Justin Timberlake Goes Digital

Music impresario and arguably the most successful male pop act since Michael Jackson, Justin Timberlake is famous for his golden touch. His albums have sold a combined 15 million records. But under closer analysis, since he left the popular band N'Sync, Timberlake has seen each solo album take in less money. The reason, which should come as no surprise, is online music pirating.

To combat this ongoing (and congressionally impervious) trend, the singer and producer has developed a digital appendage for his label, Tennman Records. Tennman Digital, based in San Francisco's Potrero Hill district, is fast at work to monetize not only all of Timberlake's music, but also his name.

Tennman Digital's publicist Tracey McCoy explains that soon, all Justin Timberlake Google searches will be rerouted to his own brand, including all musical acts who affiliated with his label. 

"We're going to start a new drink brand. Justin's clothing line is going to fall under the Tennman Digital unbrella. But so will all searches for Justin's name, his songs, and all future projects," she said. "We're going to turn those desirable things into an application that will benefit Justin, his businesses, and other artists."

Lexus Hybrid More than Just a Technological Marvel

Toyota unveiled two news-making vehicles this year: the new, blue Prius, which lit up the Internet with opinions from car lovers and tree-huggers everywhere; and the less publicized, but no less impressive, luxury hybrid, the Lexus 250h Series.

Here's a quick guide to everything you need to know about the luxury car du jour. First, a quick rundown on the car's stats:

–The car features something Toyota refers to as the “cockpit of the future,” made from Eco Plastics that reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 20% over the course of the vehicle’s lifetime. 

–The asymmetric design of the dash and center console are aesthetically pleasing and sleeker than what you might think a hybrid vehicle might (and usually does) look like.

–A low center pass through allows for purse (or messenger bag) storage.

–Rear seat legroom is generous and back seat passengers are treated as nicely as those in the front, they even get optional twin DVD players.

–Family first: In terms of safety, the attention to detail is extreme: the Lexus hybrid sports a total of ten airbags surrounding front and rear seat occupants.

These days, luxury often gets confused with technology. Especially when it comes to cars. On the one hand, gadgetry—features like Bluetooth, navigation, heated and cooled seats, cameras in the side-view mirrors (so you can see how close to the curb you’re parking), iPod compatibility—seems like the essence of a new-and-improved car. But the Lexus hybrid boasts a different kind of forward thinking called the "Remote Touch Interface,” a non-touch, eight-inch screen buried high in the dash and controlled with RTI (a hybrid of force feedback joystick and computer mouse).

Toyota recently released a statement claiming “Six in ten people shopping for an entry luxury model have told Lexus that they would like a hybrid option. Only Lexus can offer this kind of advanced technology experience in a no-compromise luxury vehicle.”

That may be true. But what’s also worth noting is knowing the difference between slick and smooth driving, between getting pampered and getting taken care of, between style and substance.

Send the Kids to School–Ski School

It’s still winter and the kids are asking to see snow for the first time. Worried they may get hurt on the bunny slope? Here are a few tips for making their first ski trip memorable and a learning experience.

When it comes to gear, rent or buy it at a convenient spot, regardless of cost—you may need to exchange it during you trip.

It may be a vacation but send the kids to school—ski school. They’ll be willing to absorb the lessons if they're in a familiar school environment. Children learn and have more fun in groups and professional ski instructors are like celebrities of the slopes. Kids love taking lessons with young, hip instructors and playing learning games that will help them ski more safely with their peers in ski and snowboarding classes.

Speaking of the instructors, always tip them ahead of time. They remember who’s taking care of them—and they’ll go out of their way to take care of you and your progeny. It’s the best money you will spend to ensure that the vacation goes well.

Bring a marker and write your cell phone number on your children’s lift passes. A good rule of thumb is to stick your business card in every pocket, in case the kids get lost. The card will have your phone number and your e-mail on it, since sometimes phone reception is poor in the mountains.

If you own a cabin or chalet, make sure you invest in a strong deck if you are a non-skier. You don’t have to hit the slopes to share in your children’s enjoyment of them. Stock the deck with patio heaters and bistro tables. You can watch the little ones from a comfy perch.

