Sites like Teefury are also offering up unique items for just 24 hours- after that they’re gone- they won’t offer them again. This enforces the feeling of ‘buyer’s accomplishment’ that comes with buying something that there’s a very good chance not many people will have.

Creating a situation or experience that gives a consumer a feeling of being “in on it” is few and far between these days; but definitely on the rise and easy to accomplish with pop up stores. Low overhead because there’s no long term lease allows for more flexibility when spending money on the goods that will be in the store. Limited goods means you can test new products and themed, disappearing stores bring back that sense of wonderment, that feeling of excitement that you get when you open a present; when you find one of these stores, you generally have no idea what’s going to be inside or how long it will be around.

I’d like to talk about an experience I encountered last night, granted it’s in World of Warcraft so I’ll try to keep my nerdy bias out of it. We’ve featured evidence in Power Plays on the effects of MMORPG’s as far as esteem goes. One key thing that is very true for a lot of players is maintaining the integrity of their characters; one thing that goes a step further than that is having rare items and achievements in game.

I will be willing to say I am one of those people that plays WoW not because of the fun nature of the game, because I’ve been playing so long all sense of fun has worn off. I play for the loot; or in game items for those of you who aren’t so articulate in the scene. For most players, WoW exists as a separate entity from everyday life where you can completely escape into an alternate persona. And that means you take the same human desires with you, only transferring them over to a digital format.

Say you want a BMW or a Mercedes in the real world, that prestige factor of having a car not everyone has; well this goes for WoW as well. Mounts in the game are one of the most coveted items, they range from the common to the extraordinary. Some can be purchased through in game vendors for next to nothing, and some take years to acquire. To explain that a little better, when you kill a boss or unit in WoW, they have a loot table. This table contains anywhere from 5-60 items. Some bosses will drop a mount, and usually the drop rate is around .5%-2%. This means that every time you kill them, you have half to two percent chances that it will drop.

Personally, I’ve been farming one for nearly two years and still haven’t even seen it. So to say that luck plays a big factor is prestigious drops is an understatement. Because that’s what makes WoW interesting, you can have someone who’s brand new to the game get something that half the WoW community covets. Psychologists have proven that loot drops in the game give incredibly addicting mental rushes, which could help explain the 11 million players.

Now, a few months ago I put a story up on here about RMT(Real Money Trading) and how it changes the game when it comes to vanity items. Blizzard had opened a pet store, and they were selling two exclusive in game items for real money. This of course drew mixed reactions, but in the end it didn’t really explode amongst the community because they were just vanity pets.

So what happens when they announce that the pet store is going to be selling a mount? Enter the Celestial Steed; a mount speculated to drop off an upcoming dungeon based on it’s looks and design. Initially, the community was heavily interested in where this mount would drop, what the drop rate would be and how amazing it looked. That all changed when it was added to the Blizzard store.

From the moment the Celestial Steed was listed for $25 online, the message boards began burning with activity; posts about how ridiculous it was, how much Blizzard had sold its integrity for money, and praise for giving everyone a chance to have something that looks so cool. And this is where the line divide grew. See, there is a large base of the WoW community who believes that people who don’t earn their loot/mounts/achievements are called Welfare Toons; because they feel they just skip along without having to earn a thing, and having a purchasable mount only drew out the claws.

However, the double edged sword here is that for people like me who collect mounts, it means sinking $25 in to add another one to my tally, so yes I did buy it. And upon checkout, despite the flaming online I was placed in an order queue of 70,000 people. This means that Blizzard made roughly $1,750,000 in around ten minutes of release.

But most people didn’t care, they were getting a cool mount. This all changed when people actually logged in to give it a ride. The floating city of Dalaran, home of most upper level players and transportation gateway to the world, was full of about 3,000 people all riding the same thing. And in about another ten minutes, people who had bought the mount already put it away for good, because something so cool becoming so common just made is look bad.

Given another hour or so, and it was full out being mocked. Veteran players were commenting to each other about putting everyone on an ignore list that was riding around with one. It turned the citywide trade chat into a venomous ground of assault. And made what looked like the next coveted mount into a mere joke that is now referred to as “The Sparklepony”.

So, moral of the story here is simple. If you’re planning a limited edition, or to release something you want to be rare or really coveted you need to make it so. I know that everything is driven by sales, but sales and desire are two entirely separate things. What’s the point of selling a limited item if everyone who gets it never talks about it or shows it off? You’re not pushing your idea, you’re killing it off by commonality.

Mervis Diamond Importers is producing a diamond coated iPad, which will only cost you around $20,000 for around 11 carats of ego. So, what does this mean? It’s pretty much the portal opener, much like the first iPad case and cover designers. We’ve been talking about the idea of speedpreneurship for around two years. The idea is that when something is announced, less than 24 hours later, accessories and what not will become available, seemingly out of nowhere.

Where speedpreneurship comes into play here is that once someone unlocks the luxury gateway for excess, then the flood comes gushing out behind it. Prepare for crystal covers, gold plates, diamonds, gems, whatever is expensive, will find itself on the outside of an iPad.

