This isn’t exactly news anymore, but it’s worth noting that two more reports this week confirm the idea that consumers tend to do their research online prior to buying offline/locally. The first is a Kelsey Group study that indicates 97% of consumers use the Internet to research products or services in their local area . What specific online research tools … Read More

The spat between Google and the Chinese government has been rumbling along for weeks, but just now it’s been elevated to “fist fight” status: The inevitable strongly-worded Chinese warning about “consequences” has arrived. The warning came today from the Minister of Industry and IT, Li Yizhong, who was speaking to reporters at the annual National People’s Congress meeting. Li was, … Read More

If you think that Doritos has gone down the same road that Cheetos did, with its supersized snack–the kind of thing you’d need to buy an extra seat for should you be popping one of these on a flight–you’re wrong. They’ve just come up with a nifty little viral video that compares their triangular chips to an iPad, and the … Read More

Apple ’s history of eliminating apps that compete with its own is as old as the App Store itself. So why, exactly, does Barnes & Noble think they can get away with submitting its eReader app for the iPad? From browsers to music players to email, Apple firmly removes any app that could conceivably compete with its own first-party apps. … Read More

Converse are the lo-fi sneakers that everyone loves–precisely because of their can’t change, won’t change-ness. And now, with a little help from Takahiro Miyashita, designer of now-extant, but-still-cult Japanese label Number

This week at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco , Sony (worth a look!) unveiled a motion controller for the PlayStation 3 (pictured), offering gamers its answer to the Nintendo Wii. It’s called the Move and is a rectangular device curved on the sides to fit comfortably in the hand. It also has a glowing ball at the end … Read More

Okay, Apple fanatics, publishing hopefuls, and reckless early adopters: tomorrow is your day. Start warming up your refresh finger (mine’s the right middle finger–it’s like I’m saying “screw you! Work this time!” with every furious refresh), because Apple’s iPad, in both Wi-Fi and 3G configurations, is allowing pre-orders starting tomorrow at 8:30 AM EST (5:30 AM PST). You can pre-order … Read More

Maya Romanoff, the man who made tie-dye hip for non-hippies, celebrated four decades of creating drop-dead wall coverings last night at New York’s Museum of Arts and Design. Resplendent in pink striped socks and a tie-dyed velvet necktie, Romanoff sat silently in a metallic red wheelchair as his wife, Joyce, the company ’s president, closed her thank you speech with … Read More

If you ever visit the downtown Manhattan offices of Foursquare , the popular location-based social game for smartphones, don’t say the word Gowalla. When I made that mistake during a visit there last November, 27-year-old cofounder Naveen Selvadurai sent me to the Foursquare time out chair. It was a joke. I think. Gowalla is Foursquare’s arch-rival. The companies both launched … Read More

Have you seen Logorama , the movie comprised entirely of animated logos, that just won the Oscar for best animated short film? It’s an excellent representation of the technicolor tapestry of branding that our world has become. Whether that’s a good or bad thing depends on your point of view. [youtube p10UE3O8s24] But what would the world be like if … Read More