Allez, allez!

Award-Winning Swedish Designs Now Available for Purchase

When it comes to design, Swedish modern is still a go-to aesthetic: the clean, sensual lines; the bold prints; the geometric precision of space management. In short, there’s a lot more to it than IKEA. On February 20th, the Swedish Embassy in Washington, DC hosted Sweden’s most prestigious design award show and product showcase, Design S. We take a peek at some of the winning designs that are sure to be hot tickets for interior decorating this year.

Among the featured pieces now available to the public are Bruno Mathsson’s BOO chair, which exemplifies a well-implemented, ergonomic seat with a textile-laminated surface. Mathsson’s idea stems from his longtime search for the perfect seating curve. The BOO is designed to take weight off the pelvic bones. The seat slopes forward but maintains a considerable depth, so less pressure is placed on the knees and your lower back gets cradled. The chairs are stackable, 100% recyclable, and thanks to the latest in microfiber manufacturing, they feel like plush suede but remain durable and impervious to spills and kids’ fingerprints.

Retro is not necessarily a detriment when it comes to the O2 Cocoon phone. Syntes Studio’s inspiration was to create “a life within” the one accessory that has practically become an appendage for all of us in our day-to-day lives. Inside the white shell, myriad features are “cocooned.” Messages scroll down through the shell; you can read song titles from the outside (it’s a crystal-clear MP3 player, to boot). Artful and intuitive, this product emphasizes elegance as well as functionality.

Anna Bonnevier’s sculptural fashion line, NUMB, is a collection of twelve unique garments designed on a geometric theme and focused on negative space. When worn, the pieces flow and mold to the body according to movement. Bonnevier came up with NUMB while still a student during Stockholm Fashion Week in February 2008. Tops, dresses, trousers, and an oversized cardigan amount to an entire wardrobe in a single clothing line. Each graphic design is voluminous and sweeping, but sharply tailored. That means you can drape or hug the garments against your body as you see fit.

The hand-tufted Tekla rya rug by Gunilla Lagerhem Ullberg is a unique combination of variegated felted wool, fine wool, and glossy flax yarn. The range of mottled colors is inspired by confetti. It’s like thousands of tiny hand-woven mittens strewn across your floor.

Slenderness is the theme with the Thinner series of airy tables in which advanced construction techniques and classic handiwork meet. In the home or in the office, Thinner’s graceful construction, not unlike an aircraft wing, communicates an aesthetic added value that feels both modern and timeless. It’s a desk. It’s a table. It keeps company with a laptop. But the white, seemingly weightless piece is also a graphic symbol, a wispy line drawn in thin air. Thinner is available in twelve sizes and four heights.

Can a material be democratic? This 18-drawer cupboard from the Unik Standard series blends wit, sustainability, and innovation. Made entirely of Masonite hardboard, this usually disregarded cork-like grain is fashioned out of discarded wood chips and particles. Its streamlined finesse fits all interior themes and the puzzle-like compartments (these are hardly just drawers) tuck and bend into a latticework of simple, efficient beauty.

Check out the winning looks at Design S. 

Fashion Gets Serious, but Hardly Concerned

At New York Fashion Week, critics darling Zac Posen revealed one of the most luxurious runway shows in years, replete with five grand pianos and clothes made of furs and rare silks. Oversized fur collars, jacquard fabrics, regal purples and lots of jeweled accessories abounded.

What recession? he seemed to coyly ask.

Later in the week, Michael Kors said that he set out to design "confident urban dressing for modern times." His garments were no less glamorous than in years past, but they did emphasize utility. He calls them "investment clothes," sleek, chic and confident. They'd be appropriate at work as well as out on the town.

While it is a key trend in any designer's collection to give shoppers something they don't already have, that doesn't seem to have affected the quality or luxury of the product. On the runways and in stores, disposable fashion doesn't seem attractive right now.

Here are some of the key looks that will be available in the coming months:

–Urban warrior: corset-style bodices; camouflage prints; hard accessories; sky-scraping shoes and boots.

