Phones for Boomers

Simpler phones without all the bells and whistles AND operators to help you. What an idea!

Springwise noticed it first.

Founded by Arlene Harris, a telecoms veteran, and her husband Martin Cooper, who helped develop the first portable cell phone for Motorola in 1973, GreatCall is a new wireless company that will target baby boomers and their parents. While the network isn't yet operational, GreatCall's Jitterbug, a combination of handset and service provider, will soon start shipping phones. Manufactured by Samsung, the phones have big buttons, a bright screen, easy to read text, and loud and clear sound. One version (Jitterbug OneTouch) is simplified even further, its number keys replaced by three emergency buttons: one for 911, a second for Jitterbug's operator, and a third for a personalized direct dial number.

Operators are an important element of Jitterbug's services. Besides looking up numbers or placing calls for customers, operators can program a phone's contact list over the network. Each customer is also provided with an individual webpage that can be used to edit the phone list, or set service options, which means that children or grandchildren can help their less technically adept relatives configure their phones. Jitterbug's pricing has yet to be set, but plans will be available from USD 10 per month.

Life Comes At You Fast

I like this tagline for Nationwide's new ad campaign - Life Comes At You Fast .

Identity, the next step after experience

From Bruce Nussbaum who writes on Design and Innovation at Businessweek

Instead of thinking of experience as something you design and give to someone, think identity.

Today, enabling people to create their own identities may be the Next Big Thing in design and innovation. The iPod is really a set of tools to allow you to build your own personal music library. Cell phones allow you to shape your own communication system. Ditto for MySpace.

Identity goes was beyond mass personalization, which is a passive concep

The 1% rule

It's usually a small proportion of a community that creates value for all says Jeff Jarvis in the 1% rule

For instance, in June 2005 Wikipedia had a total of 68,682 total contributors. Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales is reported to have told a library group that month:
* 50% of all Wikipedia edits are done by 0.7% of users
* 1.8% of users have written more than 72% of all articles

If we also add evidence from Bradley Horowitz that roughly 1% of Yahoo’s user population starts a Yahoo Group, we seem to have The 1% Rule: Roughly 1% of your site visitors will create content within a democratized community. (Horowitz also says that some 10% of the total audience “synthesizes” the content, or interacts with it.)

Secret Lives of Single Women

Nearly half of the women 45 or older in America are single, divorced or widowed, 25 million out of 57 million.

AARP recently did a survey of some 2500 women and found that American women are now more likely to spend more of their lives single than with a significant other.

Secret Lives of Single Women, i.e. the reality.

1. Open to a nice relationship, but not obsessed with having a partner.
2. Most single women enjoy their solitude
3. They are more timid investors but make fewer investing mistakes than men.
4. Many single women, particularly those under age 60 carry dangerously high debt.
5. Retirement is a great time to pursue their dreams and do what they always wanted to do.
6. They know appearances count, but don't go to extremes to look younger than they are.
7. Few lose sleep worrying about winding up alone with no partner to care for them late in life.
8. Unmarried women have strong family relationships, often stronger support systems than married women.
9. They have greater appetites for sustenance other than sex.
10. They are taking charge of their health.

Insperiences

The trend watcher Springwise calls it Insperience, new businesses formed to bring top level experiences to consumers in their homes.

This week they point to Magnolia, a division of Best Buy, that's turning the complex difficulty of setting up and wiring home theaters and making everything work together into a branded, nation-wide business.

Magnolia tells consumers what to buy and then comes to their houses to hook everything up.

Trendwatching is a blog-like website that categorizes trends and all their newsletter articles that relate to trends like Mass Class, Garage Influentials, Infolust, Online Oxygen, No-Frills Chic and my personal favorite Life-Caching.

iPods to the Rescue

You may not know that two miners have been trapped in a mine in Tasmania since April 25.

As the rescuers battle through the rock to reach them, they've been able to pass supplies including food, water, iPods and digital cameras through a PVC pipe.

"They continue to be given food and water. They are also receiving ongoing medical support and advice as required, said Beaconsfield Gold Mine manager Matthew Gill.

"They remain in good health and have now received iPods so they can listen to their favourite music," Mr Gill said.

Said Prime Minister John Howard, "Everybody is with you, mate".

Read more about this Australian story of endurance, courage and mateship via Tim Blair