Tag Archives: Best of 2008

Best of 2008: Reality check at UnFancy Food Show

January 12, 2009 – 8:49 am

by Nina Elder WHAT’S HAPPENING The second-annual UnFancy Food Show — a celebration of handmade, decidedly unfussy food — was held at a dive bar in Brooklyn on June 29, 2008. Visitors could sample goods from nearly 20 of the area’s best “unfancy” producers. Treats included country pâté with wild ramps; blackberry ice cream; and direct-trade, […]

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Best of 2008: Got yours? Website tries to return $30 billion of missing money

January 7, 2009 – 9:00 am

by Hans Eisenbeis WHAT’S HAPPENING MissingMoney.com is a website that keeps track of unclaimed property. It’s estimated that American consumers have misplaced or forgotten more than $30 billion, and it’s only a few clicks away (Dateline.MSNBC.com 6.15.08). Most unclaimed property is in the range of $100 to $1,000 and comes from forgotten deposit checks, refunds […]

By Iconoculture | Posted in Consumer Trend, Economy, Money/Spending | Also tagged , , , , , , | Comments Off

Best of 2008: Monogamous retail relationships are so out

January 6, 2009 – 9:56 am

by Nissa Hanna WHAT’S HAPPENING Department stores once enjoyed a committed relationship with designers, but that’s now on the rocks as labels create cheap-chic collections for discount stores or defect to the arms of high-paying competitors (New York Times 3.8.08). The exclusive partnerships of yore have given way to a market that resembles an exercise in speed-dating. Fashionistas with retail […]

By Iconoculture | Posted in Consumer Trend, Fashion, Retail | Also tagged , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off

Best of 2008: Are techies an endangered species?

January 5, 2009 – 12:06 pm

by Cree McCree WHAT’S HAPPENING As if the U.S. economy didn’t have enough problems, now it’s facing a techie bust. Enrollment in undergraduate IT degree programs was more than 50% lower in 2008 than in 2003, according to the Computing Research Association’s annual survey (Time 6.23.08). During the same five-year period, demand for IT workers […]

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Best of 2008: Dear employer, does a free trip come with my health benefits package?

January 5, 2009 – 8:43 am

by Stefania Revelli WHAT’S HAPPENING As overseas medical attention appeals to more Americans, U.S. employers are adding offshore treatments to their employee benefit incentives (Bloomberg.com 3.26.08). Maine-based supermarket chain Hannaford Bros. offers its 9,000 employees the option to have hip and knee replacements in Singapore, yielding cost savings of 75%. Travel expenses and up to $3,000 in out-of-pocket […]

By Iconoculture | Posted in Consumer Trend, Health | Also tagged , , , , , , , | Comments Off

Best of 2008: Switching language = switching personality?

January 2, 2009 – 5:45 pm

by Derek Reveron WHAT’S HAPPENING A study shows that people who are both bicultural and bilingual may change their personality unconsciously when they switch languages. Bicultural Latinos who speak English and Spanish change their cultural self-perception faster and easier than bilingual people who live in one culture, according to a study by researchers from Baruch […]

By Iconoculture | Posted in Consumer Trend, Grocery, Latino, Sustainability | Also tagged , , , , , | Comments Off

Best of 2008: Thanks to Flogos, the sky is no limit for advertising

January 2, 2009 – 4:06 pm

WHAT’S HAPPENING Please forgive the accident-prone tourists in the Orlando area this June. They probably were staring up at the Mickey Mouse-shaped cloud above their heads. Special-effects guru Francisco Guerra has created Flogos, 4-ft. corporate logos that float through the sky (AP 5.7.08). A combination of water, air, a “soapy agent” and helium formulate the “environmentally […]

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Best of 2008: Sucking up to a Mexican microbrew

January 2, 2009 – 12:54 pm

by Anthony Montoya WHAT’S HAPPENING Here’s a goat sucker that beer aficionados aren’t hiding from. A microbrewery in Baja, California, is launching a lineup of craft beers, including one named after the legendary goat blood sucker, the chupacabras. Cerveceria de Baja California is the brewer of the Cerveza Cucapá brand of Chupacabras beer, an American-style […]

By Iconoculture | Posted in Consumer Trend, Food/Beverage, Latino | Also tagged , , , , , , | Comments Off

Best of 2008: Mary had a little … lawnmower?

