Barnes & Noble comes with browser for e-reader

Barnes & Noble is the largest book retailer in the United States and is known for large, upscale outlets. Recently, they announced a big update for the Nook, which is the e-reader of the company. Besides, reading books users can also search the web and play games now. The update will also allow user to browse complete books in the Barnes & Noble stores for up to an hour a day at no cost, even if the book isn’t in the store.


Besides this, Barnes & Noble also uses a better Wi-Fi connectivity, which makes faster page turns and better touch-screen navigation possible.

The advent of the iPad earlier this month means more rivalry for e-readers in general. To offset attention on the iPad, Barnes & Noble launched an ad campaign, including the company’s first TV ads in a decade.

The online sales of Barnes & Noble alley with 32% since the release of the Nook. It is very smart of them to apply these new updates for the Nook. With the new features of the Nook, it is possible for Barnes & Noble to resist the success of the iPad and to attract new costumers.

Hyves Donor Registration

From now on people can register as an organ donor on one of the most successful online communities in the Netherlands; ‘Hyves’. If you are a donor this will be shown on your profile page on Hyves. This is what the Dutch Transplantation Foundation (NTS) has revealed recently.

The main reason the NTS is running this campaign is that have examined that three-quarter of the people who are not registered as an organ donor are however positive about organ donation. They think people need a little push to really become an organ donor. With the campaign the NTS wants to stimulate people to make a choice about organ donation and the choice to capture the donor registry.

I think it is a very smart move of the NTS to recruit more donors. Hyves is very hot in the Netherlands and is used by almost half the population. Because of the high user percentage the NTS is able to reach a large number of people.

On the other hand, I am not so happy with the fact it will be shown on your profile page when you are a donor. Donor registration is a very sensitive subject and some people prefer to keep being an organ donor or not private.

Designer stuff for 1 euro

The outnet.com is an online web shop that provides designer clothes with discounts up to 80%. I really love the concept of the outnet.com because of the fact that you do not have to be a millionaire to afford high-end designer clothes.

If you subscribe yourself on the outnet.com you can buy designer stuff like clothes, bags, shoes for 1 Euro from the 16^th of April. When I first read about this new action I thought it was a joke, it is very implausible but true!

The outnet exists for one year and celebrates this with this rather brilliant action.

There are no snakes in the grass, but you will have to sign up for an account on www.theoutnet.com. You can subscribe yourself until the 11^th of April.

To get hold of the nicest pieces you have to get out of bed early!! But for the real fashion addicts this shall be no problem at all.

I already subscribed myself and cannot wait to search trough the whole online shop op theoutnet.

Thank god for the brain behind this fantastic action!!

I you create an account on the outnet you can buy the designer stuff as from the 16^th of April.

Put it in your calendar!!!

Louis Vuitton uses social networks

Nowadays, more and more brands are represented on social networks to promote their brand. Social media are a good communicative tool to reach a large number of people and because of that very popular. Furthermore, it can improve the brand reputation, increase traffic to their official website and it builds credibility.

Also Louis Vuitton believes in the use of social networks, and it is a way to create an image your brand. ‘’ The request for luxury goods grows every year’’ says Yves Carcelle, chairman of Louis Vuitton.

Louis Vuitton will enter three new markets by opening stores in the Dominican Republic, Poland and Lebanon this year. To make everything accessible to the consumer Vuitton makes us of social networking.  On Facebook Louis Vuitton has by far the most friends in comparison to other luxury brands. Almost one million people added Louis Vuitton as a friend on their facebook account. Louis Vuitton also uses Twitter and are planning to change the Vuitton-website to make it more interesting and more interactive.

I think it is a smart move of Louis Vuitton to use the social networks in such an intensive way. By this they distinguish itself of other brands and are able to attract more consumers. 

Naughty Calvin Klein campaign

Recently, Calvin Klein released their new underwear product range called X with a somewhat remarkable campaign.  In the commercial of this campaign a lot of words are bleeped out by sound and by an X that appears over the mouth, which makes it look that they are selling dirty talk. ''Mark your Spot'' is the sensual slogan used in the campaign.


Four smoking hot models are used for the campaign: American actors Kellan Lutz and Mehcad Brooks, Spanish tennis star Fernando Verasco and Japanese soccer star Hidetoshi Nakata. Greased and practical naked these models flaunt with the Calvin Klein Spring collection 2010. 
  

The commercial may not be released in America because of the vulgarityand is thus only broadcast on MTV in Spain, Italy and England. But girls don't be sad, you can watch the commercial on youtube over and over again. 

CLICK HERE  to watch the commercial 

Get to work ladies

Online shopping is the process consumers go through to purchase products, goods or services over the Internet. Nowadays, online shopping is a well known and rapidly growing e-commerce area. Online shopping shares in 8% of the total retail trade and the number of consumers who purchase online is growing sharply. More and more brands are setting up online webshops to sell their products directly to the end-consumer.

Especiallly, women are active online shoppers and some consider it as a part of their daily lives. The figures of the online outletstore Vente-Exclusive tell us that their webshop is visited by around 80.000 people on a daily basis and 80% of these visitors are women. Remarkable is that the virtual morning rush starts between 9 and 11 o'clock in the morning, in many cases during working hours. This means that lots of women order a new outfit or new household between the coffee breaks and the meetings.

Oke, I agree it is fun to shop online and buying new things gives you a good feeling, but this can wait until after work. During working hours you have to concentrate on your work, you are not paid for your good sense of style or bargain talent, but just for the work you deliver.

Just keep it as your outside work hobby!

