Peer to Peer

While food trucks are popping up in every city and every media outlet, a startup in Finland has found another twist on the ice cream truck concept. Pikku Juttu (Finnish for small things) is a mobile handyman service, offering… [...]

There is a broad consensus about the soar environmental state of our planet. The efforts of ‘seducing’ us into a more environmentally healthy life style are therefore broad and intense. Adding coolness to these efforts makes substantial sense. Our planet appears to need it. Urgently. If we have to give up parts of our life styles, replacing it with cool alternatives: that is an option as interesting as necessary. (Click on Read Why it’s Cool for more) [...]

This month’s trend briefing by our sister-site trendwatching.com explores maturialism: the phenomenon of experienced, less-easily shocked, outspoken consumers who appreciate brands that are daring or even a bit risqué. Here are five examples of companies that know how to… [...]

We’ve already seen some compelling examples of the change that can be wrought in local governments through the deft application of new web technologies. Aiming to make such tech-enabled transformation more widespread, California-based Code for America is a nonpartisan… [...]

More urban farming innovation! Hard on the heels of our stories this summer about The Crop Mob, Triscuit’s new initiative and German Meine Ernte comes word of a Canadian venture much along the lines of Your Backyard Farmer and… [...]

Home beer-brewing kits may produce superlative results, but they also tend to take up superlative amounts of space. Therein lies the raison d’etre for Brooklyn Brew Shop, which sells a variety of diminutive kits aimed at apartment-dwellers and others… [...]

“Night at the Museum” may bring a fictional story to life for movie-goers, but thanks to a contest currently under way, one lucky winner will soon be spending a full month at the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry…. [...]

Check out the rise in ‘mature materialism’: experienced, less-easily shocked, outspoken consumers who actually appreciate brands that are a little bit more daring if not risqué… Read MATURIALISM » [...]

Compassion is in our DNA – though it does not have a monopoly there. The beauty of Compassion, the necessity of it, its heavenly characteristics are part of all religions. Compassion is everywhere.  At the same time Compassion is changing. Not in the least Cool Compassion. Religious compassion still continues also in parts of the world that have secularized – Europe in the first place. But there have been crystallized new form of Compassion. Live Aid in 1985 can be considered as a mile stone in Cool Compassion: Compassion went really global for the first time. Compassion was totally ‘media-mediated’ for the first time. And Compassion was mixed with lots of fun, for the first time. These three characteristics of Cool Compassion lead the way since then. (Click on Read Why It’s Cool for more) [...]

We have heard the world leaders. We have heard the bankers. Recession struck us hard, mainly in North America and Europe. And while some are still pointing fingers (see also WTR: Anger, Distrust and Cynicism) we have put our perspective on the sane side of recession. Recession makes us creative, recession makes us strong!  (Click on Read Why It’s Cool for more) [...]