Franklin, TN - Reacting to the soaring popularity of the Apple iPhone, Franklin-based design group SpringSpang Studio has partnered with experienced iPhone app development company, Fluidesign, to offer customizable iPhone apps to fit every budget and need.

“This unique partnership between SpringSprang Studio and Fluidesign allows our clients to benefit from the services of both agencies,” says Karen Poth, SpringSprang Studio’s Chief Creative Officer. “Fluidesign contributes proven functionality and back end support while SpringSprang offers design services for the initial setup, updating and maintenance of each app. We will use our design and marketing expertise to deliver the best looking, most effective app possible for each client as well as offer monthly update services and maintenance to ensure that our clients are represented in the best light possible,” explains Poth.

Photos retouchées, mannequins trop jeunes ou mensurations trop peu diversifiées... L’Australie s’interroge sur l’influence des marchés de la mode et de la beauté sur les nouvelles générations, dont 70 % des jeunes filles se disent satisfaites de leur corps. Une épidémie, selon le gouvernement.

Un groupe de réflexion a été créé pour en débattre. Dirigé par Mia Freedman, ancien rédacteur en chef du Metropolitan en Australie, ce groupe se composera de représentants du monde de la mode, de la santé, des médias et de la jeunesse. Il comptera notamment dans ses rangs l’ex-mannequin Sarah Murdoch, belle-fille du magnat de la presse Rupert Murdoch.

Dell Inc., aiming to rev up sales as its mainstay personal-computer business struggles in the recession, is preparing a move into cellphones as early as next month, said people familiar with the matter.

The Round Rock, Texas, company has had a group of engineers working on the phones for more than a year from an office in the Chicago area, these people said. They produced prototypes built on Google Inc.’s Android operating system and Microsoft Corp.’s Windows Mobile software, these people said.

Dell is focusing on so-called smartphones, higher-end devices that include features like Web browsing and email. One model ...

By ERIC WILSON

IN the scope of dismal events unfolding at luxury fashion companies, the news this week that Chanel would cut 200 jobs in Paris calls to mind a certain après moi sentiment of Louis XV.

If Chanel is cutting back, what’s next?

Luxury brands were once thought of — or self-styled — as immune to economic pitfalls, but the precipitous decline in sales at retailers like Neiman Marcus and Saks Fifth Avenue has shown how serious an impact the global recession has had on all parts of the marketplace. Still, Chanel, with its array of tweedy clothes, quilted handbags and fruitful fragrances that approach $5 billion in annual sales, was considered the paradigm of luxury brands, so its retrenchment is seen as especially ominous.

It’s an honour to finally be able to announce the first client for Phreadz!

The University for the Creative Arts Student Union (UCASU) is trialling a revolutionary communication platform, unlike anything else currently available in European universities.

UCASU’s long-term vision is to provide innovative communication tools and technologies to 6,500 students across all five UCA campuses, to connect and support its community and inspire student creativity.

This means that all UCA students could have the ability to create, communicate and collaborate in innovative new ways, whether they are in the same room, sat at a computer, or using a mobile phone. At the heart of this project is Phreadz ‘Threaded Social Multimedia Conversation Networks’. Phreadz combines a variety of communication tools, summarized as ‘V.I.T.A.L’ - Video, Images, Text, Audio and Links.

Unlike traditional social media platforms like Facebook, Phreadz can utilize V.I.T.A.L content from a diverse range of multimedia tools and technologies, from emailed files and images on Flickr.com, to .mp3 audio recordings and video footage from mobile specific services such as Qik.com. With the inclusion of ‘Creative Commons Licensing’, Phreadz is a truly flexible communication platform that provides sharing and distribution of V.I.T.A.L content, legally and safely on the Internet.