December 27, 2010

Is this the coolest iPad magazine around?



















Richard Brandson's much anticipated iPad Magazine 'Project' lives up it the hype. I really enjoyed the content, the visual effects and how it was conceived to use many of the wonderful features of new technology. I've been downloading many publications in the past months but I have to admit this one was a joy to read.

I particularly enjoyed the article "3D Tour of Secret Tokyo - The Inside Track to Japan's Mega-City from Five Key Creatives". It made me think of how this is the perfect type of application for people who love to travel like myself.

The next issue will be in the App Store Jan. 7th.

December 23, 2010

A Christmas message of hope from Colombia

How can the Colombian Army motivate guerilla fighters to demobilize... and find their way back home?

Take a look at a beautiful campaign being aired called 'Operation Christmas'. Colombian Special Forces infiltrated in the Macarena Mountains and set up a 25m Christmas tree with 2,000 lights that lights up by motion sensors. Other trees were set up in nine other rebel zones.

Christmas certainly has different meanings in different parts of the World.

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December 14, 2010

Making it easier for people to read in poorly-lit places

Recently, I've been having difficulty reading small print in poorly-lit places, specially in the evenings when I feel my eyes tired after a long day wearing contacts. This happens often at restaurants with menus, reading the ingredient list of a product at a supermarket (which I do a lot of) and it happened a few weeks ago trying to read a newspaper on a late flight from Mexico City to Lima (which I know I'll be doing a lot of in my new assignment).

With a radical change of demographics in many markets around the World, what I'm going through is probably becoming a growing trend. This certainly opens the door to marketing opportunities in products and certainly in services. One of Brazil's top-selling newspapers, Folha de São Paulo, was recently redesigned with larger easier-to-read fonts. Last week-end, my wife and I were in Buenos Aires having dinner at Sushi Club Palermo and the waitress seeing that we were struggling trying to read the options, came out with a back-lit menu. Sushi Yuku, a new restaurant in Blumenau created by my good friend Juliano Mendes, was Brazil's first restaurant to use iPads as menus.

With a bright screen, great photography and adjustable fonts, the iPad is not only great for re-thinking the restaurant experience, but it also makes it easier to be able to read on a night flight or in bed with the lights off. I love it.

November 30, 2010

Time Out São Paulo is here!

Good news for travelers from around the World who are interested in exploring my São Paulo.... Time Out São Paulo - English language edition - has just been launched.

For those who are familiar with Time Out London or New York, will certainly be happy that we now have a fun essential guide for locals and visitors who want to find out where to eat, the best gigs, cool places to shop, the city's exciting cultural scene or where to find the best caipirinha. I guess we all need some time out to explore this fascinating (but often intimidating) city.

This is what Publisher Silvio Gianni said in the editorial "....Time Out São Paulo will provide an increasingly valuable service, presenting everything that's interesting and attractive on the city's cultural scene. We have challenges ahead, as the World Cup 2014 and the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro draw closer, bringing with them more tourists, more business and more entertainment, in a virtuous circle in which the media has a key role. This launch is our small contribution to the final internationalisation of our city. São Paulo is amazing and it deserves to be in the spotlight."

November 20, 2010

A week working out on the Kinesis Wall

I spent this week in Mexico City. Early morning, everyday before an exciting business agenda, I hit the hotel gym and worked out on this fabulous equipment called the Kinesis Wall. I loved it.

The corporate website says that the equipment incorporates stretching and workout routines that imitate natural movements such as lifting, bending down and reaching out. After a week using the Kinesis, which looks like it was designed by some cool Scandinavian design boutique, I felt absolutely great.... toned, energized and without the sensation of tense muscules I often feel at traditional gyms.


November 4, 2010

Monocle on Sao Paulo

Walking back to my London hotel to pick up my things, I pass by the Monocle Shop (24 George St. a few steps off Marylebone High Street). I've always been a fan of the magazine but had no idea they had a store. I bought the Nov.'10 edition which comes with a 24-page city survey on Sao Paulo - a guide covering business, design, architecture, culture, media, retail and why Sao Paulo has become one of the great cities of the world.

I'll have some fun reading for the flight back home.









Books for Cooks



















This morning, before heading off to Heathrow, I went to Books for Cooks (4 Blenheim Crescent in Notting Hill) to pick up a few books my wife asked me to buy. This has always been one of my favorite retail concepts (London is such a great place to see new ideas in retail).

