PSFK's Good Ideas Salon, London-Style

PSFK will be hosting a full day-long Good Ideas Salon, in London on January 30, 2009. From a varied mix of PSFK hand-picked innovators and leaders in creative thinking, attendees will gain insight into such areas as: arts & culture, collaboration, design, digital, marketing, mobile, and youth.

The De-blinging of MTV?

MTV is announcing a new program that takes the spoiled brats from My Super Sweet Sixteen and dumps them with indigenous tribes in Africa and Antarctica. It's called Exhiled! and it's a 180 turn from the ostentatious and limitless lifestyle glamorized in the original show.

The premise of this show stuck out to me, and I think it’s because it’s a demonstration of our swing away from soaking up the unattainable ultraglam world of My Super Sweet Sixteen to being more interested in “what’s right.” MTV is following that trend with Exhiled!. Over the next year, we will become more focused on what's right and what's wrong as the presidential election bears down on us. Things we haven't thought about for years are creeping back into our minds, and I think it's making us all a little more righteous. I think plenty of brands have picked up on their consumers being fed up (cashing out, as Faith Popcorn calls it) and have staked out territory as allies in “being fed up.” They’re anti-establishment; they’re rebel. But this MTV program may be going one length further to focus on life after being fed up—depicting what it’s really like out there in the world, rather than just being against what the world is not. "Our audience in the past few years has really begun to look at how they fit into the world; it's core to who young people are now," said MTV executive Dave Sirulnick. "Some of these girls had very little awareness of what was going on around them and were very self-centered. We thought, 'Here's an opportunity.'"

What's Next: The New Keyboard for the Texting Generation

Given I'm just a couple years out and, as many who know me would agree, still as prone to immature humor as ever, one of my favorite sites continues to be College Humor. While running through the RSS feeds today, caught this article on what a keyboard redesigned for the texters and IM junkies among us may look like. Silly as it might be, makes me wonder if this would actually be met with success...


The left...

and the right side...

can't forget that number pad

Bankrupt! Nearly 1 in 4 People Are Uncomfortable With Their Debt

A new Gallup poll reveals that, despite the fact Americans are taking on more and more debt as a way to fuel consumption (and in theory are comfortable with the idea of debt), about 23% are "somewhat or very uncomfortable" in terms of their level of debt.




While 23% may not be as "significant" as Gallup claims (keep in mind, 77% of respondents said they are "very" or "somewhat" comfortable with their debt level), to me the more important piece comes after, in that 49% of respondents are uncomfortable with making a major purchase (in turn adding to their debt) in the next 3 months.

Perhaps we're seeing a turning point- people finally getting fed up with the ever growing mountain of debt weighing them down. Take this with things like the growing proliferation of debit cards- particularly young people, "with 60% of people 18-25 reporting they use the cards for purchases for anything from digital content and vending machines to parking and newspapers" according to MSN- and it does seem that the willingness to incur debt may be retreating.

Though, its a long battle back from the situation we young'ns are in. Yikes.

Also interesting to note that 4 of the 10 most recent Gallup poles are focused on debt, highlighting again how top of mind this issue is for people.