Thomas Suarez has two published apps, a startup company and a compelling TED talk under his belt; all at the tender age of 12.

Most 12-year-olds love playing videogames — Thomas Suarez taught himself how to create them. After developing iPhone apps like “Bustin Jeiber,” a whack-a-mole game, he is now using his skills to help other kids become developers.

Thomas Suarez’s interest in technology and programming led him to learn Python, Java, and C “just to get the basics down.” He built an app and then coaxed his parents into paying the $99 fee to get his app, “Earth Fortune,” in the app store. Thomas also started an app club at school to help other kids build and share their creations, and is now starting his own company, CarrotCorp.

You should watch his inspiring speech at TEDx conference in Manhattan Beach, LA in the video below.

Innovation is the creation of better or more effective products, processes, services, technologies, or ideas that are accepted by markets, governments, and society. Innovation differs from invention in that innovation refers to the use of a new idea or method, whereas invention refers more directly to the creation of the idea or method itself.

Innovation and creativity are essential for sustainable growth and economic development. In today’s competitive economy, innovation becomes main driver for sustainable growth both for individual companies and for entire countries.

In this infographic from Good Magazine, the world map shows what percentage of Thomson Reuters’ “Global Innovators” list is headquartered in each country. In this list, Thomson Reuters names World’s 100 Most Innovative Companies. The U.S. leads, with 40 percent of that list’s companies based here. It’s followed by Japan (with 27 percent), France (11 percent) and Sweden (6 percent).

The most innovative industries on Thomson Reuters’ list were electronics and semiconductors, followed by chemical manufacturing, computer hardware, consumer products, machinery and telecom equipment.

When Mark Zuckerberg (the real one) took the stage at the Facebook F8 conference late last month, he promised that Facebook’s next five years would be defined by “the depth of engagement.” With the introduction of new app partnerships, a new timeline, and a whole host of new smaller features, Facebook has been redesigned to make social media an immersive experience for users. Reading a book, listening to music, cooking a meal, sweating through a workout—all of these things can be shared, discussed and influenced with Facebook’s new features.

But another potential result of this overhaul is Facebook’s new impact on education. How will the new Facebook affect the 21^st century student and the classroom in which she learns? How will the prevalence of social media influence—or encourage—online teaching and learning? And can Facebook’s new emphasis on engagement be a benefit to teaching and learning as a whole?

A new kind of engagement

Facebook was conceived when Mark Zuckerberg was a college student, but it wasn’t until years later that Facebook focused on how it could be used in classrooms and online. And as the Internet becomes a repository for more educational resources, Facebook has invested in making their social media network a valuable educational tool.  Their partnership with Skype makes it easier for students and teachers to use the video chat feature, allowing classrooms to talk to each other face-to-face.  And the group chat feature is a quick and easy way for students enrolled in online education classes to hold study sessions or even for teachers to conduct online chat room lectures.  And students who use Facebook for the social aspect may be excited to use it to do their schoolwork and interact with their teachers and classmates.

The mobile classroom

Facebook’s new apps allow users to post information about their activities and to share them with friends in real time. What could that mean for education, particularly college and university classes? Apps like Hoot.me allow students to see what their friends are working on and to collaborate with them within Facebook. And teachers can hold virtual office hours, allowing students to reach them anytime, regardless of their locations. The emphasis on real-time interaction means that Facebook is becoming a valuable tool for teachers and students who can’t always be in the same room.

The future of education on Facebook

It’s becoming clearer that the Internet in general—and Facebook in particular—is making a physical classroom superfluous. Students no longer need to be in the same location to interact with each other and with their instructors, and while one of the benefits of attending school is to learn to socialize, the rise of the Internet is changing the nature of socialization itself. Facebook’s new emphasis on engagement has the potential to shift the focus of education from individual learning and personal achievement to collaboration and group accomplishment—a concept that could gain importance in a society that’s becoming more global and community-focused.