The people behind Books for Cooks describe themselves as "A Cookbook shop crammed with thousands of tasty titles and equipped with a squashy sofa for cookbook junkies in need of a long read. In this shop we really do cook the books - cookbooks are put to the test in our cafe at the back of the shop, while cookery classes take place in the demonstration kitchen upstairs."

If you're into cooking, this is a place you have to visit.

Click here to read the Books for Cooks story.

Listening to Contagious in London











Spending an amazingly stimulating week in London. As part of the programming, we had a great opportunity to meet with Jessica Greenwood from Contagious - a fusion between magazine, think tank and consultancy - speak about a few of the trends that are shaping the fascinating and ever-changing marketing/advertising/digital landscape and how some brands are breaking through the clutter and connecting in different ways. An hour that blew me away. She was brilliant.

October 25, 2010

Is this the coolest parking garage?

Back to Lincoln Road in Miami Beach this mroning and we ended up parking at 1111 Lincoln Road Parking Garage. What a surprise. Everything about this inspiring structure of concrete and steel cables is outstanding. It's fascinating to see how great design tends to have universal appeal. The kids we had in the car were like 'wow, this is the prettiest parking garage!'

I was super curious to find out more about the project so, later in the day, I went online to find out it was designed by the Swiss architecture firm Herzog and de Meuron, This is the same firm behind the National Stadium at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, known as the 'Bird's Nest' and London's ultra-cool Tate Modern.

If it's possible to reconceptualize something as mundane as a parking garage and create something extraordinary, it's only proof how transformational architecture and design can be.

Next time I'm in Miami, I guess I'll need to rent a Tesla Roadster...













October 23, 2010

I know this day is coming....

Don't you just love it when advertising strikes an emotional chord? When there is a powerful insight that leads to great brand storytelling. It happened to me the other day with this Subaru spot called "Baby Driver".

As a father of two little girls, this campaign is certainly making a connection with other people who are in my same lifestage. A nice little reminder that yes, this day is coming...

Using design to re-invent the fast food experience

You have to give credit to McDonald's for constantly looking for ways to re-invent the fast food exeperience. Reason why I enjoyed reading FastCompany's article "Making Over McDonald's" as part of the special edition Masters of Design 2010. The article talks about how the burger icon has been using the power of design to recreate the mcexperience.

If you also agree that design is one of the most fascinating forces behind marketing, it's worth the read.

Giving customers what they really need

Apple Store Lincoln Road, Miami Beach - Today 11:00am. I walk in determined to buy a MacBook Pro. I had done all my research online back in Brazil, which I usually do, so I knew 'exactly' what I wanted in terms of hardware configuration. A salesperson comes by and starts asking all sorts of questions about my family's computer habits and makes a completely different recommendation. I end up paying US$ 700 less than my original order. I swipe my debit card on the spot, no lines, no hastle. They guy finds out I like photography and gives me cool tips in terms of storage, photo compression and file sharing resources. No hard sell. Pure bliss.

In a world where we're so used to so many annoying salespeople pushing high-ticket products or features you don't want just to guarantee a higher commission, from insurance brokers to car rentals, today's experience was awesome. An experience that only reinforces my love for the Apple brand and makes me coming back.

Giving customers what they need even though that means selling for less than the person had budgeted for is an amazing lesson... that will certainly pay off later on in terms of loyalty.




October 15, 2010

Miami's Design District

Last week-end, I went out to dinner with a friend who took me to the Sra.Martinez Restaurant in Miami's ultra cool Design District.





























We lived in the Miami area from 2000 to 2003 and at that time, the area north of midtown was pretty run down. I was amazed to see the transformation: art galleries, chic boutiques, renovated historic building housing an exciting gourmet scene, loads of people in the streets. Proof that, with the right planning and entrepreneurship, cities or degradated parts of town can morph in something amazing. What a refreshing makeover.

Click here to get more info on the place, in case you're heading to Miami anytime soon.

October 11, 2010

Using visuals to bring ideas to life

In any brainstorming session, I can only properly function when I have something to draw on. I feel there's a more productive flow of ideas deas when I'm able to draw certain correlations, flow charts or conceptual ideas. So, I was happy to find out I'm not alone. I just read an interesting article written by Clive Thimpson for Fortune Magazine called "Think Visual - Why the best way to solve complicated problems might be to draw them".

If you're also the type that feels an uncontrolable urge to draw in meetings, worth reading the article.

September 30, 2010

Apples & Berries

What did you think about the recent announcement of the BlackBerry PlayBook?

