business
India Outsources Call Centres to the USA
The Washington Post reports that rising wages in India have led Indian outsourcing companies to staff their call centres with workers in America. The workers, largely uneducated African Americans earn around $12-14 an hour plus bonuses, which is four times the wage for a similar worker in India. They get dress-down privileges and free lunch [...]
Bootleg Toys Gone Wrong
You’ve got to admire the cheek of some bootleggers, but not all are as clever as they think they are. Cracked has found some corkers, such as: RobertCop SpaderMan Polystation See more here.
SpeedSale
Swedish retailer Papercut has added a sense of urgency to online shopping. Go to their site and you will be presented with a bargain offer, but you only have 4 seconds to decided that you want it and click to secure, before a new item appears to increasingly frantic circus clown music. Try it here. [...]
Most Innovative Countries
Judged on the number of product patents filed in relation to research and development spend, Korea is the most innovative nation, with Japan, China and Russia not far behind. See where you fit on this map.
Cat Cafes and Dog Yoga
Japanese pets are some of the most pampered on earth (second only to the USA), with yoga, tap-dancing and aromatherapy for dogs and acupuncture and cafes for cats. The Japanese pet industry rakes in more than a trillion yen a year. Read more on PSFK
Health Books for Kids
Medikidz has produced a series of comic books that explain serious illnesses such as breast cancer, HIV, depression and autism to children. With clearly defined facts, irreverent humor, and a comics format, the titles in the Superheroes on a Medical Mission series offer accessible, entertaining introductions to health topics from sleep issues to HIV. Every [...]
Get Laddered
Another advert featuring parkour, this one with a rousing soundtrack and ladders:
Historic Orchestra Faces Bankruptcy
The 111-year-old Philadelphia Orchestra is facing the possibility of bankruptcy even though it has assets that outweigh its debts. If the vote goes through it would be the first big US orchestra to take this extreme measure. They are planning to mount a campaign to raise $160 million in their biggest ever fundraising drive. But [...]
Nose to Tail Tattooing
Here’s a night class I’d like to try… Will Smith went to a tattoo parlour in London’s East End to be taught how to tattoo by world-class tattoo artist Mo Coppoletta. Wisely banned from trying his inept hand at tattooing a real person, he’s given a hunk of pig skin to practice on (much as [...]
Twitter Yourself a Private Flight
When a group of Dutch party promoters and DJs wanted to get to the Ultra Music Festival in Miami on 21st March, 2011 they realized there was no direct flight. So DJ Sied van Rieland and filmaker Wilco Jung used Twitter to ask KLM why not. Instead of being fobbed of or treated to a [...]
