Guvera Presentation

Cocojambo's Claes Loberg and Kevin Rowlands presenting 'Guvera' at a recent investment seminar.

Profit by Design

Want to grow faster and make bigger profits? Employ a designer.

... 9% use design as styling, 15% use design as a process to improve efficiencies in bringing products and services to market, while 4% use design to lead to innovation, strategically integrating design into all stages of their innovation processes.

Read the full BRW article by Kosmas Smyrnios here.

iPhone Apps are the new norm.

http://mogeneration.com/

Giving it Back

"Put-pockets" giving back to the community

Yahoo!7 Finance and Reuters

Visitors to London always have to be on the look out for pickpockets, but now there's another, more positive phenomenon on the loose - putpockets.

Aware that people are suffering in the economic crisis, 20 former pickpockets have turned over a new leaf and are now trawling London's tourist sites slipping money back into unsuspecting pockets.

Anything from 5 pounds (A$10) to 20 pound (A$40) notes are being surreptitiously deposited in unguarded pockets or open handbags, along with a small card that explains where the dough came from.

The unique initiative has been in action since July 1st this year across locations in London, including Leicester Square, Oxford Circus, Covent Garden, Westminster, Trafalgar Square and the South Bank.

Signs have also been posted in those areas, advising the public that there may be a few extra pounds in their possession when they arrive home because of it.

The initiative, which runs until the end of August in London before being rolled out countrywide, is being funded by a broadband provider, TalkTalk, which says it wants to brighten up people's lives in unusual ways.

Mark Schmid of TalkTalk said: "Britons have become very sceptical of companies giving money away - so we have turned to Put-Pocketing to give something back. Whilst unconventional, we don't think anyone is going to mind finding a crisp 20 pound note in their pocket."

"It feels good to give something back for a change - and Britons certainly need it in the current economic climate," said Chris Fitch, a former pickpocket who now heads TalkTalk's putpocketing initiative.

"Every time I put money back in someone's pocket, I feel less guilty about the fact I spent many years taking it out."

London's police have been briefed about the plan, which will see at least 100,000 pounds (A$200,000) given away.

SPA Southside Shoot

Cocojambo's Art Director Scott Wynn doing his
thing this morning in an area commonly
known as 'Southside'.

Consuming Kids Doco

Interesting documentary about the depth of marketing for consumer products. 10 Days left.

View doco here

Viral Campaign

More viral videos here

Futurorg

Futurorg is the online portfolio of Timothée Mathelin, aka Shift, a french designer with mad Photoshop skills. I’m only sharing some of his personal Photoshop artworks here, but he also presents some interesting photography or commissionned graphic design work in his portfolio, go take a look.

Clerical Content

Pope Benedict tunes up for believers with first album

Pope Benedict has a website, his own YouTube channel and he's on the social networking site Facebook -- now he's about to release his first album.

The Pope will be singing litanies and chants and reciting passages and prayers in five languages on an album being released ahead of Christmas by Geffen Records, the label that signed up Snoop Dog and Ashlee Simpson.

The album will feature the backing vocals of The Choir of the Philharmonic Academy of Rome blended with modern classicist recordings by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. It will be mixed at London's Abbey Road Studios.

Colin Barlow, the president of Geffen Records which is owned by Vivendi's Universal Music Group, said he did not think it was odd to put out a religious record in Latin, Italian, Portuguese, French and German on a mainstream music label.

"I think in this day and age, as the public are, as I am, people are fascinated by all kinds of music. We're not fed on one type of music," he told Reuters Television.

The pope's voice was recorded in St Peter's Basilica at the Vatican and during papal trips abroad.

It's not the first time a pope has released an album on a major label.

Pope John Paul released "Abba Pater" on Sony Classical Music in 1999.

Pope Benedict's album "Alma Mater" will be released on November 30 and some of the proceeds will go towards supporting music education for poor children around the world.

Born into Technology......