–Stormtrooper: stiff, techno fabrics; metallics; shoulder flange and peplums standing away from the body.

–Rock 'n' roller: leather mixed with lace; black mixed with neons; miniskirts; tough metal hardware.

–Power player: skirt suits with a long, lean silhouette; shoulder pads; fur-trimmed coats.

Investment clothes. Talk about a haute topic.

Trump Files for Bankruptcy, but Give Him Credit

Trump Entertainment Resorts TRMP filed for Chapter 11 last Tuesday. The firm had failed to make interest payments on its debt earlier in the year, so effectively its fate had already been in the hands of its debt holders. On Feb. 13, Donald Trump resigned as chairman, and his daughter Ivanka also resigned her board seat.

And yet, Trump is moving forward with the development of a multimillion-dollar golf resort (including a golf academy, 950 holiday homes, 500 private family homes and 36 luxury golf villas) near Aberdeen, UK.

The reason for this recent venture comes down to one thing: good credit.

Earlier this month Trump stepped down from the board of his casino company after a dispute with its bondholders, saying his holding represented less than 1% of his net worth. Sounds a bit like another venture capitalist in the news of late: Bernard Madoff.

How does Trump’s demise resemble Madoff's? We will explore the credit issue in a future post.

Yves Saint-Laurent Auction Affirms Art as Viable Investment

According to the New York Times, an auction at the Grand Palais in Paris fetched a record-breaking $261 million. The Yves Saint-Laurent, Pierre Berge art collection on the auction bloc several included hundreds of big-ticket items, including a Matisse (which sold for $40.6 million), a Mondrian painting ($24 million), and a rare sculpture by Constantin Brancusi, which garnered $36 million, unprecedented for sculpture.

Art critics and auctioneers believe that this marks a growing economic trend: art and fashion as investments. In fact, the auction was planned in part as a test of whether the wealthy will shrink from prodigious purchases amid economic crisis.

It paid off: a total of 733 pieces of art owned by the late fashion legend Yves Saint-Laurent were sold.

Berge, the fashion designer's partner in business and personal life, told press that he believed the sale would reaffirm the value of art as an investment refuge. 

Still, the auction’s success did little to assuage general uncertainty over the international economic meltdown that has inflicted heavy damage on the art market. Berge noted said that he had stopped buying "for that reason." It's a step, though, he said.

He plans to donate most of the profits to HIV/AIDS research. He has told journalists that this sale honored the compulsive (and in terms of furniture and art-collecting, impulsive) energy of Saint-Laurent, who died last year at age 71.

But there was at least one sign of restraint. Nobody raised their auction paddle for a Picasso painting from his Cubist period, "Musical Instruments on a Table," considered the signature piece in the collection, with an estimated value of $38 million.

LaHood in Driver Seat, Transit Tax Proposal Cited

Shortly after Secretary of Transportation Roy LaHood raised the idea of a transportation tax based on mileage, rather than gas, the idea was curbed in both a written statement from the department and by White House spokesman Robert Gibbs. LaHood's proposal, which would have placed GPS devices in cars, suggested people could be taxed by how much they drive, rather than how much gas they purchase. LaHood said that the plan, which could have raised additional funds for infrastructure, was something "we should look at."

The Department of Transportation issued a statement that addressed LaHood's idea: "The policy of taxing motorists based on how many miles they have traveled is not and will not be Obama administration policy." The idea of a mileage tax is still being floated around by a few states—namely, Idaho, Rhode Island and North Carolina. Oregon has actually run a pilot program, and found the program to be viable.

This proposed tax would have environmental implications–some good, some bad. When people buy more efficient vehicles, they use less gas, which is a good thing. Still, they're driving as much as they did, and their cars have the same effect on the road, so the government doesn't get as much revenue from these drivers to fix our highways and bridges. As more people begin driving hybrids and using less fuel, this will become a greater problem.

Meanwhile, green bloggers have pointed out that presently, a mileage tax would punish them for consuming less gas, and take away the incentive for others to purchase hybrids. Morgan Clendaniel of Good offers a solution that would be a weight-per-mile tax, which would reward drivers of lighter vehicles (like the Prius) which presumably do less damage to the road. The problem with all of these ideas, though, is that they still require a GPS to be installed in each car. This is widely considered to be a privacy concern.

