Coordinating colors can be completely confounding. Do the curtains match the carpet? Will the backsplash compliment the dishes? Is the bedding in-sync with the bedroom walls? To attempt to answer these difficult décor questions, most consumers rely on collecting piles of fabric swatches, paint chips, magazine clippings and even a favorite plate or bowl to mix and match them until the secret of personal style is finally revealed. Then, the challenge truly begins: braving a series of separate stores across the city to actually find those items that, in theory and from that pile, really do work together to conjure color coordination. Failure is frequent, and usually by a hue or two.

Color Concierge By Crate & Barrel solves this challenge by packing the style skills of a professional interior designer into a single, easy to use iPhone application. With reliable, robust and dynamic brainpower, it uses intelligent logic driven by color theory, an archive of best practices and pattern recognition of user activities to take a photo of a room or item, extract the color palette, refine color harmonies and generate the perfect product combinations. Then, to make shopping easier, it acquires instant product details, displays color and fabric options, receives smart recommendations from other brands that align to your project and personality, and accesses special offers available only through Color Concierge.

Caress is a product platform that combines physical hardware with web and mobile services to provide people living with diabetes a simple set of tools and services to monitor and track their blood sugar levels while providing the opportunity to socialize their experience and educate others. By utilizing an electromagnetic technology developed at Baylor University, users will be able to accurately measure their glucose levels simply by touching or caressing the device, transitioning the blood glucose readings from a painful and awkward, private experience to one that is more naturally habit forming. Hand vein scanning technology will be used to identify and differentiate between the separate users for tracking purposes in order to allow friends, coworkers and family members to participate in the experience and see their blood glucose levels, promoting better understanding and removing some of the isolation that many people living with diabetes feel. It can also operate to ease the concerns that friends or family often have through visibility. Hand vein scanning was decided upon over fingerprints as it is more accurate and studies have shown that fingerprint scanning has a negative psychological effect as it still connotes criminal behavior, which may present a barrier to usage.

Each Caress device will be networked with bluetooth or WIFI capabilities, allowing readings to be transmitted to the web services component of the platform through home or office computers or mobile devices. Users will be able to access through their computers or mobile devices metrics around their blood sugar levels with the opportunity to receive mobile alerts when it is time to take a reading. Over time, the aggregated data will provide users with trend data that will help them and their health care providers identify the optimal approach to dealing with their diabetes.

Phase One – Sculptural Object

As the electromagenetic technology is fairly nascent, Phase One will focus on creating modern sculptural devices (sample shown figure 1.0) that can be placed in high traffic areas within the home or office. Interior displays beneath the touch surface of the device will provide the user with their current levels as well as relevant trend data. When the device is inactive, the display will show color coded (to represent various glucose levels) dynamic abstract visualizations of the most recent data, providing encouragement and reinforcement of positive behaviors while attracting visual interest to initiate the socialization process.

Phase Two – Mobile

As economies of scale are achieved with manufacturing, integration of electromagnetic ainto the skins of mobile devices through a flat radial design will allow for a seamless experience as the skins will be able to get a reading each time the device is used, transmitting readings directly to the mobile device and by extension the online analytics experience. Unique ring tones can also be setup to remind the user when a reading is required. Internet capabilities will allow data to be transmitted to and from the central web servers to either the mobile browser or native application. Integration with other mobile data services can seamlessly provide value add information such as where the nearest grocery or convenience store is or specific recommendation on actions to take to balance sugar levels.

Economic downturn or not, travel continues to be a huge growth industry – if not for the sheer numbers of people criss-crossing the globe in search of tans and adventure, at least in terms of the sheer numbers of social media connections between them that facilitate better, more personalized experiences of travel. Customer reviews and ratings are fine and dandy, especially for sites and services designed to help customers find out what existing travel, trips and future stories await them. But do niche-motivated tourists and travelers who want to get off the beaten path and discover more granularity go?

Idea Couture’s first book, No One Works Here, offers a series of roadmaps to navigate what we see as emerging intersections between sociality, technology, design and business opportunity. One of those roadmaps is designed to make sure tourists and travelers arrive in style – a whole new style. It’s Red Crumbs. The idea behind it?

Truly discovering a new city at ground level takes more time, effort and money than most visitors can afford. Usually, the short cuts fall short: publishing cycles keep travel books from being on point and up to date; hotel concierges are quick to recommend only those restaurants, bars and clubs that are nearby; online portals to specific cities are driven by advertising, not users; and organized tours offer little more than a bland view (usually from the top of a bus) for the generic tourist. As an industry, travel and tourism have yet to meet the needs of those visitors who are eager to get off the beaten path, down the back alleys and into the realm of experiencing what cities have to offer beyond the brochure.

RedCrumb is a service that meets the experiential expectations of every visitor to every city in the world by connecting them with the spaces, places and people that make local cultures truly come to life. It begins with Crumbs – bits of information, reviews, routes, addresses, reviews, routes, dates and tips – dropped and tagged by Crumby Guides, neighborhood natives with specific areas of interest and experience in hotels, shopping, restaurants, bars, chefs, parks, beaches, markets, fetish clubs, DJs, bands, galleries, historical landmarks, microbreweries, yoga classes and more. On personal tours led by Crumby Guides or through digital audio and video they’ve uploaded to RedCrumb.com, visitors to a new city curate the kind of urban experience normally reserved for insiders. A self-sufficient platform, revenue is based on an in-person cost-per-tour/digital cost-per-stop model and shared between enterprising Crumby Guides and RedCrumb.com.

Case Study: You Could be the next great Crumby Guide
Your friend calls you up to say they will be visiting you in the big city next month! They’ve never been outside their town. You have lived in your city for about 3 years and take it upon yourself to show them everything you possibly can in the short week they are visiting. You start mapping out the great places they simply must see. Do they want to do all the touristy things? Are they a food connoisseur? Do they have money to burn on some serious shopping? All these questions factor in to your week long extravaganza. Now, what if you are visiting a new place and you don’t have that friend/personal tour guide? Then you need Redcrumb. A resource for fantastic and even custom tours of cities and towns you want to visit. Love vintage shopping? Want great food for cheap? Want to see the best places to take photographs? The most general or specific tours, just for you.