In this issue: WATER JOBS SLEEP SECURITY WEATHER DIRT And much, much more... ------------------------------------------------------------ ____ ____ ___ _____ ____ ______ ______ * / __ )/ __ \/ | / _/ | / / |/ / | / _/ / / __ / /_/ / /| | / // |/ / /|_/ / /| | / // / / /_/ / _, _/ ___ |_/ // /| / / / / ___ |_/ // /___ /_____/_/ |_/_/ |_/___/_/ |_/_/ /_/_/ |_/___/_____/ *Feeding hungry minds since 2004 ------------------------------------------------------------ Brainmail email issue 28 - June 2007 ------------------------------------------------------------ Brainmail is a free snack-sized newsletter dedicated to current and future trends. To subscribe or unsubscribe go to http://brainmail.nowandnext.com Tell the whole world about brainmail forward this to a couple of friends. ------------------------------------------------------------ > Pushy parents Pushy parents are causing problems for employers. Some candidates are now being accompanied by one or more parent, who attempts to sit in on the interview process and then tries to follow up afterwards to ensure that their child is selected. Ref: Workforce Management (US) > Liquid security EM-SEC Technologies has developed an electromagnetic paint that, once applied, prevents electronic eavesdropping. The main market for the product is government departments and corporations but how long before we see domestic applications? Ref: Trendhunter.com (Canada) > Bottled water is off the menu Two recent sightings of the shape of things to come. First a restaurant in Sydney with a menu that says: "Each day we dispose of many litres of unconsumed water. Please remain aware that water restrictions are in place". Second a restaurant in San Francisco is only offering customers local tap water on the basis that foreign bottled water isn't environmentally sustainable. What's next, a boycott of foreign wine? Ref: Various/Joe Ferry (UK) > Green labelling According to the International Herald Tribune consumer products may be forced to display details about their origins and environmental impact in the future much in the same way that food products carry information about origin and nutritional content. Ref: Innovation Watch (US) > Power Napping Following hot on the heels of Metro Naps another firm has woken up to the revenue potential of a good rest. Yelo is a new sleep salon offering tired and stressed-out New Yorkers 20 or 40-minute power naps. The naps cost between US$12-$14, or more for a full reflexology treatment. Ref: Springwise.com (Neth) > McDonald's Combo McDonald's has joined forces with Japanese telecomm giant NTT DoMoCo to develop technology that allows customers to pay for food with their mobile phones. Nice idea. How about something similar to pay for drinks in the local pub? Ref: Nikkei Weekly (Japan) > Weather 2.0 One of the problems with weather forecasting is a lack of data, especially from remote areas such as the oceans, deserts and poles. However, a patent filed by Boeing may partly solve this problem. The idea is to equip as many commercial and military aircraft as possible with sensing equipment and then beam the data back to an earth based weather computer. Ref: New Scientist (UK) > Mock marriages One of the services that will be available at the Glastonbury Music Festival again this year is mock-marriage. Apparently the non-religious commitment ceremony has now become so popular that there are plans to introduce group hitching to by-pass the queues. Ref: The Times (UK) > Better losers An experiment by scientists at Stanford University (US) suggests that older people are better losers. The study of adults aged over 65 found that they were better equipped emotionally than younger people to deal with the thought of making a financial loss. Ref: New Scientist (UK) > Home visits A report by the Centre for Policy Studies says that in Britain there are now 266 legitimate reasons why the government can demand entry into your home. The reasons range from "checking for foreign bees" to "carrying out a fact-finding mission in accordance with the Ottawa Convention on Landmines". Most of these powers are new powers created since 1997. Ref: The Week (UK) > Future state of mind According to something called the Bischof-Kohler hypothesis humans are the only species that can separate current feelings from future desires. However, researchers at Cambridge University (UK) say this isn't so. An experiment using crows has found that birds can also think ahead by putting aside food that they will want in the future even when this conflicts with what they want now. Ref: New Scientist (UK) > Brainmail bookclub Two new books that may be of interest to brainmail readers. The first is 'What We Believe But Cannot Prove: Today's Leading Thinkers on Science in the Age of Uncertainty (Ed John Brockman). The second is "Mavericks at Work: Why the Most Original Minds in Business Win" by William Taylor and Polly LeBarre. Ref: Seed (Canada)/Innovation Watch (US) > Word detective: spam 2.0 Definition: The commercial use of social networking sites like MySpace to sell or otherwise promote things of a commercial nature. For example, have you noticed how many 'friends' Nintendo's Wii has? Ref: Wired (US) > Emergency exits A report by the American Highway Users Alliance has found that over half of America's