Design your own pet food

Lifestyle & Leisure Published on 19 March 2010 in Lifestyle & Leisure

OK, so it might seem like the design-your-own customization trend has come to just about every product category under the sun, but there was one we hadn't yet seen—until recently. Specifically, Canadian RedMoon Custom Pet Food lets its customers design the food they buy for their cats and dogs.

Inspired by the recent rash of pet food recalls and the increasing incidence of food allergies in pets, RedMoon offers a fully customization dry pet food based on a variety of meats, produce and supplements. All RedMoon products are free of grain, gluten, soy, rice, wheat and corn. Dog owners begin by choosing a base formula—high-protein chicken and yellow pea medley, for instance—and indicating the activity level of their dog. They then select the size of kibble they'd like, along with how big a bag. A variety of supplements are available to be added—antioxidant immune booster, for example—and then the order is done. Cat owners have similar options, starting with a base food made from salmon. Either way, pricing starts at USD 8.99 for a 2.5-lb. trial-size bag, shipping included.

There's no doubt consumers like to have it their own way, and it seems a safe bet that their pets do too. Unfortunately, RedMoon ships only within Canada and the continental United States. One to partner with or emulate for the four-legged consumers in your part of the world...? ;-) (Related: Eco-habitats for cats that can be decorated by kids.)

Website: www.redmoonpetfood.com
Contact: customerservice@redmoonpetfood.com

Spotted by: Anita Windisman

Custom notebooks feature your tweets or Facebook feed

Media & Publishing Published on 19 March 2010 in Media & Publishing

Now that sites like Facebook and Twitter have become a major part of many consumers' lives, there's growing need to bridge the online and offline worlds, as we've noted before. Efforts like HotPrints, News from YOUs and Kodak's new kiosk capabilities all get at that to some extent, and recently we came across two more interesting examples: Famebook and TweetNotebook, both of which embellish custom notebooks with select online content.

With Famebook, Facebook users can create a unique notebook featuring a post from their Facebook feed at the bottom of each page. By connecting to Facebook from the Famebook site, users allow Famebook to access their status updates. If there are fewer than 320 available, Famebook will duplicate some to fill the pages; if there are more, it makes a random selection. Either way, the result is a mostly-blank notebook with one timestamped update on the bottom of each page. Pricing is EUR 18 for a 200-page hardcover notebook or EUR 14 for the 320-page paperback version. Users can choose their own cover post and design.

TweetNotebook, meanwhile, does much the same thing but featuring the user's Twitter posts instead. Customers simply enter their Twitter name on the site, and it automatically populates each page in a blank 320-page notebook with one randomly selected tweet along with its timestamp and URL. As with Famebook, users can customize the cover post and design; three colour choices are available. Pricing on a TweetNotebook is EUR 12.

Both Famebook and TweetNotebook are the creations of Belgian agency Boondoggle. Who will push the OFF=ON integration even further—notepads, t-shirts, laptop skins, bags, anyone...?

Website: www.myfamebook.netwww.tweetnotebook.com
Contact: support@myfamebook.netsupport@tweetnotebook.com

Spotted by: Murtaza Ali Patel

Giving engine enables 'buy one, give one' generosity

Non-profit, Social cause Published on 18 March 2010 in Non-profit, Social cause

Regular Springwise readers already know that corporate generosity is increasingly the way to the hearts, minds and, yes, wallets of Generation G. We've seen several "buy one, give one" programs toward that end in recent years—ranging from houses to baby clothes—but recently we happened upon a Singapore-based site that enables and supports myriad such efforts at once through what it calls a transaction-based giving engine.

Businesses interested in setting up a donation program begin by looking through B1G1's list of almost 700 available projects. They can search by country, region, beneficiary or project category, or they can simply browse through the list; a typical donation contributes a small, set amount—two cents, say—toward a particular cause, such as clean water for the needy, each time a particular product is purchased. At the end of the month, participating companies report to B1G1 how many units they sold of that chosen product, and B1G1 calculates the amount of donation due. Once approved by the business, that donation then gets made in a single click.

Business memberships start at USD 395, and there are now participating companies in 14 countries supporting more than 600 projects in 22 countries around the world. More than 19,000 meals have been provided to kids in orphanages and slums as a result, as well as access to clean water for 70,000 people and more, B1G1 says. For the supporting businesses, meanwhile, there's the ability to say, "every time you buy a cup of our coffee, a needy child gets a meal"—or whatever the case may be—and to work that generosity into their own corporate storytelling. Time to make giving a core part of your generosity-minded brand....? (Related: Buy a bottle of wine and donate clean waterPepsi asks crowds which community projects to fundFor every brand and logo, a species to be saved.)

Website: www.b1g1.com
Contact: www.buy1-give1free.com/index.php/contact-us

Furniture surface wirelessly charges mobile devices

Telecom & Mobile Published on 18 March 2010 in Telecom & Mobile

That mobile phone charging is a universal nuisance is underscored by all the many efforts we've seen to alleviate the pain, including harnessing the wind, the sun, bicycles, dancers and foot pumps to make it easier. With similar intentions, Finnish Powerkiss has developed an approach that imbues everyday furniture with wireless charging capabilities.

Powerkiss's technology consists of two parts: a charging transmitter that gets integrated into furniture, and a charging receiver that gets plugged into the electronic device. To charge a phone, users simply attach the small receiver stick to their phone and place it on the surface of the enabled object. The proximity allows the resonating coils in each of the two parts to work together to charge the phone. Powerkiss's charging packages have already been integrated into a meeting room table and a coffee table from Finnish Martela; the technology is also available for public use in Café Alvar A and the Via Lounge at Helsinki-Vantaa Airport. Though currently limited to mobile phone charging, laptops and other devices will eventually be supported as well, Powerkiss says.

Ultimately, Powerkiss hopes cellphone manufacturers will begin enabling their handsets with wireless charging capabilities, which would eliminate the need for the plug-in receiver. Towards that end, it seeks partners in the mobile technology world as well as those in interior architecture, vehicle design and—of course—furniture. Who will be the first on your block to release customers from the charging-cord shackles?

Website: www.powerkiss.fi
Contact: info@powerkiss.com

Spotted by: John Greene

Expert fashion forecasts for the masses

Fashion & Beauty Published on 17 March 2010 in Fashion & Beauty

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

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