Wife of Twitter CEO 'tweets' delivery

The pregnant wife of Twitter chief executive Evan Williams delivered updates on the delivery of their son on Tuesday using the microblogging service co-founded by her husband.

Evan Williams' wife 'tweeted' that she wanted an epidural Enlarge photo

"Dear Twitter, My water broke. It wasn't like Charlotte in Sex and the City. Now, timing contractions on an iPhone app," Sara Morishige Williams wrote late Monday on her Twitter feed @sara.

"The Contraction Tracker was fun until the contractions got painful," she informed her more than 14,000 followers about an hour later.

"Admitted to hospital. Got the second-to-last room," she "tweeted" early Tuesday, followed several hours later by: "Epidural, yes please."

In one final "tweet" following her request for painkillers, she wrote: "The heartbeat monitor soothes the silence of a room that will shortly be anything but silent."

Her husband then took over on his Twitter feed @ev. "Operation Baby Launch continues on track, though a bit too slowly in my opinion. That's usually the case with big launches though," he said.

That was followed several hours later by another message announcing the delivery.

"Yes! @sara gave birth to a perfect baby boy. Both are well. 8 pounds, 21 inches! Smiles all around," it said.

The couple live in San Francisco. It is their first child.

Simple yet potentially profitable Idea

Footballer tackles player rip-offs

Andrew Taylor has been unimpressed with some firms he has dealt with

A professional footballer is launching a website aimed at helping fellow players avoid being ripped off or getting bad service.

Middlesbrough defender Andrew Taylor came up with the idea after being dissatisfied with a company that installed an audio system in his home.

Platinum Players will feature companies that offer "luxury lifestyle products" - from cars and gadgets to hotels and restaurants - which have been vetted and deemed "trustworthy" for the stars.

There are also jewellers, financial advisers and lawyers - most of whom have been used by the left-back, or recommended to him by other players.

The UK's 4,000 professional footballers will be sent log-in details for the invitation-only site.

Lawyers listed

Mr Taylor, 23, has funded the project from his own wages, and will earn income from listing fees and advertising charges paid by the companies it features.

There are car dealers, for example, who see footballers as a way to make easy money Andrew Taylor, Middlesbrough footballer

Car dealerships, a hotel in Mayfair, property companies and an interior design firm are among those who have already signed up for the site, which launches on 1 September.

Other high-profile names include the restaurant group Nobu, upmarket retailer Harvey Nichols, Movida nightclub and the car marques Alfa-Romeo and Bentley.

Vulnerable

Mr Taylor, who says he has always had an interest in business, was inspired after having a bad experience when he randomly chose a firm to do work in his house.

"I had no idea who to call so I basically Googled a local company. When they found out I was a footballer, every option they offered me was the most expensive one," he said.

Poor after-sales service meant attempts to rectify problems with the work hit a brick wall, he added.

Hefty footballer salaries have helped attract some upmarket brands

And after speaking to his teammates, he realised he was not alone in feeling he was being taken advantage of.

"There are car dealers, for example, who see footballers as a way to make easy money. They'll think: 'He's a young lad with plenty of cash, he won't miss £5,000, let's do him over.'

"This site has people who won't rip you off and that's something nobody else is doing for footballers, as far as I know.

"The idea is not to make money but simply to help players find prestigious brands and companies that are trustworthy," the former England Under-21 player added.

He said the site would be particularly useful for foreign players, who did not know how to find the services they needed on arrival in the UK. They were particularly vulnerable to being overcharged by handymen doing work on property, he added, saying that while football clubs did help new signings settle in, the assistance only went "so far".

The idea of media specifically targeting footballers and their families is not new.

In 2005, former Liverpool, Tottenham and England star Jamie Redknapp launched a bi-monthly magazine with his wife, Louise, and former team-mate Tim Sherwood, called Icon.

Companies will pay a premium to advertise to footballers - some of whom earn well in excess of £100,000 per week.

Shepard Fairey

Shepard Fairey from Arkitip on Vimeo.