360 DEGREES Weblog

Net-a-porter has come up with the ultimate gift package for shoe-loving fashionistas this Christmas: a $10,000 shoe subscription that provides a new pair of designer shoes, of your choice, every month for a year. And that’s not all: to help make the choosing easier and ensure you love every single pair the package also includes one-one-one expert fashion advice (including an initial consultation and a direct line), sneak previews of upcoming designs, the ability to pre-reserve your favorite styles, and express shipping for satisfyingly fast delivery. It’s the ultimate “of the month club,” the perfect way to give her exactly what she wants without worrying about picking out the wrong thing, and a guaranteed hit under the Christmas tree.

Thanks Luxist

This clever Bluetooth Audio Transmitter Dongle gives any standard 3.5mm headphone socket a wireless connection to any Bluetooth headset. Stick the thing into your laptop or home Hi-Fi headphone port and you’ll be able to listen to your music via your favourite cell phone headset or other Bluetooth headphones. You’ll need to pair them together first of course, but that’s easy. $14.82/£9.51.

If you thought Montblanc were only into making high-end writing instruments, you may not be entirely wrong, except for one tiny exclusion: The German penmaker is also into other creative stuff. Case in point this shoe polish kit here. Well, don’t cringe your nose, it ain’t as banal as it sounds. Simple yet elegant, it’s not only serves the purpose of putting your best foot (read shoe) forward well, but it does it with a superlative elegance that once was the privy of the royalty. Made of high quality embossed calf leather, the box comes with shoe polish in black and neutral, brush, plain cloth and shoehorn. Plus its compact nature enables you to take it anywhere. Now step out in style and shine wherever you go with this $250 Montblanc Shoe Polish Kit.

Earlier this year, I told you about some Moleskine-style cases for the iPhone from Pad and Quill, a family-owned company in Minneapolis.  The folks at that company have been busy refining the products and upgrading the materials they use.  They now use real leather for the exteriors, but they still used the birch wood frame to cradle your device.  The updated iPhone 4 case now has a camera and flash portal ($39.99).  There are two new volumes for the iPad ($59.99 each).  Vol.2 for the iPad features a snap closure that can convert the case to a stand; Vol. 3 for the iPad retains the Moleskine-style elastic closure and is 25% lighter.   Pad and Quill also offers cases for the Kindle 3 and the Nook ($44.99 each).  All these cases allow access to controls and ports on your devices.  The iPad case ships within 3-5 days, and the iPhone case starts shipping on December 4.  The Kindle and Nook cases start shipping in 2 weeks.  These cases are available for international shipping.

EXCEPTIONALL | “Exceptional B2C innovations will increasingly come from all corners of the globe, with brands and talent from emerging markets in particular getting ready to shine.”

Now that virtually the entire world has joined the consumer arena, prepare for an avalanche of new brands, entrepreneurs and innovations from ‘emerging’ markets that will have global potential and appeal. From aggressive Chinese brands to Turkish creatives to Brazilian apparel, we’re seeing a sharp increase in world-class companies that can and will compete for consumers’ Dollars, Reais, Euros, Pounds, Rupees, Rands, or Liras.

Sure, the expansion of global markets creates new opportunities for existing well-known brands, but the real story of the rise of these new powerhouses is the new brands that are making waves, both within their domestic markets, but increasingly outside these, competing and even beating the established, entrenched incumbents at their own game. One thing’s for certain – the range of brands that consumers covet will be even more diverse in twenty, ten or even five years.

Go over to Trendwatching and read the report

He just had to beat Rupert Murdoch, didn’t he? Project, Richard Branson’s iPad magazine, is now available in the iTunes store — at least in Italy and the United Kingdom, since it’s past midnight there. App is free, cost per issue is $2.99 for “a full month’s worth of updating content.” We suspect it’ll hit US, too, the next few hours, but for now, those across the pond can read up on Jeff Bridges (audio and video interview), Earth 2.0, and a “well-informed Godzilla.” Take that, yet-to-be-released The Daily.

The Steam Roaster designed by COMPEIXALAIGUA DESIGNSTUDIO based in Barcelona, for the household silicone brand Lekue. The Steam Roaster is a multifunctional bowl; it takes the advantage of silicone’s flexibility to change its shape.

On a closed position it combines the best from steam cooking plus a crunchy finishing produced by the air circulation from its opened ends. When opened it is merely a bowl, but you can prepare, weigh and mix all the ingredients and even serve straight from the oven, just one piece for the whole process from kitchen to table.

Congratulations robots, you’ve claimed yet another job in your continuing effort to replace mankind. This time around it’s masseuses who are getting kicked to the curb thanks to the WheeMe from a company called DreamBots Ltd. It looks like one of those handheld roller massage thingies that someone else is supposed to drive across your back, but this little guy is completely autonomous. Once it’s running a built-in tilt sensor ensures it never falls off your back, and its wheels are made of soft ‘fingerettes’ that provide “a delightful sense of bodily pleasure.” Their words, not mine.

Thanks Ohgizmo

How about adding some shockingly bright neon color to a vase made of the iconic Limoges porcelain and shaped in the classic tapered vase form? That is what French company La Tête Au Cube has done in accordance with their mission to be “slightly offbeat and completely off the wall.”

The clay comes from the Limoges area where the famous hard-paste porcelain has been manufactured since 1771. The “fluo vases” are also made in Limoges, hand-crafted and therefore each slightly different. Currently available in green, orange, yellow and graphite.

Legendary luxe New York department store Bergdorf Goodman, founded in 1901, is famous for its amazing, elaborate holiday windows which dazzle shoppers and passersby alike. This year is no exception, with the added attraction of some high-tech features debuting for the very first time. The 2010 windows, entitled “Wish You Were Here,” take their inspiration from fantasy travel to far-flung places involving some rather unusual ways of getting there. The displays feature an array of “wild mash-ups of unexpected arrivals and departures”, each with visual influences as diverse as Roman mythology, 1940s Hollywood musicals, the city’s original Penn Station, and the very first science fiction film.

This year, for the first time, QR codes on several of the windows enable people to view an online Bergdorf Holiday Gift Finder and a video depicting the making of the holiday displays (above) simply by scanning the codes with their smartphone or handheld digital device. Produced entirely in-house by Bergdorf, the video features the song “Follow Me” by 17-year old emerging Sony artist Audrianna Cole. “We are in the surprise business,” notes David Hoey, Bergdorf Goodman’s Senior Director of Visual Presentation and Window Design. “This job is part architect and part cake decorator.” Each of the landmark store’s five main Fifth Avenue windows represents a different destination and a special method of conveyance.