Where do we go from here? The taxman cometh, but, thanks to enforced GPS tracking, we'll see him coming from a mile away.

Real Estate: Albert, Texas, Spotted on the Sale Rack

The economy may have fallen off the roof and broken its back, making larger investments (for example, buying property) a bit precarious. But if you've ever had aspirations of owning, say, your own town, have we found a blue-light special for you. Nestled just a quick jaunt North from San Antonio, the ghost town of Albert, Texas is up for grabs at $883,000.

According to a CBS report in 2007, the town's owner Bobby Cave put the town on the market for a sum of $2.5 million (he paid $216,000 for it). That was then; this is now.

Amenities: An 85-year-old dance hall; an icehouse and beer garden; a creek; an historic limestone schoolhouse (the town rumor is that President Lyndon B. Johnson attended in 1920–but the rumor's getting harder to corroborate with subsequent population decline); pecan and peach orchards; a three-bedroom, two-bathroom home; and, according to Albert's Web site, "ample parking."

Albert once bustled with 50 residents in 1925. By 2000, the populace reduced by 50%. When Cave came along in 2003, it was nearly deserted. By October of 2007, after putting hundreds of thousands of dollars into the town, he was ready to move on. Adhering to the Texas state census, a dusty sign that reads "Population: 4" greets visitors upon entry. 

In a related story, an island (yes, an island) is also up for grabs to a lucky bidder. The seller is Brian Silvernail, a commercial real estate developer, property auctioneer, and technology enthusiast (he named his three sons Emerson, Ethan, and Elliot so that he can refer to them as his e-boys).  It seems that he too has grown tired of his privately owned (and water-ensconced) land mass, which is available for perusal and–he hopes–purchase.

Airlines Seek In-flight Luxuries Great and Small

Flying the friendly skies has become a nickel-and-dime industry. The new era of air travel brings fees for everything from checked baggage to traveling with a child. But sometimes we’re getting what we pay for when those service charges accumulate. The range of “extras” varies, of course, but with fewer trips being booked, airlines are quickly distinguishing themselves in niche markets.

Starting March 1, US Airways will resume serving complimentary sodas, juices, tea, coffee, and water. Last August the airline started charging $2 for all non-alcoholic beverages. US Airways CEO Doug Parker issued a letter to his employees stating, "We know customers don't buy an airline ticket based on whether or not they will get a free soda onboard, but with US Airways being the only large network carrier to charge for drinks, we are at a disadvantage."

In higher-end airfare, Gulf Air, the national carrier of Bahrain, recently signed an agreement to lease four new Boeing 777 ER aircraft as part of the airline’s re-fleeting and product-enhancement strategy. The aircraft are embellished with an artfully appointed interior and a number of luxurious amenities, including private suites with bespoke furnishing and a fully flat bed complete with a personal wardrobe.

Business class is decked in herringbone designs, beds with 180 degree recline capability, and Egyptian cotton linens.

Gulf Air deputy CEO Ismail Karimi issued his own statement recently: “As the national carrier of the kingdom, we are constantly looking at opportunities, where we can offer enhanced products and services for our customers. Ultimately, we want Gulf Air to be the airline of choice.”

As airlines compete with one another over who rules the most sky miles, it's becoming clear that cost-cutting ticket prices has made little impact. Instead, trip packages are considered the defining factor: more bang for (more) bucks.

Does Raising Children Bilingual Make a Difference?

Season two of the popular Bravo television series "The Real Housewives of New York City" is in full swing, and with it, the catfights, the social-climbing, and the controversies are back to entertain us. One of said housewives, Alex McCord (along with her fashionista husband Simon van Kempen) remains determined to invest heavily in her children’s education, starting with raising the toddlers bilingual. To do so, McCord and van Kempen employ a French-speaking au pair (who claims a $30,000 per year salary) and insist that sons Francois and Johan interact with the world strictly en francais. The question is, will this make a difference in their learning?

