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China Consumer Behavior Economics Information Technology Trend Watching

Chinese People and Their Mobile Phones: E-commerce is going mobile

Chinese retailers are paying close attention to the mobile commerce sector in the country’s large cities, and experts said the development of mobile commerce will depend on the Internet environment in China […]

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Design Information Technology Innovation Software Trend Watching

Gary Flake demos Pivot and asks “is it a turning point for web exploration?” talk at TED

Gary Flake demos Pivot, a new way to browse and arrange massive amounts of images and data online. Built on breakthrough Seadragon technology, it enables spectacular zooms in and out of web databases, and the discovery of patterns and links invisible in standard web browsing […]

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China Consumer Behavior Economics Innovation Software Trend Watching

Intellectual Property: Shanzhai Phones’ Declining Popularity in China

The word shanzhai has several meanings. Originally it meant a fortified mountain village, but these days it mainly refers to small, illegal factories that churn out copies of famous-brand mobile phones. In the era of relatively simple 2G phones, the industry was huge, but now everyone wants a fancy 3G smartphone, and they’re a bit too hard to fake, leaving an uncertain future for this hidden industry […]

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China Consumer Behavior Economics Trend Watching

China, Socialism & Consumer Behavior: sales of luxury cars on the rise

Luxury car makers reported strong sales growth on China’s mainland for the first half of 2011, despite the Chinese government’s phasing out of incentives […]

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Design Economics Innovation

Design in Brazil: overcoming exchange rate pressure and increasing exports with innovation

Despite the devaluation of the dollar is affecting the competitiveness of Brazilian industry — especially manufacturing — companies such as Marcopolo, Anatomic Gel and Inova Electronic Systems have managed to maintain their level of exports and to increase sales to other countries to invest in innovation, refinement and reduction of production costs […]

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China Consumer Behavior Economics Trend Watching

China, Socialism & Consumer Behavior: China to cut tax on luxury goods

China, already the world’s second-largest luxury goods market, will soon slash import duties on “opulent items” to encourage wealthy local shoppers to buy more pricey cosmetics, watches and liquor […]

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China Consumer Behavior Economics Trend Watching

China, Socialism & Consumer Behavior: buying patterns and long-term Consumer outlook for Luxury product

In a recent report, McKinsey classifies Chinese luxury consumers into four broad categories as follows […]

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Design Economics Innovation Trend Watching

Watch Noreena Hertz’s “How to use experts — and when not to” talk at TED

We make important decisions every day — and we often rely on experts to help us decide. But, says economist Noreena Hertz, relying too much on experts can be limiting and even dangerous. She calls for us to start democratizing expertise — to listen not only to “surgeons and CEOs, but also to shop staff.” […]

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Design Information Technology Innovation Software

Autodesk Launches 2012 Digital Entertainment Creation Products

Autodesk, inc. announced new releases of the company’s digital entertainment creation software and middleware. The 2012 versions enable iterative workflows, help users manage complexity and provide new creative tools […]

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Design Economics Innovation Trend Watching

Watch Eric Berlow’s “How complexity leads to simplicity” talk at TED

Ecologist Eric Berlow doesn’t feel overwhelmed when faced with complex systems. He knows that more information can lead to a better, simpler solution. Illustrating the tips and tricks for breaking down big issues, he distills an overwhelming infographic on U.S. strategy in Afghanistan to a few elementary points […]