Consumer Perceptions, Manipulation and Molding

Saabira Chaudhuri — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 13:37:52 -0400

Turns out that we as consumers can be easily manipulated -- and it's probably happening far more often that we'd like to imagine. A couple of studies released this year draw attention to this. The first demonstrates that consumers are prone to value high price tags – not always because of any intrinsic quality such as better taste, texture, performance or higher comfort levels that the products bearing these prices possess – but sometimes simply because the price is higher.

Nintendo - Least Green Company

Saabira Chaudhuri — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 12:24:48 -0400

Greenpeace International released its latest 'Guide to Greener Gadgets' this week. Nintendo came in right at the bottom, with a score of just 0.8 points out of 10, scoring zero on all e-waste criteria.

The quarterly guide ranks the top 18 manufacturers of personal computers, mobile phones, TVs and games consoles according to their policies on toxic chemicals, recycling and climate change.

The World's First Moving (Not Just Rotating!) Building

Saabira Chaudhuri — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 15:03:03 -0400

An 80-storey (420-metre tall) moving building is slated to be built in Dubai, with apartments that will spin 360 degrees at voice command, according to the BBC.

Talk about innovative… 79 horizontally placed wind turbines located between each floor, producing enough energy to make the building self-sufficient, will fuel the apartments' motion.

The Leading Edge - Free TeleForum with Dr. Mark June 25, 12 Noon EST

Mark Goulston — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 14:09:15 -0400

Dear Friends at Fast Company,

I hope you will join me for a free TeleForum hosted by Marshall Goldsmith and Patricia Wheeler on June 25, 12 Noon EST entitled: "Prevent Your Career's Biggest Tragedy."

Info below:

Please join me for my Free Live Teleforum, "Prevent Your Career's Greatest Tragedy," on June 25 at 9 AM PST. Info below. Sign up at: Dr. Mark TeleForum.

Video: The Next Big Online Wave

Saabira Chaudhuri — Wed, 21 May 2008 12:07:41 -0400

In spite of the unrelenting rain (and the fact that it was post lunch), Mediabistro Circus’s video seminar featuring Jim Louderback, CEO, Revision3; Robert Scoble, Managing Director, FastCompany.TV; and Dina Kaplan, Co-founder and COO of Blip.TV, had us all squished in like sardines -- testimony to the high level of interest online video has elicited in recent months.

Blogging: Changing the Face of Publishing, Branding, and People’s Lives

Saabira Chaudhuri — Tue, 20 May 2008 18:30:57 -0400

Mediabistro Circus’s session about blogging featured Eric Hellweg, Editorial director for harvardbusiness.org; Noah Shachtman, Contributing editor for the Danger Room Blog (on Wired.com); Anil Dash, Vice President of Six Apart; and Elisa Camahort, cofounder of Blogher.

Mediabistro Circus: Conversations on Technology and the Changing Face of Media

Saabira Chaudhuri — Fri, 16 May 2008 12:49:25 -0400

Next week, on May 20th and 21st, Mediabistro.com will hold its first conference – Mediabistro Circus.

"Most conferences are dry and boring. That's why we're calling ours a circus," says mediabistro.com founder Laurel Touby.

A gathering for creative content producers that is aimed at senior-level professionals, the 2-day event will include sessions on mobile technology, online video, social networking, blogging, digital publishing, and user experience design.

Japan's Quirky Vending Machines

Saabira Chaudhuri — Tue, 13 May 2008 13:50:21 -0400

Put some change in, thrust your face out and prepare for… a quick nicotine fix and an estimate of your wrinkles.

The Japanese have always had the world's quirkiest vending machines – actually I'd go so far as to say the world's quirkiest products in general. I did a slideshow on quirky vending machines for Fast Company last year; commonly dispensed products include toilet paper, beetles, porn and sex toys, umbrellas, fortunes, rice, and of course cigarettes and beer.

Financial Women's Association Honors Exceptional Women in Business

Saabira Chaudhuri — Tue, 06 May 2008 18:18:49 -0400

At the annual dinner of the Financial Women's Association held at the Grand Hyatt in New York last week, two high achieving women were honored with the titles of private and public sector women of the year.

Evelyn Lauder, Senior VP of the Estée Lauder Companies and Founder and Chairman of the Breast Cancer Research Foundation was awarded the public/non profit sector award for her work in raising funds for breast cancer research -- to date the BCRF has raised over $200 million to support international research.

Stan Lee Joins Forces with Virgin Comics

Saabira Chaudhuri — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 11:35:42 -0400

Stan Lee, the mastermind behind Spider-Man, the X-Men, the Fantastic Four, the Hulk, Iron Man and many others is to be in charge of Branson bankrolled Virgin Comics’ new line of superheroes.

The LA Times broke the news this morning, revealing that the 85 year old Lee will work on a superhero team that is possibly similar to his work on the Avengers at Marvel.