A Dubai bill board showing two men in traditional clothing. Close to one another, within each other’s personal space. The expression on their faces is soft, almost sensual. Their noses more or less touch.  Is this a billboard for a movie? Are we looking at movie stars? The movie story line one can image doesn’t seem to fit the environment. We ask a local shopkeeper for translation. He is proud to help us out. It happens to be the billboard for his shop. And indeed, on the fascia of his modest store front we see the same Arab text lines, including the translation. You could have fooled us.

As middle-class staples like cars, computers and phones become more accessible to society’s have-nots, distinctions between the first and third worlds will grow increasingly murky. The following innovations will help tip the balance:
The cheap mobile phone (15 euros) reaching out to 1 billion new owners. The cheap laptop (under 150 euros) accessible to a wide population of poor children and school - in Libya, Uruguay, Rwanda and Peru. The cheap Tata Motor car Nano (1800 euros) that will lead to a 65% growth of car owners in India to start with.

In co-operation with Lois Saldana

Why Wait? With high-powered mobile connectivity, technology is racing to meet people’s desire for Instant Gratification. Whenever they go online people immediately get ahold of books, music and TV shows, both bestselling and niche. The same applies to vacuum cleaners to medication to cars. Things in digital form (data, music, movies) come as fast as they can download. Physical items can arrive as soon as the next day. At the same time, products and brands once deemed unique have become commoditized. Take fast fashion. Stylish clothing is readily accessible almost everywhere, with high-end designers such as Vera Wang and Roberto Cavalli selling versions of their wares at mass retailers. Many consumers are now quick to clean out their closets every season to make way for new belts and handbags from Target, trendy outfits from H&M and staples from Wal-Mart. Isn’t it about time for a countermovement? Shouldn’t we rethink Instant Gratification? Shouldn’t we go beyond the mass-produced din of “now”?

Lots of young people in Brazil, especially in São Paulo (16 million inhabitants), are turning back to religiosity. Not that traditional catholic one but the more evangelical churches. It is called “Bola de Neve” (Snow Ball) Church. The mass is a little kind of party at night, with bands playing reggae music & rock and roll for hours, and with lots of white lights shining at the same time. Bola de Neve is growing a lot and now builds businesses as well, like the label Bola Music, responsible for launching the “gospel” groups that use to perform on the masses. A very popular young rock star in the 90´s in Brazil, Rodolfo Abrantes, has converted himself to Bola de Neve and is currently one of its more powerful non-official speakers.

The Pond is a short-term pop-up bar that has been purpose-built to burn bright & die young in Melbourne – it has a lifespan of only 12 weeks and after closing in Australia’s coolest city it will be transported to Sydney for another limited period of time. The Pond is funded by an Australian low-carb and preservative free beer called Pure Blonde (the name of the venue is made by selecting some of the letters from Pure Blonde). An ugly and derelict urban space has been transformed into an eco-friendly drinking eutopia, including recycled plant pots that were swapped for pots (glasses) of beer, certified plantation pine furniture and it even has an entry courtyard featuring six massive silver birch trees found lying under-utilised on an old golfing estate. The product selection at the bar also reflects the message of purity – only white beverages are available and it all closes at 10PM so that people don’t wake up cursing Pure Blonde for a big night out!

In a wired world practically any (private) information one may want resides on a server somewhere. The quid pro quo of always-on connectivity is that any electronic communication can be monitored, and movement can be tracked through ISP nodes and cell phones. It may well be wise to operate on the assumption that no secret can ever be safe. The result is a growing acceptance of living life in the open— and in fact many are actively embracing this concept. As conspicuous consumption in the developed world decreases, conspicuous living is at an all time high, with people clamoring to show and tell all, no matter how personal.

We have been seeing in recent months a drive towards a more eco-friendly death business with the advent of biodegradable coffins, eco-cementaries, green burials etc.

Originally submitted by MaryLee Sachs

Geek Squad City is a company that hires real ‘computer geeks’ to work all together fixing laptops and knock together other digital machines. Located within the walls of 345 international Boulevard in Hillview, Kentucky, Geek Squad City is the largest single Geek Squad computer repair site anywhere in the world. And it’s the only one that repairs ANY brand – no matter how old it is or where it was purchased. This IS the Home of the Problem Solvers, passionate about making technology work for everyone.

Viral marketing? I got this picture as an attachment to an email sent to me by a friend. Is this a real protester or a clever advertising campaign planned by Mastercard? If he is a real protester, well Mastercard owes him a lot.

Don’t underestimate the ever growing pride of the Brazilians – Brasilidade it is called, or Tropicalismo – which has been ingrained in their post-colonial culture by heroes like Caetano Veloso and Gilberto Gil. The Brazilian Vogue version does not touch that cultural string strong enough. Brazilian aficionadas want to see more of Brazil, the Brazilian way of thinking and dressing and showing off in their magazines. Here Vogue only delivers in a superficial manner. Therefore, Erika Palomino’s South American fashion magazine KEY is more clever, more sharp, more edgy, less slick.

Dignity Toilet is a portable sanitation solution, ideal for refugee camps and developing countries. This product was designed by Canadian designer Mike Loveless and engineer Terence Woodside of Cooler Solutions Inc. and recently it was awarded by the Humanitarian International Design Organisation. For all the right reasons, this is uplifting human misery in a sustainable manner.

This ad for D&G jewellery, currently airing in heavy rotation on TV and in cinemas across Europe, is devilishly clever. It toys with your expectations about boys meets girls and all the love that might come from that. But then, right at the end, when you think you know what it’s about, you slowly realise that yes, it’s kind of about that, but actually it’s much more about something else that is even more powerful and salient and unsettling. And strangely hotter. Narcissistic self love.

Last Exit to Nowhere, an online T-shirt store recently introduced a line of T-shirts with brands that are inspired and pay homage to some of the most memorable places, corporations and companies in 20th century fiction movies. Think of the Tyrell Corporation in Blade Runner, the Overlook Hotel in The Shining or HAL9000 from 2001: A Space Odyssey

Conversation is of all times, including the coffeehouses’ heydays in the 17th and 18th century in London and Paris. However, do not underestimate Melbourne today! On any given Friday night you’ll find pods of conversation in some pretty unusual places; Bobby’s Cuts is a tragically cool men’s clothing store selling middle-range skinny black jeans, stripy shirts, hoodies and some masculine ephemera like shaving kits. It’s an epicentre for Melbourne’s ‘young men’ - the new breed of hipsters with a rougher tougher manly edge. On Friday nights, instead of going to the pub as they used to do six months ago, you’ll find a clique of about 10 guys and girls sitting out the front of the street on milk crates having good conversation.