Twangoo, South Africa’s premier group buying club, uses the power of collective purchasing to access exclusive deals on exciting things to do in your city. The Twangoo team has been approaching the aspirational brands across each city and asking them to offer Twangoo members an exclusive deal of such incredible value that they would be silly to turn it down. However there is a kicker to all this: The deal only happens if a predetermined number of people sign up
for it. Members are told via email, Facebook, Four Square or Twitter of any new deal. If they see something they like, they reserve it and when enough people have signed up ‘the deal is on!’ A voucher is emailed and then redeemed at the participating business.
It was unfortunately only available to the lucky guys down in Cape Town, but this is changing. Just today they launched in Joburg with a deal at the Butcher Block in Rosebank. If you’re interested go to their site for more.
Great idea dudes – we wish all the best in your venture.
We received some info for a new recruitment portal that makes the task of finding/changing job an anonymous one. Quite handy if you don’t want your current boss (who’s probably a real ass) from finding out you’re looking elsewhere.
Sebenzi is a revolutionary web-based recruitment portal that allows candidates to put themselves on the job market in complete anonymity. This is great news for those that are currently employed but are not entirely satisfied with their current job and would like the opportunity to move on to something that suits them better. Candidates can be head-hunted by other employers with no risk of their current employer finding out.
Sebenzi cuts out the middle man (i.e. recruitment agencies) by allowing employers to search the database of candidate CVs directly and at no cost. Once a suitable candidate is found, the employer sends a request through to the candidate for their contact details. It is then up to the discretion of the candidate if they would like to reveal their identity.
The implications are huge for employers – the usual exorbitant costs associated with recruitment agencies fall away and yet they still have access to quality candidates. The total cost to the employer is just R399 – an amount which is paid only once the contact details of a candidate is requested.
Unbelievably, the benefits of Sebenzi do not stop there. Candidates are also paid when they decide to reveal their details. Any candidate that accepts a request from an employer receives R100 from Sebenzi regardless of whether their interview is a success or not.
Sebenzi, Zulu for ‘work”, is the brainchild of three young University of Cape Town Business Science alumni. The idea was born out of their own personal frustration of dealing with recruitment agencies to source skilled employees. The three young entrepreneurs are passionate and positive about South Africa and its future, and they are convinced that it is ready for this next step in recruitment.
You may approve, you may not, but at the end of the day the naked form is something beautiful to admire and completely natural. Ok, maybe only natural if you exclude the setting, the poles, gyrating on tables, augmented breasts and the names of the dancers. Bleh. Maybe not natural, but I’m sticking with beautiful.
An e-mail is going around about a drug bust where they uncovered a SH!TLOAD of cash at the dealer’s house. Besides the fact that you could spend the rest of your life only getting affection from Bubba and that you may ruin some lives along the way (unless you’re just selling weed, which is actually a good deed – crazy rhyme that!), this is great business. You’ll notice I struggled to categorize this piece…
Random fact: Apparently $1m worth of $100 bills weighs 17kgs.
Two very different businesses with an underlying eco focus caught my eye this morning. The one deals with the creation of power through human energy, the other with using power to create a kind of human energy.
While we’ve seen dance floors and gym equipment being cleverly used to create electricity, the guys at Pavegen Systems have created paving slabs that create power from the footsteps of pedestrians. With each footstep the slab is depressed by 5mm, creating and storing little bits of energy that can then be used to power any number of pavement utilities.
On a different note, adult toy retailer LoveHoney are encouraging people to dispose of their vibrators in a responsible manner. As such you can send your used Rabbit back to them and get a generous discount on a new replacement. The old one is recycled (and by that I hope they don’t mean refurbished) and a donation is made to the World Land Trust. Seems like a score for everyone.
These guys have all delivered amazing results during their tenures as CEO. At the top of the list is our friend Mr. Steve Jobs who’s turned Apple into one of the great global brands of our time. In the process he’s managed to increase their market cap by $150bn!
Certain inventions are born out of the third worlds needs – things like clean water, cheap food etc etc BUT very seldom do solutions for these MAJOR issues ever come about.
This looks like something that could seriously eradicate much of the disaster that befalls many people in Africa and other third world country’s - if it is actually true!
Just turn the handle at the tip of the Savior Bud, and voila, water drips down for consumption. The device’s silicone rubber body ensures that it stays resistant to heat, cold, and corrosion. Of course, users still drink at their own peril — the Savior Bud doesn’t include a filter.
No word on how much the Savior Bud might cost, but the device’s designers imagine it will be cheap enough for use in drinking water-starved African countries.
There’s light at the end of the tunnel for those who wouldn’t get a flu shot because they hate needles. Dr. Scott Hanlon has found an interesting way to fight the anxiety of getting a vaccine by pairing it with a session of wine tasting. On September 17th from 7 to 9 pm the physician will be the host of the “vaccine and vino” event at the South Loop Wine Cellar on 1442 S. Michigan Ave, where a $40 shot also allows you to taste five different wines — about two glasses. For those who’d worry about the effects, Dr. Julie Morita, medical director for the immunization program at the Chicago Department of Public Health, said that “there’s no medical reason not to have a glass of wine and receive a vaccine”. Sounds like fun, eh?
Google had certain advantages, but, believe me, this giant of the search motor takes the welfare of its employees seriously .. as shown by this decompression (stress) capsule that is impermeable to sound and light …
Moving around: A slide allows quick access from different floors … There are also poles available . they are similar to the ones used in fire stations.
