Archive for May, 2009

The worst part of decision-making’s having to answer for the results of your choice: how many times can you tell your co-workers that the perm is back before even you stop believing it. To blame your decisions on the Internet, Let Simon Decide.

From a Redondo guy long ridiculed for making decisions via pro-and-con spreadsheets, Simon helps you make life choices based on your personality, a mess of variables, and math formulas, which you long ago decided for yourself you didn’t like. Best results are obtained by first filling out “My Life Profile”, a quick personality test and query about your goals; then, plunge into the decisions, broken down by categories, including Education (Should I Go Back To School?), Financial (Should I Invest in The Stock Market?), Purchase (Choosing a Car), Business & Work (Should I Change My Career Path?), and more! 

After choosing your query, there’re three tools to help you out, the most powerful of which is the hyper-analytical “My Scores”, which lets you rank variables. Once finished, Simon spits out its prescribed decision, based on an algorithms agreed upon by personality experts, mathematicians, and psychologists, who consulted during a break in their busy schedule of billing you for 45 minutes of weeping.

Take the plunge (or not) at LetSimonDecide.com!

Confirming weeks of speculation, Microsoft has officially announced the Zune HD. The specs — a 3.3 inch OLED touchscreen, the ability to output in HD, an HD Radio receiver, a full-screen web browser and built-in Wi-Fi — are pretty impressive, but perhaps the most exciting tidbit is that the Zune marketplace will be fully integrated into Xbox and Xbox Live as a replacement for the current Live video service.

This is a huge step for Microsoft, who until now have kept the Zune and Xbox brands on opposite side of the room. With one move, they’ll be exposing the Zune to about 17 million customers who are already using a piece of Microsoft hardware. Moreover, those 17 million are also gamers, and the Zune HD’s combination of touchscreen capability, Wi-Fi access and robust marketplace seems the perfect recipe for a move into the handheld gaming space.

Microsoft will be unveiling the system with a presentation at next week’s E3 gaming convention in Los Angeles, noting that “attendees will see firsthand how Zune integrates into Xbox LIVE to create a game-changing entertainment experience.”

Last night marks the third straight win for the Source Marketing softball team putting us at 3-0 for the season. And what a night it was for a softball game; perfectly clear skies and temps in the mid-70s! It was an excitingly close game, culminating with a walk-off home run by Stephen Palinkas in the bottom of the 7th inning to put Source Marketing ahead of FAF with a final score of 4-3. Next Thursday the team will be taking on Bulls Head Market at Doubleday field at 6:30pm. So come on down and show your support for the team if you can; we hope to see you there!

Move over cable TV!!  The Internet is taking small steps towards becoming a true cable replacement. TV streaming site Hulu will be offering a live stream of a Dave Matthews Band concert on June 1—the site’s first-ever live music concert. While the site has previously streamed certain live events, such as the 2008 presidential debates, the Dave Matthews Band concert marks the beginning of live-streamed entertainment, online.

The live concert will begin at 9:00 pm ET on June 1 at Hulu.com. Because of the partnership, Hulu will begin offering various music videos leading up to the show, and after the concert is over, the site will continue offering on-demand streaming access. 

More and more people are moving towards watching videos online, so this is definitely a trend to watch. Will you be tuning in to the free concert??

McDonald’s has recently launched a new interactive sign where passers-by can interact with images displayed on McDonald’s giant LED screen, and visitors can take an interactive role at one of London’s most photographed locations, Picadilly Circus. Users can then upload their photos on a dedicated page on Flickr. Check out their photo album here and then check out their youtube video here

Norelco has launched a new Football themed microsite at www.NorelcoMVP.com Not only can consumers browse and buy the latest Norelco razors and accessories, they can also put their football knowledge to the test with a fun football trivia game, and enter Norelco’s instant win game for a chance to win $10,000 for season tickets to your favorite football team and other cool prizes. So check it out and don’t forget Father’s day is only a month away. What better to get the man who has everything than the latest and greatest Norelco razor! Your mom will thank you, too. 

It’s a well known fact that New Yorkers are always on the go. CupcakeStop believes that despite this, everyone deserves to indulge themselves with a gourmet snack. That’s why they decided to take their delectable cupcakes, baked fresh daily from the highest quality ingredients, and load them onto New York’s first mobile cupcake shoppe.

C-Stop’s the inspired creation of an NYU law schooler who, after the economy wiped out his post-grad job, decided other people should eat his feelings. Treats come mini-style for $1 and traditionally plump for $2.25, and include both standards (triple chocolate, red velvet, etc) and occasional specialty items (peanut butter & jelly, black & white cookie…), with all leftovers donated to homeless shelters — because social responsibility starts with giving sweets to guys without dental.

Find out more at CupcakeStop.com

With all the fuss about carbs and obesity in recent years, Dunkin’ Donuts has been downplaying its namesake product. But no more. With the economy in the state it is in, the restaurant chain discovered that previously carb-conscious consumers were drifting back to doughnuts as comfort food. Since then, Dunkin Donuts has launched aggressive new campaigns targeting that fried-dough-craving demographic including full fledged online promotions. They have been extremely sucessful, including a “Create Dunkin’s next Donut Contest”.

Have you been eating more donuts lately?

Philadelphia has introduced the Big Belly, an environmentally friendly trash can and compactor, in an attempt to help make the city a little bit more green. The new trash compactor uses solar panels to power 100% of its energy. The actual unit is the same size and shape of previous garbage cans; however, the machine can compact trash and store up to five times as much waste as its non-electronic counterparts. The Big Belly comes equipped with a wireless transmitter that informs collection companies as to which receptacles are in need of emptying, thereby reducing fuel costs from collection trips. All in all, the Big Belly solar powered compactor has demonstrated the possibility of environmentally friendly technologies in even the most unexpected places.