Josh Rubin. Welcome. Blogs 101. Josh Spear, Trendspotting. Trendspotting: Messengers of Cool. Around 100 times a day, a message lands in Reinier Evers' In box, bearing the promise of something new and cool. Sometimes the sender is describing a product that's suddenly generating local buzz, like lipstick-size aromatherapy tubes in New Zealand or cone-shaped pizza in Italy.
Other times it's an innovative retail concept, like customized-candy shops in Australia or American T-shirt "delis" where designs are personalized like sandwiches. The correspondence comes in from trendspotters everywhere--a coffee shop in Istanbul or a library in Taipei--all part of Evers' network of more than 7,000 volunteers, most of whom have never met--and will never meet--their... Subscribe Now Get TIME the way you want it One Week Digital Pass — $4.99 Monthly Pay-As-You-Go DIGITAL ACCESS — $2.99 One Year ALL ACCESS — Just $30!