ExchangeFrame is a new web-based service that may just change the way the boutique garment biz operates (for the better of course). Through various mechanisms before, during, and after the tradeshow, ExchangeFrame tightens the relationship between the tradeshow and its participants. Boutique retail industry tradeshows, as those of you who’ve been to one know, have traditionally been a hectic cluster of craziness– so many brands, so many retailers, and very little (if no) organization. ExchangeFrame digitizes the order registration process for both retailers and the brands themselves, allowing for a more seamless show planning process. This service should create an environment more conducive to trade, where brands can better orchestrate the entire tradeshow process to better achieve their brand mission.

Serial Entrepreneur, self proclaimed Brand Diva and JoshSpear.com friend Karen Post recently launched an exciting new social network aimed at creatives. Oddpodz is set to become a flourishing community of out-of-the-box thinkers, designers who wish to make significant positive impact on the world, and finally a place for the ‘odd’ and quirky to no longer be ‘alone’ or ‘lonely’. Karen and team have been building the site and networking features around the mantra Odd Is A Beautiful Thing– and we certainly agree with them. Partnerships with folks like Atlantic Records and Method will surely help their push. Be sure to check out the 3D network Muzeum experience (and become a citizen!), the Odditeaz program, and their blog. It’s at a very early stage at this point, and parts of the site remain in beta, but they’re very open to early and honest feedback.

“Start Global Cooling” is the tag line and mantra of Clif Bar’s 2007 Save Our Snow (S.O.S.) Tour. The ultimate goal of professional skier and environmental advocate Alison Gannet and her tour mates is to use their position as representatives of an athlete-driven company to (1) “call attention to the impact of global warming on winter sports,” and (2) “inspire people to take small actions that can help fight climate change.” So far, the tour has been a great success, hitting a ton of ski resorts across the Western U.S. thanks to a clean-burning and trusty 1986 veggie oil powered Winnebago. I have to heartily commend this tour because it has presented a creative strategy for spreading the word and eliciting help with wide-spread and pervasive problem of global warming. You want to know 5 easy things you can do to help? Ya you do.

While we’re on the subject of romantic getaways, I have another one for you– but before you even consider this one, make sure your special someone doesn’t mind the cold. The photos of the Ice Hotel Quebec-Canada tell it all. While it’s not the original Ice Hotel in Sweden, it’s every bit as gorgeous. From an architectural standpoint, the Ice Hotel is dynamic in its purest form– every year, the hotel’s army of talented artists sculpt an entirely new and unique experience using stainless steel moulds that are anchored by wooden framework walls. You’re not going to find room service (or even a bathroom) in these rooms, but you will experience the extreme and unique luxury of sleeping in a cozy cocoon of ice. There are quite a few of these Ice Hotels out there, so do your research, and you’ll find the one that will accommodate you the best.

I’ve always known that giving chocolate is the customary and ‘correct’ thing to do for Valentines Day– to the point where there are TV commercials telling me that if I don’t get my girlfriend Russell Stover chocolate for V-day, she will send me swiftly to the dog house (no joke). But this takes the gift of chocolate to a whole new level: at the Hakone Kowakien Yunessun, a spa in Hakone, Japan (which is outside Tokyo at the base of Mt. Fuji), you can give your significant other the gift of a chocolate bath! While it’s not pure Ghiradelli, or Godiva, or Dagoba, or New Tree, or even Hershy’s, it is a mixture of water, cacao, and therapeutic bath powders. And as an added bonus, you will get chocolate syrup squirted all over you by the spa staff– that’s icing on the cake if you ask me! Finally, if you really want to take it over the top, take a look at what other amenity the spa offers.
Via Gizmodo

Jillian Tamaki calls herself a displaced Canadian illustrator, currently braving the wilds of Greenpoint, Brooklyn. Having lived in Greenpoint, I can only imagine what she’s finding so wild about one of the statistically safest neighborhoods in all of the five boroughs– but I’ll let the likely soft-skinned Alberta College of Art and Design graduate slide on that one. This aside, I’m a big fan of her illustration work– emotionally deep and detailed, unique and refreshing. Clients of hers include everyone from Nickelodeon to Outside Magazine. This 3D map of Japan on the right really has me buzzing.

Shepard Fairey, who you know from the Obey Giant campaign, recently worked his mural magic at the Hotel Des Arts in San Francisco. Shepard painted both an outside mural and an in-room mural as part of the hotel’s Painted Rooms program, which offers guests one-of-a-kind rooms that are designed and painted by talented emerging artists– some are imaginative installations, and some are grafitti-inspired. To Shepard, “art is a way to communicate and it’s about accessibility.” Well Shepard, looks like your Hotel Des Arts project achieved both of those ends! Josh was in San Francisco over the weekend and saw the room Shepard designed, and I think the words he used to describe it were “bad ass.”

Since you’re already getting ready to shower your most-loved significant other in Lelo Pleasure Toys, fine chocolates and likely flowers– why not make sure they’re organic? OrganicBouquet.com offers delivery of all all the usual suspects (come on guys, roses are so cliche) in organic form. They’re the first online resource committed to the highest social and environmental standards of flower giving. Almost everything they offer is certified USDA Organic– this helps working conditions, minimizing damage to the ecosystem, and enhances the environment for future generations of lovers. Check them out.

In a world full of Crazy Frog and Chamillionaire ringtones, Jonathon Keats is breathing some fresh air into the annoying market of sounds with his My Cage ringtone. Available for download at Start Mobile, My Cage is a 4:33 “interlude of digitally-generated silence.” While the soundless ring is valuable in its own right, it also comes with a great piece of Keats’ conceptual art: a bootleg of John Cage’s heralded 1952 performance of four minutes and thirty-three seconds of silence, performed on a piano in front of a live audience. Taking advantage of technological advances since then, “My Cage” dispenses with performer and piano and auditorium, providing an experience technically more perfect than Cage’s live silence in both production and presentation, a clear improvement over the analog original. A remastering, “My Cage” is also a remix, introducing serendipity into the equation, delivering performances unpredictably, whenever calls come unexpectedly. Oh, and it’s important to note that to fully enjoy this art, and to give callers the opportunity to enjoy it, Keats recommends you turn off your voicemail.

Via Wired