Since its inception, the only constant with Facebook has been change: the ability to anticipate users’ needs and respond to their suggestions is what makes it the most popular website in the world. But it’s also Facebook’s eagerness to make itself useful in various areas of everyday life, including education. Facebook’s recent changes will be beneficial for education, provided that teachers and students are willing to use Facebook as a platform for communication, collaboration and creativity.

Joseph Baker’s business experience in management spans more than 15 years. A leader of development and management teams, he also implemented budget reductions professionally and as an independent contractor. Joseph led strategic planning and systems of implementation for nine organizations, public and private, and worked extensively with small businesses.

He holds a Bachelor of Science in Marketing from Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business, and an MBA from Kellogg School of Management.

Could future vacation advertisements one day read: “Plan your next family vacation for the dark side of the moon!” or maybe, “Now offering an intergalactic tour featuring Mars, Neptune, Jupiter and the Estranged Pluto! Book today and save 20%.”

No, way. Right?

Maybe not. According to recent information the first ever commercial space port in New Mexico is nearing completion. Yes, commercial. As in, commercial airlines. That means it will transport Average Joes like you to the moon and back.

But, for most, space is still a big giant unknown. We’ve all seen the Alien movies and obscure episodes of Star Trek. Few people are willingly trying to butt heads with Klingons. Will travel marketing ever be able to convince earthlings to book a flight to a beautiful Venusian resort over the more traditional route of moving into new Panama City Beach condos? Maybe. But, if they could, how would they do it?

Tactic #1: All Your Friends Are Doing It!

If marketers are going to be able to convince you to take your family to the moon, the Internet (social media, to be precise) will most likely be their vehicle.

Social Media has a way of convincing its users to do whatever their friends are doing, or vice versa. If your friends are wining and dining at The Corner Restaurant after work, you’ll probably be there, too. Likewise, if you’re headed out to The Neighborhood Bar for a drink, posting it on Facebook will entice friends to do the same.

Sites like Facebook are becoming nearly overrun with advertisements. Companies and businesses can take to social media to promote themselves for free or with paid ads. Search re-targeting also lets Google know that you’ve been curious about Venus vacation packages, have given it a quick Google and will likely bombard you with pay-per-click ads, even if you change your mind and decide to search for Panama City Beach condos instead.

In a similar fashion, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) continues to evolve daily, meaning that by the time space travel is a legitimate option in 2013 and after, SEO will know exactly how to give you the results you want with little to no hassle.

Social media is an excellent form of advertisement and could be used to ease the fears and uncertainties associated with space travel. If the Wilson family is posting pictures to Facebook and tweeting about their Venusian vacation, you may soon feel the need to book one of your own.

Tactic #2: It’s Easy and Affordable!

The Internet also has a way of making things, especially travel, affordable for just about anyone. We’ve all heard about the amazing flight and hotel combo packages through sites like Orbitz, Kayak and Priceline and about the amazing coupons offered through sites like Groupon. With this type of money-saving technology expanding as the future unfolds, you could reasonably expect to see flight deals if New Mexico’s space port really takes off. No pun intended.

And, with mobile apps like Foursquare, you can earn points for checking into different locations and occasionally coupons and discounts depending on the business. With enough check-ins, you could be mayor of the moon or earn a free ice cream cone at the Uranus Creamery. Foursquare is basically all about free advertisement for businesses–a clever way for travel marketers to get the word out there about space vacations.

Tactic #3: It’s Safe, see for yourself!

 Viral videos never get old. From the first moon landing to Charlie the Unicorn, we always love a good video and the second we see it, we’re going to share it. Much of the unease surrounding space travel is the simple fact that we’re always seeing videos of space adventures gone wrong. Apollo 13? Exactly.

But, what if marketers began using videos of successful space travel? The video of a group of Spring Breakers landing safely on Mars or taking a spin around the rings of Saturn could go viral in an instant. Or, it could be used as clever marketing to get travelers to step a bit out of their comfort zones and shell out the bucks for a ticket to Jupiter.

