Monthly Archives: June 2010

China 2.0

June 30, 2010 – 4:18 pm

by Jeff Yang Two months ago, I visited Shanghai for the unveiling of the World Expo, an event that some have dismissed as a vanity theme park for the masses — EPCOT on steroids. That glib critique misses the Expo’s larger message. Like the 2008 Beijing Olympics, it’s the latest in China’s attempts to assert […]

By Iconoculture | Posted in Consumer Trend | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off

Curling up to a good cuento (story), by the phone

June 29, 2010 – 7:11 am

by Abelardo de la Peña Jr. WHAT’S HAPPENING Not all familias hungering for children’s books in Spanish have access to the library. But chances are, they do have a phone. That’s why Pennsylvania’s Berks County Library System is collaborating with Kutztown University for a free call-in service connecting families with recordings of Spanish-language children’s stories […]

By Iconoculture | Posted in Consumer Trend, Latino | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Comments Off

Feeling sick? Healthy Dwellings exposes in-home toxins

June 28, 2010 – 7:08 am

by Nissa Hanna WHAT’S HAPPENING Carcinogenic clock radios, endocrine-disrupting food storage containers, radiation from the WiFi… Some consumers are getting the feeling that home can be a dangerous place. Healthy Dwellings is helping them spot health offenders and remedy the situation (NYTimes.com 5.26.10). For a $375 fee, the service will send a building biology consultant […]

By Iconoculture | Posted in Consumer Trend, Home | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments Off

eBay for eel? New site goes swimmingly in Japan

June 25, 2010 – 4:50 pm

by Tory Davis WHAT’S HAPPENING A fisherman’s collective on Tokyo Bay, Japan, has taken sales into their own, um, nets. Each day they post photos of the catch online; consumers scroll through, click “buy,” and the bounty is delivered to the buyer’s home the same day (Asiajin.com 4.27.10). As the fish and shellfish is caught, […]

By Iconoculture | Posted in Consumer Trend, Food/Beverage | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off

Piggymojo tweets money saved, not spent

June 25, 2010 – 9:41 am

by Hans Eisenbeis WHAT’S HAPPENING Blippy pioneered the idea of tweeting all of its members’ credit card transactions. Now Piggymojo turns that idea on its head by allowing members to broadcast their thriftiness. Using text messages and Twitter, Piggymojo members can tell the world that they brownbagged lunch or drank office coffee for a small […]

By Iconoculture | Posted in Money/Spending, Consumer Trend, Social Media | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off

THE DAILY BEAST

June 22, 2010 – 4:04 pm

by Charlotte Beal I love food, but I hate my lifestage when it comes to food. I have a job, a picky preschooler, a Bjorn-saddled infant and a husband who doesn’t get home from work until late evening. The dinner ritual pretty much consists of me doctoring something in a mad dash, only to find […]

By Iconoculture | Posted in Consumer Trend, Food/Beverage | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Comments Off

Consumers believe that Latinos face the most discrimination

June 21, 2010 – 9:03 am

by Rocio Zamora Arzola WHAT’S HAPPENING In an AP-Univisión-GfK poll, 61% of people said that Latinos face significant discrimination, compared with 52% who said blacks and 50% who said women (AP 5.21.10). 81% of Latinos said they confront a lot or some discrimination; 59% of non-Hispanics agreed that Latinos confront a lot of or some […]

By Iconoculture | Posted in Consumers, Latino | Tagged , , , , , , , | Comments Off

This ATM donates half its $2 fee to charity

June 18, 2010 – 1:32 pm

by Hans Eisenbeis WHAT’S HAPPENING A new ATM machine may soon crop up in New York City with a unique transaction fee. The Choose Change ATM charges a relatively low $2 per withdrawal, but uses $1 of that to fund one of eight charities. ATM users can choose which charity they’d like half their transaction […]

By Iconoculture | Posted in Consumer Trend, Money/Spending | Tagged , , , , , , , | Comments Off

Chaos Cooking puts culinary mettle to the metal

June 17, 2010 – 7:30 pm

by Charlotte Beal WHAT’S HAPPENING As we documented in our “Iron (Chef) Age” trend, consumers are cultivating a competitive cooking spirit. The latest example is the “continuing social experiment” in New York known as Chaos Cooking (ChaosCooking.com 6.10). 45 people; 4 burners. The group gathers in a residential kitchen to simultaneously cook 1 recipe each […]

By Iconoculture | Posted in Consumer Trend, Food/Beverage | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments Off

Social nets help teens navigate the real world

June 16, 2010 – 3:51 pm

by Cree McCree WHAT’S HAPPENING Tweeting teens with their noses in Facebook may navigate the real world better than their less wired peers. According to a growing body of research, kids who spend the most time on social media sites tend to be the healthiest psychologically (Los Angeles Times 5.18.10). In one recent study of […]

By Iconoculture | Posted in Consumer Trend, Social Media | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off

GOOD MOOD RISING

June 16, 2010 – 1:06 pm

by Lisa Pierce While the Great Recession retreats at a funeral’s pace (let’s bury it already!), we’re seeing signs of happiness all around us as leading companies try to brighten consumers’ lives. Kraft Foods created a smiley logo for their new Hello Jell-O campaign and is putting it on special-edition boxes of the jiggly treat. […]

By Iconoculture | Posted in Consumer Trend, Packaging | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off

Latinos and coupons: Going beyond clipping

June 15, 2010 – 6:10 am

by Rocio Zamora Arzola WHAT’S HAPPENING 6 out of 10 Latino households use coupons, so it’s no surprise that retailers and brands are pushing the cost-savings envelope in new ways (RelevantInsights.com 1.27.10). San Francisco’s Regalito Rosticeria, a small Mexican restaurant, uses Groop Swoop’s online coupons. Each of the restaurant’s four promotions has yielded about 50 […]

By Iconoculture | Posted in Consumer Trend, Latino | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off

Building a better bond between urban and suburban communities

June 14, 2010 – 6:06 am

by Hans Eisenbeis WHAT’S HAPPENING In May 2010, the Ford Foundation committed $200 million to a broad revitalization program. The idea is to integrate urban and suburban communities through improved public transit, regional land banks, and more affordable housing (NYTimes.com 5.18.10). Central to the project is recognizing that communities which relied heavily on private automobiles […]

By Iconoculture | Posted in Consumer Trend | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Comments Off

Hotel Vitale adds personal chef to amenities menu

June 11, 2010 – 6:02 am

by Stefania Revelli WHAT’S HAPPENING Dining options are more than just a matter of personal taste for guests staying at the Hotel Vitale in San Francisco. Guests can shop the local farmers’ market (across the street) escorted by chef Kory Stewart of the hotel’s Americano Restaurant, who will help them choose all the ingredients they […]

By Iconoculture | Posted in Consumer Trend, Travel | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off

Tagwhat puts friendly face on augmented reality space

June 10, 2010 – 3:03 pm

by Robert van Alstyne WHAT’S HAPPENING Location-based social networking receives an augmented reality boost courtesy of Tagwhat, which dubs itself “the world’s first augmented reality creation and distribution system.” Tagwhat users can create their own location-based content (including embedding multimedia content) from within the Tagwhat app. The content is then viewable on Tagwhat’s site via […]

By Iconoculture | Posted in Consumer Trend, Social Media | Tagged , , , , , , , | Comments Off
Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 99 other followers