In Singapore, loyalty card rewards coffee fans for being disloyal

Coffee shops around the world have employed loyalty card schemes for many years, but now we’ve come across an interesting twist on the idea. In Singapore, a collaborate scheme aims to benefit eight of the city’s best independent cafés with the Be Disloyal disloyalty card.

The Be Disloyal disloyalty card — created by digital creative agency Antics, blogger Cortadito.sg and eight of Singapore’s independent coffee shops — was designed to encourage consumers to discover different coffee venues while bringing businesses together to grow as a vertical. From September until the end of this month customers can pick up a disloyalty card from one of the eight participating cafés. The card is stamped each time they purchase a coffee from one of the other seven cafés and, once the card is full, they return to the original café to receive their free coffee.

Competing with large chain brands can be difficult for small businesses, but teaming up with similar smaller companies can create stronger competition. Inspiration here for independent businesses in any industry!

Website: www.your.anticsstudios.com
Contact: info@anticsstudios.com

StreetScooter

It was just a few weeks ago that we were writing about the amphibious camping trailer from Sealander, and now we’ve spotted yet another new vehicle design coming out of Germany. StreetScooter is the first in a new class of electric vehicles that are designed for sustainable travel over short distances. Recognizing that the majority of consumers tend to make trips of 40 kilometers or less in an average day, the StreetScooter is designed for sustainable, short-term travel, and is targeted towards commercial fleet operators. The result of a joint effort from 80 companies and research institutions, the lightweight StreetScooter vehicle has and a maximum range of 120 km. Focusing on short-haul distances has enabled savings in weight, engine power and equipment for the two-seater vehicle, which will still meet safety requirements and achieve zero emissions, its makers say. Pricing will be around USD 7,000, with an additional charge for the battery lease, according to a report on Autoblog Green. European production is reportedly scheduled for 2013, with US availability to follow. The video below demonstrates the StreetScooter in action:

 

StreetScooter’s makers are targeting energy suppliers, car rental and car sharing organizations as potential buyers of the vehicle. Eco-minded transportation entrepreneurs around the globe: what about you? Website: www.streetscooter.eu Contact: www.streetscooter.eu/kontakt/haben-sie-fragen.html

IBM unveils its sixth annual "Next 5 in 5"

IBM unveils its sixth annual "Next 5 in 5" -- a list of innovations with the potential to change the way people work, live and play over the next five years. The Next 5 in 5 is based on market and societal trends expected to transform our lives, as well as emerging technologies from IBM's Labs around the world that can make these innovations possible.

In this installment: you will be able to power your home with the energy you create yourself; you will never need a password again; mind reading is no longer science fiction; the digital divide will cease to exist; and junk mail will become priority mail.

Site taps Facebook for friends’ anonymous doctor and dentist recommendations

If Facebook friends are a group to be trusted for vacation rentals and even dating guidance, it stands to reason that they should be a good source for physician recommendations as well. Enter WhichDoc, a New York-based company that taps the user’s social network for doctor and dentist referrals.

Now in beta, WhichDoc digitizes the word-of-mouth recommendations of friends in a completely anonymous way to help users find the doctors and dentists most trusted by those they know. Users begin by creating a free account or connecting directly through Facebook Connect. From there, WhichDoc automatically imports the user’s Facebook friends, and other contacts can be added as well. Users then input their own evaluation of the doctors they’ve used, judging them on characteristics such as “bedside manner”, for example. Once that’s done, they can search for doctors and dentists across the US — focusing in particular on the characteristics most important to them — and find the ones most recommended by their friends. All suggestions are kept anonymous, so users never know which friends are seeing a therapist, for example; for those with fewer than 100 contacts, “friends of friends” are automatically included. Recommended care guidelines are also available on the site to help users keep track of what medical tests and procedures they need to have done and when they need to have them. The site also lists friends’ favorite doctors for each test and procedure.

