Kitchen Enhancing Ideas from the 2008 Design Lab Competitions

Electrolux has long been known as among the leaders in appliance solutions for the home and at the 2008 Design Lab Competition which showcased some fancy designs from undergraduate and graduate students in industrial design that can be future home kitchen appliances that are sure to hit the market.

Here are some of the Finalists:

1. The Flatshare Fridge from Austria by Stefan Buchberger

2. The Drawer Kitchen from Korea by Nojae Park

3. Sook from USA by Adam Brodowski

4. The IBasket from China by Guopeng Liang

5. Stratosphere from Hungary by Atilla Safrany

6. Vesta Cooktop from Germany by Matthias Pinkert

7. The Coox from France by Antoine Lebrun

8. The Scan Toaster from South Korea by Sung Bae Chang

9. The E-bag from Hungary by Apor Pupsoki


(Source) InventorSpot

Is Real Estate to Blame for Financial Gloom?

Read about it anywhere and it seems that the real estate business is a key reason that you will see on why we are in the economic crisis we are in today. With tons of receivables and people drowning in debt for failure to settle their monthly amortization, who can blame these big companies for filing bankruptcy or Chapter 11 due to inappropriate funds to continue operations?

Well, in the end, we only have ourselves to blame. How do we get approved loans if we are truly incapable of settling them on a monthly basis? People are witty. They forge required documents such as their gross annual income or other proof of billing and/or proof of actual income generated. This practice is done worldwide and unless there are good credit investigators commissioned to do the usual background check, chances are they will get away with it.

But most of that is in the past and now we are all in a big mess. The financial problems continue to compound our economic outlook. Will it be remedied? Well hopefully so. If not, only God knows what the future will hold for us and I am not only talking about the real estate business!

Desperate Real Estate Selling Tactics

We all know that in the real estate business, closing a sale is essential especially if you are commissioned based. But I find it stupid to see people standing in the middle of the road, handing out fliers to vehicles passing by them with the hope of making that big sale. For one, did they ever stop and think on whether the people in their vehicles would pull down their window just to get a flyer from them?

Pathetic marketing is what I would term it. Apparently, it is either they are not thinking or it is originating from some crazy idea that they can get a sale by being that aggressive. But being aggressive can be defined in many ways and that is surely not an aggressive way of marketing and closing a sale.

Secondly, it is obvious that these people fail to define the market that they are catering to. The only people who may eventually grab their flyers are the Class B market. Considering the hard times we have today, do you honestly think that these commuters can afford such high-priced investments even if you convince them that this is for their future?

The name of the game today is survival and being able to cope up with financial burdens is something that many find hard. So with that in mind, perhaps it would be best to think the marketing strategies that desperate real estate companies are employing right now. For areas such as Mandaluyong and San Juan City in the Philippines, owning your own property is one thing but the manner and timing of consummating that sale is obviously facing the wrong direction!