year-old parenting title's March issue will be its last. The Web site will go dark along with the print edition.