major cities are ill equipped to handle a major evacuation. Some of the worst places to flee from include New York, Los Angles, San Francisco and Miami thanks to geographic barriers and highways that were not designed for major loads. Ref: Wired (US) > Pilgrim's Progress We supposedly live in godless times, but then why are more people than ever going on religious pilgrimages? In 1995, 900,000 Muslim pilgrims performed the Hajj. By 2006 this figure had risen to over 2,000,000. Similarly the number of Christian pilgrims making the journey to the shrine of Santiago de Compostela in north-western Spain has increased from 3,500 per year in 1998 to over 100,000 last year. Ref: The Independent (UK) > Dig this Your grandmother was right. Research carried out by the University of Bristol (UK) says that exposing children to soil-borne bacteria (i.e. dirt) improves immune systems and boosts the production of mood-regulating serotonin. In other words, mud keeps you healthy and makes you happy. Ref: Newsweek (US) > Spot the business model Stories about user-generated content may be thick on the ground in the media but the revenue certainly isn't - for the moment at least. Last year revenue from user-generated content was just US $80 million globally. Ref: Red Herring (US) > No reception (please) A survey has found that 90% of airline passengers are opposed to the use of mobile phones on passenger aircraft. Ref: New York Times (US) > Ethnic tracking Police in the UK are using people's surnames to conduct ethnic profiling to map the ethnic composition of specific neighbourhoods or streets. In theory the profiling will allow the police to tailor law enforcement tactics to the specific needs of local communities. Ref: The Times (UK) > Easy as 1-2-Free A Japanese company is offering students free photocopying. The idea works commercially because the company places advertisements on the back of each sheet of copy paper. Ref: Springwise.com (Neth) > Music to retailer's ears British Airports Authority (BAA) has experimented with a soundscape of computer-generated music mixed with birdsong and waves at Glasgow airport in Scotland. During the test period sales in the airport shops increased by up to 10%. Ref: The Economist (UK). > Non-scents You've probably heard of Buy Nothing Day but this idea seems to have taken the idea of nothingness to the extreme. Choix is a new perfume that smells of absolutely nothing. According to the Head of Beauty at Selfridges Department store in London customers will put on Choix as a surrealist statement. Well I certainly know where I'd like to put it. Ref: Trendhunter.com (Canada) ------------------------------------------------------------ : STATSHOTS Around 7,000 Americans die every year as a result of a doctors' bad handwriting. Ref: Harper's (US) In 1972, 18% of UK families had only one child living at home. By 1981 this figure had risen to 22% and by 2005 it had reached 27%. Ref: Office of National Statistics (UK) 44 million people visit a Starbucks coffee shop every week. Ref: Financial Times (Asia) There is only one ATM in Afghanistan. Ref: Prospect (UK). The amount of money raised by the RED campaign to fight AIDs, TB and Malaria is around US $18 million. In contrast the amount spent by Apple, Gap and Motorola to promote their association with the campaign is estimated to be over US $100 million. Ref: Time (US) In 1990 the phrase 'green design' appeared just once in US newspapers and wire agency reports. Last year the phrase appeared 512 times. Ref: Iconowatch (US) Last year one in eight US households did not have a landline telephone. Three years earlier it was one in twenty. Ref: SeattlePI.com (US) 5% of Californians are currently searching for a meaningless physical relationship. Ref: Forbes (US) The suicide rate among English cricketers is more than double the national average. Ref: The Spectator (UK) The most popular keywords on Twitter.com are: "Twitter", "Going" and "Lunch". Ref: The Times (UK) 44% of people in the UK still live in the area in which they were born. Ref: Prospect (UK) Around 50% of UK households do not have a dining table. Ref: National Post (Canada) ------------------------------------------------------------ : QUOTE OF THE MONTH "If the future teaches us anything it's that it hasn't happened yet" Jerry Useem ------------------------------------------------------------ : WEBSITE OF THE MONTH It's still in beta but check out Home Page Daily http://www.homepagedaily.com ------------------------------------------------------------ : STILL HUNGRY? If this snack-sized newsletter still leaves you feeling hungry feed your brain with something a little more substantial at www.nowandnext.com (and yes, that's free too). ------------------------------------------------------------ : LOVE IT? THEN SHARE IT Do you know someone whose brain is not being fully exercised? Someone that is snacking on media that isn't terribly satisfying. Floss their brain and brighten up their day with a copy of brainmail in their inbox - forward this to your friends. ------------------------------------------------------------ : SUBSCRIBE TO BRAINMAIL Brainmail is a free monthly newsletter about new ideas, innovations and trends. To subscribe or unsubscribe visit the website at http://brainmail.nowandnext.com