In 2004, a feature article on this site addressed developments in genetic medicine. One of the items covered in that article was a new type of diagnostic test device called the Roche Diagnostic AmpliChip CYP 450, which analyses variations in two genes that play a major role in the metabolism of many widely prescribed drugs. [...]

The Warwick Manufacturing Group at the University of Warwick in England is creating a Warwick Digital Laboratory – a STG£50 Million pound project which will provide a high quality research environment that will allow researchers to develop techniques that will place consumers right inside a mass customization production process for a vast range of future [...]

VoodooPC, the specialist producer of personalized, high-performance PCs, has launched its first new model since it was recently taken over by HP. The OMEN Intel Core 2 Extreme Quad Core uses the Intel Core2 Extreme Quad-Core processor. The company quotes the new processors as having 70% more processing power than Intel’s dual core processors. The [...]

American shoe designer Steve Madden has set up a shoe customization facility at his website. When all the various choices of heel, pattern, material and finishing are taken into account, 4,221 possible combinations are available on the ‘Design Your Own’ facility. The Design Your Own section of the website currently offers ladies shoes only. The [...]

Cardways.com, an online customized gift card and greeting card destination, recently announced the launch of its new Web site. Formerly 4YourSoul.com, Cardways.com is a service of Arroweye Solutions. The refreshed Web site offers consumers the opportunity to customize gift cards and greeting cards. Users can choose from a host of leading retailers from which to [...]

In an article titled ‘New Life for Lillian‘ in Multichannel Merchant, Michael Muoio, recently appointed CEO of Lillian Vernon, provides details of how the fortunes of troubled online and catalogue retailer Lillian Vernon are being turned around.  Lillian Vernon is one of the largest sellers of personalized products in the U.S. Investment firm Sun Capital [...]

It is increasingly clear that the appetite for personalization is a world-wide phenomenon, and not something that is just confined to Western countries. The practice of allowing customers to place their own photographs on a credit card has recently spread to the Sultanate of Oman, where BankMuscat has launched its ‘Picture Card’ version of the [...]

The Finnish Institute of Mass Customization and Personalization will hold their bi-annual forum on mass customization and personalization, MCPF 2006, in Tampere University on 28 November. MCPF 2006 is organized as a side event of ICEB + eBRF, a joint conference on Emergent Business Phenomena in the Digital Economy. MCPF 2006 is organized as a [...]

Major publications in the mainstream business and lifestyle media have recently run articles relating to mass customization in the apparel sector. Wired News carries an article ‘The Scanning of the Fittest‘. Among the research covered in the article is the work of Auburn University and TC2 (“TC Squared”) in researching U.S. body types using 3D [...]

Online custom marketplace Zazzle recently reported that the ZazzleStamps brand of customized postage for business now comprises up to one third of Zazzle’s total customized postage orders since their launch in May 2006. Zazzle, in partnership with Pitney Bowes, began producing ZazzleStamps in July 2005. ZazzleStamps are authentic U.S. postage and can be used to [...]

CustomFlix Labs, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Amazon.com, Inc., has introduced the ‘CustomFlix CD on Demand‘ service. The new CD on Demand service is similar to the current DVD on Demand service and offers independent musicians, artists, labels, and other music content owners an inventory-free way to reach a worldwide audience and make their [...]

US office supplies company OfficeMax is offering a new line of customized back-to-school supplies. The company says it is “responding to the Gen Y ‘Customization Generation’”. OfficeMax locations throughout the U.S. now include a “Creation Station”, where students can create their own customized notebooks. The “Creation Station” is stocked with a variety of notebook covers [...]

FLEXA, a Danish company that specialises in modular children’s bed systems, will debut a range of painted accessories, at the September ABC Kids Expo in Las Vegas, USA, and at the October High Point Furniture Market in North Carolina. The range includes ladder railings, storage cubes, table legs, dresser fronts, and new customizable armoires and [...]

The 2006 British Pharmaceutical Conference (www.bpc2006.org) has as its theme personalization in healthcare.  Hundreds of pharmacists, pharmaceutical scientists and researchers will convene at the Manchester International Convention Centre from 4-6 September.   The BPC is the largest pharmacy event in the UK. Organised by the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain (RPSGB) the conference will link [...]

Align Technology, Inc. (Nasdaq: ALGN), the inventor of Invisalign dental devices, has reached a milestone in their history – they have recently shipped their 20 millionth Invisalign aligner. Invisalign brand aligners are clear, removable plastic appliances used to straighten teeth in Invisalign treatment. They correct malocclusion using a series of clear, nearly invisible, removable appliances [...]