Cool International

Today Dorothy Parker’s words, “Men seldom make passes at girls who wear glasses,” are outmoded for so many reasons but mostly because eyeglasses are now enjoying the spotlight as more fashion statement than functional item. In fact, people who don’t even have vision problems have been known to buy a spectacle or two just for image sake. That’s because glasses define people in a way that some people, Andy Warhol for example, have part of their identity aligned with their glasses.

But some people refuse to be slaves to the fashionable thinking on eyeglasses. They continue to hew close to the functional aspect of this accessory. A physics professor has come up with a technologically advanced pair of glasses that can be adjusted to fit your vision requirements without the intervention of an optometrist – and isn’t it usually a physics professor in these cases?
From a scientific angle, the glasses are sort of like your argon filled windows, except that the lens filling is an oil. And the frames are like Harry Potter’s. But wait there’s more. The liquid-filled lenses are also attached to a syringe full of more oil. The idea here is that the wearer will add or subtract oil to or from the lenses until 20/20 vision is achieved. All of which sounds great in theory. No word on whether you’ll have to go in for an oil change every 3,000 minutes. Rumors are that oil leaks have been addressed already. To be fair, the technology is aimed at trimming the high cost of eyeglasses so that they’re affordable by people worldwide.

But ultimately, practical as the oil-filled glasses may be, they can’t give you that wise professor, or tormented writer or hot guy next door look. Though going around looking like Harry Potter might not be a terrible thing. Either way, it’s nice to know that technology continues to plod on in an effort to make our lives easier.

The green light means trust, the purple light says disgust. The red light is anger and the blue or gray light is sadness. Emotional LEDs are said to be one of the hot new inventions of 2009. It isn’t quite clear whether you would arrange your lights according to your mood or whether the LEDs can read your moods and arrange the lights for you. Either way, folks aren’t waiting around for answers on this one.

Something involving lights and moods is actually in use by the Esprit stores. In some stores luminaires – who knew? – have created a pattern of lights that appeals to customers and draws them into the stores. And one could argue there are numerous methods beyond LEDs to accomplish this but the Esprit folks believe their strategy is working.
The cool thing about this is that each light in the massive wave system can be individually controlled by digital means, giving operators a method of making subtle or dramatic changes to achieve the desired effect. By controlling everything from the color to the luminosity of each LED, the luminaire created nine light moods that can set different scenes.

In the Esprit store in Stockholm, for example, the light leads people up an escalator and it can act as their friend, travelling up with them into the warm blanket of the store. There other lights help to create an enjoyable store experience. And anyone who has looked on as kids at the mall run after light patterns on the floor knows that lights have magical powers over humans.

Here is the lighting company’s explanation:

Explanation of the individual light scenes:
Coloured light moves in waves over a basic light in a different colour:
• Spring: Yellow light on a green basic light
• Summer: Orange light on a yellow basic light
• Autumn/Fall: Magenta on an orange basic light
• Winter: White light on a blue basic light
• Light is dimmed in single colours in red, blue or green along the wave from 40 % to 100 %.
• Rainbow: The wave movement is generated from a combi-nation of 6 light colours.
• All white: All of the LED strips have white beams and pro-duce a homogeneous very bright surface.
Read all about it here:

Someone once said, “Statistics are like bikinis. What they reveal is suggestive but what they conceal is vital.” And we don’t really know what these upcoming statistics reveal or conceal and how vital they are to anything but they are interesting. The ubiquitous iPod has its admirers and detractors but what if everybody in the world bought an iPod nano? Well, let’s make that, what if everyone in the Western world did. How many hours of work do they need to put in to afford such an item?

In New York and Zurich, nine hours. In Los Angeles and Sydney it’s nine and a half hours. Though it would seem that Californians should get a better deal. In Miami, Dublin, Geneva and Luxemburg, they need to work ten hours for that. But in Oslo it’s ten and a half hours. Copenhagen, 11. Chicago, 11.5 hours. Tokyo, 12. Helsinki, 12.5. Munich, Frankfurt and other German cities more with Berlin being the highest at 14. No word on how many hours the people in India and China need to work for the same iPod nano, but maybe they’re making they’re own anyway.
Continuing to look at statistics led to the question: In this economy, what are Americans spending their money on? It turns out that the statistical world doesn’t quite turn on a dime to produce current numbers so most recent figures are from 2008. And here goes: Around 42.2 billion on air travel and 57 billion on lodging. Apparel spending was at 87.7 billion with no figures on clothing sold at garage sales. Electronics spending was at $154.7 billion. So it seems we like our technology more than our clothes or clothes are cheaper. Auto parts and service was at $159.4 billion. But we spent a whopping $394.9 billion at restaurants. Apparently, as a country we run on our stomachs.

