I’ve heard of fashion being affected by the changing technology. You know, jackets that hold and charge iPods. Hoodies with built in speakers. And I won’t even consider purchasing a purse without an internal pocket designed for holding my cell phone. But the most forward-thinking and innovative trends are often impractical. That’s why you have to go to the modern art museums to see most of the ideas being put forth.
The WTFJeans brand is looking to make technology more reasonably integrated with our current fashion, launching a line of denim pants that have pockets specifically designed for your gadgets. The size of the pockets are cut to fit things like smart phones, iPods, and even USB portable drives. That’s handy. I suppose it makes sense for menswear, as we girls already have those easy-access purse pockets and all.
The pockets in the WTFJeans are also lined with microfiber, so your iPhone screen won’t get any additional damage done from sitting in your pocket all day. Maybe the screen will actually get a little cleaner, as it rests happily in your pants. Additional needs have also been considered, as the WTFJeans hide certain pockets, such as the one created to hold USB drives. You know, in case you’re a spy that just escaped with the files copied from that megacorporation you’re trying to bring down.
Jokes aside, I do like that clothing designers and manufacturers are finding reasonable ways in which to incorporate modern needs into their designs. I won’t be wearing the jeans anytime soon, but I know a few guys that would consider hiding a USB in a specialized pocket. These are also the same guys that would forget to take the USB back out of their specialized pocket before throwing their jeans in the wash, but that’s not really my problem, now, is it.
Necessity is the mother of all invention. Now how about a couple more super-pocketed purses for me?
Ke$ha, a Los Angeles based singer, moved 610,069 downloads of her first single “Tik Tok” in a week placing her at the number 2 spot for one week downloads ever with Flo Rida’s “Right Round” at number one in one week sales (with Ke$ha as an uncredited singer). That number is remarkably similar to the number of times New Moon was illegally downloaded online during it’s first week of release (610,000). That number pales in comparison to the first week illegal downloads for Avatar which came close to one million illegal downloads.
Illegal online downloads during the theater run doesn’t appear to have much of an impact on the box office numbers, the challenge for the movie industry comes when the films are released to DVD/Blu-Ray. With Netflix and other cost effective (or illegal and free) options for watching movies, it’s become harder and harder to sell DVD/Blu-Ray discs. According to the Wall Street Journal, 2009 was the first year since 2002 that ticket sales out did DVD/Blu-Ray sales, challenging the existing business model of the movie industry. The music industry faced a similar challenge with the appearance of digital downloads but they were able to recover from the disaster that Napster could have been after a little resistance. The did lead to the near death of the compact disc.
The movie industry isn’t quite there. With new release digital movie downloads costing up to the monthly membership at Netflix (and I mean the good membership with 3 movies at a time), what is the movie industry to do in 2010 to turn that around? SmartMoney recently released a list of things not to buy in 2010 and along with newspaper subscriptions, new college text books and CDs was DVDs. Perhaps it’s time the industry lower the cost of a digital download and move the home release date closer to the theatrical release date. This will allow for two money making opportunities for the industry and allow for the movie watcher to choose the type of experience they want and trump the massive amount of illegal downloads. Of course, with Avatar passing $1 billion dollars at the box office, the need for change is not as immediate but as the quality and availability of downloads become a bit easier for the non-techie, that may shift quickly.
We did survive the death of the VHS, I think we can make it through the next shift.
The Big in Japan folks, who make the popular ShopSavvy app, sent me some stats I found entertaining, so I thought I’d share with you.
The popular app, available for iPhone and Android, scans bar codes and lets you know where in your regional area the item can be found at different prices. It also prices the item online. I was standing at Macy’s at 5 am on Black Friday, debating on purchasing luggage. I tried the ShopSavvy app myself. Unfortunately, I could not get it to scan the UPC code on the luggage. I’m apparently the only one who had trouble.
More than 612,000 bargain hunters used Big in Japan’s barcode-scanning app on Black Friday alone, which is 7 times more than on an average Friday.
