It’s somewhat natural for consumers to be skeptical about advertising, but when it comes to paid advertising across traditional and digital media, Canadians have a higher level of distrust than their U.S. counterparts. In fact, Canadian online respondents in Nielsen’s most recent Global Trust in Advertising survey rank among the least trusting of paid ads globally.As discussed during a recent...

A playful programming language you can touch. Montessori approved, and LOGO Turtle inspired. Learn programming away from the screen.Children growing up in today’s world can’t afford to miss out on coding—it is becoming a basic 21st-century literacy. Starting young on cultivating this skill set gives them an edge, and starting with something fun means they can learn faster and better. Cubetto...

Hakuhodo’s latest in its series of HACKist creative lab prototypes is Pechat, a simple button-shaped device that “lets your stuffed animals chat”.In essence, Pechat is a yellow button that can be added to any children’s toy, transforming it into a talking, interactive character.Co-developed with Hakuhodo’s innovation team monom (who made the iDoll and Memory Clock), Pechat is currently jus...

First, Amazon patented one-click purchasing buying. Now it wants a patent for pay-by-selfie.The Seattle-based e-commerce company recently filed a patent application for a process that would allow shoppers to make a purchase by taking a photo and/or video of themselves rather than keying in their account password. The application is related to a separate patent Amazon holds for a technology that...

As two companies compete to make Hyperloop a reality, one looks to Slovakia as the first destination, ahead of the original Los Angeles to San Francisco rail plan. Take that Silicon Valley – Slovakia, a country at the heart of Europe, might become home to the first hi-tech Hyperloop train.[A trip from Bratislava to Vienna could take about eight minutes on Hyperloop. Photograph: Hyperloop Trans...

Many companies do not realize it yet, but the consumer packaged goods (CPG) industry is facing a winner-take-all world. A world in which about half of all growth is online (more in certain categories and markets), brick-and-mortar market share and shelf-space prominence do not translate into digital sales, and nimble new competitors with disruptive strategies (as well as a few established playe...

Mattel might be the first to market with a 3D printer aimed at kids, but Hasbro isn’t sitting by and letting its main competitor have all the 3D fun. The company just patented a kid-friendly 3D scanner that can digitize small objects using a smartphone’s camera and clever software.Given how the company has already embraced 3D printing when it comes to some of the its most popular properties,...

#SpeakBeautiful gets personal with customized analysis.80 percent of women deal with negative comments on social media.After first teaming up to tackle negative social chatter a year ago, Dove and Twitter are now taking a deeper dive to examine how social media affects self-esteem.The team launched a new phase of its #SpeakBeautiful campaign at South by Southwest Interactive today with a tool t...

Use of the polymer graft could provide a non-invasive and inexpensive method for filling gaps in the spine left after the removal of tumors.Removing spinal tumors can be problematic, with the current options for bridging the gap left by the procedure being either very expensive, or extremely invasive. New research could provide a better solution, with the potential to use an expanding polymer i...