In the latest issue of DRIVEN, “Coolhunting 2.0” looks at a philosophical shift in the research performed by marketing departments — specifically, when it comes to sources. No longer is everyone scrambling to tap hyper-influential tweens to find out what’s “cool”; now there’s a growing movement towards tapping the average Joe to find out what’s a “trend”. It turns out there’s some actual empirical evidence that not all technological innovations are propagated by youth — that Twitter, one of the fastest growing and most influential communication tools on the net, actually owes its success to the post-college crowd. Read More
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The DRIVEN How-To:
Fix your tire (for pyromaniacs)
A video making the rounds of the web shows a man apparently fixing a flat tire by spraying it with a can of starter fluid and setting it alight with a lighter. Hoax? Cola-plus-mentos-style mind-blowing miracle of science? DRIVEN investigates after the jump.
DELL’s latest line separates the haves from the have-nots
“You can’t charge much for hardware anymore,” wrote Clive Thompson in Wired magazine’s March issue. This is true: Gamers are pretty much the only ones who still salivate over a 6MB Cache with 1333MHz FSB. Dell seems to have recognized this earlier than most manufacturers (with the exception of Apple, who never really cared about specs). Hence, the Adamo—Dell’s luxury laptop. I had a chance to speak with Ed Boyd, Vice President of Consumer Design, and the architect behind Dell’s flashy design push.
Google pwns your phones
The big tech news du moment is that your favourite search engine is making a foray beyond the internet and into the real world of telecommunications. Much like our brave ancestors 382 million years ago, tentatively stepping onto dry land and testing out their delicate lungs, The Matrix Google is creeping beyond internet search to index your voicemails, provide low-cost international dialing, and use one number to forward incoming calls to your cell phone, work and home numbers, all at the same time.
Sense and Sensationalism
It looks like we’re finally seeing the backlash to Jane Austen’s rise in popularity over the past decade or so. Maybe backlash isn’t the right word: It’s more of a side-lash, a re-appropriation. Hollywood’s treatment of Austen has typically targetted the female demographic, full of lush escapism and romantic intrigue. Well, no more. Wresting her work from the clutches of sentimentality are a bunch of projects which marry the Victorian stories with the most sordid aspects of Pulp genre fiction.
CD review: M. Ward’s Hold Time
M. Ward is getting old — at least, that’s the impression you get listening to his latest release, Hold Time, which blends nostalgia, romanticism and old-fashioned foot-stomping in equal parts. Nostalgia is nothing new for Ward: He may be most famous as actress Zooey Deschanel’s better half in last year’s team-up under the name She & Him, but he’s best known amongst fans for his obsession with old-time American roots music. Which makes Hold Time an interesting paradox.
Steal this laptop (and suffer the consequences)
Ever had a laptop stolen? Then you know the creative vengeance fantasies it can inspire. Fortunately for Mac users, a company called Orbicule has created a program called Undercover 3 that violates laptop thieves’ privacy in ways you’ve never dreamed of.
Recession bling
Gold iPods are sooo 2007. (Never mind the ultimate irony of a gold iPod Shuffle, which is the iPod you buy if you can’t afford a real one.) Last year, fashion editors informed us over and over that showing off our bling was gauche—thrift and vintage were making a comeback.
It’s not surprising that in the age of irony-meets-recession, there’s a new way to ’buck’ the trend, as it were: The $2,695 t-shirt. Read More
Tropic Thunder’s Boy Wonder
Robert Downey Jr. was nominated for an Oscar yesterday for playing an Oscar-winning actor playing a black man who later pretends to be a peasant farmer. The irony is as thick as his accents. Funnier still is Downey’s own reaction to it. Read More
Obama to Obama–Can you hear me, man?
Barack Obama’s inauguration is an event being celebrated around the globe, and one of the biggest parties is taking place in a small city in Japan’s Fukui prefecture named–coincidentally–Obama city. Ever since the democrat was nominated, the residents have been feverish supporters, selling Obama burgers, chopsticks and bean cakes, plastering the streets with ‘I [heart] Obama’ posters, and sending ‘Obama girls’ (who are generally more conservatively dressed than Obama Girl) to various festivals and parades across the country. Read More
