15 coolest things of the world ...

The research agency SIGNS OF THE TIME (www.signsofthetime.nl) came out with this list, which is suposed to be updated regularly with the support of global experts. "Some have worldwide fame, others are simply the most interesting “young dogs”/”penetrative minds” we know" - quotes Signs of The Time.


01 Light Bulb
02 Cheonggyecheon River
03 ING-cafe's
04 Wildlife
05 A Better World
06 Rugby in Paris
07 The Nano Projector
08 Going Local
09 This is Eddy
10 Meetro
11 The Underground Feels Better
12 Luxury on the Move
13 Space Disco
14 Odo7
15 Momento Mori

Under each "cool thing" you find the what, why, Signs of the time’s Interpretation and CV/Bio of the individual behind it. I think it´s a really nice way to project the meaning and background of the different things.

Leading overall themes in this first Top 15 Coolest Worldwide:

1. The rise of Sustainability and Social Responsibility version 2.0.
2. The growing intrigue by how the real world and the virtual one connect and interact.
3. Give us designs – virtual and real – that really add to our lives quality.
4. The continuous rise and new manifestations of Experience Economy.
And 5: Yes, we are going global, therefore we love the regional, the intimately close by even more than before.

Worth tracking once in a while.

A stimulating visit!

Recently I had the super experience of visiting and doing a detailed tour to one of the leading bio-tech companies in Colombia (yes, in Colombia!). It moved so many nice feelings in me ...

Bit of nostalgy - it was like coming back to my school years where I dreamed with studying genetic engineering and change the world (well, I´m already changing, but in a different way) and was surrounded by lots of german literature about the topic (remember I graduated from a german school!), nice wide school laboratories, sigh … quite stimulating environment!

Lots of proud – of seeing that such impressive developments in the bio-tech field are done in Colombia and with Colombian talent!

Meeting entrepreneurs is always an amazing experience, but interacting in such a close way with real Scientifics, and breathing such an environment full of positive energy and futurism, is almost like a therapy that each of us should have once in a while! Wondering what it would feel like working (in the management) of a bio-tech company!

Marketing Apple - by Steve Chazin

Steve Chazin (not Jobs!) worked with Steve Jobs to rebuild Apple’s marketing efforts which helped return the company to profitability in the late 90’s. In total he worked around 10 years at Apple.

Recently I discovered a blog he has: http://www.marketingapple.com/,

where you can not only download one of his ebooks (also called MARKETING APPLE) from, but also find lots of posts and references related to the Apple world. Questions as What market is Apple in?, A great time to be a Mac user, Where did the iPod and iTunes come from?, Does market share matter to Apple? are answered in an simple and anecdotic style.

Well, of course the blog has some dose of Apple (self)promotion, but who cares? - still nice to read at times.

Fashion out of plastic bags

"Golaces"

This guy, called Brian Witlin (a Stanford Graduate), is creating out of plastic bags very good looking accessories. Basically, by heating polyethylene bags (the one we get at any supermarket) just enough to fuse them together, he creates a tough, flexible material that so far has two amazing uses:

1. Bags: He´s been partnering with TIMBUK2 to create this very fashionable recycled bags. Don´t they look awesome?

2. “Golaces”: Golaces are these stretchy rubber sort of things that you use on our sneakers instead of laces -- which look cool and turn your sneakers into slippers (which also allow you to get your shoes on and off fast -- very hand for airport security screening lines -- and help kids who want tie shoes now but, well, aren't quite ready for them yet). The page is really worth seing: http://www.golaces.com/

The company as such is called RootPhi (http://www.rootphi.net/) which is running much more stuff than the ones profiled above.

Brian also created in the past his wildly successful firefoxies.com, a viral affinity site dedicated to spreading the Firefox web browser.

No doubt, a real entrepreneur.