360 DEGREES Weblog

The day started with the Wall Street Journal reporting that the CEO of Best Buy Brian Dun shared that the iPad was cannibalizing Best Buy

What essentials do you need for a stay in New York City? The Hudson Hotel in New York City has an intriguing take on this concept launching Semi-Automatic at Hudson, an oversized vending machine that is stocked not just with everyday travel necessities but with items that are both luxurious and a little quirky. The machine includes copies of Catcher in the Rye, a Paul Smith toothbrush, Ouija Board, a Dagger Rosary by jewelry designer Pamela Love, a black sequin mini skirt by Haute Hippie, Blueprint Cleanse, a personal portrait shoot with photographer Ben Watts, 24k gold handcuffs by Kiki De Montparnasse and a way to rent a red Ferrari 599 GTB from Gotham Dream Cars. There is also an original Hudson t-shirt, created exclusively for Hudson by artist Chrissie Miller of SOPHOMORE. The Semi-Automatic concept originally debuted last year at the Mondrian in South Beach offering everything from bikinis to Bentley rentals. The machine is available to guests 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and will present new luxury items on a regular basis. Prices range from $4 (for the basics) to $8,000 for the Ben Watts photo shoot and $10,000 to rent the Ferrari 599 GTB for one week.

Where Trendstop’s Trendtracker delivers fashion forecasts to anyone with a mobile phone, UK-based Stylesignal just announced a like-minded app for its subscribers that’s delivered on the brand-new iPad.

Stylesignal provides its customers with constantly updated fashion forecasts, trend information, news coverage and inspiration, all for prices starting at USD 99 per week. Now that Apple’s iPad is out, however, the company has ported its full package of coverage to that platform. The iPad’s high-quality display has the same colour acuity and wide viewing angle of ultra-high end photographic displays, the company notes, making it perfect for viewing swatches, photographs and designs used commercially in the fashion industry. Accordingly, instead of just looking at a picture, Stylesignal subscribers can now ?pinch to zoom, touch to see a colour palette based on industry referenced colours, or move from street style photos to catwalk pictures at the flick of a finger,? it says. The continuously updated iPad app also serves as a trend book that never goes out of date, the company says. This month and next, Stylesignal is giving new subscribers a free iPad; existing ones can download the iPad app from Apple’s App Store for free.

The “world’s first ride-in restaurant” opens Monday, April 12, 2010 just south of downtown San Antonio, at the location known as the “world’s first drive-in restaurant.”

Frank’s Hog Stand, at 801 South Presa, is a restaurant focusing on serving the motorcycle enthusiast some of their favorite classic American style burgers, fries and fod.
The new motorcycle-themed restaurant will serve classic burgers, fries and other food in a casual dining area and to patrons who arrive outside on motorized bikes.
Owner Frank Arevalo grew up in the restaurant’s local area, now known as South Town, bordering the King William historical neighborhood.
The Pig Stand building started as a new idea 89 years ago by offering curbside service from car hops, who brought the food on trays to patrons remaining in their automobiles. Pig Stands became very famous in the 1920′s and 30′s as it expanded across the country.
Pig Stands were also the first restaurants to have drive up windows. They invented Texas Toast and onion rings in the 1920′s and chicken fried steaks in the 1940′s.
A historical and unique giant pig building, that is thought to have provided shelter from bad weather or hot sun for the cop hops, remains on site.
This location was closed in 2007 and was one of the last few Pig Stands for the company that once had over 130 restaurants during and after the Great Depression.
The newly refurbished restaurant will remain open seven days a week.

Looking for the green shoots of optimism is not easy — especially after two winters of discontent. Yet, there appears to be a resurgence of optimism, a new energy that may have the power to redesign as it redefines new ways of perceiving the idea and the reality of luxury.

On the plus side is the Wall Street Journal. In the 03/08/2010 article entitled The Ten Best Places For Second Homes, Steven M. Sears declared, “At long last, the market for luxury real estate is coming back to life. Prices for primary residences, which plunged at least 20% from the peak in 2007, appear to have bottomed. In some of the snappiest locations, scattered bidding wars are breaking out and prices are turning upward. In Greenwich, Conn., realty brokers say, the final months of 2009 were almost record-setters for sales volume, as two years of pent-up demand was unleashed.”

Also pertinent are data in the newest Wealth Report (3/15/10), with inferences that seem promising: “Retail chains post a 3.7% increase in February comps, with luxury outperforming the overall group. Consumers are again indulging in luxury purchases.”

Could this mean that the 2009 severe recession earthquake is behind us? Well, hopefully. But it’s necessary to remember the concept of false positives. In medicine, economics, statistics, pregnancy tests and LIFE, they are results that look good but, after the dust settles, may not yield the results originally expected. Consistently valid results take time. So with the shoots of hope within the numbers above, there is still room/time for questioning. We receive clearer pictures as time goes on, understanding that hope should be tempered by the economic history of the recent past.

Maybe the consensus of philosophers and economists were right

Fashion fanatics have a number of online tools at their disposal

Virtue may be its own reward, but that doesn’t mean tangible prizes won’t make the deal even sweeter. Just as SmartyCard uses gifts from popular vendors and family sites to reward kids for completing educational games, so Switch2Health uses much the same approach to motivate them to exercise.

New Jersey-based Switch2Health now offers the S2H REPLAY, a fun and innovative wrist-worn device aimed at tweens and teens that allows them to quantify their level of physical activity. In addition to displaying the date and time, the device also tracks and registers continuous, moderate-intensity activity, subdividing each hour into 20 three-minute segments. When users complete a full 60 minutes of physical activity over time, the device generates a reward code that can be uploaded and converted into points on the company’s website. Those points are redeemable for items such as gift cards or free months of membership at sponsors including Barnes & Noble, GameStop, Best Buy, Webkinz and Club Penguin. Consumers can also set each other specific challenges and reward them for success using S2H REPLAY. No cables or software are required, nor is there any need to recharge the device’s battery. Available online for USD 19.95, S2H REPLAY is water-resistant and available in three sizes. The device comes with a blue silicone band, but alternate colours are available for USD 2.99 each. A fully brandable device is also available for use in corporate promotions.

As part of a recently announced partnership with Boston Celtics captain Paul Pierce, S2H REPLAY will soon be incorporated into Pierce?s FitClub34 from Harvard Pilgrim.

If you are wondering what the future of kitchens will be, well, we have seen it and it

Professionally made desserts are all very well, but for true bake-it-yourself types, there’s nothing like a homemade confection. Much the way Sprinkles Cupcakes mixes aim to give baking enthusiasts a way to emulate professional results in their own kitchens, so Ticings allow them to add a dash of photographic-quality art.

Ticings are edible images that can be applied to cakes, cookies, brownies and cupcakes. Users need only peel them from their paper backing and then press them onto a baked confection. Whereas some baking embellishments drag when cut, Ticings merge with soft frosting to create edible art that creates no resistance for the knife. Launched last month, the US-made decorations