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In the latest installment of Trendwatching's essential monthly series, the concept of "Infolust" is dicussed.

Infolust as defined by Trendwatching is - "Experienced consumers [who] crave detailed information on where to get the best of the best, the cheapest of the cheapest, the first of the first, the healthiest of the healthiest or the coolest of the coolest."

TW goes on to break Infolust into 3 seperate categories:

1. Online Transparency and the realms of Micropublishing - for all the latest scoops from blogs like Gizmodo, Engadget, Luxist. Mash-ups as they apply to such things as Google Maps and Proper Pint, and price comparison websites such as Pricenoia for getting the best deal on air travel.

2. Infolust on the GO - with more than 600 million mobile users worldwide by 2008, the market for mobile content is growing steadily. With services such as Google Mobile, Yahoo! Mobile, and even Techorati Mobile, people have access to a wealth of information even while away from their computers.

3. Infolust Penetrating the Brick and Mortar World - with the development of new barcode systems such as Shotcodes, ColorCodes, SMS codes, QRcodes and UpCodes consumers are able to gather more relevant information on products in the store by tracking the barcodes to related webpages and product sites. Currently most prevalent in the UK (anyone remember CueCat bombing in the US?) and Asian markets, consumers are using these new barcode systems for everything from real estate research to mobile purchasing and in-store coupon codes.

TrendWatching closes the article with the following thought: Will INFOLUST, like every great romance, mature into a slightly less obsessed INFOLOVE, or crash and burn into INFODIVORCE? Somehow, despite the inevitable backlash (especially from older generations not raised on info transparency), we don't think so. INFOLUST is empowerment and that's too much of a turn-on for consumers to let go of. It's not easily turned back, either. For that to happen, the current economic system would have to be turned upside down, and the online genie forced back into its bottle. Which is why, for example, China's efforts to temper INFOLUST amongst Chinese consumers is a doomed effort. But we're digressing. All of the above is just phase one, as the technology needed to do this properly is only being imagined now, and the majority of consumers don't yet fully realize how INFOLUSTFUL they really are.

Trendwatching: Infolust

» tags: lust Technorati Tag: lust  capitalism Technorati Tag: capitalism  consumers Technorati Tag: consumers  trends Technorati Tag: trends

Tasha sent me this fascinating article about a woman who's been able to remember vivid details of nearly every event that has ever happened in her life. Unlike savants who have been known to have extraordinary (albeit narrow) gifts of memory or recollection for very specific details - music notes, their personal interests, etc. - James McGaugh is a perfectly healthy functioning woman.

Scientists have been baffled by her condition for the last six years and even gone so far as to give the condition a name: Hyperthymesis - thymesis for "remembering" and hyper for "more than normal".

As a person who's got an admittedly horrible memory, this sort of study fascinates me for if an answer could be found to her power of memory an inverse answer may be found for why some of us alternately suffer from horrible short-term or long-term memory.

Woman With Perfect Memory Baffles Scientists - Patient Remembers Every Day and Almost Every Detail of Her Life

» tags: science Technorati Tag: science  memory Technorati Tag: memory  research Technorati Tag: research  savant Technorati Tag: savant

As I tune in to MTV Jams from time to time (more or less a 24/7 commercial-free rap video station) I've noticed more and more rappers wearing BAPE and Japanese streetwear styles. Quoting an unnamed source: "hard core rappers are wearing pink and pastel clothes. i love it".

For my part I won't go so far as to say "i love it" but I do find it amusing. I was in the grocery store on Saturday picking up food for a weekend BBQ and found this issue of Vibe magazine with Lil Wayne on the cover - and he's clothed head to toe in BAPE. Meanwhile, all the BAPE logos are blurred out in his (and everyone else's) videos but the style is unmistakeable.

So do you think this oversaturation of BAPE into the world of hip-pop will kill the brand or just make it blow up all that much bigger? And what's to be said of these thuggish looking characters wearing pastel colors and pink hoodies? I mean, Lil Wayne is one scary looking dude but check him out in the cover photo. Look at those boxers. Now imagine him wearing nothing but those boxers and maybe a pair of BAPE socks. Not very gangster dude. More like really flaming gay.

Lil Wayne interviewed for Vibe Magazine

Update: September 5, 2006
For all you commenters having such a hard time with me calling out your beloved fireman for his choice of style I bring you the above picture as a reference point. Taken at the infamous Elton John / Eminem performance during the 2001 Grammys.

The performance was ostensibly a means to silence critics who claimed Eminem was a homophobe. The idea was to prove them wrong by doing a duet with the most flamboyantly gay man on the planet - Sir Elton John. Jump to 5 years later and Elton John is quoted (in Rolling Stones and Vibe Magazine no less) as saying: "I want to work with Pharrell, Timbaland, Snoop, Kanye, Eminem and just see what happens," John says in the Sept. 7 issue [of Rolling Stones]. "It may be a disaster, it could be fantastic, but you don't know until you try."

The 59-year-old says he is a fan of Blackstreet's "No Diggity" and Tupac Shakur's "California Love."

"I want to bring my songs and melodies to hip-hop beats," John says. "I love these beats, but I have no idea how to get them."

So... check your history before flaming and realize that either way you cut it, Lil Wayne is now dressing in the same colors as the most succesful gay entertainer in music history.

» tags: streetwear Technorati Tag: streetwear  fashion Technorati Tag: fashion  rap Technorati Tag: rap