And as companies move to cater to the super rich for opulent and extravagant upgrades, everyday companies begin to do the same thing at competitive price points, except we get stickers and decals instead of diamonds and gold. But it’s beyond the point of luxury, it’s the point of speed.

A clever company, “Silent Disco”, have capitalized on this concept and is apparently becoming one of the most talked about events to grace festivals worldwide. They supply the wireless headphones that pick up the frequency the djs are broadcasting on so that everybody is hearing exactly the same thing a the same time… so everyone’s on the same wavelength… yep, I know, I’m shootin’ the pun gun.

There’s even a volume control – something you can’t control at a normal rave. This idea could also solve a lot of the noise restriction issues raves can come up against. Whilst it’s been around for a few years, it’s still been a “well kept secret of music festival goers and Eco-ravers keen not to frighten wildlife, but now it’s making its way into the mainstream and the chunky headphones bring a little ‘builder chic’ to the whole affair.”

Society will always have an “Underground” and while some things stay in there, many more ideas will emerge and grow on their way to the mainstream.  Monetizing something that has “in-crowd prestige” can be tricky but the rewards can be worth it.

Former republican spokesman Cliff May was recently on The Daily Show, but was extremely apprehensive and wary beforehand and almost didn’t do the show: He thought that by going on he would just be painting a bulls-eye on his forehead and the crowd would get ugly and turn on him. So he turned to fellow prominent republican Bill Kristol for advice. Kristol told him “You’ll be pleasantly surprised” and “He doesn’t take cheap shots. Jon is smart, you’ll be fine.”

Stewart’s interview of May produced one of the most illuminating discussions about torture on television, cable or otherwise. May even mentioned that it was one of the best conversations he’d had on the subject, anywhere. Quite a few republicans are actually singing the praise of Stewart, mostly because he actually gives them a chance to answer questions as opposed to just yelling at them for 10 minutes and calling it an interview. Conservatives like Stewart because he’s providing them an outlet to reach an audience that normally just offhandedly dismisses them. Moreover they also find that Stewart takes them more seriously than right-wing political hosts who just use them to justify their own agendas and crusades.

Are you taking notes CNN, Foxnews and CNBC? Are you seeing what happens when you aren’t a mix of ignorance, bias and spin? Jon Stewart was in Half Baked for god’s sake.

So with that,Disney is already setting the stage for Tron’s sequel “TR2N” to be the next viral juggernaut with a campaign that is kicking off almost two years before the movie’s release date and at least several months before an official trailer is to be publicly screened. It all started when blog sites received a token for “Flynn’s Arcade” and a flash drive with confusing and cryptic code via the mail. Obviously the code was solved and the site was found, but what else is in store?

FlynnLives.com has a timer that is counting down to an undisclosed event to be seen “at the cul de sac of 1st and J streets.” Which is right outside the San Diego Convention center and just in time for San Diego Comic Con. This will be the first event in what is sure to be a long line of viral and ARG events for both fans of the original movie and Alternate Reality Gaming enthusiasts.

“A new breed of “happily jobless” 20- and 30-somethings is forgoing the job hunt for travel, golf, and the beach, thanks to severance packages, unemployment checks, or parental largesse. Funemployment may sound “frivolous,” but this mix of “narcissism” and backlash against the corporate world is a statement about America today.

The so-called millennial generation’s “weirdly upbeat” word “speaks volumes” about how this well-fed, well-organized age group is dealing with the worst downturn since the 1930s—the “young and funemployed” are taking the time to relax and “find themselves,” but many also volunteer or self-educate.”

Every generation has tried to make lemonade when presented with lemons- that is not new.  However, I do love the irreverent unwillingness to submit to the doldrums or depression that we have seen with this economic downturn.  There are plenty of hard luck stories to be found out there but the sheer volume of humor and optimism has to be mentioned!

Interesting how human behavior is so hard to predict eh! That’s why we always let the evidence lead us

So I thought I throw together a Business Card Collection – if you’re a Neemee member check it out here…  if you’re not (sux for you! So) here’s a site that has a good compilation.

Of course you would expect an inventive card from a graphic designer or a creative profession but increasingly it’s becoming a real Power Play for any industry.

We all know a boring and/or crappy website is a major turn off and serious biz killer… perhaps the same will be said of business cards soon, if not already?

Yes, that’s right, $25,000 a day for the car. What’s interesting here is it’s a Power Play, but at the same time it’s a little bit Living Vicariously. It just goes to show that no matter where you are there’s always something more, that you can’t reach, but if you can get a taste then maybe that’ll work as well. A rental company in England has begun to rent the exclusive car out, for a deposit of $160,000 and then the $25,000 a day fee. Which is around the price of a really-really nice car. But if you have the cash to burn and the experience to yearn, then maybe it’s worth it after all. We never outgrow our dreams, but we can find ways to make them feel real, even if the “own a supercar” dream turns out to be a rental contract and a lot of panic during rush hour.