Mixx Marketing

Something Store : Consumers looking to add some excitement to their lives for a very low premium will likely get a kick out of this website that dabbles in the art of surprises. In what’s probably one of the easiest e-commerce transactions ever, visitors to the site simply log on and for $10 (including shipping), opt in to purchasesomething. And that’s where the fun begins: a randomly selected item (could be a cool tech device, handmade jewelry, a travel clock, video game, gift card to a major retailer, a magazine subscription, coffee mug, wallet, a box of chocolates, or any one of over hundreds of random items) will ultimately show up in the buyer’s mailbox seven days later. Of course, for every high premium item that’s “randomly selected” for one of the luckier consumers (e.g., iPods, designer jeans, high end beauty products), the Long Island based e-tailer selects and sends out 10 or more less pricey items (e.g., a coffee mug, a board game, a garden tool).  trendcentral June 2008

MobileMe:  Recently announced at the 2008 Apple Worldwide Developers Conference and hitting the consumer market next month, this new web-based service will allow Apple users to wirelessly sync and access content across multiple Apple devices. Email, calendars and contacts are stored on an online server, known as a “cloud”, that automatically sends all information to the user’s iPhone, iPod touch, Mac, and PC; when an update is made on one device, it is made automatically on all other devices. Manual syncing will soon be a thing of the past.  

For parents whose local Yahoo! Group has gone stale, hip parenting website Babble just launched this new social network for young families. Users can create profiles to meet potential pals in their area, post on message boards, form groups, and create photo albums, making it sort of a Family Facebook. Although Babble is infamous for having a Brooklyn leaning slant, Playground seems to be attracting families from all over the US map.

KidZui- For parents, leaving children unsupervised with the Internet is basically as scary as sending them to the playground alone.Created for kids ages 3 to 12, this G-rated browser takes out the fear and intimidation of web surfing for both parents and children. Kids can explore and research any topic as all links offered have been approved as child-friendly by parents and teachers. For example, if a child wants to watch skateboarding videos on YouTube, KidZui has already made sure that the videos available to them are appropriate (according to age, reading ability, and developmental readiness).Additionally, the site encourages learning by providing other topics of interest related to the search subject; a search for skateboarding may lead to surfing, then perhaps water and dolphins. Parents are alerted (via email) to the topics their kids search, so not only do they know what their kids are doing online, but they also have another window into their interests. 

Sometimes trading in their casual streetwear for refined ’30s and ’40s style dress wear-and scuffed Converse for shiny Italian oxford shoes-Gen Ys are leading a renaissance in elegant style. Donning a sophisticated Oliver Twist/Orphan Annie look, men are wearing slim wool ties, vests and short tailored pants while women’s style includes wool knee socks, feather headpieces and white fitted gloves. A 25-year-old respondent explained that dressing up “counters the perception that all twentysomethings are lazy, self-involved, no work ethic punks.”