If Things Could Speak

It's 2010 and THINGS can speak, now that there are companies like Stickybits, "a fun and social way to attach digital content to objects"...

Stickybits

 In The New York Times Magazine, September 5th issue, Rob Walker wrote a short, but eye-opening article about a technology that will change how we see 'things'...  just scan an object (it's barcode) and you'll get the story of the thing, maybe more data than you cared to know, but it's powerful stuff with many applications...

Itizen is another company, "offering an online service that provides a way to tell, share, and follow the 'life stories' of interesting things".
It's free to sign up with these companies and for instance, Stickybits has teamed up with Zazzle to offer products that make great gifts, or if you're in the job market, you can order a business card where you can attach your resume to it for a potential employer... that would surely impress them!

If Women Ran Wall Street

I'm packing today for our family trip to Arizona next week where I'll be blogging about our adventures in  Sedona, and that amazing hole in the ground called 'The Grand Canyon'.  For now I wanted to share this article I found fascinating...  

photo by Lori Nix

In the current issue of New York Magazine, an article titled, "What If Women Ran Wall Street, testosterone and risk.", by Sheelah Kolhatkar, caught my eye... it pokes a hole in the stereotype that men are more rational and less emotional than women, and that possibly the cause of the latest devastating economic downturn was unregulated emotional males!  Halla Tomasdottir, chairman of Iceland's Audur Capital and author of "The Great Big Penis Competition", doesn't argue that all men are one stereotype and all women are another, but talks about the herd behavior: "They all think the same, they're all from the same school, with the same friends, the same jargon, the same books. You get very unbalanced as a result." Will women buy into the next financial frenzy (or bubble), displaying the same mania as males or do females respond to stress differently?... neuroscientists have something interesting to say, maybe we can apply these ideas to our personal lives too... check out this fascinating article.

Roses are Red, Violets are ... the Color of the Season

From nail polish to dresses, think VIOLET or PLUM this Fall.  This dress by Cloe' is particularly pretty because it's paired with red in the print and it just sings!  Variations of purple are everywhere this season from J. Crew to Barneys.

The other day I walked in for a pedicure and found a new O.P.I. color that I fell in love with in the bottle AND on my toes. The O.P.I. website has a great way to look at all their colors too.  The one I'm wearing is from the "Espana" collection, called 'Manicurist of Seville', and others (more purple) are 'Pamplona Purple', 'No Spain No Gain', and you can see how it looks on 'your' hand.

Last week, my friend and artist Carol told me about the website "Moo.com" for inexpensive (21.99 per 50 card pack), beautifully customized business cards, postcards, etc.  The best thing about it is that EVERY card can be a different image of your own (uploadable), or you can pick from their designs.  Their standard card stock is a heavier weight (16pt.) than other companies, printing is double sided, and you can go 'green' by ordering them on recycled paper.  I'm thinking Holiday cards too!