Dr. Bianca Wittman of University College London found that making novel choices activates the ventral striatum of the brain. This area is associated with rewarding behavior. Thus, labeling a product as "new" may increase its sales because of this brain wiring. Also, familiar brands also cause higher levels of brain activation, so the perfect pitch may be a new product from an established brand. Hmm, "Apple iPhone," maybe?

I love ideas like this: bubble-wrap calendars. You pop each day when it's done. A company from Brooklyn sells them for $50--$50 for bubble wrap! I love the margins as much as the idea. Put this one in the "why didn't I think of that" category.

My buddy David Szetela writes a new column for SearchEngineWatch called "Profitable PPC." In his first column, "PPC Advertising: Art or Science?," he mentions a book called Scientific Advertising by Claude C. Hopkins. The book was first published in 1923--long before TV or online advertising. Hopkins is the inventor of test marketing, coupon sampling, and copy research.

The polls close tomorrow night, July 9th, at 9:00 pm Pacific, so be sure to cast your vote for your favorite Alltop badges. The creators of the top five badges win iPod Touches. Click here to vote.

My buddies at Start Cooking kickstarted my career as a chef. Please click here to watch the video of my teriyaki sauce. I won't get very far as a chef, but I love the video style of Start Cooking. Companies can use this stop-action style to explain many product and services--it sure beats the usual Flash video that you skip.

Check out this great video of Malcolm Gladwell (The Tipping Point) discussing the shortcomings of today's hiring practices. He cites examples of professional sports that conduct "combines" where teams measure the performances of prospects in the hopes of drafting the future stars.

Check out the Silicon Valley Moms "Summer Road Trip '08." Five mommy bloggers are driving across the United States in a Chevy Tahoe Hybrid. Other sponsors include Yahoo!, CBS News, WeightWatchers, Six Apart, and Zune. The moms describe it as "5 blogging moms, 7 days without kids, 1 car without carseats, 2,000 miles to drive." The promotion is an example of great marketing at low cost. Something to think about when you're coming up with marketing ideas.

Babak Parviz, an assistant professor of electrical engineering at the University of Washington, is working on developing contact lenses with LEDs in them. This makes the contact lenses into personal displays--and gives a whole new meaning to "EyePod." There are, however, still issues such as powering the LEDs and the fact that the lens are too close to the eye to be in focus. Still, how cool is this!?

A buddy of mine found three cool inventions to share with readers of my blog. These inventions can change the world and illustrate how much can be done with innovative thinking.