July 2009

July 2009

• The act of sorting through Twitter's trending topics can be tedious, especially if a user is hoping to distinguish local events from global stories. Fortunately, Happn.in tracks trends locally on Twitter, identifying the 10 most-tweeted phrases in 52 global cities every hour. The service is an easy way to pick up on local hot topics that might otherwise be missed.
• RunPee, a web-based service that will soon branch out to mobile phones, maps out ideal bathroom break moments for popular movies (those currently in theaters, along with a few classics like "Aliens" and "Star Wars"). A time graph of the film indicates when it's safe to disappear for a minute or two. The website lists a cue line to listen for, and the approximate amount of time before something important happens again.
  
  
  

• According to trendsetting mixologists, the shape of ice affects the taste, temperature and texture of various cocktails.  Toronto's BarChef hand-chips jagged shards from a large slab on a countertop, while Chicago's The Violet Hour also chips ice from a block, changing the shape depending on the drink.  For a Scotch on the rocks, the mixologist will chisel a ball-shaped piece of "designer ice" - the round shape melts more slowly than cubed ice and thus won't dilute expensive Scotch as quickly.
• Rapper-turned-entrepreneur Sean "Diddy" Combs, who partnered with Diageo in 2007 to manage and promote its Ciroc vodka brand, is in talks with the British company to also work on its Guinness and Red Stripe beer brands.  Mr. Combs has been featured prominently in Ciroc's creative and has also hosted events featuring it, and in the process has gained some credit for the brand's robust sales trends.

• Payless ShoeSource is launching a broad line of Star Trek-inspired Airwalks (a Payless house brand) at 4,000 stores this fall, via a global licensing deal with CBS Consumer Products. The sneakers, which will sell for around $50, will be styled after the colors and designs of Star Trek Starfleet crew uniforms.
• Swedish fashion retailer H&M is teaming with British accessory brand Jimmy Choo for its next designer collaboration collection. H&M will launch the collection, consisting of women's shoes, bags & clothing and men's shoes, bags & accessories, in 200 stores on November 14^th.
• R&B songstress Beyonce and her mother Tina Knowles are launching a new junior clothing label, Sasha Fierce for Dereon, just in time for back-to-school. The collection, inspired by the singer's onstage alter ego (Sasha Fierce), includes a full range of sportswear, outerwear, handbags, footwear, eyewear, lingerie and jewelry. The new line will be available at Macy's and Dillard's.

• Offering guests a stylish stay without the bills to match, hotels have been experimenting with pay-what-you-want pricing for years. Recently, San Diego's Rancho Bernardo Inn asked its guests, "How low will you go?" letting its guests set their price by excluding amenities via the Survivor Package. Pricing options: Deluxe accommodations with breakfast for two for $219 per night; $199 without breakfast; $159 without air-conditioning or heat; $109 without pillows and sheets; $89 without lights; $19 without bed.
• "Slumdog Millionaire" recently won a number of Academy Awards, including Best Picture, and now it's inspiring a new form of tourism: slum tourism or poorism. International tourists step away from the resort and out their comfort zones to immerse themselves in the daily lives of the people who live in the favelas of Rio de Janeiro or to visit the slums of Mumbai.

• Louis Vuitton looked to the stars for its newest ad campaign. Starting in magazines this month, are ads featuring former NASA astronauts Sally Ride (the first woman in space), Buzz Aldrin (who took the first steps on the moon) and Apollo 13 commander Jim Lovell. The campaign, shot by famed photographer Annie Leibovitz, commemorates the 40^th anniversary of the landing on the moon.

• Popular Science has gone high-tech this month with an AR-generated (augmented reality) windmill cover. When readers hold the cover up to a webcam, the computer receives a signal, which then triggers a 3D scene of GE-branded windmills over the actual cover - the blades even move when the reader blows on the computer's microphone.
• In a somewhat backward move, Meredith Corporation recently introduced a print version of Mixing Bowl, six months after introducing MixingBowl.com, a socially-interactive recipe site. The $4.99 print issue is a newsstand-only special, with a second issue slated for release in January.
• Tweet My Bumper helps Twitterers recruit new followers by targeting drivers stuck in traffic. Twitterers seeking followers need only visit the site, enter their Twitter user name along with other basic information and Tweet My Bumper will print and ship them a bumper sticker that shows their Twitter name along with the tag line, "Follow me in traffic. Follow me on Twitter." A standard bumper sticker - which includes the Tweet My Bumper URL - is $5.00; without the promotional URL, it is $6.00.