New Ideas...

from an email from Springwise.com:

Truck offers mobile bottling for DIY beer brewers
Food & beverage

Targeting small brewers in the UK, Tom Wood's has launched a
mobile bottling operation using a truck that drives to the client and
provides washing, capping, labelling and shrink-wrapping services.

Boxes made of cardboard laden with seeds
Eco & sustainability

The Life Box is cardboard box material impregnated with tree seeds.
After use, rather than being thrown away the boxes are planted.
The resulting trees and the carbon they sequester are later trackable.

Reusable lid for coffee cups and mugs
Style & design / Food & beverage

The Mug Hug is a silicone lid that seals securely on ceramic mugs and
paper cups alike, making it useful both for taking a hot drink from
home and to save on disposable lids when buying from a coffee shop.

Digital shortcuts to real-world locations
Life hacks / Media & publishing

Users of Oregon-based Mapcut enter their home or business address
on the site's home page, and are provided with an easily-remembered
word or phrase that can be used as a URL to represent that location.

ATM machines let users donate as they withdraw
Non-profit, social cause / Financial services

New-York's Choose Change ATM has developed a line of ATMs
that lets users donate USD 1 of each USD 2 transaction fee to a
non-profit organisation selected from an on-screen list.

Global service helps workers swap jobs and homes
Life hacks

Acting on the premise that employees can be creatively influenced by
a brief immersion in a different company, SwapYourShop helps
creative professionals temporarily swap both homes and workplaces.

Greeting cards that can be reused and tracked
Eco & sustainability / Style & design

Regreet in the US and Merry-go-round in Australia make cards
that can easily be reused with a new message inside. Both have
features allowing users to see a history of a card's peregrinations.

More furniture shopping with the crowds
Retail / Homes & housing / Style & design

London-based Made.com aims to bring original design to the masses
by removing middlemen from the process and connecting consumers
with furniture makers directly, thereby significantly cutting prices.

Online band management tools for musicians
Entertainment / Life hacks

Bandize is a one-stop web-based management application for
bands, band managers and record labels. It features accounting,
tour booking, contact management, merchandising and other tools.

Beauty retailer finds a niche in 3 fluid ounces
Fashion & beauty / Tourism & travel

Helping consumers avoid bag-check charges or having their toiletries
and cosmetics confiscated when travelling by air, New York-based
3floz sells beauty and grooming products in flight-friendly sizes only.

Webcam tool shows which health clinics are crowded
Life hacks / Government

The Singaporean ministry of health's Queue Watch service gives
citizens a real-time view of how crowded clinics are likely to be
by means of webcams and data on current queue lengths.

Pre-search helps shape results when you're Googled
Life hacks / Media & publishing

Vizibility allows users to prioritise and filter a Google search about
themselves and publish a URL or button on their webpages that,
when clicked, shows results in accordance with this customisation.

Breakfast and a haircut at London salon
Lifestyle & leisure

London hairdressing salon Percy & Reed has taken the concept of
providing snacks to customers a stage further by allowing clients to
preorder from a breakfast menu when booking their appointment.

Broker creates local groups for group solar purchasing
Homes & housing / Eco & sustainability

One Block Off the Grid runs campaigns in US cities to facilitate and
negotiate discounts for group purchases of residential solar power
installations. On average this reduces individuals' costs by about 15%.

Hotel equips concierges with iPads
Tourism & travel

Concierge teams at InterContinental hotels and resorts are being
issued with Apple iPad tablets to provide a hi-tech alternative to
the venerable tradition of scribbling directions on a tourist map.

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