It's never an easy task when you're late in the game especially when you're going head-to-head against a device that introduced an entirely new product experience, that got so much buzz, so many reviews. I also believe the game is less about hardward and more about applications and the disruptive business model of the incredibly intuitive App Store. If the PlayBook doesn't bring anything new to the table except supporting flash, it only reinforces that Apple is the true industry thought leader.

September 24, 2010

Challenger thinking in São Paulo

This week Adam Morgan - the creative thinker behind EatBigFish - is in Brazil as part of the Future Speaker Series. It's always a tremendous pleasure listening to him speak about challenger strategy. Fresh, thought-provoking and powerful concepts that can help anyone who needs inspiration to grow their business by changing the rules of the game.

I personally love one of the challenger credos: sacrifice and overcommit - the notion of clearly defining what you're willing to sacrifice to build a strong engaging brand story. Always easier said than done. We tend to believe that there's always opportunity for a product tweak here and there or adding another claim on the package or launching a new line extension or even expanding to another category, many times diluting what the brand stands for.

Adam and his team are also fabulous story tellers. Click here to explore some of their thinking.

September 17, 2010

Ideas That Spread

Next week, Jaboticaba Publishing House will be launching the book "Ideias Que Espalham / Ideas That Spread", a collaborative effort that brought together 12 Brazilian thinkers around a common theme.

The idea was inspired by Seth Godin's "The Big Moo", suggested a year ago by Alexandre Peralta - head of StrawberryFrog Brazil - inviting some interesting people with different professional backgrounds to write a chapter on their experiences of creating ideas that spread... ideas that eventually became part of a cultural movement.

The list of collaborators include the Campana Brothers - Brazil's coolest product designers, Heitor Dhaila - one of Brazil's most successful film directors and screenwriters - João Batista Chiaco - head of marketing at Fiat Brazil and one of the country's most award-winning professionals and Adam Morgan - the intellectual genius behind EatBigFish - just to name a few.

I took part in the project writing one of the chapters, which was a new yet daunting experience for me. More on the book next week...


Nobody's Backyard

Following a tradition of great news coverage on Latin America, The Economist Sept.11 edition is a must-read.

After the fantastic Nov.'09 cover "Brazil Takes Off" with the image of Rio's Christ The Redeemer taking off into the future, this month's special 14-page edition has an upside map of the region with the great headline "Nobody's Backyard - The Rise of Latin America".


September 16, 2010

Talking apps

Two days ago, I sat down to talk to a friend who I hadn't seen in a few months (something I need to do more of). This guy is the wired type that knows it all and is always a pleasure to talk to. It's funny how, a few years ago we would have talked about what's hot in São Paulo's restaurant scene or catch up on who is doing what, especially since we have some many friends in common.


What happened was, the conversation revolved pretty much around the latest apps we've downloaded and our opinion about the brands that we think are doing a good job taking advantage of new media. It was fun.


Sign of the times...



September 2, 2010

Revolutionizing Education

After reading this article in Fortune Magazine, I went to YouTube to check out the Kahn Academy channel in YouTube. In you haven't seen it yet, there you'll find over 1,600 videos that will blow you away. From the Pythagorean Theory to how to calculate EBITDA... powerful concepts explained in a beautifully simple way. The educational videos created by Salman Kahn are the best examples of how the internet can and will revolutionize education. I spent the four past nights immersed in these amazing mini lectures.

Proof that simple ideas can change the world.

August 18, 2010

eQlibri - Brazil's new line of healthy snacks for women

eQlibri - our brand new line of healthy snacks for women - was launched a few weeks ago and is getting great reviews from trade customers around Brazil. eQlibri comes in two product formats:

eQlibri breadchips - a mini baguette-shaped breadchip that comes in two great-tasting flavors: mild cheese & herbs and parma ham, in a 40g stand-up pouch.

eQlibri crackers - a very light cracker in three flavors: mozzarella & basil, hint of lime and an original flavor. The crackers come in a 100g box, an ideal size for sharing and in a 100-calorie 23g single-serve package designed for on-the-go consumption.

August 17, 2010

Fortune for iPad

It's becoming a nice habit, after putting the girls to bed, to search through the Apple App Store to find interesting content to download. Last night, I had a chance of reading through one of the editions of Fortune Magazine for iPad. I really enjoyed it. Clean graphic design with fun-to-read business stories and interactive articles like one on FM Global which was great. As a marketing guy, it was interesting to see how advertisers are jumping on board using video resources (like an ad from IBM called 'Conversations on a smarter planet'). I can easily see Brazilian business publications borrowing a page from this initiative as they figure out how to play in this fascinating space.

