All Entries Tagged With: "Innovation"
Green Living Consumer Trend
Green living is taking hold. “Recently while I was brushing my teeth, my 6-year-old son scolded me for running the water too long. He severely reprimanded me, and at the end of his censure asked me, with real outrage: don’t you love the earth?” says Stephen Asma of the Chronicle in his Green Guilt commentary. For those who are embracing green living, check out these new green options: green dating, green travel, green driving, green rooms, and green jewelry.
Consumer Trends in Customization
Founded 13 years ago, Build-A-Bear Workshop was an early entrant into mass customization. With more than 400 stores world-wide, it has successfully scaled to become the largest chain dedicated to the create-your-own trend. Much of today’s innovation is centered around empowering customers to customize products and enjoy truly unique customization experiences. The customization trend ranges from products that spice it up with customized features, to products that are customized from the inside-out.
Innovation in Social Cause Business Models
NBA legend Magic Johnson recently spoke at Wharton’s first Social Impact Forum saying, “Legacies are not built on how much money is made, because after all there are a plethora of millionaires in the world. Instead, they are built on how many people can be touched with the amount of money made. Individuals are able to set themselves apart by helping communities get on their feet.” Today, it has become fashionable to do good and many entrepreneurs are building businesses with generosity at their core focusing on urban renewal, children’s initiatives, and even the basics such as food and water.
2010 Trends in Innovation
Earlier this year, Bloomberg BusinessWeek published its list of 50 most innovative companies (in partnership with Boston Consulting Group) and for the first time, the majority of companies were headquartered outside the US. 88% of executives in China said they were raising their innovation budgets this year, followed by 82% in South America and 73% in India. The rate fell to 48% in the U.S., ahead of only Japan, where just 34% of executives said their companies planned to increase innovation spending. All of which suggests the U.S. may not be dominating the innovation list again soon.
Apple iPhone 4 vs. Motorola Droid X: The Aftermath
I’ll save you 10 minutes of your life: after playing around with the phones, the reviewers state the winner comes down to personal preferences. The technical specs and pricing comparisons of the iPhone 4 and Droid X are simply too close to call. However, now that both phones are in the hands of consumers, has a clear winner appeared?
Marketing Analysis Builds Market Intelligence
“An investment in knowledge pays the best interest,” writes Benjamin Franklin. For marketers, marketing research and analysis is an investment that pays off. Build your market intelligence from the basics (market scan and brand audit), to more advanced research (customer and product analysis). Once you’ve implemented a marketing campaign it, too, requires analysis to…
How Insider’s Perspective Can Accelerate Innovation
Innovation can be a fickle beast. Sometimes ground-breaking ideas come at the speed of light while at other times, they trickle in at a sluggish pace. To accelerate your innovation and expand your team’s creative thinking, consider tapping into the talents of…
Top 5 Best Practices for Innovation
During Barack Obama’s first Oval Office address to the nation, he called on America’s innovative spirit to drive future sustainability initiatives, particularly in clean energy. Innovation doesn’t stop at reducing our dependence on foreign oil; innovation pushes our society, businesses — small and large — culture and political process into the future. To help usher in a…
eBay Innovates in Mobile E-Commerce with RedLaser Acquisition
Internet auction giant eBay has just acquired the popular iPhone app RedLaser. The application allows users to scan barcodes to uncover more information about products, and compare price points at nearby locations. With eBay backing the application, eBay results will now pop up in these search results, offering users another outlet to not only compare [...]
California Considers Advertising on Electronic License Plates
Advertisers have displayed their messages nearly everywhere — from billboards to zeppelins and t-shirts to tattoos. California, the home of tech innovators such as Google and Apple, might offer a new medium to advertise: electronic license plates. It is California’s latest effort to create jobs and fix its $19 b budget deficit. The idea might just be a win-win for California and its…
The Rising 3D Trend in Entertainment
At this week’s E3 Expo in Los Angeles, Nintendo introduced its newest gaming device – the Nintendo 3DS – a product that is already garnering positive buzz and attention around the Web. The 3DS is the latest addition to a small but growing set of products in tech, and part of a much larger and rising trend in entertainment – 3D.
Google Moves Toward Real-Time Search with Caffeine
Google’s search index has just received a big boost of energy – literally. This week, Google launched its newest solution to improve search, a system called Caffeine.
Apple Debuts iPhone 4 – How Does it Compare?
Apple fans rejoiced Monday when Steve Jobs revealed the newest addition to the Apple family, the iPhone 4. Along with a sleek new design, the iPhone 4 boasts a number of long awaited features, like a front-facing camera, multitasking and the iPhone 4 OS.
Asus Debuts the Eee Pad – Can it Top the iPad?
The tablet wars are heating up once again. At this week’s Computex Technology Show, computer manufacturer Asustek debuted its device aimed to rival the iPad — the Asus Eee Pad. A big company with little brand recognition, Asus pioneered the netbook adopted by nearly every computer manufacturer. Given Asus’ ability to see macro trends in [...]
Apple Surpasses Microsoft as No. 1 in Tech, Wednesday
Wednesday marked the changing of the guard in tech: “Wall Street has called the end of an era and the beginning of the next one,” writes the NY Times. “The most important technology product no longer sits on your desk but rather fits in your hand.” Apple…
Google’s Chrome Store Brings Apps to the Web
At Google’s I/O developer conference this week, the search giant unveiled a number of exciting products and programs that should debut in the coming months, including a formal announcement of Google TV and the new WebM video platform. Of these announcements, the early preview of Google’s Chrome Web Store for apps is one of the [...]
Sency Betting on Real-Time Local Search
With the buzz around Four Square, Sency has the opportunity to garner attention. Their next milestone is to reach 1 million unique users. As they attract more and more users, Sency will be challenged to evolve from “oh, that’s cool” to “wow, I plan to check back frequently.” Right now, real-time location based search of community chatter is a novelty: interesting, but not vital. There is potential for it to catch on …
Google, Verizon Tablet to Rival Apple’s iPad
Verizon announced Tuesday that it’s working with Google to develop a tablet device to directly compete with Apple’s runaway success, the iPad. Verizon’s tablet will run on Google’s Android operating system and likely reach the market later this year…
Twitter to Launch New Features for Brands
Though Twitter is an individual-dominated social network, the micro-blogging site hosts a number of corporate accounts as well. Brands utilizing Twitter often use the site as a customer service platform, or as a way to build relationships with their customers. These tasks will soon get easier for brands, as Twitter begins the beta rollout of [...]
HP’s Palm Acquisition Could Make it a Strong Mobile Competitor
Palm PDA’s were the first inkling of smartphones to come, and at one point had Palm riding high in the tech world. But in 2010, Palm struggled to keep up with its competitors in the mobile market. After much speculation over the future of Palm, the company…
