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Greeting cards can be embellished with online attachments and crowdsourced designs, or sold through monthly subscriptions—but the fact remains that most are still just ... well, greeting cards. Not so the Postcarden, a pop-out card that transforms into a bite-sized allotment. Combining gift and greeting card, Postcarden is available in three designs: Botanical, City and Allotment. Recipients open and unfold the card, then sprinkle water into the base and scatter the enclosed cress seeds onto the damp paper. The Postcarden will start to grow in a few days, and will keep for two to three weeks; once grown, the cress can be eaten. Designed and produced by UK-based A Studio for Design, the cards can be sent through the post and are printed in Wales by Ethical Packaging; the seeds and inner tray are sourced nationally as well. Each card costs GBP 7.50 and features enough space to write a personal greeting. A Studio for Design is currently seeking contributing artists and stores interested in stocking Postcarden. Retailers and artistic minipreneurs around the globe: this one's for you! (Related: Eco-friendly gift cards & hotel key cards.) Website: www.postcarden.com Spotted by: Judy McRae |
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Back in 2008 we wrote about Authonomy, HarperCollins's Sellaband-like effort to recruit the crowds to help spot the next bestseller. Suggesting the concept may be starting to stick, a new Dutch website has teamed up with not one but three book publishers on a crowdsourced effort to choose what gets published next. Aspiring writers register for free on TenPages and post the first 10 pages or more of their book. Those pages then become viewable to the site's prospective shareholders, who can buy up to 200 shares in any book for EUR 5 each; a widget is available to help them promote their favourites among their own social networks. The books that sell 2,000 shares during the four months they remain active on the site—garnering EUR 10,000—get put into production at one of TenPages' partner publishers, which include Pearson, The Workers Press and The House of Books. Authors get paid EUR 1,000 from the initial funds raised, while the remainder is held over for publishing and promoting the final book. The author then has eight months to write the tome with the help of a professional editor. For books that don't sell 2,000 shares after four months, investors get 80 percent of their money back. The site accepts submissions in virtually all genres with the exception of science books, it says. Following publication, authors earn standard royalties of 10 percent, while publishers earn 30 percent. Shareholders as a group earn 10 percent for up to four years, divided according to the number of shares they bought; in addition, their names appear in the back of the published books they helped discover. Will this become the new model for publishing? Time will tell. In the meantime, one to watch! (Related: Crowd-finding the next blockbuster.) Website: www.tenpages.com Spotted by: Daniel Ogertschnig |
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Some 42,000 people die each week for lack of clean water, and the majority of them are children under 5 years old. Aiming to help alleviate this problem, online wine vendor CellarThief donates 100 days' worth of clean water for every bottle of wine it sells. Launched earlier this year, California-based CellarThief sells only three wines on its site at any given time, and they're typically available for just 48 hours or until they sell out. All wines are hand-picked from world-class wineries by industry veterans, and CellarThief presents the story of each vintage as well as suggestions for food pairings. Prices are heavily discounted, CellarThief says, and shipping is USD 5 for any order of at least three bottles. Most interesting of all, however, is that the company has partnered with Charity: Water to provide clean water to those who need it. In addition to the donation made each time a bottle of wine is sold, further donations are made each time a wine sells out. CellarThief's corporate generosity will surely please the discerning palates of the members of Generation G, who increasingly expect such benevolence in return for their business. Currently the company ships only within the continental United States. One to partner with or emulate for the ethically minded oenophiles near you? (Related: Pepsi asks crowds which community projects to fund — Buy a onesie, donate one to a baby in need — Buy one house, give one free.) Website: www.cellarthief.com Spotted by: Brent Samuels |
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Stuffed animals can already play a starring role in storybooks thanks to Typlume & Graphine's series La Vie de Mon Doudou. Now, for teddies with a taste for adventure, there's the opportunity to tour the sights of Prague and return home with a suitcase full of souvenirs. Czech Toy Traveling bills itself as "the first global travel agency for teddy bears and cuddly toys", and it offers consumers with toys hankering to see the world a choice of several tour packages. The basic fare of EUR 90 ensures that a ted will communicate by email daily during his, her or its travels and then return home with photographs, a certificate and a gift. The extended fare, priced at EUR 140, adds more photographs, an "aromatherapy service", and an original travel box; while the premium fare of EUR 150 adds a photo album, a "massage" and an original shipment package. Toy Traveling serves only toys sized 80cm x 40cm x 40cm or smaller, and weighing no more than 3kg. Toy Traveling currently focuses its tours solely on Prague, but it's already forming plans for expansion: Bratislava, Budapest, Munich, Berlin, Paris and Rio de Janeiro are all possibilities, according to the company's Facebook page. It seems to us there could also be a fruitful partnership with TinyPocketPeople, allowing consumers to take vicarious trips by sending mini versions of themselves. There are lots of opportunities in this quirky field—maybe it's time to start playing with toys again! (Related: Monthly mail service turns kids into globe-trotters.) Website: www.sendyourdarling.com/toytraveling Spotted by: Giulia Cuccolini |