The Future of Travel Marketing

 Clever marketing can get consumers to try just about anything—even space travel. And, while it’s still a long way off, when done correctly, we could soon wish to forego visiting Panama City Beach, London or Cabo San Lucas in lieu of Mars. It’s a long way off, but who knows? Open the pod bay doors, HAL.

This guest post was contributed by Joseph Baker.

Joseph Baker’s business experience in management spans more than 15 years. A leader of development and management teams, he also implemented budget reductions professionally and as an independent contractor. Joseph led strategic planning and systems of implementation for nine organizations, public and private, and worked extensively with small businesses.

He holds a Bachelor of Science in Marketing from Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business, and an MBA from Kellogg School of Management.

With a jet-powered wing attached to his body, Yves Rossy expands the possibilities of human flight. On May 7 of this year, Swiss pilot Yves Rossy stepped out of a helicopter 8,000 feet above the Grand Canyon and … took off. Wearing a rigid wing powered by four model jet turbine engines, Rossy flew for eight minutes over the mile-deep trench, soaring over the red rocks before parachuting down to the Colorado River far below. It’s the latest exploit in a life powered by one dream: to fly like a bird.

Wearing his single wing, Rossy really flies, steering with the movements of his body. In the last couple of years he has crossed the English Channel, flown over the Swiss Alps and performed aerobatic loops around a hot-air balloon; for his next quest, he is developing a new kind of parachute that will enable him to fly as low as 200 meters.

Yves Rossy shared his story with the crowd at TED Global in Edinburgh, Scotland.

Money has evolved several times in human history: barter, coins, paper, plastic, and now, phones? It’s true — commerce is the next major advancement in mobile technology. Through the use of ‘near field communications’ (NFC) chips, several companies are about to revolutionize the way we shop, replacing our wallets with our smartphones.

Many people who want to start their own businesses and many people who want to invest in others’ ideas search answer of this question: “Which is more important the idea or the entrepreneur?” .

In academic journals, this is referred to as the horse (idea) and jockey (entrepreneur) debate. The horse and jockey analogy reflects two different financing philosophies: Either you believe the idea is the key and bet on the horse, or you believe management is the key and bet on the jockey. “Another way to phrase it is to say that you either bet on an A-team with a B-idea or on a B-team with an A-idea.

People have different thoughts on this topic. Generally, thoughts on this topic may be  grouped into 3.

1. The Idea: Some think that a good-idea will turn into a successful business in any manner whatsoever. They think business world has an evolutionary side which only good ideas can survive in time. Their motto is “Having the right idea is what counts.” .
2. The Entrepreneur: Many venture capitalists operate on the assumption that even if an idea isn’t perfect, it could be made so by the right management. So they think entrepreneur is more important than the idea.
3. Both The Idea&Entrepreneur: Some people believe that a successful business starts with a good idea. But firstly, an idea must be generated  and turned into a successful business by an entrepreneur. A good idea is a requirement but it’s not sufficient to succeed, it needs a good entrepreneur too.

I also think both the idea and the entrepreneur are important at the same time. A good idea is a start point. But don’t forget, most startups fail. A startup can begin with a revolutionary idea but execute dismally. Another startup can begin with a mediocre idea but execute spectacularly. The startup which executes dismally will fail and the one which executes spectacularly may succeed. But a startup which begins with a revolutionary idea and execute spectacularly will succeed. You may have the best idea but if you cannot reach your customers or you cannot pay your bills, you will fail. On the other hand, you may have the best management team but without a unique idea, growing your business and attracting investors will be very though job.

When you have a great idea, the questions to ask yourself is

1. Now that I have this great idea, do I have the right configuration to execute and make this dream a reality?”

2. Can I convince the marketplace that I can make this happen?

Consequently, I think the entrepreneur is 55% and the idea is %45 important to achieve success in business. What do you think about it? Would you bet on the Jockey or the Horse? Please comment…

As an entrepreneur, I frequently see entrepreneurs failing. I wonder why it is so common for entrepreneurs to fail and how the successful entrepreneurs succeed. There must be a way to crack the formula of startup success and reduce the failure rate of entrepreneurs. The Startup Genome Project has an answer to this question.

