March 30, 2007

1thology Sneaker Site
The Nike Airforce 1 is not only the most remixed sneaker in history, it’s also the most coveted. Freshness has a review up of the soon-to-be-launched 1thology site - "the most complete collection of AF1s ever." Almost 1000 sneakers have been painstakingly documented in hi-res, letting users interact with the most detailed features of each shoe and sort by year, silo (low, mid, high) and color.
But the best part is that every visitor leaves with a souvenir. The site lets users embed their collections on myspace or if they choose, print out posters of their favorite sneakers. This social advertising is so Fresh!
1thology launches April 11th.

Loving: Google Text
Out on the town with no where to go? We’re loving Google text. Tap the name of your bar or restaurant followed by the city name and text to GOOGLE / 466453 and mini-seconds later you get the address and telephone back in an SMS message. Not too sure where to go but fancy a little French action - just type ‘French restaurant’ and your post code and voila(!) : a list of local saucy establishments. No charge (except your usual text costs).
In fact, Google SMS offers instant feedback beyond local listings. They cover the weather (weather NYC), flight updates (LH454 or AA 2111), sports (lakers), movies (the departed 94110), stock quotes (tgt), glossary (define zenith), translation (translate two beers please in french), driving directions (pasadena CA to 94043) and currency conversion (8 usd in pounds).

Demise of the Demo
The days of a demo tape and a dream are nearly over, according to Reuters:
SonyBMG, the world’s second-biggest music company, said that from Monday it would no longer accept hard copy formats. Instead, budding musicians will be asked to sign up to a record
label Web site such as www.columbiademos.co.uk or www.rcademos.co.uk to
blog their music, photos and videos.
With countless A&Rs scouring music blogs and Myspace to find their next signings, this is obviously nothing new. However, one must cast a small tear for the pending demise of innovative tactics musicians have used to get their tapes in the hands of the right people. One of our favorites is electronic producer Recloose, who was working at a sandwich shop in Detroit. When techno pioneer Carl Craig came in, he slipped him an extra "demo on rye," which eventually lead to his signing.
Any more interesting demo tape stories you’ve heard? Leave them in the comments.

Sweet and Sour
Today’s WSJ features a front-page story about a berry that turns sour to sweet. Within minutes of eating Synsepalum dulcificum, people have their taste buds altered so that the most bitter foods taste as sweet as candy. From the article:
After languishing in obscurity since the 1970s, miracle fruit, or Synsepalum dulcificum,
is enjoying a small renaissance. In-the-know food lovers from Hawaii to
Finland are seeking out the berry as a culinary curiosity. In Japan,
it’s freeze-dried and canned or sold in tablets. Some restaurants there
have featured it as an avant-garde dessert, including at Tokyo’s
Mandarin Oriental hotel. So has the Four Seasons Resort in Palm Beach,
Fla., where two miracle-fruit shrubs are planted in the hotel’s garden.
Restaurants like New York’s wd-50 and Chicago’s Primehouse, among others, have been already experimenting with cuisine at the molecular level. Perhaps this berry will add an interesting new twist to the way we think about food in the future.

C,MM,N - The Open Source Car
Core77 points to a Dutch project called c,mm,n which has been revealed at AutoRAI, the Amsterdam car show. The makers of c,mm,n plan to let everyone tinker with the blueprints to come up with a car, erm, designed by committee, we suppose. Core77 says:
The vehicle’s technical drawings and blueprints are freely available online, and everyone is invited to add their own ideas and modifications, provided of course that these are shared again with the community.
…c,mm,n drivers can also easily share information on traffic conditions, route planning and parking availability

Secrets
Iain Tait of CrackUnit has spotted a fad in London: secret locations for parties and club nights. It’s like 1989 all over again. Oh yeah, it is 1989 all over again. Iain says:
Secrets are cool. Every single party in London now seems to be held in a secret venue (even though you can buy tickets at Ticketmaster).

Joost TV Ad
This is Joost’s first TV spot where it kind of explains what the peer to peer TV service is.
Not too sure how an old man dipping his fingers in your pint really demonstrates a community, but hey… Related PSFK Articles Joost Will Run On Apple TV [via Adverblog]
March 29, 2007

BBC To Feed Mobile TV
According to Paidcontent.org, the BBC will provide UK mobile carriers live, streamed TV and radio channels for mobile handsets. According to the site,
Orange, Vodafone and 3 UK will broadcast BBC ONE, BBC Three and BBC News 24 plus radio stations as part of a trial beginning in a month. Each network already operates mobile TV subscription services that variously include BBC rival ITV and BSkyB channels.
Related PSFK Articles
Three Region Theory For Mobile Phones

