milk *an advertising agency

The Virtual Fitting Room by Fits.me

Online sales are booming, right? But did you know that clothing represents only 8% or all online sales? The obvious reason: you never know if the clothes are going to fit, which leads to the measly eight percent plus huge return rates for retailers. Well, Fits.me, an Estonia-based tech company has a solution. Fits.me (great name, btw) is a virtual fitting room for online clothing retailers. Add Fits.me to your site and its robotic mannequin will take your customers’ body measurements, mimic their shape and allow them to see exactly how your clothing will fit them. Luxury clothier Hawes & Curtis has already adapted the technology and it wouldn’t surprise if other online retailers soon follow. Check it out.

Trikoton – Clothes Crafted from Your Voice

Design that merges fashion and technology is a fast-emerging market and Berlin fashion house Trikoton is on top of the trend. Trikoton takes an audio recording of your voice and transforms it into Scantron-like patterns of dots or perforations that are then transferred onto sweaters, vests, leggings, and scarves. The technology here is an audio-signal processing program that converts speech into the binary code of a knitting pattern and isn’t limited to the sound of your own voice; at a recent trade show, Trikoton designed clothes based on people’s favorite songs. Check it out.

Ignition Switch - The Mini EV Scooter

BMW is rolling out the Mini Scooter E, a two-wheeled two-seater that can be charged at any old outlet using an on-board cable. Here's the coolest part of the Mini, though: the scooter's cockpit houses a snap-in adapter for your smartphone, which becomes the central display and control element of the scooter. In fact, the smartphone will even serve as the ignition key; snap it in, and the scooter switches on. That. Is. Cool. Check it out.

Get Cash For Your Gadgets With Gazelle

Don’t recycle your old gadgets, ReCommerce them with Gazelle, the company that pays you for your old cell phones, laptops and other gadgets. Every item you send Gazelle gets a cash offer and it even sends you a box and pays for shipping. Gazelle extends the lives of items that still have value and responsibly recycles the gadgets that don’t. It’s simple. It’s safe. It’s one of our Green picks of the year. Check it out.

Moving Mountains - Self-Driving Audi to Climb Pikes Peak

We always knew our client Danbury Audi sold exceptionally engineered cars, but even this exceeds our expectations. Researches at Stanford University are developing technology that could help make driving safer and one day allow ordinary vehicles to drive on their own. To test their research they have equipped an Audi TTS with GPS receivers so it can be programmed to follow any route using a digital map. Its route? Pikes Peak. It all happens this fall. Check it out.

Cluster-F – CrunchPad is Dead

Two weeks prior to launch and the CrunchPad is dead. If you don’t know what CrunchPad is you may have wanted to. Hell, Joe went into a fetal position when he heard the news. We think he’s still under his desk. You see, Joe’s a gadget guy and he wanted to get his hands on this low cost tablet PC designed for web surfing. It looked like a really big iPhone. But as often happens greed and jealousy got in the way. So no CrunchPad…for now. They were too close. We have a feeling we’ll see something similar in the not too distant future. Check it out.

Electric Ladyland – Renault Zoe Z.E. Electric

Looks like French automaker Renault is going to be at the forefront of EV (see our post on Better Place below), and from what we’re seeing, the company will be a major player. Its EV concepts are as fun as they are environmentally sound – and the Zoe Z.E. is no exception. The Zoe was designed with help from cosmetics manufacturer Biotherm. The car is targeted for men and women, but we’re pretty sure the ladies will appreciate the car’s looks and spa-like features such as an AC system that helps to keep your skin hydrated and an on-board toxicity sensor that closes the car’s air vents before free radicals destroy your healthy complexion. The Zoe also has an electric diffuser built into the climate control system that can emit essential oils from Biotherm. The car can be charged quickly and the solar cells that cover the roof provide an extra charge on sunny days. Ingenious. Check it out.

Plug and Play – BRAMMO Electric Motorcycle

There are many reasons to love what’s going on with the green movement, but to us one of the coolest is the wonderful design that’s coming out of it. Being responsible and sustainable doesn’t mean you have to be boring. Take the Enertia from BRAMMO. It’s a 100% electric motorcycle and it’s everything that’s right with green design. Not only is it 100% electric, the Enertia also has no clutch or gears so it’s incredibly easy to ride. Just don’t call the Enertia an electric scooter or bike. It’s very much a motorcycle minus the intimidation factor. It starts at about $8k and because it’s green there are tax credits as well. It's the Joe Sequenzia pick of the month. Check it out.

Power Player - Better Place

Not since the short life of the Saturn EV-1 has the promise of Electric Vehicles been so promising. Auto makers around the world are working on EV models and it will be a company like Better Place that will provide the infrastructure with "a network of charge spots, switch stations and systems which optimize the driving experience and minimize environmental impact and cost." Great concept. Great site. Be sure to look for Renault's Fluence EZ Concept. It's really exciting. Check it out.

The Road to Energy Independence?

How's this for the road to OZ? Solar Roadways was just awarded $100,000 by the Department of Energy to develop solar panels that can be embedded into roads. If widely adopted, the 12-by-12 foot panels help finally solve many of our energy problems. Skeptical? With the panels, a mile-long stretch of four lane highway could remove 500 homes from the power grid. Production is a long way off, but this is very exciting. Imagine a similar technology for converting the motion of sidewalk pedestrians into energy. It's a company like Solar Roadways that will make these things reality. Check it out.