chrbutler: Great idea! I can’t fathom a better way to reduce waste created by plastic bags and other packaging than by eschewing the stuff altogether, which is precisely what London’s Unpackagedgrocery shop does. Beginning life as a market stall in 2006, Unpackaged is a unique and brilliant concept that is so simple it hurts, especially considering the sheer amount of packaging waste that is ridiculously filling our planet’s landfill sites. Within the beautifully designed shop, organic whole foods, dried fruit, nuts and seeds, herbs and spices, even refillable oils, vinegars and wines are all available to place straight into your own containers, that you will have brought along with you … if you haven’t then reusable bags are available.

chrbutler:

Great idea!

I can’t fathom a better way to reduce waste created by plastic bags and other packaging than by eschewing the stuff altogether, which is precisely what London’s Unpackagedgrocery shop does.
Beginning life as a market stall in 2006, Unpackaged is a unique and brilliant concept that is so simple it hurts, especially considering the sheer amount of packaging waste that is ridiculously filling our planet’s landfill sites. Within the beautifully designed shop, organic whole foods, dried fruit, nuts and seeds, herbs and spices, even refillable oils, vinegars and wines are all available to place straight into your own containers, that you will have brought along with you … if you haven’t then reusable bags are available.

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smarterplanet: MicroSD Card Brings NFC to Phones for Credit Card Companies, Banks - RFID Journal Since early this summer, two credit-card companies have been conducting in-house tests of an RFID module that plugs into a mobile phone’s microSD memory card slot, thereby turning a cell phone into a Near Field Communication (NFC) device that can make payments, act as a loyalty card and download information from RFID tags embedded in smart posters.

smarterplanet:

MicroSD Card Brings NFC to Phones for Credit Card Companies, Banks - RFID Journal

Since early this summer, two credit-card companies have been conducting in-house tests of an RFID module that plugs into a mobile phone’s microSD memory card slot, thereby turning a cell phone into a Near Field Communication (NFC) device that can make payments, act as a loyalty card and download information from RFID tags embedded in smart posters.

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Augmented Reality Virtual Marketplaces

To help spur the economy, I’d like to see Virtual Storefronts created for products or services via Augmented Reality (AR).  In this video demonstrating how AR was used to virtually paint an abandoned warehouse, you can see how simple it would be to create cyber representations of whole stores that people could shop in via AR enabled smart phones.  Each virtual kiosk could have geo-tagged videos demonstrating actual products that people could purchase by simply clicking their screen.  Picture Central Park in New York City or other public spaces that could be utilized in this way by startup companies unable to afford the rents that many urban locations charge.  Supply chain issues would be vastly minimized as products wouldn’t need to go to stores and them people’s homes.  Retail efficiencies would provide more profit to owners, etc. Trash/waste would also be non-existent.

-John C. Havens (VP, Social Media at Porter Novelli and author of Tactical Transparency).

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