11 Spring Street : Good Magazine’s Video
With a video on YouTube, Good Magazine have released a timely reminder of the 11 Spring Street art event that happened in December 06. Captures the energy and it’s great to watch and listen to organizers Marc & Sarah of Wooster Collective explain the event.
More Stories
PSFK Conference London - Need Some Feedback
OK, guys - over 200 of you have already registered your interest in attending the PSFK Conference in London on 1st June. The location we have penciled is the Gallery above Imagination. It’s very nice but it’s a little small - about 150 seats.
Racked.com
A new shopping website, Racked.com, made its official debut yesterday and Fashion PSFK has gotten no work done since. In its own words: “Racked is…
Shakeup at Dior
According to MPDClick, Kris Van Assche will take over the reins as Dior’s creative director.The brands re-jig, reported yesterday was due to contractual problems between…
Flogging
In this video, Buenos Aires trend hunter Hernando Gomez Salinas talks about the huge popularity of Flogging using fotolog.com by Argentineans.
Castro Sides With Treehugger In Battle Against Corn & Palm Oil BioFuels
Yep, being green is confusing. And when you try to be green sometimes, it turns out you’re just making things worse. Take for example biofuels. Sounds like the thing to put in your motor, no? Maybe not.
Music’s Price To Hit Zero If It Hasn’t Done So Already
An article and a white paper argue that the price of music is free.
Virtual Logistics Services
One of the fascinating services offered by Amazon to business owners is the Amazon S3 system. The system lets businesses sell products on the web but stock and ship their goods at Amazon’s warehouses.
Joost Will Run On Apple TV
Analysis by the members of a site called Tutorial Ninjas suggests that the peer-to-peer TV network Joost will work on the new Apple TV system.
Onion News Network
We reported it a few weeks ago, and now it’s live - the “24 Hour” News Network from satirical news paper the Onion.
Peeps on the Street
Phil Oh’s recently launched (and pervy sounding) Street Peeper documents urban fashion in a variety of cities including New York, Seoul, Paris, with many more on the way. What sets…
Greenhouse Gases and Marketing: Synthesis
The proliferation of greenhouse gases (GHG) - and specifically carbon dioxide – both in the media and the atmosphere – is a ubiquitous issue at the moment. This article will…
Real Gun Games In France
Heron Preston just came by and told us to check out this video he made of a game he found at a fair in Bordeaux. No more pop-pop guns.
James Murphy: Friend or Foe?
Some amusing viral marketing around LCD Soundsystem’s new record, modeled after the shoddy aesthetic of political attack ads in local markets:…
Slightly Overcast: Clear
PSFK’s first experience with the new Clear registered traveler card was spotty at best. Though we love the concept of submitting to a background check and then being able to…
Electronic Cumbia
When we went to Buenos Aires we hung out with Hernando Gomez Salinas. One of the interesting trends he told us about was the musical mash up of Electronic Cumbia - a mix of Argentinean folk with modern electronic.
Video Interview With Leandro Martelletti Of Interrupcion
When we were in Buenos Aires, PSFK interviewed the spokesman of the green conultancy/import business called Interrupcion. Leandro explains the philosophy behind the business and how that manifests itself in the things they do.
Shoe & Seoul
Stumbled upon the f e e t | m a n | s e o u l blog. Not too sure if the owner is a shoe fanatic or a perv with a camera. You decide.
Long Table Agencies
A few weeks ago Hemal Vasavada-Gill of The Eight Fold came by for a chat. One of her observations was about the Long Tables we sit at alongside the folk we share the office with…
Competiton and Broadcast Radio?
In today’s WSJ Marketplace section, columnist Lee Gomes highlights the flaws behind the broadcast radio lobby’s diminished choice and monopoly arguments against the proposed Sirius/XM merger:If you fret about diminished…
Advertisers Take To Monocle
Amidst all the chatter about the decline of the print medium, all eyes have been on Tyler Brule’s recently launched Monocle to see if this niche publication aimed at a…
BA Does A JetBlue
Passengers on flight BA116 on Monday March 26 made passengers wait 7 hours on a runway at JFK. The flight was supposed to take off at 8.05 and after waiting at the gate, they let the all other passengers off at 3am.
Are Scoble & Sierra Wrong To Stop Blogging?
Marketing blogger Kathy Sierra has decided to stop blogging because of threatening comments and emails. Robert Scoble, who brought this to our attention, has also ‘gone on strike’. The threats cover throat slitting, hanging, suffocation and sexual threats.
Creative Activism & The 3 Types Of Green Brand
April’s Creative Review is a special issue devoted to sustainability. For it, the publisher asked Sara Rich, editor of worldchanging.com, to explain how their readers can help genuinely green businesses to thrive.
Steroelythography For Medicine
Here’s a nice spot by Richard Banks where doctors are using 3D printing to print bones from X-rays, instead of print outs, to help them diagnose a patient’s problems.
Oggi Says No To Outdoor Advertising
Here’s some ads that we saw over at Brainstorm #9. Oggi is obviously having a little fun around the debate about outdoor advertising.
[hus]
It’s interesting to watch the boutique European brands venture into the US to offer fresh and clean approach to design. At the weekend, we stumbled upon a new store in New York called [hus] at the weekend - a store that’s helping push forward this design-sensibility.
Brigade2 Opens In Cleveland
By David Pinter: Boutique culture is making leaps and bounds in the Midwest lately. We mentioned Jeff Mills opening Gamma Player. Now Cleveland Ohio has…




