Target takes on Costco (for a limited time) by stocking supersize merchandise in all of the company’s 1,740 stores. Shrewd move? Or wasted shelf space on bulky packaging? Let us know your thoughts. Would you go to Target to fulfill your Costco needs, knowing there will be no free samples awaiting you? They get pretty mad at Target if you help yourself to the soft pretzels at the cafe.
Check out this ridiculous invention. It’s a box with a mechanized arm inside. You open the box with a button, the mechanized arm shuts the box. That’s all it does. Seriously.
3D Television may be a thing of the future, but according to the LA Times, the future ain’t here yet. While James Cameron made tremendous advancements toward 3D television during the production of Avatar, a 3D prototype that was unveiled in December at Dallas Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas was met with jeers and boos. The demo was cut short after 7 minutes.
There’s no word on whether this experiment made use the same technology as developed by the Avatar team, but it sounds like this particular model is not yet ready for prime time. However, buzz surrounding the Consumer Electronics Show indicate that most major manufacturers are pursuing 3D, and that 3D TVs will be ready for purchase as early as 2010. Stay tuned!
To read the full LA Times article, please click here.
Nothing says “Merry Christmas” like a gleaming new hammer or table saw coming straight at you. At least according to Home Depot. For 2009’s holiday season, Home Depot has introduced a new line of plastic gift cards that are webcam enabled, meaning that if you hold the card up to your computer’s webcam, cool things will happen. For instance, you’ll see a virtual preview of featured products that can be bought with the card – as they appear to pop out of the card onscreen. You can see Home Depot’s demonstration of the feature here.
Bridging the gap between the printed page and the web is a technique that’s gaining in popularity. A similar tactic was used last month by InStyle Magazine for their cover featuring Taylor Swift – hold it up to your computer, and prepare to be entertained – interactively.
It’s a smart move, as traditional print media becomes more archaic each year. The addition of “virtual content” entices consumers with an added benefit to buy something in printed form, and it gives companies a way to track consumer behavior offline. Don’t be surprised if this technique becomes widespread in 2010, on newspapers, ticket stubs, DVD boxes, and maybe even breakfast cereals.
I wonder what a virtual Cap’n Crunch would say via webcam. Guess we’ll have to wait and see.
Check out this awesome website. It’s great for finding color palates and it’s free!
www.colourlovers.com
There are good album covers. There are intentionally provocative album covers (we’re talking to you, Adam Lambert). And this one blows them all away. This 2009 release by the band Wallpaper comes bundled with special glasses that make the cover virtually explode in bursts of color. Don’t know anything about their music, but we’re intrigued by the cover. Not your standard band-in-studio shot. Any LP cover that requires glasses or special equipment to view is tops in our book.
Asking more of an audience is nothing new. The Flaming Lips released their 1999 album Zaireeka in a format that could only be listened to by pressing play at the same time on four(!) different CD players.
If you want to compare this cover with some utterly strange album art of the past, check out the Bizarre Records website for a fun viewing experience. Don’t say we didn’t warn you.
The Simpsons when they first began
According to an article today on CNN.com, the Simpsons is running the risk of overstaying its welcome. Do you agree? Is 20 years too long for any show to stay on the air? We want to hear your thoughts.
Our own Mike Peters will be playing a raucous rock show with his band Lead Burns Red in Anaheim, CA, this Sunday, December 13. Here is a link to the show info.
The next John Grishom?
Our own Aaron Wolpoff’s published thesis about consumer products and the creativity behind them has settled at #4,858,261 on amazon.com. Way to crack the top 5 million mark! Here is the link.
He promises his next book will have more pictures, and possibly connect-the-dot puzzles. Here’s a description of this one:
In consumer product development, many leading companies seem to have an innate understanding of how to innovate from within, and therefore keep the innovation efforts inside their walls. Other companies succeed by involving outsiders – in the form of innovation-for-hire specialty firms. Why is this, and is it possible that companies relying on outsiders can create the conditions necessary for internal innovation? Is it even worth the effort? This book explores the popular methods for achieving product innovation by examining the leading literature on the subject, as well as providing insight from some of the top innovators working today. The author also presents his own challenging notions about why internal innovation persists, and when innovation is better left to outside specialists. The implications help to widen our understanding of how innovation works, how to foster creativity, and how to successfully bring a product to market. This book is a must-read for management, marketing professionals, and anyone who has ever wondered why some teams create exceptional products and others miss the mark.
By comparison, a book called Peuchecanton Of Otavalo, Province Of Imbaura Ecuador (Paperback) is ahead in the rankings by a couple million. And we’re not even sure what that title even means. But that guy rocks.
In a perfect world, these Canadian ladies Pony Da Look would be #1 on the charts. This video makes us happy for so many reasons. They had us at “There’s a little man sitting in the palm of my hand.”