January 2, 2009 – 9:35 am

by Sarah Fazio WHAT’S HAPPENING Baa, baa, Italian sheep, have you any appetite? Municipal gardeners in Turin, Italy, have been replaced by sheep for the summer. The flocks graze in fenced-off areas that rotate throughout city parks until the grass is trim and sheep are fat. City officials predict that the two-month stint with 700 […]

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Best of 2008: Attention Assist warns drivers that they’re getting sleepy

January 2, 2009 – 2:20 am

by Sarah Barker WHAT’S HAPPENING According to the National Sleep Foundation, half of Americans have driven drowsy and about 20% have actually fallen asleep at the wheel (DrowsyDriving.org 9.07). In response, Mercedes-Benz is developing an eye-opening monitoring system called Attention Assist (Gizmag.com 12.12.07). The system creates a driver’s profile based on normal steering patterns and driving behavior. If a driver deviates […]

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Best of 2008: Consume®econnection — blogger meets the peeps behind his buys

January 1, 2009 – 5:33 pm

by Nissa Hanna WHAT’S HAPPENING Brooklyn-based graphic designer and writer Scott Ballum is blogging about his year-long mission to meet the laborers and craftsmen who make everything he buys. Launched on his 30th birthday, his Consume®econnection Project is an effort to become aware of his “consumption, and [to] gain an understanding of the people and processes involved” in all […]

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Best of 2008: Developers torque real estate for Millennial nesting needs

January 1, 2009 – 4:28 pm

by Alexandra Smith WHAT’S HAPPENING White picket fence? Eh. Built-in iPod docking station? Yes, please! The Millennial dream home is green, wired and within walking distance from urban hustle and bustle. Developers across the country are taking note. In Atlanta, home builders recently hosted a forum called “Impacts of Gen Y on Real Estate Development,” […]

By Iconoculture | Posted in Consumer Trend, Green, Home | Also tagged , , , , , , , | Comments Off

Best of 2008: “Lead us not into temptation, and deliver us from recession”

December 31, 2008 – 4:08 pm

by Hans Eisenbeis WHAT’S HAPPENING Religious Americans have put the economic crisis at the top of their prayers. In October 2008, the Christian devotional magazine Guideposts surveyed 2,500 readers. It asked them “What are you praying for these days?” The most common answer was “financial relief” followed distantly by “the United States and our leaders.” And […]

By Iconoculture | Posted in Consumer Trend, Economic meltdown, Economy | Also tagged , , , , , , | Leave a Comment

Best of 2008: Pet time-sharing on vacation

December 31, 2008 – 2:05 pm

by Stefania Revelli WHAT’S HAPPENING This may be taking the dog days of summer a bit too literally. Pouncing off pet-sharing programs like Flexpetz, the hospitality industry is offering guests a rather unique amenity: pet leasing. At select Fairmont Hotels & Resorts, guests can “rent” dogs for several hours. At Quebec City, Boston and Vancouver locations, dogs […]

By Iconoculture | Posted in Consumer Trend, Travel | Also tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment

Best of 2008: Call them prairie oysters, but you’re still eating testicles

December 30, 2008 – 6:57 pm

by Tory Davis WHAT’S HAPPENING An unusual new cookbook, likely the first of its kind, has been published online: The Testicle Cookbook, Cooking With Balls. This offal masterpiece comes to us via an Eastern European, ball loving chef named Ljubomir R. Erovic, in both English and Serbian versions replete with video instruction on how to […]

By Iconoculture | Posted in Consumer Trend, Food/Beverage | Also tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment
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