Technology

• After five years hidden behind the wall of Microsoft's MSN service, CNBC has unveiled a redesigned Web site that relies heavily on streaming video.  CNBC.com hopes to combine and capitalize on both the explosive growth in broadband video and the resurgence of business news.  Inspired by the next generation of Web sites such as MySpace, the new Web site, CNBC.com, will feature more than 13,000 videos of business and financial leaders as well as licensed content.    

Food & Beverage 

• Pepsi is creating startup brands for Whole Foods, including its new high-energy protein drink line, Fuelosophy.  To compete with the more homegrown, lifestyle-oriented companies that appeal to the Whole Foods consumer, Pepsi’s new brands bear no trace of their corporate lineage.  Until now, most of the forays from big food companies into the natural-foods category have come from buying up successful niche brands already in existence.  Distribution in Whole Foods will allow the brand to test new products without the heavy costs of mainstream launches and establish much-needed credibility in health and wellness.
• Special K, the Kellogg Co.’s number one brand, is known for its “Special K Challenge” diet plan.  Last month, the brand rolled out a new line of protein waters and protein bars, in hopes of extending their diet credentials even further.  Special K Personal Trainer watches, which calculate calories burned and are already sold in the U.K., will also find their way to store shelves in the new year.  Advertising for the new diet lines will hit in January, touting their ability to help consumers stay on track with their weight-management goals throughout the day. 

Green Living

• The Solaire apartment building in New York City’s Tribeca neighborhood is being billed as “Americas first environmentally advanced residential tower.”  Amenities include energy efficient designs, partial solar power, central water filtration systems and eco-friendly maintenance.  In addition to its eco-friendly features, the 20-story building includes luxe touches such as concierge service, maid service and valet.
• According to Organic Exchange, a nonprofit advocacy group, demand for organic cotton by clothing makers is increasing at an annual rate of 93%, and it projects that sales from organic cotton will total $2.6 billion by the end of 2007.  Vendors from American Apparel to Wal-Mart now offer clothing under the organic cotton banner, and Levi Strauss will soon introduce Eco Jeans, its first organic-cotton line.  

Fashion

• T-shirts these days are the ultimate form of self-expression and customization.  Hubwear lets its wearers display their favorite travel routes using airport codes (think JFK, AMS, MIA, HKG and so on).  The front of the t-shirt shows the two airport codes of the outbound flight, and the back features the codes of the return trip.  The shirts come in three classes:  Economy Class, which lets customers mix and match routes from over 20 popular airports, Business Class, offering travel-inspired, limited-edition graphic prints, and First Class, for fully-customized itineraries.   

Advertising & Marketing

• With water restrictions happening around the world, the Denver-based Sukle agency came up with an inventive ad campaign for Denver Water to encourage people to become more aware of their water usage.  The ads speak for themselves – check them out at: www.sukle.com
• Nokia has teamed up with the Italian car maker Lamborghini to create a limited edition phone.  The phone contains Lamborghini-made ball bearings for the sliding mechanism and its logo is laser etched on the front of the stainless steel casing.  Only 500 phones will be made, and they are reserved exclusively for Lamborghini customers.

                                                               Media

• VivMag is the newest women’s health and lifestyle magazine to hit the market, but you’ll never find a copy in your mailbox or at the newsstand.  The magazine is all-electronic and completely digital.  Created using Zinio software, both editorial and ad pages are interactive.  Readers can flip through pages and click on buttons to see models perform yoga moves or toggle between different fashion and makeup combinations.  The magazine, which launched December 1^st, will have six issues a year.  
• The Pulitzer Prize Board announced that newspapers will now be allowed to submit video and interactive graphics as part of their entries for the top award in U.S. print journalism.  Allowing more online material "was the next logical step," said Sig Gissler, administrator of the Pulitzers.  "It emphasizes blended journalism and that's where newspapers are today."
• Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. plans to offer a live television service in cars by late 2007, setting content deals as early as January.  The mobile video, likely to be available in 2008 model lines, would be geared toward young viewers sitting in the back seat.
• This March, Time Inc. will launch “Project Y," a multiplatform In Style brand extension that will include a quarterly magazine, web site and mobile application targeting 16- to 20-year-olds.  Like its parent, Project Y will cover celebrities, fashion, style, beauty and parties.  The new magazine will target an audience of 400,000 of its current In Style subscribers who fit the age demographic and distribute additional copies to newsstands near college campuses and shopping centers.    

     Media Tidbits

• Condé Nast is making its second foray into Asia, in fall of 2007, with the launch of Vogue India.  Condé will own and operate the Indian title, based in Mumbai, rather than publish it under license.
• Bauer Publishing's Life & Style has replaced editor Debra Birnbaum with general manager Mark Pasetsky.  Bauer is looking to make the title a “style bible.”
• James K. Glassman, who has been a financial columnist for the Washington Post and who was the publisher of the Atlantic Monthly and The New Republic in the 1980s, has relaunched the public affairs journal of the American Enterprise Institute as The American, a glossy bimonthly with an ambitious approach to business, economics and culture.
• Jeremy Langmead has left Wallpaper for Esquire UK with plans to make the title more grown-up, aimed at successful men who want to further their successes.