A group of international entrepreneurs (Bjoern Herrmann, Max Marmer, Fadi Bishara, Aleksandra Markova) came together to crack the “innovation code” of the successful startups like the Human Genome Project’s attemps to crack the human genetic code. They released the first Startup Genome Report with in-depth analysis on what makes internet startups successful based on data from 650+ Internet startups. The list below shows 14 indicators of success from the report. You can download the full report for more details.

1. Founders that learn are more successful: Startups that have helpful mentors, track metrics effectively, and learn from startup thought leaders raise 7x more money and have 3.5x better user growth.
2. Startups that pivot once or twice times raise 2.5x more money, have 3.6x better user growth, and are 52% less likely to scale prematurely than startups that pivot more than 2 times or not at all.
3. Many investors invest 2-3x more capital than necessary in startups that haven’t reached problem solution fit yet. They also over-invest in solo founders and founding teams without technical cofounders despite indicators that show that these teams have a much lower probability of success.
4. Investors who provide hands-on help have little or no effect on the company’s operational performance. But the right mentors significantly influence a company’s performance and ability to raise money. (However, this does not mean that investors don’t have a significant effect on valuations and M&A)
5. Solo founders take 3.6x longer to reach scale stage compared to a founding team of 2 and they are 2.3x less likely to pivot.
6. Business-heavy founding teams are 6.2x more likely to successfully scale with sales driven startups than with product centric startups.
7. Technical-heavy founding teams are 3.3x more likely to successfully scale with product-centric startups with no network effects than with product-centric startups that have network effects.
8. Balanced teams with one technical founder and one business founder raise 30% more money, have 2.9x more user growth and are 19% less likely to scale prematurely than technical or business-heavy founding teams.
9. Most successful founders are driven by impact rather than experience or money.
10. Founders overestimate the value of IP before product market fit by 255%.
11. Startups need 2-3 times longer to validate their market than most founders expect. This underestimation creates the pressure to scale prematurely.
12. Startups that haven’t raised money over-estimate their market size by 100x and often misinterpret their market as new.
13. Premature scaling is the most common reason for startups to perform worse.They tend to lose the battle early on by getting ahead of themselves.
14. B2C vs. B2B is not a meaningful segmentation of Internet startups anymorebecause the Internet has changed the rules of business. We found 4 different major groups of startups that all have very different behavior regarding customer acquisition, time, product, market and team.

I hope this report will help all entrepreneurs like me to succeed and thanks for the contributors.

“Everything that can be invented has been invented.” Legend has it that U.S. Patent Commissioner Charles Duell wrote that in a letter to President William McKinley in 1899. McKinley should have seen the Patent Wars between Tech Giants.
For high technology companies, no measure is more important than getting new products into the markets ahead of the increasing competition. In the high-tech business, Speed-to-Market has become an essential factor for survival. But as the accelerated new product development process goes on, some products become similar and companies start to sue each other for patent infringement.
The graphic below, shows lawsuits between famous technology companies because of patent litigations. Although patent litigation is not new in the technology world, these suits, specifically around mobile, point to the drastically changing mobile landscape. Because mobile technology was still in its infancy and these large technology companies aree trying to stake their claim to the future of mobile computing.

Thanks for InfoGraphics: Information is Beautiful

Artist and computer scientist Jonathan Harris makes online art that captures the world’s expression — and gives us a glimpse of the soul of the Internet. Jonathan Harris wants to make sense of the emotional world of the Web. With deep compassion for the human condition, his projects troll the Internet to find out what we’re all feeling and looking for. In this Ted Video, Jonathan Harris tells The Web’s Secret stories.

While news from Iran streams to the world, Clay Shirky shows how Facebook, Twitter and TXTs help citizens in repressive regimes to report on real news, bypassing censors (however briefly). The end of top-down control of news is changing the nature of politics. Shirky, a prescient voice on the Internet’s effects, argues that emerging technologies enabling loose collaboration will change the way our society works.