Food. Employees can eat all they want from a vast choice of food and drink.
Work Station: Each employee has at least two large screens. There are 4-6 ‘Zooglers’ per office.
INOVATION: Large boards are available just about everywhere because ‘ideas don’t always come when seated in the office’ says one of Googles managers.
LEISURE. Pool tables, video games etc. are available in many areas.
Communication… On each floor, there are private cabin areas where employees can attend to personal affairs.
Technical Support: Problem with your computer ? No problem … Bring it to this area where drinks are available while it is being fixed …
Health: Professional masseurs (eusses) available.
REST … This room provides massage chairs that you control … while you view relaxing aquariums …
The Urilift’s Public urinal(about $70,000) stays underground all day and rises up every evening for nighttime public urination problem. It will pop up at 10pm and drop down again at 3am every day(if it will close the drunk man undergroud? Maybe I thought …). Unlike the automated, self-cleaning toilets with doors that automatically open after a set time period, the Urilift is a two-meter(over 6 feet tall) high stainless steel cylinder with three alcoves, each with a urinal, and no doors. If I can not find any toilets, I will consider it(shame)…
“A council spokesman said: ‘We intend to use the pop-up loo to tackle the problem of people urinating in shop doorways and on the streets of our town centre.’ ”
It already installed in various cities in Europe.
Technology has already been used for some time now to help consumers keep track of wellness factors from diet to sexual activity, but a new application from California-based Health Analytic Services takes a comprehensive approach that aims to help users track virtually everything that has an effect on their health.
TheCarrot.com is a free, anonymous service that provides easy-to-use tools with a calendar format to help users track a wide variety of health-related topics. Trackers are available for more obvious factors like exercise, diet and medicines as well as less obvious ones like job satisfaction, mood, sleep and TV watching—all together, the list currently includes nearly 30 aspects of health that can be tracked online (users are also invited to request new ones). Users decide how often and how much detail to enter on each area they’re tracking, and they can record it in multiple ways—numerically, textually or with photographs. Using theCarrot.com they can record their exercise by time, score, distance, or rate of perceived exertion, for example; they can also use a cell phone to snap photos of their workout, the sandwich they ate for lunch, or their expanding pregnant belly. All that information can then be used to set goals or identify areas for improvement, and users can create single- or cross-category reports to share with their doctor, nutritionist, fitness trainer or others. Ultimately, theCarrot.com aims to reveal how different aspects of health interrelate, such as how exercise affects sleep or diet affects mood, providing a big-picture window on wellness.
Douglas Trauner, CEO and founder of Health Analytic Services, explains: “Users of TheCarrot.com typically start with a single goal—for example—managing their weight. As users take advantage of the trend reporting and learn more about themselves, they begin to incorporate additional trackers to see how things like sleep and job satisfaction have a profound affect on their ability to manage their weight.”
TheCarrot.com was named “Best New Application” at the Health 2.0 Conference last fall. Currently, however, it supports only US-based users; one to localize to a language and culture near you?
Much like the build-your-own-magazine concept from HSBC that we covered last year, a brand-new initiative from Lexus, Time and American Express Publishing is giving consumers a new way to create their own personalised magazine.
Dubbed “mine,” the free magazine invites readers to choose editorial content from five of eight select Time and American Express Publishing brands: Time, Sports Illustrated, Food & Wine, Real Simple, Money, InStyle, Golf, and Travel + Leisure. Participants can choose to receive their magazine either in a limited-edition print format or online—some 31,000 copies of each print issue and 200,000 electronic copies are available, and readers receive a new issue every two weeks for 10 weeks. Each issue is 36 pages, with advertising tailored for each recipient based on geographic location and taste, as determined by their answers to four initial questions. Since Lexus’s participation is to help mark the launch of its new Lexus 2010 RX, four single-page ads for the vehicle are included in each issue as well. Readers can also receive news and entertainment alerts through a customised widget or mobile application via RSS. The program ends June 15.
In addition to providing yet another illustration of the world’s increasing customisability, such an offering could also prove to be an excellent perk to deliver to Lexus customers—as we noted in the HSBC case as well. It’s good to give customers free love, but letting them choose what form that love takes is even better. Customisation and perkonomics—go forth and multiply! (Related: Personalised music mag.)
We’ve covered several food brands that provide consumers with detailed information on the sources and background of their spinach, bananas and coffee. It’s a trend that continues to pick up steam, as witnessed by condiment maker Beerenberg’s introduction of Provenance Pathway, an online tool that lets customers trace their jam or sauce from ‘soil to shelf’.
After purchasing a Beerenberg product, customers enter the item’s barcode and expiration date on the company’s website. An overview of the product appears, including photos of the people who made it, full product specifications, and an elegant implementation of Google Earth to map the farms where the main ingredients originated. Launched this month, Provenance Pathway is part of the Australian company’s recent revamp to underscore the ‘home-made’ authenticity of its brand. Despite being a major food manufacturer, Beerenberg wants to emphasize that its traditional recipes are still cooked in open steam kettles, free from artificial flavours, colours or preservatives.
The new generations are changing the world. We use technology to gain information faster, we read magazines because books are too much of a commitment and we watch series because movies require hours that we just dont have! In the famous words of the infallible Henry David Thoreau 'We must suck the marrow out of life'. This site is going to help you do just that. This site is about the pieces of genius and interest that lay scattered amongst so much debris of everyday life - if only the world could do the same with everything. ENJOY!
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September 1, 2010 
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