Washington has opened the first Internet rehab center in the U.S. A 45 day program called reSTART already has its first patient, a 19-year old boy who couldn’t pry himself away from World of Warcraft. Check it out:
Embedded video from CNN Video

Real or not?
Wonder if there will be an online program too. . .

Most have accepted the reality that the word “privacy” is mainly just a word in the digital age. Personal data from health records to social media profiles are randomly transferred and shared on computers everywhere. And it may have seemed like mostly a logical extension of the lack of privacy when Google’s street view cameras started showing up in cities around the world. But now no less than the Swiss government is rejecting the notion that privacy is mostly a lost cause.

A Swiss official, demanding that Google delete any street view images of Switzerland, said such images violated the country’s strict privacy laws. Who knew? Unless Google can guarantee that faces, license plates on cars, and other identifying data would be obscured, the Swiss would like Google to remove all images. Those who pay attention might have guessed that the Swiss, famous for the privacy of their bank accounts would also extend such privileges to the entire country. Still, it’s a surprising development.

But it turns out that it’s not just the Swiss. It may be a secret that Greece has a Data Protection Agency. But such an agency also refused permission for Google to send its roaming street view cameras all around the Greek metropolis. Additionally, people from Japan to England are complaining. In one English village, residents formed a human chain to block the Google cameras. No word on whether they covered their faces while forming the human chain to protect their privacy.
It appears though that the Swiss are mostly private about their street views. When it comes to their air force, they have posted numerous videos on YouTube showing off their impressive stunts, though no identifying information is included. Additionally, we already know what kind of knives their army carries.
Watch Swiss airforce doing stunts

By now it’s cliché. There’s a recession out there and businesses are suffering as the market recalibrates itself. But it isn’t like this hasn’t been done before. There is always a way path out and for some, it means reinventing their wheel. Throughout business history, there are numerous examples of changing times requiring businesses to reinvent themselves. Consider the case of American beer giant, Anheuser-Busch, in the business for 130 years.

Eberhardt Anheuser was a soap manufacturer who took over a struggling brewery. We’ll the skip the history of his personal hand in crafting a uniquely American beer and his various innovations. But we’ll go right to the day that prohibition stopped the brewing, sending beer companies out of business. The Anheuser-Busch company was able to keep its employees by evolving from the “King of Beers” to the “King of Grape Soda,” ginger-ale and even carbonated coffee. They also went into baker’s yeast and ice-cream. No word on whether beer-flavored ice cream was in the mix.
In April 1933, when prohibition was lifted, the company was ready to hop back into the beer business. It was then that August Busch used the Clydesdales and wagon, a gift from his kids, to deliver beer to the White House. In the years since, the company has battled other business forces. When micro-brewing became popular, Anheuser-Busch bought some micro-breweries. When wine and cocktail drinking affected its business, the company went there. And following a new trend it allowed acquisition by InBev.

In similar fashion other companies are battling the business downturn through innovation and reinvention. The New York Times has formed a wine club and a Knowledge Network – and they should know. The Better Homes and Garden magazine is offering a home repair service. Business publications are aligning themselves with business schools. Those gold buying outfits are an interesting adaptation to the economic times but it appears, there is still a certain reluctance to endorse this form of innovative business.

So you want to win customers and influence their choices. Is there an app for that? At this time there may not be but indications are that it might be wise for businesses to create apps for themselves. An app could be a way to advertise, sell products, cook breakfast and improve customer service. But most of all a company’s app in its customers’ smart phones is a way to stay on customers’ radar screens. So now is or could be the time for all good business folk to help themselves with an app.