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Bird-watchers are well-known for the tenacity with which they chronicle sightings of avian species worldwide, but fans of other types of wildlife may have a harder time figuring out what's likely to be nearby. Now coming to the rescue is WildlifeNearYou, a UK-based site that lets animal lovers share their experiences and locate wildlife around the globe. Focusing on nature reserves, zoos, parks and other organised wildlife locations, WildlifeNearYou lets users search for particular animals or search by area to learn where the wildlife that matters to them is likely to be found. They can also combine their search criteria and, for example, look for llamas in London. More than 1,500 species and 600 locations in 56 countries have been added since the site's launch in January, and users can add their own trips with information and photos of what they saw. Those with specific knowledge, meanwhile, can also help tag photos on the site with names for the species shown. Combining one part life-tracking and one part location-based search, WildlifeNearYou promises to serve wildlife hobbyists and experts alike with its database of localised spottings. In addition to tapping advertising possibilities, we wouldn't be surprised to see WildlifeNearYou team up with a conservation effort of some kind, giving users a way to combine their passion with the good karma of helping out. Nature-focused organisations around the world: is this one to get involved in? (Related: For every brand and logo, a species to be saved — Community for tracking life experiences.) Website: www.wildlifenearyou.com Spotted by: Marko Balabanovic |
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Giving softly-spoken consumers everywhere a better chance of getting themselves heard, the Talk-o-Meter is a chat-monitoring iPhone app designed to show conversation dominators the error of their overbearing ways. After a brief calibration period to identify the voices in a dialogue, the app recognises who is speaking and keeps track of each person's talk time. The results are displayed as red and blue bars indicating the balance. Speakers can then glance at the Talk-o-Meter as they converse, and—the designer hopes—make adjustments if they are monopolising the discussion. Talk-o-Meter is priced at EUR 3.99 on the Apple iTunes Store. Its creator, Unperfekthaus, is working on a new version of the app that can be used by more than two people, to identify those who dominate group discussions. One to try out or get involved in? Website: www.talk-o-meter.de/e Spotted by: Reinhard Wiesemann |
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We've seen eco-minded laundromats before—including Toronto's Beach Solar, which we covered last fall—but when pickup and delivery are included, the greenness can only go so far. Unless, of course, you're the Laundry Company of Buenos Aires, which uses pedal power to collect and return its deliveries for free. Clothes washing and a variety of related services are all available from the Laundry Company, which supports a tree-planting program to keep its business carbon-neutral. All customers are given a reusable fabric bag for their clothes, thus eliminating the disposable plastic coverings that normally get used. The Laundry Company also uses low-temperature machines and detergents designed for minimal environmental impact, resulting in energy savings of 40 percent, it says. Best of all, pickup and delivery—available at no extra charge—are made on foot or by means of the company's bright red tricycles. If laundry, produce, groceries, furniture and assorted cargo can all be delivered by bicycle—much to the satisfaction of legions of green-minded consumers around the globe—there's probably no reason your product can't be too. Or did you want to let your competitors be first to tap those particular eco-bounty rewards? ;-) Website: www.laundrycompany.com.ar Spotted by: Verge Manuel |
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It was back in 2003 that we began covering nethoods, as our sister site calls them, and since then GPS and mobile technologies have greatly increased locally focused possibilities. BlockChalk is a new site that aims to provide the online equivalent of a neighbourhood bulletin board where residents can use their mobile phones to leave location-based messages for other people in their community. Billed as “the voice of your neighbourhood,” BlockChalk lets mobile phone users leave messages (“chalks,” as the service calls them) on their block, their street, at the coffee shop or anywhere they happen to be. Neighbourhood tips, restaurant recommendations, pothole alerts or even lost pets are all perfect candidates for location-tagged message topics that can be left on BlockChalk, which allows other users of the service in the same area to reply either publicly or privately. No signup is required to use the service, and BlockChalk never reveals a user's identity or exact location unless they specifically request it. The mobile application is now available for iPhone, Palm Pre and Android-based handsets, with Blackberry and Nokia support coming soon. Launched early this year, BlockChalk is now used in more than 114 countries, 8,700 cities and 13,700 or so neighborhoods. The Bay Area startup is also in the process of integrating its service with Twitter's new geo-enabled API, it says. Besides helping to connect neighbours with each other and with a wealth of hyperlocal information, BlockChalk also promises a world of advertising opportunities for local businesses; for developers, an API is already available. One to partner with in your neck of the location-based woods...? (Related: Connecting neighbours and landlords online — More neighbourhood problem-solving: SeeClickFix.) Website: www.blockchalk.com Spotted by: Judy McRae