Worth checking it out.





August 15, 2010

Time to open up

I finished reading "Open Innovation - How Social Technology Can Transform The Way You Lead" by Charlene Li (author of "Groundswell"). I wasn't unable to attend Charlene's speech here in São Paulo earlier this year, so I was happy when my friend Alexandre Peralta gave me her latest book. The book is a guide on how to manage, communicate and navgate in this new (and sometimes intimidating) socially networked world full of interesting stories of how some companies and leaders are getting it right.

For information on the openess journey, go to open-leadership.com.


I also found this short video of Charlene Li talking about her new book.

August 11, 2010

No TV at home.... time for the iPad

It's been over a month since we've been living without a TV at home (I'd rather not mention what happened....) and it's interesting to see how much the whole Family has been reading much more than before. The girls and I have been spending a few hours after dinner downloading and reading books on the iPad. We just love it. Last night, after they went to sleep, I continued on the iPad but this time reading through the Cool Hunting app which is absolutely essential for anyone working on innovation. It's a great way to read a bit about what's going on in other markets without having to travel at all.

I can't get over how e-books will transform the publishing business in a big way and certainly engage a new generation of readers. An awesome disruptive revolution in the making.






August 4, 2010

Creating a purpose-driven organization

Yesterday, I was invited to a presentation that was truly inspiring. Especially inspiring for anyone who is interested or determined in creating a purpose-driven brand or company. It was a presentation by BrightHouse - an ideation corporation which is now in Brazil represented by the Grupo Troiano de Branding. They talked about how they are helping companies generate master ideas through what they call the 4I's Process (investigation, incubation, illumination and illustration).

What blew me away were two case studies of how the process is brought to life. Instead of yet another powerpoint, the work is presented in an inspirational video fromat. The film carves a very defined positioning and lays out what purpose a specific brand should have. The videos were insightful, using powerful words & imagery, elevating the brand story to a different place. Great work.

July 11, 2010

My love affair with the Canon EOS 7D

When it comes to photography, I've always been a Canon fan. With the exception of my first SLR camera during high school, a classic Pentax K1000 (the camera that helped me fall in love with photography), I've only had Canons. From the EOS Rebel to the digital EOS D50 to my very new Canon EOS 7D, which I bought for this summer vacation, and I'm absolutely in love with. After two months using it, it's definitely my dream camera, combining an 18.0 megapixel SLR camera with the benefit of full HD video.





Aix in local style

This year, my wife and I decided our summer vacation would be different. We decided to spend time travelling around Provence but we also enrolled our two daughters in a summer school in Aix-en-Provence as a reward to the French classes they have been taking for the past few years. So, we decided to rent a summer home. We used an online resource called Homelidays that worked very well for us. Easy search navigation, useful information and photos of the properties, which helped us find the perfect space we need for our Provençal adventure, perfectly located just steps away from the old part of town.

The first days have exceeded our expectations. The owners of the property we are renting have been absolutely amazing doing everything possible to make us feel truly at home. Fresh flowers on our arrival, tips on the best neighborhood bakery, where to eat local and how to get into a great country club on the weekend... nothing quite beats living like a local. We're loving the experience!




June 27, 2010

iPad creates a whole new reading experience

Reading to my daughters has always been part of our family evening go-to-bed ritual. Now that our daugthers are getting older, it's fascinating to see how they are enjoying a completely new reading experience with our iPad.

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As I help them download new books, it's interesting to see how some publishing houses and media groups are rapidly understanding that creating books takes on a whole new meaning. Stories and illustrations can move, morph, transform and become totally interactive.

An entirely new experience that will certainly influence a new generation of readers. This is an example of what books are becoming....

June 25, 2010

On the Cannes shortlist

Today I received a phone call from Wilson Pereira, our account executive from AlmapBBDO telling me that our Doritos TV campaign "Wanna share something with friends, share a Doritos" made it to the Cannes 2010 Shortlist.... cool!




June 12, 2010

Toddy's Moooooovement of truth

Last year, we launched a very successful campaign for our Toddy® business in Brazil called "Toddy the flavor of truth". Brand loyalists love how Toddy has always been about authenticity... a certain unpretencious coolness. Brazilian millenials identify with the brand's iconic cows and their very Brazilian-style irreverence. The campaign idea is rather simple. You either say the truth or you get a moooooooo from the cows. You're either real, authentic, cool or you get a moooooo.