Consumers’ social networks are a virtual treasure trove of advice that we expect to see tapped again and again for all kinds of recommendations. Tech-savvy entrepreneurs: how could you give consumers a previously unopened window into the opinions of their friends?

Website: www.whichdoc.com
Contact: info@whichdoc.com

For every online shopper, a clothing size profile via webcam

A full 40 percent of the clothing purchased online ends up being returned, and most often the reason is that it doesn’t fit. That’s according to Berlin-based UPcload, which has devised a way to assess shoppers’ sizes via webcam before they buy.

To get their fit measured by UPcload, consumers need only have access to a webcam and a CD for calibration. Specific measurements of their arm length, chest circumference and more are then calculated and converted into reliable clothing size recommendations by UPcload’s software development team. UPcload will also take textile characteristics into account when making recommendations. Users can then shop at any participating store on the web using their private UPcload profile to ensure a consistent and reliable fit. Soon, UPcload aims to get its profiles accepted at bricks-and-mortar stores as well. It also hopes eventually to incorporate social shopping recommendations, enabling consumers to find out what others with similar sizes have purchased.

Currently in beta testing with the North Face brand, UPcload is free for customers; stores will pay to participate in the service, which will launch in North America in 2012. Clothing retailers around the globe: time to get involved?

Website: www.upcload.com
Contact: contact@upcload.com

Borgia TV series is the world’s first 360 degree narrative

The Canal+ Borgia TV series is the world’s first 360 degree narrative that works seamlessly across your desktop, iPad and iPhone to provide a complete experience. The campaign has already picked up a number of awards, and aims to pull new viewers into the brand new show about a family worse than the Mafia, and you’ll be placed in the middle.

The campaign places you as a key investigator in the series, and you’ll be responsible for tracking the family through a 360 degree video experience that was shot exclusively for the campaign. I’d really love to see more of this kind of story telling online.

American Express Talking Tag

Got a partner that plays pranks? A colleague that cries wolf? A friend that's naughty? A sibling that's nice? Just add an American Express Talking Tag to their gift and it will sprout lips, clear its throat and give them the seasoned greeting they deserve. Go to http://talkingtags.com.au/ to try it out.

Optimist or pessimist?

Genius BeerFriender

Pure genius. Heineken has launched a really cool social campaign to promote their new “BeerTender” that lets you pour ice cold draft beer at home. The catch is, it’s Christmas, and it wouldn’t look all that great if you were to buy yourself a BeerTender right? Well, Heineken thought of that too, and created the BeerFriender app that connects you, with other people who are buying a BeerTender in time for Christmas.

When you buy a BeerTender, you’ll literally be buying it for someone else, who at the same time, will be buying you one too! It comes gift wrapped, complete with an authentic Christmas card to ensure it looks like a legitimate present from a friend at say, work! Very funny idea! What do you think?

Old Spice MANta Claus

Old Spice Is back with Manta Claus

Day 1 -- The Man Your Man Could Smell Like begins his quest to give a gift to every single person on Earth this holiday season, including an elegant pair of ladyshoes made out of necklaces to a close, personal friend.

Google Maps (6.0) now works indoors

Sure, just about every street in the world has been mapped now, but how about your local airport or IKEA store? Well, the latest version of Google Maps (6.0) now works indoors, in a whole bunch ofplaces across the US and Japan to start. But don’t worry that there isn’t many indoor maps just yet, just about anyone can submit a floor plan to help populate indoor maps around the world.

Thermal receipt printer

What I love about design is that it can push you towards new, innovative digital experiences, and then pull you right back into the physical world for something that you’d never really consider…
Say hello to “Little Printer” a new, tiny, cloud based physical printer that can sit in your office or bedside table to print out snippets of information on demand, almost like a mini newspaper!

Think of the “Little Printer” like a thermal receipt printer, only this one connects to an iPhone app where you can customise your feed and get news, puzzles and the latest updates from all your friends, printed out as a mini newspaper feed. You can get yours in 2012… Who’s in? I am!