Sears Gives Shoppers the Points Up Front

Here is some interesting business model innovation from KMart/Sears, just in time for the Holidays (which, according to the world of retail, starts the day after Halloween). The Sears Christmas Club gets shoppers to sign up for a certain amount of spending, and then gives them the bonus points that amount entitles them to up front. This is like a Sub Club card where they start you off with a freebie. Not a bad idea, especially considering that the economic climate that will likely hang like a dark cloud over the shopping season.


(via Springwise)

Thirsty Thursday: Drinkers Buy Low at Berlin Bar

Market rules apply at Broker's Bier Borse in Berlin. The more patrons buy a beer, the more the price of that beer climbs, making the costs of the other, less-ordered beers fall. And the whole concept is tied together with a "ticker" that updates every three minutes, showing price movement for everything on tap.

Update: FIsker gets Big Loan

In an update to a story posted here last Thursday, the Department of Energy announced Tuesday that it will loan Fisker Automotive over a half billion dollars (!!!) for the development of their two lines of hybrid cars.

Energy Secretary Steven Chu states that the move will help lower greenhouse gas emissions and save/create 5,000 jobs (read the DOE's statement here). This piggybacks on a similar announcement around Telsa Motors electric sedan launch slated for 2011, and seems to be proving that Obama's team is walking the walk.

Dolby 5.1 for your Olfactory System?

Wild new concept idea from the Behance Network: a way to add smell to your television or movie-watching experience. And we're not talking about the smell of butter and dried soda syrup in the theater lobby, either...we're talking surround sound for the nose!

Cartridges load into the SMELLIT unit (sketched out above) just like you load color packs into a printer, except they pack "scents" instead of toner. They then discharge in time with whatever is happening on screen.

Car peeling out of a parking lot after pulling a bank job? Get ready for pungence of burnt rubber. The guy at the end of the street doesn't pick up after his dog, and the main character in the movie you're watching steps right in...well, you get the picture.

Griffin takes on the iPhone Lens

Griffin Technology, the technical solution providers and digital accessories makers, have designed a very cool iPhone case with built-in lens for extra focus called the Clarifi.

From their website:

Slide the Clarifi lens into place over the built-in lens of your iPhone. Your macro and close-up shots are instantly finer in detail, more accurate in color. With Clarifi's lens, your iPhone can image an entire business card with astounding clarity. Slide the lens aside for normal photography. WIthout Clarifi, iPhone requires about 18 inches to focus properly. Slide Clarifi's lens into place and you can move in to 4 inches for crisp detail and great pictures.

Apple's new TV spot states that there are 75,000 apps available for the iPhone. All the software stuff people are creating continues to impress, for sure, but my eye will be out for more external "hacks" like this.

It's an Electric...Boogie Woogie Woogie

What's under the cover, you ask? A prototype of Fisker Automotive's new electric luxury roadster. The Karma S, as it's called, was introduced to the public at the AlwaysOn Going Green conference, and is designed to go 50 miles on it's batteries (with a liquid-fuel based generator on board). It will cost around $80,000.

The Karma might not have been the most noteworthy news at the Fisker booth, though; an investor let slip that the company plans to develop and release a $39,000 version of thier plug-in hybrid by 2012.

How Rock Band Almost Got Rocked

Coincidental timing that I'm stumbling upon this article the morning after I spent a long night listening to my upstairs neighbors bang out John Bonham-like solos on a Rock Bank drum kit. It's another example of how valuable it is to watch actual consumers interact with your product, even if that means hours of studying karaoke!

And never mind the bags under my eyes, I'm glad the boys from Harmonix stuck it out.

Nikon Launches Camera that Projects

Just saw this new product launch from Nikon. The COOLPIX S1000pj is, from what it says, the first digital camera with a built-in projector capability. I'll be interested to follow this capability, and see how Nikon (and others) improve and expand upon this technology.