Data from the 18+ million scans by ShopSavvy users from Nov. 27-29 reveal that the most scanned product during Black Friday weekend was Sarah Palin’s new book, Going Rogue. Really? Other top products included:
Top Toy: Zhu Zhu Pets Hamster Mr. Squiggles
Top Video Game: Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock
Top Camera: Nikon Coolpix
Top Laptop: Sony 15″ Laptop w/Intel Dual Core Processor
Top Netbook: Compaq Netbook w/Intel Atom Processor
Top Desktop: eMachines Desktop w/AMD Athlon Processor
Top HDTV: Emerson 32″ LCD 720p HDTV
The five most popular retailers for ShopSavvy scanning were:
The five most popular metropolitan areas for ShopSavvy scanning were:
1. New York
2. Houston
3. Los Angeles
4. Dallas
5. Chicago
Did you use ShopSavvy on Black Friday? Did it help or hinder?
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Cheers!
Tweet Michelle @writetechnology, send her technology news at michelle[at]writetech[dot]net, visit her wine blog when you’re thirsty, and drop by her day job.
Just a few more days until Thanksgiving followed quickly by Black Friday, the official beginning of the holiday shopping season. It’s true, there are some amazing deals that can be found on Black Friday but those deals come at a price. Waking up ridiculously early to shop with thousands of other people trying to get the best price on a new television or pair of designer jeans. This can be incredibly effective but the benefit doesn’t always out weight the difficulties, especially for a non-shopper. That’s where the web comes in.
For the non-shopper, there is another great shopping day, the Monday after Thanksgiving (this year, that is November 30th). Cyber Monday, the official kick off of the online shopping season, is a huge day for online retailers. This is the perfect time to track down great deals online, free shipping and discount codes. This may require waking up early but nothing beats the ease of shopping in your pajamas for those prized holiday gifts.
Of course, the web is vast so finding those deals can be another challenge. That’s where CyberMonday.com comes in. This site is the central hub for Cyber Monday deals at every store from Home Depot to Overstock.com and everything in between. They consolidate the deals from over 650 online retailers making it easy to search and find what you’re looking for. You can shop by category, deal of the week or a simple search.
So here’s my early holiday present to all of you, enjoy the Friday after Thanksgiving and worry about gifts for the holidays on Cyber Monday.
Microsoft Corp. has just opened its first retail store in the Scottsdale Fashion Square mall in Scottsdale, AZ and Bubblicious had a chance to visit the store, speak with customers and get a tour from Michael Forrest, senior director of customer experience at Microsoft. Forrest left Apple, Inc. earlier this year to join Microsoft and help them launch their first two retail stores and likely others next year.
Most of the talk, at least in tech circles, about the new Microsoft store was focused on how the store design is almost identical to Apple’s retail stores, minus the 120 47-inch HD screens that line the walls inside the Microsoft store. I’m sure a lot of it has to do with Microsoft bringing on Apple’s former real estate chief George Blankenship as a consultant, and wooing former Apple employees such as Forrest to jump ship and join Microsoft.
When asked how do you not plagiarize yourself in terms of store concept design and developing the Microsoft customer experience for the retail stores, Forrest didn’t exactly answer the question and instead shared how his 22 years of retail experience extends far beyond Apple and that it’s about creating direct connections with customers. He said that Apple and Microsoft are two very different companies. Forrest wrapped up that question with “I had a great time at Apple, and feel very, very fortunate and feel honored to be a part of this project.”
What will be interesting to see is if Apple decides to up the ante and make significant changes to its stores, especially the ones that will be located in the same mall with Microsoft stores. According to the Orange County Register, the Apple Store in The Shops in Mission Viejo, where Microsoft’s second store opens later this week, closed on September 13 for renovations. Apple as not set a date for that store’s re-opening.
Be There, Be Excited, Be Entertained, Be Early
That was the theme and words in an advertisement printed in Sunday’s October 18 issue of The Arizona Republic, Phoenix’s main regional newspaper. And people did exactly that for Thursday’s grand opening. They came out by the thousands with hundreds arriving early; some camped out overnight and waited 12 hours before doors opened. The first 1,000 people received a gift bag and tickets to an evening performance by Ashley Tisdale. The store opening coincided with the launch of Windows 7, which has been well received by customers and industry insiders. For the software giant, it’s a welcome change after the struggles it had with its previous operating system Windows Vista.
Microsoft is set to open its second store this Thursday, October 29 at 10:00 a.m. in Orange County at The Shops in Mission Viejo. Canadian singer Justin Bieber will perform. Tickets for the 5:00 p.m. performance will be given out at 10:00 a.m. Thursday.
Check out highlights of our interview with Forrest and the store tour he gave Bubblicious.