Christina Bosemark, founder of the Multilingual Children's Association, co-founder of the Scandinavian immersion school in San Francisco, and mother of two trilingual daughters, recently wrote an article titled "Raising Bilingual Children: The First Five Steps to Success.” In it, she suggests that previous generations of parents believed the route to raising a polyglot tot was “via an exorbitantly priced Swiss boarding school. Luckily, such elitism has been thrown out the window, and now parents raise multilingual children themselves,” she writes.

Bosemark’s up-to-date solution? "Just talk to them."

Her research suggests that a child needs to be exposed to a language 30% of his or her waking time to actively speak it. Since waking time is a finite quantity, so, too, is language acquisition.

According to Bosemark, one effective learning plan requires one parent to always speak to the child in the foreign language, preferably the parent who spends the most time as the primary speaker. Otherwise, building a bilingual household means investing in an outside (but indoor) source like a bilingual nanny or an au pair. McCord and van Kempen appear to have earned Bosemark’s endorsement.

Immersion, she maintains, is simpler than you’d think. Providing your child books, music, movies, and toys in your minority language are the most obvious ways to boost international exposure. It’s a long-term commitment, Bosemark asserts, but one that will pay off. It’s worked for Madonna and Antonio Banderas, right? 

Not so fast.

Bonnie Gray of the Silicon Valley Moms Blog (and owner of luxury shopping cart and high-chair seat cover company Just Peachy Baby) begs to differ. A first-generation Asian American growing up in Northern California during the 1970s, she posted about her own experiences juggling multiple languages in the house.

“I was always encouraged to speak and learn English well,” she states. “When I became an adult, it was rare to be asked whether I spoke a second language. Even during the few times I've tried to speak Chinese to some of my overseas born co-workers, they would let me know that they preferred that I speak English with them.”

Gray suggests that without total immersion, the child can get more confused by learning a second language at an early age. She also adds that children can become frustrated, and turned-off, by the prospect of bilingualism if it isn’t integrated holistically (or in her opinion, impractically) into their lives.

“People remind me that being fluent in Chinese would give [my son] a competitive edge in the working world, given our global economy,” she writes. “Some have even told me that my son will grow up and resent me for not teaching it to him when he was young.”

Instead, Gray asserts, try teaching your children about various cultures and ethnicities, so that they might gain some insight and awareness of the world around them. The same immersive tools can be used, from books and movies, to posters and foreign foods.

Both Bosemark and Gray agree that promoting an awareness of other cultures is crucial in a child’s development. And with awareness instilled, language is a logical next step.

Entrepreneur Report: TOMS Shoes Founder Blake Mycoskie Sets Example

Sometimes doing well means doing good.

Blake Mycoskie is the founder and CEO of TOMS Shoes, the top-selling casual shoe brand whose profits are more than $10 million since the first pair of madras slip-ons (called Alpargatas) was sold in 2006. Always an entrepreneur (he sold cookies on a local golf course as a teen), by age thirty Mycoskie had launched five successful businesses. TOMS is the one closest to his heart because it combines his passion for innovation and philanthropy, a business trend that he believes is the next big thing.

While on vacation in 2006, Mycoskie befriended the children of an Argentine village. He watched as they walked miles to retrieve fresh water for their families in their bare feet. His company was founded on a simple but mighty premise: for every pair of shoes purchased, he would donate a pair to a child in need. Since May of that year, TOMS has hand-delivered more than 300,000 pairs of shoes to children without. A documentary detailed one of his recent “shoe drops” in South Africa and premiered to acclaim at the 2008 Tribeca Film Festival. He’s been featured in Vogue, The New York Times, Time, and O, was honored by the Smithsonian Institute, and was tapped by fashion icon Ralph Lauren to design shoes for Lauren’s trendy Rugby line. More brands are following suit and asking to partner with TOMS to clothe the needy. Fashion and philanthropy are contagious, it would seem.

When he’s home in Los Angeles (in a matter of speaking—he lives on a $340,000 45-foot boat), Mycoskie tours the country speaking publically about the key to his success: people are inspired to buy a product that promotes—and enacts—charity and good will.

Is this the frontier of new business?