In this Ted Talk which took place at took place at the U.S. Department of State, Clay Shirky tells the effects of Social Media on our livings.

Google’s new service, Google Wave is generating so much buzz and everyone really wants to learn more about Google Wave. Thousands of articles and blog post are written in one day about Google’s new service. To help you save time, we’ve compiled a list of top ten links that describe Google Wave best.

1. Went Walkabout. Brought back Google Wave : Google’ s Softaware Engineering Manager, Co-developer of Google Maps and Google Wave, Lars Rasmussen tells about Google Wave in this official Google Blog post.

2. Google Wave Drips With Ambition. A New Communication Platform For A New Web : MG Siegler of TechCrunch describes Google Wave as a new platform for a new web in his article.

3. Sergey Brin: Google Wave Will Set A New Benchmark For Interactivity : TechCrunch IT Editor Steve Gilmor caught up with Google co-founder Sergey Brin and asked him about Google Wave. Don’t miss this video interview.

4. Google Wave: A Complete Guide : Mashable editor, Ben Parr compiled key information you should know about Google Wave.

5. Is Google Wave a Twitter Killer? avid Coursey from PCWorld searches an aswer to this question.

6. Google Wave: the Early Days : Tim O’Reilly, the Internet guru who first defined Web 2.0; wrote about the early days of Google Wave story which he learned from his conversation with Lars Rasmussen, at the Google I/O conference.

7. Google Wave: Five Things You Must Know : Mark Hachman form PcMagazine lists five thing you must know about Google Wave.

8. Five Reasons to Be Terrified of Google Wave : This FastCompany post written by Chris Dannen describes five reasons to be terrified of Google Wave.

9. Gmail in real-time: Google does the Wave : A must-read CNET article about Google Wave by Tom Krazit.

10. Google Wave API : Google Wave API central for developers interested in building applications for Google wave.

Google Wave is still unavailable and and if you want to be informed when it is available, signup for Google Wave updates.

Jimmy Wales recalls how he assembled “a ragtag band of volunteers,” gave them tools for collaborating and created Wikipedia, the self-organizing, self-correcting, never-finished online encyclopedia.

Thanks Ted.com for organizing these unmissable talks.

PR: wait… I: wait… L: wait… LD: wait… I: wait… wait… Rank: wait… Traffic: wait… Price: wait… C: wait…

Music is one of the indispensable part of our lives. As the internet gets accessible to more people, the number of legal and illegal ways to access music online increases.

As the Web gets more popular, online music services are transformed into Music 2.0 services. Music 2.0 is a networked, web-native,de-centralized and wherever accesible (especially mobile) music business (source:mediafuturist) . If you want to learn more about Music 2.0,  the presentation below prepared by Gerd Leonhard is the best to learn what music 2.0 is. There are hundreds of music 2.0 services. The most popular ones are iTunes, Last.fm, Imeem. If you wonder all of them, you can check RocketSurgeon’s Music 2.0 directory on his blog.

As the Web 2.0 goes beyond user expectations, Web 3.0 called as “semantic web” comes out. To me, Web 3.0 means collaboration and there’s a new Music 3.0 service called Fizy. Fizy is worth writing a special review.

As i mentioned in an old post before, Angelsoft is a New York based company which has become an online ecosystem where investors and entrepreneurs meet to build new companies. Due to its name, Angelsoft was about Angel Investors.After they released version 3.0 , their platform became easier but more powerful. With version 3.4 release, Angelsoft is welcoming VCs into the Angelsoft Network.They’ve launched new power features that can help the venture capitalists streamline the process easier. As it happened in all releases, the interfaces are ipmroved and lots of bugs fixed.