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Earlier in February we wrote about Givv.org, a non-profit that allows donors to support all their favourite organisations from a single location and with a single monthly payment. Launched in January by GlobalGiving.co.uk, the Thousand Pound Club also facilitates one-stop giving, but is exclusively for donors willing to commit at least GBP 1,000 to support a personalised portfolio of well-vetted international charity projects. Those wishing to join the Thousand Pound Club complete an online questionnaire detailing their interests, passions and charitable preferences. GlobalGiving then proposes a set of charitable projects to be supported through the applicant's "Giving Portfolio". Applicants review the portfolio, make changes to the selection if desired, and then activate it by sending in their donation cheque. Members of the Thousand Pound Club can log in to their account to read regular email updates on the progress of their projects and find out exactly what a difference their donations are making. One to get involved in, or to emulate for a new model of major giving in your part of the world? Website: www.globalgiving.co.uk/thousand-pound-club |
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Much the way Kiva matches investors with entrepreneurs in the developing world, so Grow VC brings a crowdfunding platform to mobile and web startups around the globe. Launched earlier this month, Hong Kong-based Grow VC aims to bring the first truly transparent, global, community-based approach to early-stage funding. Focusing on startup funding needs ranging from USD 10,000 to USD 1 million, Grow VC collects membership fees from its participants and pools 75 percent of them into a community fund. That fund then gets invested into promising member startups. Grow VC manages these investments, but members can control how their portion of the fund should be allocated, allowing them to focus on the startups they feel have the most potential. Grow VC users can follow each other in Twitter-like fashion, while reputation statistics reflect their track records. When a startup fails, the community fund covers its own losses. But when one does well, 75 percent of the returns are paid as commissions to top-ranked members. The company explains: "We're here to fix the traditional opaque and mysterious startup funding system. Grow VC offers the platform and tools so the process from idea to launch can be managed and communicated with a more structured manner, while at the same time enabling the race to success to start much earlier." Fees depend on the amount to be raised or invested. Startup and funder pricing starts at USD 20 per month. Others, such as experts, certified partners and business sponsors pay more. Grow VC spent several months in beta, and by January had already gained more than 700 registered users. One to get in on early...? (Related: Twitter for entrepreneurs — "Open-mic nights" for business ideas.) Website: www.growvc.com Spotted by: John Greene |
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Toddlers and young children are notorious for their desire to grab whatever might be dangerous for them, and hot beverages are no exception. In fact, some 100,000 children each year are scalded by hot drinks and foods in the United States alone, according to the American Burn Association. Enter the MummyMug, a new innovation that uses a lip-activated lid to prevent drinks from spilling. Parents simply fill the MummyMug with their favourite hot drink, secure the screw-on lid, and start sipping. The pressure of the drinker's top lip against the top of the lid causes the valve to open. It automatically closes up after every sip, ensuring that the MummyMug remains safe if accidentally knocked over. Made from a material that gives the look and feel of ceramics but with shatterproof durability, the patent-pending mug is recyclable and guaranteed BPA-free. The Swedish-made MummyMug, sold by the Dutch company of the same name, will hit European stores this autumn. There's no word yet on pricing. Parenting and baby retailers around the world: better sign up now ... Website: www.mummymug.com |
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We've seen a few different efforts to help travellers share rides to and from airports, most recently Virgin Atlantic's Taxi2. Now one of our spotters has alerted us to another, Ridepenguin, which is currently in beta at Seattle's Sea-Tac and Las Vegas's McCarran airports. Ridepenguin helps travellers reduce costs and emissions by sharing taxi rides to or from the airport. Users start off on the free service by indicating which airport they're going to, when, and from what part of town. Ridepenguin then estimates how much money and emissions would be saved if the traveller shared a ride, and invites them to broadcast their journey share request. If Ridepenguin finds a match, it informs users by SMS. From there, the individuals concerned can exchange messages or phone numbers to coordinate the pickup. The service is available both for desktop computers and for smartphones running a mobile browser. Ridepenguin is the brainchild of Seattle software company EverythingIsTheBest, which hopes to expand coverage to other airports in the future. One to partner with to help make that happen? (Related: Londoners share lifts to Luton airport — Facilitating cab shares to the airport.) Website: www.ridepenguin.com Spotted by: Susanna Haynie |
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