It’s great to discover new and unusual approaches to the ordinary - and MOO.com is fun company doing something different.

I think I may have tested dozens of “web to print” solutions over the years, some pretty cool and some pretty awful. Here are a few of the things that MOO does right:

• You won’t see a standard business card anywhere! There are about a million companies selling “design online” business cards, who needs to try to compete in that space. These folks have designed - and made popular - a new size card: 1″ x 2 1/2″
• This is definitely NOT your mother’s “photo card” site, either. These folks figured out fast that by developing relationships with sites like Flickr, Myspace and FaceBook, they could reach the younger market and avoid competing with traditional (read: boring) online print services.
• Like most design online applications you can upload your own designs, but you have to see the selection of “ready made” designs available. Some of the best I’ve seen to choose from!
• You get a lot for a little! A sturdy plastic box of 100 mini cards or a packet of 20 postcards costs $19.95 and a packet of 10 greeting cards plus envelopes or 16 note cards plus envelopes is $24.95.
• Shipping is reasonable! For these products, the first item is $6.99 and $3.99 for each one after. Not bad from London!

I thought this selection of minicards looked interesting. It’s called “Skies and Sunsets” and 100 different images are included in the packet. There are dozens of categories to choose from and you can upload your own photos or designs. Nifty!

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New ideas come from the most amazing places! I found this link on the Influential Marketing Blog, scroll down until you reach the May 16 post.

These aren’t meant to be marketing videos at all, the videos below are taken by a traveler to India who met a kid on the street selling a peacock feather fan. This kid - dubbed the “lingo kid” in a YouTube video shares his linguistic skills that he learned from tourists on the street to sell his wares. In the second video, the same traveler returns three years later to interview the boy again (his name is Ravi) and learn more about him. (Read the article)

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Looks like the race is on for the “first to market” lead position for mini-projectors. This one is the 90-805R from Hong Kong-based Earth Trek.

Measuring about 4 by 2 inches, the projector can apparently project a 22-inch diagonal image using an SD card slot and an A/V input provided via a 3.5 mm jack, not to mention a built-in speaker.

Unfortunately, there was no distance given, so who knows how far it will “throw” an image.

Nor do we know yet when it will be available or for how much.

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I have a favorite slide that I often use in presentations when I’m talking about changing technology, specifically when referring to the many communication methods we use every day. It says:

Unified communication:

• Device and media independent…
• Personalized AND automated…
• Wireless and mobile – phone, browser, PDA?

I want it all and I want it my way and I want it now…!

According to the BBC, we do want it all - and now! We are getting more ruthless and selfish when going online. According to Jakob Nielsen, a usability expert, people want to reach a website quickly, complete a task, and leave. Most ignore efforts to make them linger and are suspicious of promotions designed to hold their attention.

Nielsen also says that web users are getting frustrated with all the extra, such as widgets and applications, being added to make them more friendly. Read more here>>

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I usually try to keep to new technology for printing or other kinds of communi- cation, but I just had to pass this one along!

Created by transportation design student Jake Loniak, the Yamaha Deus Ex Machina is an “electric, single passenger, vertically parking, wearable motorcycle. The bike would theoretically be controlled via 36 pneumatic muscles and 2 linear actuators and projected to accelerate from 0 to 60 in just 3 seconds, with a top speed capped at 75 mph.

Theoretically this type of motorcycle should be considerably more stable that the current two-wheeled versions!

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Twenty-three years ago, we were all much younger and this was science fiction.

The final scenes in the 1985 movie Back to the Future show a modified Delorean/time machine being “refueled” with garbage to provide power.

Fast forward to 2008. This past week a group of Harvard students and alumni won $200,000 in a World Bank competition with a “dirt-powered” microbial fuel cell system to provide lighting to remote areas in Africa.

A microbial fuel cell (MFC) energy source captures energy produced by naturally occurring microbial metabolism and can generate electricity from organic-rich materials such as soil, manure, or food scraps.

In the final scene of Back to the Future, Part 1, Doc Brown (Christopher Lloyd) dumps garbage into the fuel cell of the Delorean and he, Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) and his girlfriend, Jennifer (Claudia Wells), disappear into the future.

Looks like we’ll be able to replicate that action shortly; by 2015, if the movie is correct!

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