2008 Stats

Angelsoft is an alive and transparent platform and has lots of transactions, so the stats from Angelsoft are reliable enough to represent the industry. I think the most important stat is “invested submissions rate” . As you see, very small number of companies  who apply get funded. This shows how hard being an entrepreneur is. Getting an investment doesn’t mean that you will be successful. The success rate of a startup is very low, too. Half of the startups fail within two years and then the others in the next three years. Average four year – survival rate of a startup is under 40% . There are 442 angel groups and VCs and 14,900 investors in the Angelsoft Ecosystem and Angelsoft processes over 2,100 funding applications a month. Since May 2008, 37,000 + deals made, about 2,000 events occured, 150,000 documents attached.

Doubling Investor Community Activity

One of the most important need of the entrepreneurs is promoting their plans to the investor community. Angelsoft listened to them and took steps to help them out which resulted in a doubling of the number of views that the Investors receive. The feedback form both investors and entrepreneurs have been positive as well which means a win-win situation. Investors now receive an email bi-weekly with the 5 closest and 5 highest rated deals.

Industry Valuations

As the graph at the above shows, the average amount of funds being sought differs between 25% – 35% of the pre-money valuation estimated by entrepreneurs for their companies. The graph also shows us that the valuation is decreasing but the rate of the funds sought is increasing. This means,

• The prices are getting down in the early stage investment industry,
• Entrepreneurs are aready to share more of their companies with the investors.

Conclusion

These new features are a major step forward in improving the funding process for entrepreneurs and investing process for investors. These days, you can see angel investors and VCs coinvesting on deals more often. Both the VCs and angels need each other and this relationship will be more important in the future. It’s a smart action to bring VCs on board and Angelsoft platfrom has become a better place for entrepreneurs and angel investors to be able to meet more people.

* All the data and the images used in this article are the property of Angelsoft.

AMEE is London, UK based startup that aims to enable the calculation of the carbon footprint of everything. AMEE is a web 2.0 service and provides a common platform that combines calculation, measurement, profiling, transactional systems and represents carbon emissions data from over 150 countries. AMEE’s motto describes its mission the best: “the world’s energy meter” .

Emission trading is an administrative approach used to control pollution by providing economic incentives for achieving reductions in the emissions of pollutants. It is sometimes called cap and trade (Source: Wikipedia). The Kyoto Protocol is a 1997 international treaty which came into force in 2005, which binds most developed nations to a cap and trade system for the six major greenhouse gases. Carbon trading is sometimes seen as a better approach than a direct carbon tax or direct regulation.

Emission trading is at the core of AMEE. AMEE is designed to open up data for making it easy to access by serving an API. This API helps each organisation to create their own branded front-end  to their campaigns, but rely on the same standart data format. For instance, Morgan Stanley has extended their in-house CO2 calculator, built on AMEE to help their stuff to better understand their own carbon footprint, and to pledge action to reduce thie energy use and cut emissions.

Last month, Union Square Ventures,  O’Reilly AlphaTech Ventures has invested in Amee and TAG together invested in AMEE. Cases like the approach of AMEE excite me very much and i see day-to-day Web Meets World more, as Tim O’Reilly says.

One of the meanings of Web 2.0 is the shift in the way the Internet is used for finding what you need in a fast, interactive and creative way. So what can you do if you need a Web 2.0 talent or to promote yourself as a Web 2.0 talent? The answer comes from Web 2.0 itself and called Who’s Web.

Who’s Web is a nice mashup of Google Maps and a database of Web 2.0 talents like web developers, designers, web marketers or project managers and developed by Xilinus. Web 2.0 events can also be seen on Who’s Web. You can zoom in this map with your mouse or type into the search box.

The front page of Who’s Web consists of a global Google Map full of indicators showing Web 2.0 talents in the related district. You can find easily Web 2.0 talents in your area, you can promote yourself via Who’s Web or you can organize local Web 2.0 events like meetings or barcamps.

Who’s Web offers its members a profile page to promote themselves on a Google map interface with a brief information about their jobs.

Who’s Web can help you to extend your local network by contacting experts and passionate Web people. I think it’s worth subscribing to Who’s Web by filling this one-minute registration form, but Who’s Web itself needs web marketing activities to increase its awareness.

