PortaPocket Notebook

Lollapalooza is on the horizon and if you have a ticket to the annual music shindig in Chicago's Grant Park, you're in luck! Such fun scheduled for this year's festival...  

Who wouldn't want to see (and hear ;) rockin' artists Metallica, Paul McCartney, and Florence & the Machine? Oh yes... and that new young Englishman Sam Smith, among others. Ahhhh....such a full menu of treats, yet so little time. But why not? Decadence is the word!

One small suggestion if you're heading to this concert extravanganza...
just plan ahead. If you're going to brave the roads, get ready for gridlock, but make it easy on yourself and use Spot Hero to find (way better priced) parking ahead of time.

I use this smart service whenever I plan a trek into the city. It saves me so much stress about finding a place to leave the car and worry about how much they'll take me for when I get there. See how it works at www.spothero.com

Though it's been a little cool in Chicago this year, you're sure to see some hot outfits in the mix. Rather goes with the territory, doesn't it? ;) 

So...go down there, have a blast and enjoy!! The only thing I ask?

Just take 'me' with with you ;)

Having been on the planet for awhile now, I've been around the block enough times to see this phenomenon on more than one occasion. One big Q for many product developers is: Why do some ideas get embraced like wildfire, and others (even perhaps better ideas) never get their moment in the sun?

It's a strange, even bizarre conundrum that I don't know if anyone has the answer to, but boy don't we wish we knew!  

 A current example is the next bra-with-pockets offering that's about to hit abc's Shark Tank episode on Friday the 13th (perhaps that date's symbolic? ;)) Here's another iteration of the same idea we've seen for the last few years, with more companies excitedly jumping onto this band wagon. Of course no one can adequately explain why the concept of putting one's cell phone (and corresponding emissions) basically on top of one's heart and chest is a good thing to do. There've been concerns raised about this, and the suggestion that one can just turn off one's phone, but in the grand scheme I think both you and I know that people are simply not going to remember to do that.        

Perhaps another reason this particular idea is being heralded is the notion that 'sex sells' and the folks in the Shark Tank episode are choosing to leverage this... otherwise why would there be something called 'B**byPack'? A bit disappointing to see society embrace these kinds of tactics, but seeing how long such strategies have been in use....what can you do.                                                                       Now let's see if they sink or swim...! ;)

photo credit: Environmental Health Trust (ehtrust.org)