Hundreds of different moooos are being posted in social networks and forums by people all over the country. It has become a fun way to protest against anything that's not real.


The campaign was created by PeraltaStrawberryFrog.

Here are the two latest spots which start airing this weekend. Come join the mooooovement.


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Wallpaper* June edition 'Born in Brazil'

If you've got a thing for Brazil or just curious to get into the vibe of what's going on in this beautiful country.... pick up the June edition of Wallpaper* - one of the coolest magazines around with cover story "Born in Brazil - a warm wellcome from the most exciting country on earth". It was a great read flying back from Curitiba this week.

Different than other publications, Wallpaper* set up a temporary office in São Paulo to live, breathe and get a true inside view of why this place is finally happening.

June 5, 2010

Brazil's little piece of chocolate heaven

France has truffles... Brazil has the brigadeiro.... a little chocolate sin served at birthday parties and as a dessert around the country. Nobody knows brigadeiros like Juliana Motter, founder of Maria Brigadeiro. Until recently, she would only take reservations by phone but now Juliana opened a storefront in one of São Paulo's cool neighborhoods. We went there last night to buy a gift box.

If you're ever in São Paulo and you get a craving for chocolate... here's the address:

Rua Capote Valente, 68

June 1, 2010

World's first display made from reclyced chip bags

Last week, here at PepsiCo Brazil we started to roll-out an exciting new product display for our line of snacks. The news is that is the world's first display made 100% from recycled chip bags. In fact, 675 chip bags are used to make each display. By the end of the year, we will be producing 25,000 displays to be placed in stores all over Brazil.
























We're working with waste management coops in São Paulo which are collecting chip bags as part of a larger post-consumer packaging program that we're deploying in partnership with TerraCycle - the world's most innovative eco-friendly manufucturers.

This initiative means, that in the next six months, 16.8 million bags won't go to landfills.

May 23, 2010

The Nothing Movement in Rhode Island

Jeanette Palmer and I worked on a few packaging graphic projects for 7UP and H2OH! a few years ago when she was with Raison Pure New York. She now lives in Providence, Rhode Island and works for a local agency called NAIL. She sent me a link with an amazing cultural movement called Nothing her agency has created for the Rhode Island Community Food Bank.

A beautiful example of how the power of creative can work for a greater cause. This is the type of campaign that would work very well in developing countries, like here in Brazil.

May 17, 2010

Campaign for NatuChips - all-natural chips made from Brazilian Roots

This is our TV campaign for NatuChips - a line of all-natural chips made from Brazilian roots: Mandioquinha (arracacha in English) and Inhame (taro).

The copy reinforces naturalness and freshness with a touch of humor. It actually takes between 12-36 hours from the moment these roots are harvested and are produced at our plant in Sete Lagoas (state of Minas Gerais).

NatuChips also follows a global trend towards clean labels. In our case, just three ingredients: roots, palm oil and salt.

Creative by AlmapBBDO.

May 15, 2010

Dip or squeeze... great packaging idea











An e-mail came in today from 4Sight - a NY-based packaging design firm I've worked with a few years ago - communicating a recent project they worked on called Heinz Ketchup Dip & Squeeze.  

This is an absolutely brilliant example of how many times the best packaging ideas are very simple.  

I love it!

Salsa, salsa, salsa!

In case you haven't seen it, this is a fantastic example of creativity to communicate a food product. Congratulations to the Tostitos Team at Frito-Lay!

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May 1, 2010

More on our "Share a Doritos" Campaign in Brazil

The third 30"TV spot of Brazil's new Doritos campaign "Wanna Share Something with Friends, Share a Doritos" beutifully created by AlmapBBDO. This spot, which is take on the famous truth or dare game, is by far my favorite of the three spots. I love the suspense, the production details... and the fact the story is told backwards. It started to air this weekend.

I hope you like it...

April 28, 2010

What's happening during school recess?
























If you want to know what's hot among kids, check out what's going on during recess in any school around the country.  Nowadays, the hottest property in Brazil (and what I've been reading in many countries around the World) is the FIFA 2010 World Cup Official Sticker Album.  In the past two weeks, I've been myself driving to the neighborhood newstand to buy more stickers for my two daughters... who aren't really soccer fans.  They tell me everyone at school (and even the teachers) is collecting the cards.  This is a fascinating cultural movement.