One Texas school created an app to improve its “customer” experience. Administrators could highlight certain events and parents could receive updates on school happenings on their smart phones. In another case, an online guitar school is seeking approval for an app that would give a few free lessons which could then be extended with a paid subscription. A pain clinic created iHeadache, an app that helps migraine sufferers manage their pain and it is a new way to generate revenues for the clinic. Of course, those who know a thing or two about migraines wonder who has the inclination to reach for the smart phone while in pain.
While these sorts of apps could level the playing field or at leave create a gentler slope for small businesses, app development services are not as cheap as web development services. Fees for a typical app will run in the vicinity of $8,000 but $2,000 can get you an app with fewer features. There are bar4gain priced apps for about $200 and if al else fails, there’s always, App Development for you-know-who. Also, Blackberry and Palm are out there jumping up and down with their hands up, all in an effort to amp up their app offerings.

Or is it the biggest shift since the Industrial Revolution?

Social Media Revolution from Socialnomics on Vimeo.

See what codename lingo can do for you
And yes, if facebook were a country it would be the world’s 4th largest!

August is crayfish eating month - somewhere. And, in our great, green, hi-tech world, it seems some things are being done the old fashioned way. Folks from Louisiana to California and even Australia are poaching crayfish. Not like poaching eggs, but the other thing. Crayfish pilfering. Who knew that these invertebrate beings were experiencing such popularity beyond the confines of the neighborhood IKEA freezer?

It turns out there is a huge gansta crayfish poaching operation causing much trouble in crayfish land. Okay, so maybe not quite the gansta part. Reports are that sheriffs are tracking everything from tire tracks to shoe tracks, all in an effort to curb crayfish larceny. Yep. Shoe tracks. For those not in the know, you may say crayfish, others say crawfish, mudbugs and crawdaddies – which aren’t necessarily the crustacean equivalent of sugar daddies. In Australia crayfish are called “bass yabbies.” The Australians are complex.

As crayfish prices rise, crayfish guards are being hired. If caught, crayfish thieves can wind up in prison for ten years with hard labor and more severe punishment if they’re repeat offenders. There is also a crayfish task force working on the issue. But many cray-fisher-people aren’t waiting for the law to come around. They’re taking matters into their own hands. When a group of crayfish thieves disappeared in Louisiana, rumor was that they had been used as crayfish bait. Not a happy ending there.

In Idaho, a sting operation was conducted at a bar that was suspected of illegal crayfish trading. In Australia, magistrates are looking in to organized crime dealings in crayfish. And truly, crayfish wasn’t necessarily a big thing outside of Sweden until regular seafood prices skyrocketed. Now restaurant chefs are serving crayfish and the prices are going up - $96 million worth of crayfish business was done in 2006. Some people don’t think this is a crime but please, don’t poach the crayfish. You could wind up on the wrong side of the law. And there is no app for that.

The bus stop. A mundane, unstylish, practical thing. And around here who takes the bus anyway? Over time various artists have undertaken projects to liven up the ordinary bus stop with paint or artistic designs. But now science has intervened and if you care about it, one day the ordinary bus stop could be as technically advanced as your smart phone.

Scientists and designers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have set about creating the bus stop of the future with features that challenge most people’s imagination.
The solar-powered bus stops or EyeStops as they’re affectionately known will be unveiled next year in Florence, Italy, a place where much bus riding takes place. Artistic renderings show two EyeStop designs. One being more like a flat plexiglass pole while the other is a plexiglass arch. Embedded in the material are touch-screen capabilities which could allow the visitor to check e-mail or surf the web, map out nearby businesses and check the bus schedule. No word on whether you can watch DVDs there.

But if you think a bus stop is just for transportation related purposes, the EyeStop can also monitor air quality. It can pinpoint the exact locations of buses. It could also be a guide to local commerce allowing electronic advertising and bulletins. You could also synchronize your favorite bus stop or pole with your smart phone so that the smart bus stop can tweet when your bus is late. It isn’t clear whether you will be able to tweet for the bus to wait if you’re late, however.
Such idealistic notions prompted negative thoughts about vandalism and graffiti. But designers have that covered. They have looked into the idea of self-cleaning surfaces. Presumably they will also have security cameras. If the stops pass the test, some day they could be on a street near you. In which case, if the stop is so much fun, who would want to bother taking the bus?