Fashion fanatics have a number of online tools at their disposal—including countless places to design their own creations—but expert industry forecasts have traditionally been available only to paying professionals. Proving once again the increasing clout of the creative masses, London forecasting firm Trendstop now offers a free mobile app that delivers high-end fashion predictions to anyone.

Trendstop typically provides forecasts and analysis to fashion industry professionals, with clients paying some USD 3,495 a year for full access. Now, however, any mobile user with a passion for fashion can download the company's Trendtracker application for free. Available for iPhone, Android, Blackberry and other mobile platforms, Trendtracker lets users monitor the latest runway looks, fashion news, trend ideas and inspiration right from their mobile phones. Coverage includes daily trend reports, news and photos from fashion shows from around the world, and runway schedules and event guides.

Where's the line dividing amateurs and professionals? That becomes a little less clear each day, thanks in part to consumers' insatiable infolust and the real-time apps that increasingly feed it. It's all part of what our sister site calls nowism. What up-to-the-minute data can your brand offer to forge a new point of connection with creative consumers...?

Website: www.trendstop.com/mobile_app
Contact: accounts@trendstop.com

Global warming and the recession may have delivered a one-two punch to many consumers' travel plans, but that doesn't mean people can't still enjoy an exotic escape of a different kind. Enter Destination Dinners, a San Francisco company that offers a wide variety of dinner kits replicating dining experiences from around the world.

Bangladesh, Jamaica, Korea, Japan, Thailand, Israel, Lebanon and New Orleans are all regions that customers can 'visit' gastronomically by means of Destination Dinners' recipe kits, which come complete with everything necessary to create a local-style meal. Premeasured spices, sauces and dried items are part of every package, as are step-by-step instructions, a shopping list for fresh ingredients, and fun facts and trivia about the destination in question.

The Destination Dinner kits are designed to serve four adults and are priced at USD 25 or USD 30. A line of dinner party kits is also available—including serving pieces, placemats, bowls, trays and even music CDs—as is a "Destination Passport" plan that ships one dinner kit plus a corresponding cooking or serving tool each month.

Offering a healthy platter of dining insperiences along with a generous serving of status skills to boot, Destination Dinners currently focuses on shipping within the United States. One to help bring to home-bound culinary adventurers in your neck of the global woods...? (Related: Cuisine in a box — Ready-to-cook meals delivered to busy urbanites — Modern wine paired with ancient Roman cuisine.)

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

Spotted by: Jim Chiang

Regular Springwise readers may recall food52, the year-long series of weekly recipe contests we wrote about last autumn that will ultimately culminate in a published cookbook highlighting the winners. That project is still under way—it's nearing week 40 now—but recently we came across an Australian venture that brings much the same concept to the world of cartoons.

Billed as "the world's first social cartoon character", Eric the Circle is the story of—sure enough—a circle named Eric. Eric is not just any circle: he lives a full and active life, as evidenced by the hundreds of cartoons contributed so far that depict some of its highlights. Participants simply sign on to Eric's web page and then begin creating their own cartoons about him. A drawing tool on the site makes drawing and adding captions easy. Those cartoons can then be published on the site gallery; they can also be publicised using Twitter, Facebook, web pages and blogs. Viewers can vote on the submitted cartoons, and those that fare the best will be published in a book and syndicated to other web pages. The creators of those winners, meanwhile, will be rewarded financially, the site's founders say.

There are few things we love more here at Springwise than to see the prolific members of Generation Cash get compensated for their efforts. When was the last time your brand tapped the creative crowds—and rewarded them? (Related: Crowdsourcing site helps publishers find new authors — Greeting-card maker pays for top crowdsourced designs — Author's next thriller will be cowritten by the crowds.)

Website: www.ericthecircle.com
Contact: www.ericthecircle.com/contact

Spotted by: Douglas Aplin

India has one of the largest deaf populations in the world, but social stigmas have eliminated many job opportunities for the roughly 6 percent of the population that is affected. Aiming to empower this isolated group economically, Mirakle Couriers is a service provider that hires only deaf workers.

Mirakle Couriers offers a pickup and delivery service in Mumbai. The company puts a heavy emphasis on the training of employees—right down to the finer points of professional grooming—and has grown dramatically since its late 2008 launch. Its client list now includes Johnson Controls, Bain Capital and the Indian Hotels Company, among many others.

Founded by former investment banker Dhruv Lakra, Mirakle Couriers stresses that it is "not a charity but a social business, where the social element is embedded in the commercial operations". The firm plans to expand beyond Mumbai to other cities and countries around the world. Social entrepreneurs hither and yon: time to get in touch...? (Related: Adventures for sighted and non-sighted travellers — Network for people with disabilities.)

Website: www.miraklecouriers.com
Contact: dhruv.lakra@miraklecouriers.com

Spotted by: Manoj Nahar

If augmented reality can be used to reveal the buildings of the future, then why not someone's face as it would look if a particular kind of makeup were applied? Such, indeed, is precisely the idea behind a new digital makeup mirror now being used by Shiseido in Japan.

Launched last month at the Takashimaya department store in Tokyo, the Digital Cosmetic Mirror lets store patrons test makeup and recommendations without actually applying anything to their skin, according to Japan Trends. Customers begin by allowing the mirror's camera to scan their face, generating a set of customised recommendations. Using the device's touch-screen interface, they can then ask to see specific types of makeup on their face, and the mirror paints those products on virtually and in real time. Different colours and formats can be applied and removed with the touch of a button, and consumers can print out 'before' and 'after' photos of the looks they like best. Also included on the printout, as one might expect, is product purchase information. A video on YouTube demonstrates the mirror in action.

In addition to enabling virtual tryvertising without the expense of real samples, the Digital Cosmetic Mirror also promises to dramatically reduce much of the waste associated with traditional sampling approaches, as Japan Trends points out. How long before this one spreads to makeup counters around the globe? (Related: Tryvertising store expands in Spain.)

Website: www.shiseido.co.jp
Contact: www.asia.shiseido.com/contact

Spotted by: Jenny Lau