Coke’s Happiness Ambassadors.

Now that the hype behind the world’s best job has died down, let’s welcome Coke’s Happiness Ambassadors. And these ambassadors are on a mission to find happiness in the 206 different countries that sell Coca-Cola products across the world. See the introductory video here. Participants in teams of 3 had to nominate themselves and go through some grueling rounds of voting to get to become the team to visit all the countries that sell Coke the world. The year long mission starts in Jan 2010. Visit the Expedition 206 site here. More here

Masks From Artist Yoriko Yoshida.

Just in time for the Swine Flu season, a range of unique, one-of-a-kind Masks From Artist Yoriko Yoshida.

How Do You Count Money?

Interesting little aside, a short video on how people around the world count money. See if you agree. From The Bankwatch.

The Bailout. Now A Game.

Enough has been said and written about bailouts in the financial services sector. So now the guys at Blue Interactive has gone out and created an interesting little game. The BailOutGame. Steer a truck across a cityscape and the game ask you to make bets across many famous American bailouts that have taken place in the recent past. A simple yet chilling reminder on how the bailouts are sinking the nation further and further into debt. Play here.

Impulse Buying Killing You? Confess At The Altar Of Spendster

A pretty edgy looking site that’s designed to become a wailing wall of sorts for people who just can’t stop spending. Share your story of impulse buying, over-spending or just plain wasting money on the stuff you don’t need. Spendster, according to the site, began as the brainchild of the National Endowment for Financial Education® (NEFE®) CEO, Ted Beck to give people a safe haven—a confessional, if you will—where they can talk about what they shouldn’t have bought. Better yet, what they could have saved if that money was put to more productive use. More at Spender.org.

Open-Source Data Mining

Free tools are everywhere, but nothing could come close to the power that Maltego could unleash. Billed as an open source analytics tool, Maltego is already getting rave reviews around the world. Maltego lets just about anybody do the kind of data mining that in the past only fraud investors, government specialists and hackers typically could do. Since Temmingh released the first commercial version of Maltego this past summer, even several national intelligence agencies have made use of the software, he says. Like with all new age ideas, the basic version of the software is free, download and play around here. And the commercial version costs under US $500. Read more from Forbes Magazine.

Taking A Bite From The Financial Crisis

While the global financial turmoil is no laughing matter, someone in Scotland is making a few extra bucks with an aptly timed innovation. Credit Crunch Cookies. Seems there’s some logic in the thing at CCC. Store data has shown that the sales of cookies had soared ever since the blues hit the financial sector. While it may be a case of making hay while it is raining bad news around the world, here is someone taking a real insight and making a business case out of it. More on the ideo blog.

Now, A Robot To Help You With Your Account Aggregation

ANZ Bank Australia introduces a Robot Mascot to help customers with their Account Aggregation. ANZ Head of Online Banking Sam Plowman said: “ANZ MoneyManager is a convenient and simple tool for people wanting to better manage their finances. It’s particularly relevant given that Australians, on average, have a relationship with more than four different financial institutions.“
ANZ MoneyManager can help provide people with valuable insights into their finances and spending habits by bringing all their information into the one secure place, so they can make better informed decisions.”

Account Aggregation is not new. What is new perhaps is that the bank uses a novel little programming trick to turn your curser into a GIANT robot hand (see screenshot in linked article). A little disconcerting at first, but it does get your attention and proves you are dealing with a creative enterprise. All in all, an engaging user experience. Read more.

The Future Of English

These days it’s not easy to predict the future of anything with any amount of accuracy. But Justin B Rye at Xibalba is attempting at crystal ball into how the English Language will look in the year 3000. What reads like this now “We children beg you, teacher, that you should teach us to speak correctly, because we are ignorant and we speak corruptly” according to JB and his team will look like this in 3000. “ZA kiad w’-exùn ya tijuh, da ya-gAr’-eduketan zA da wa-tAgan lidla, kaz ‘ban iagnaran an wa-tAg kurrap” More.

The Algebra Of Logos

Not that too many of advertising and design types can boast about their algebra scores, but some of our Latin American friends have devised an interesting theory on logos. Nothing heavy here, fun deductions on some of the best known logos in the world. Give them a look if you have a few minutes to spare.