For supercar fans, there's already écurie25. Private jet users have long had NetJets. Now high-end motorcycle aficionados have a fractional ownership club of their own through Columbus Club, based in Cannes, France.

In exchange for an annual membership fee, Columbus International's Columbus Club provides priority access to a "dream garage of exceptional motorbikes." Members need not worry about depreciation, insurance, servicing, maintenance or storage—the company takes care of all that. Rather, they simply pick a membership level and enjoy riding a variety of high-end bikes. Three membership levels cost EUR 2,000, 3,000 and 5,000 per year, respectively. In exchange, members are granted a corresponding number of credits for use on riding the bikes of their choice. A variety of models are available--all less than a year old, including the Ducati, BMW, Triumph and Hollister's brands--with daily rates ranging from EUR 195 off-season to EUR 385 during the peak of the summer. Cannes-based Columbus also offers chauffeur service to and from Nice airport, camera-equipped helmets and personal guided riding tours, among other extras.

With its focus on transumers—who would rather experience products than own them—Columbus Club's concept is one that could do well in any temperate, motorcycle-friendly part of the world. One to partner with or emulate on the scenic highways and byways near you...? (Related: Motorcycle hearses offer a (life)stylish final ride.)

Website: www.columbus-international.com/columbus-club/
Contact: discover@columbus-international.com

As same-sex marriages become increasingly common, so too do the opportunities to help make those weddings happen. Case in point: Equally Wed, a new online publication that gives gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender couples inspiration, ideas and trends for planning their engagements, weddings and honeymoons.

Just launched this week, Equally Wed offers a wide variety of features and departments for same-sex couples. Among them, for instance, are articles and photo galleries spotlighting real weddings of GLBT couples; engagement ideas for the perfect proposal, including tales from readers in their own words; a Q&A section for expert advice on wedding etiquette; and a section on honeymoon destinations visited and researched by gay journalists. A community forum lets readers interact, while a vetted marketplace features gay-friendly wedding vendors throughout the United States. Coming soon is a section for “straight allies.” Equally Wed is a quarterly publication, with a new full issue every season; in the meantime, its Beauty & Grooming, Health & Fitness, Honeymoons, Etiquette and blog sections are updated weekly.

With a buying power projected to exceed $835 billion by next year, there's no denying the substantial Pink Profits potential for those who serve this market well. One to partner with or emulate in other parts of the world...? (Related: Ben & Jerry's Hubby Hubby celebrates gay marriage — Bank targets gay Londoners — Wedding boutique for gay men — TripAdvisor for gay travellers.)

Website: www.equallywed.com
Contact: www.equallywed.com/contact-us.html

Spotted by: Roland Everest

OK, so it might seem like the design-your-own customization trend has come to just about every product category under the sun, but there was one we hadn't yet seen—until recently. Specifically, Canadian RedMoon Custom Pet Food lets its customers design the food they buy for their cats and dogs.

Inspired by the recent rash of pet food recalls and the increasing incidence of food allergies in pets, RedMoon offers fully customizable dry pet food based on a variety of meats, produce and supplements. All RedMoon products are free of grain, gluten, soy, rice, wheat and corn. Dog owners begin by choosing a base formula—high-protein chicken and yellow pea medley, for instance—and indicating the activity level of their dog. They then select the size of kibble they'd like, along with how big a bag. A variety of supplements are available to be added—antioxidant immune booster, for example—and then the order is done. Cat owners have similar options, starting with a base food made from salmon. Either way, pricing starts at USD 8.99 for a 2.5-lb. trial-size bag, shipping included.

There's no doubt consumers like to have it their own way, and it seems a safe bet that their pets do too. Unfortunately, RedMoon ships only within Canada and the continental United States. One to partner with or emulate for the four-legged consumers in your part of the world...? ;-) (Related: Eco-habitats for cats that can be decorated by kids.)

Website: www.redmoonpetfood.com
Contact: customerservice@redmoonpetfood.com

Spotted by: Anita Windisman

When a child is too sick to go to day care or school, working parents often have little choice but to stay home and miss work themselves. Not so for those who live in and around Kennewick, Washington, however, where a new company offers bed rest and supervised nursing care for kids with low-level but contagious illnesses.

Chicken Soup + Nursing is a 20-bed facility aimed at kids up to 12 years old with fever, conjunctivitis, rashes or other problems that prevent their going to school. In a setting much like a hospital ward, children are evaluated by a doctor or nurse practitioner, and typically placed on varying degrees of bed rest (with a safe distance between beds). Their vitals are taken at routine intervals by certified staff. If they are found to require medication, those drugs are ordered from a pharmacy, picked up and administered as directed. Kids can bring toys, books, handheld games and movies along with a packed lunch or baby food, if appropriate. Chicken Soup + Nursing provides snacks and fluids, along with updates to parents throughout the day. Chicken Soup + Nursing is planning to become a 24/7 operation and to enable remote viewing of patients for parents at work.

Employers in the United States alone lose between USD 2 and USD 12 billion annually as a result of the 5 to 29 days working mothers miss each year on average caring for ill children, according to the National Association for Sick Child Daycare. Recession-beleaguered parents, meanwhile, are more reluctant than ever to risk compromising their jobs by missing time unnecessarily. Who will be first to offer daytime care for mildly sick kids in your neck of the woods...? (Related: Hotel approach to childcare.)

Website: www.chickensoupnursing.com
Contact: staff@chickensoupnursing.com

Spotted by: Susanna Haynie

Extreme sports such as bungee-jumping from the Macau Tower may well be enough to satisfy the adrenaline needs of the majority of premium thrill-seekers. Those still wishing for more, however, have a new alternative: they can pay to be kidnapped, without warning, by French Ultime Réalité.

"Kidnapping", "Manhunt" and "Go-Fast Adventure" are all among the standard services Ultime Réalité offers, but it's open to special requests. Through the company's simulated kidnapping packages, for instance, the participant is abducted without warning—after leaving a restaurant, say, or in the supermarket parking lot. Paying "victims" are then bound, gagged and imprisoned for four or 10 hours (depending on the scenario they choose), allowing them to experience the terror of the real thing. Additional elements such as ransom, escapes and helicopter chases can also be involved. Manhunt packages, meanwhile, can last either one or two days, with the option to play the role of either hunter or prey. Then there's the Go-Fast Adventure, where participants take the role of a drug dealer smuggling cargo on the high seas. Finally, a recently added "extreme" package allows clients to wake up on an autopsy table in a morgue, surrounded by corpses and body bags. Pricing on a basic kidnap package is EUR 900.

Just a few weeks into its launch, Ultime Réalité was already getting as many as two requests per day, according to Reuters primarily from top-level executives seeking an extreme-sports alternative. Don't look now, but the premium bar just got raised again... (Related: Paparazzi for the rest of us.)

Website: www.ultimerealite.fr
Contact: contact@ultimerealite.fr

Spotted by: Cecilia Biemann