Why is this so hot?  Ok, I know that we're 45 days away from the coolest sports event in the World (I personally can't wait!), but why are kids so obsessed to collect these cards?  My personal feeling is the following...

There's a certain thrill of exchanging cards with other kids

There's a tangible feeling of opening the envelopes, sticking the cards, seeing the album being complete that beats the many virtual experiences these kids have after school in front of the computer

There's a sense of belonging, that kids all over the world are doing the same

What can we learn from this experience that can apply to the brand experiences we provide?

April 25, 2010

DVD on the innovation workshop













I borrowed a DVD on innovative thinking from my good friend Gilvan Azevedo, who works at IFF. Gilvan is a great source of information, always very wired.  So, I was curious to watch the video which is called Marty Neumeier's Innovation Workshop.    Marty Meumeier is president of San Francisco-based think tank Neutron and author of Zag, Brand Gap and The Designful Company. For those looking for inspiration and a few useful tips on how to jump-start the innovation journey, the video is worth watching.   

April 19, 2010

Two new spots for Doritos in Brazil

This weekend, we started airing two new 30" spots from Doritos 2010 TV Campaign. The new spots are a continuation of last year's successful campaign 'Wanna Share Something With Your Friends, Share a Doritos' which reinforces the brand as a social snack among teens.

In these two new executions, AlmapBBDO did a great job creating new situations which are interrupted by the campaign theme... reminding people that the best thing to share among friends is a bag of Doritos.

Doritos - Brazil's fastest-growing snack in 2009 - is becoming a lovemark among Brazilian millennials.

More news to come...



April 10, 2010

Photoshop free

On the cover of this month's French-edition of Maire Claire magazine you'll see a lettering that says "100% Sans Retouches" which means the edition is totally photoshop-free.  Another good example of a consumer trend that has been with us for a while now and my feeling is it's here to stay:  the search for authenticty.  In a climate of uncertainty and a mistrust in brand marketing, the interest people are finding in anything that keeps it real.  A positive attitude towards 'what you see is what you get'.    

You see this trend's manifestation from furniture retail (think Design Within Reach) to food (Innocent comes to mind as well as the recent launch of Haagen-Dazs Five) and now making it to the editorial world.  



April 8, 2010

Remembering a good wine

With thousands of wine labels available, often people try a wine at a restaurant or party and can't remember the next day what it was.  Wouldn't it be great if you could peel off a little sticker on the back panel with the wine's main features.? 

I couldn't find any example online.  What I did find was a site:  rememberwine.com that helps people keep records of the wines they have tasted over time. 

Good start.

March 31, 2010

Ice creams and gelatos I love

Those who know me, know how much I love ice-cream.  Last week-end in New York, I had a chance of visiting 
il laboratorio dei gelato (95 Orchard Street - Lower East Side), a gelateria that was on my wish list ever since I read an article on how Jon Snyder (founder of Ciao Bella where my wife and I used to go when we lived in the city) was creating some very unique flavors. I end up tasting toasted sesame, amareto crunch and lime fresh mint.  Absolutely fantastic!

Here is my list of great ice-creams and gelatos that I have tasted over the years (in no particular order)...

Gelateria di Piazza (San Gimignano, Italy)
Maison Berthillon (Paris)
Ben & Jerry's Factory (Waterbury, Vermont)
Ferris Acres Creamery (Newtown, Connecticut)
Mil Frutas (Ipanema, Rio)
Freddo (Buenos Aires)
Persicco (Buenos Aires)
Gelateria del Teatro (Rome)

If you know of any other great ice-cream parlors please let me know.



March 30, 2010

Making it easier for people to keep medical files

In the beginning of the year, I took my annual medical check-up. A few days later, I received an oversize envelope with the results of practically a full-day of tests.  How do those tests relate to previous check-ups?  I have no idea.  It doesn't help that I've never had a family doctor mainly because I've lived in 12 cities in three different countries.

The other day, I went for drinks with my brother-in-law James Maul, a techie who is very wired (every family seems to have one), who told me about Google Health - a service that allows people to store, organize, consult and share historical health data with a doctor or physical therapist.  It sounded like an interesting concept especially when you think how important health is to our lives and yet not everyone seems to keep good records.

Coincidently, on a flight back to São Paulo the other day, I read an interesting article in Time Magazine called "Paging Dr. Google - the search giant wants to help you compile your health records online. Is that a good idea?" written by Bonnie Rochman.

On the week-end, I ended up reading a little bit more about the service and I even found this very useful video resource in YouTube.... a pretty powerful concept.  

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