Front page

Personal Page

If you’re thinking to start an investment or still trying to develop a business, ‘consumer trends‘ is one of the key terms you must watch carefully. A consumer trends report is a must-use tool for entrepreneurs, investors and business developers. Especially, in this crisis situation with consumer spending down, it has become more important to target the right audiences to achieve the right goals. There are a lot of consultancy and research firms publishing consumer trend reports. Trendwatching.com is one of these firms.

trendwatching.com is an independent and opinionated trend firm located in Amsterdam, scanning the globe for the most promising consumer trends, insights and related hands-on business ideas. Reinier Evers; a trend watcher, a presenter and and an entrepreneur founded trendwatching.com in 2002 in Amsterdam. trendwatching.com is an innovative trend firm. What makes trendwaching.com unique is its source of information. Traditional trend reports rely on public surveys and direct sales datas. But trendwatching.com’s source of information is its network.

Past trends can be easily determined statistically, but the hard point is to predict the future trends. Trends are set by people and trendwatching.com has discovered this fact and implemented in their strategy of gathering information from people about future trends. The Springspotter Network, trendwatching.com’s global network of spotters, has 8,000 members in 100+ countries worldwide. These members are the ones who recognize new business ideas and cool & new trends. Anyone can join this network and accepted contributions get rewarded with cool gifts. This is a very interesting and innovative way to collect information from all over the world and this business model worth writing another article.

trendwatching.com publishs monthly trend briefings and annual trend report . More than 160,000 professionals in over 120 countries subscribe trendwatching.com’s free monthly Trend Briefing. This is the number one briefing of its kind in the world. Once a year, trendwatching.com releases a Trend Report, highlighting the emerging trends that will matter in the next 12-18 months. The 2009 version has been released at 17th November.

This report is not a free but it’s worth paying for its $799 or €599 price. The report includes 150+ slides and exclusive videos, outlining important changes in consumer needs and wants. More than half of the companies buying the report consists of B2C companies.

Let’s look at some of the interesting featured trends in this report:

• FAKETASTIC
• URBANY
• ADOPT A CONSUMER
• SOLITARY SNACKS
• GENERIC LUXURY
• RAW & SEE THROUGH
• UBER & ECO
• BEAT THE RECESSION
• MICRO-SCOPE
• FSTR

In conclusion, trendwatching.com’s monthly briefings and annual trend reports can help you with the predicton of your strategy and business development challenges.

* I’ll try to make an interview with Reinier Evers, founder of trendwatching.com about his opinions for 2009′s emerging trends despite the crisis and their  Springspotter Network ‘s business model.

Power.com is a new and 100% free platform that integrates social sites and provides a single interface to communicate, to browse, add a status message to all and reach content over these sites. Power.com is compatible with the following social sites: Orkut, MySpace, Hi5, Facebook, YouTube, Flogão and VoteMe. Power.com is founded in Brasil and Orkut, Google’s Social Network which is very popular in Brasil; so 5 million users have signed up Power.com since August and most of them is from Brasil and use their Orkut account.

On the Internet, there are many Web 2.0 services which we use on the Internet with the same purposes and it’s getting harder to control all of them at the same time. Web 3.0 will be about integrating similar Web 2.0 services and Power.com is a good piece. I think, Power.com is one of the first Web 2.5 services on the way of Web 3.0 and adding Facebook Connect and OpenID support can make Power.com more powerful.

CrisisWire is a brand new aggregator of information about a crisis or a disaster. CrisisWire is founded by volunteers from RefreshSD, a web community in San Diego, CA; in October, 2008. CrisisWire uses many sources, including Google Maps, Twitter, Flicker, news sites and blogs. Crisis has a speed advantage which main stream media doesn’t have.  In their own words:

CrisisWire depends on citizen journalists as well as traditional media outlets. The information is not curated, so you must evaluate its worth or accuracy for yourself.

Right now it’s the fire season in California and CrisisWire has gathered all the content across the web about Santa Barbara Fire. I think CrisisWire is a content agregator about an innovative – niche subject will be very succesful, but home page needs some improvement.