First 3D Fashion Show

The British luxury brand Burberry is the leader of all fashion houses that are embraching technology and social media. They streamed their fall / winter '10/'11 3D fashion show worldwide, which resulted in a thundrous success. The actual runway show took place at the Chealsea College or Art in London at 4PM on the 23th of February, during the London Fashion Week, but the show was broadcasted to a series of private 3D events around the world. The guests in these cities viewed the show through not very fashionable red-green glasses. The broadcasts also included pre-show entertainment, behind the scenes, backstage and red carpet in London.

Christopher Bailey, Burberry’s chief creative officer, said: 'We are very excited we are hosting the first ever truly global fashion show.
'This unprecedented event will enable people to experience the energy and atmosphere of this show from around the world.
'3D technology will bring our global audience into the London show space allowing them to see the colours and fabrics, to hear the music and to be a part of that moment when it all finally comes together.'

Well done Burberry! I think it is a very smart move of Burberry to do this, they have drawn a lot of attention by this special way of organising a runway show. Besides that, they are the first fashion label ever created such an original fahsion show and will be long remembered.

CLICK HERE to watch a 2D broadcast of Burberry's fashion show

Shopping with your own personal stylist

Does this top fits my skurt? Does this bag matches my shoes? Good news for women who have problems combining. From now on you can make use of the advice of a personal stylist: ''The Pinko Instore Stylist''. This virtual unit is created by the fashionable, Italian luxury brand ''Pinko''.

With this system you can watch the Pinko fashion show, the lookbook and the campaign images. But more important, the Pinko Instore Stylist also displays a large number of extra looks with many different combinations of collection items. Using a touch-screen combinations and clothes, all images are viewed in different headings such as Chic in the City and Shining Rock, and also by category. The Store Stylist takes visitors along the Pinko-world combinations, styled by a renowned Italian fashion stylist from the headquarter every month.

Currently, the Pinko Instore Stylist is installed in fifty Pinko stores all over Europe.

I think it is a vert smart move by the company to create a virtual personal stylist. With the Pinko Instore Stylist they can distinguish themselves from other brands. Moreover, the advice of a personal stylist is no longer reserverd for the rich and famous people.

CLICK HERE to visit the official Pinko website and take a look at their new Spring / Summer collection.

Young bloggers

According to world greatest online encyclopedia 'WIKIPEDIA', a blog is a type of website, usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in reverse-chronological order. "Blog" can also be used as a verb, meaning to maintain or add content to a blog.

Blogging becomes increasingly popular, also among young children. There are a couple of very young fashion bloggers who sit front row at fashion show to give their frank opinions nowadays. The 13 year old Tavi Gilderson turns the fashion industry on its head through her writings. She's extremely popular but also feared by many fashion designers because of her genuine, unabashed look at trends and clothing. Recently, a new blog star has born of only five years of age: Katie. During New York Fashion Week she will entertain the readers of National Racked with her 'notes'.



This is CRAZY! How can a five years old girl be a famous fashion blogger?!!. A five year old can't hardly write or read. How in gods name can she write and maintain a blog.

Last Friday she gave during the fashion week in New York a summary of the Michael Angel show which was given in Bryant Park. Her notitions were made of words like 'hate, love of like' with stars en hearts all over the place.

Can we please have grown up bloggers and editorials with a more comprehensive vocabulary. PLEASEEEEEE!!!!!

Email blooper

Ralph Lauren is a well known designer in the fashion industry and owns the Ralph Lauren Inc. company. Since its inception in 1968, Ralph Lauren has become a powerful global empire that has put its stamp on everything from tuxedos to tennis skirts.
However, Ralph Lauren needs to minds his manners. The PR department of the fashion company comitted a fashion week pas faux while sending out a mass rejection letter to those deemed unworthy of attending the label's show at Bryant Park:

THEY FORGOT TO MAKE THE LIST ''BLIND''!

"Thank you for your interest in attending the Ralph Lauren Collection Fall 2010 Fashion show. At this time, we are currently at full capacity and are unable to accommodate your request. We look forward to working with you in the future," the e-mail stated.



Because of this stupid mistake more than 100 recipients could see who Ralph Lauren did not want to visit his show. All email addresses of the rejected companies and journalists were also publicly disclosed.

Ralph himself was not in for a comment and said that some intern of the PR department sent those mails. Of course Ralph, blame it on the intern!!!

Social Networking

Social networking is everywhere. Parents, children, coworkers and even the eldery use social network across the social media world. The most common used social -networking websites in the Netherlands are: Hyves, Twitter and Facebook. A social network service focuses on building and reflecting of social networks or social relations among people, e.g., who share interests and/or activities. A social network service essentially consists of a representation of each user (often a profile), his/her social links, and a variety of additional services

Nowadays, a large number of organisations are also using social networks for their business. William Baker, a professor of marketing at San Diego State University, surveyed 1,600 executives and found that firms that rely heavily on external social networks scored 24 percent higher on a measure of radical innovation than companies that don't. Companies use social media for marketing purposes, finding new employees, finding new suppliers and so on. Your social media personality becomes part of your brand’s legacy, so it is very important that you use social media properly. A good example of bad social media usage is the ''Wopper Sacrifice'' campaign by Burger King. The main idea behind this campaign was that people had to UNFRIEND 10 friends on their social network to get a free burger. The campaign failed and it didn't do much for Burger Kings brand neither for the Whopper sales.

Read more about the Burger King Issue on http://blogs.zdnet.com/feeds/?p=1204&page=8&tag=col1;post-1204

Hi all!

Last friday I was told in the course 'Media Use In Organisations' that I am following at the Univeristy of Tilburg to set up an own blog. I was also told that the blog has to be about the use of IT in organisations and that it has to be promoted on social media sites like Twitter.

To be honest I was very overwhelmed by this annoucement. At first because of the fact that I NEVER EVER wrote a blog before and certainly not about IT.

The next couple of weeks I will post blogs on this weblog about IT in organisations, so be prepared =)