I’ve been starting to use the built-in camera on my cell phone to capture scenes that are bizarre, humorous, or stimulate my mind. So, in the first of what I hope to be multiple installments, I thought I’d share a few of those photos and some commentary.
First off, let’s take a trip to Starbucks. I don’t know what the situation is in other areas of the country, but many of the stores here now have flat panel screens on the walls:
I thought this was a great way of integrating technology into a coffee shop without being too obtrusive. It’s obvious that the reason these have been installed is so that Starbucks can sell more of their featured music in the stores. However, there isn’t a downside for users like me, who have no intention of purchasing. I still get to know information that I otherwise wouldn’t know without asking the barrista, the displays aren’t in your face, and the interface is well designed and has a minimalism that’s quite appealing.
On to the next picture. After a meeting in Bellevue, a whole bunch of employees, including myself, took a shuttle back to campus. I spied these boxes above the driver, and the one on the right perked my interest:
Everyone has those small first aid kits, but I wondered to myself, “What’s in a body fluid cleanup kit?” I suppose there are some cloths, chemicals, etc. Are there instructions for particular types of fluids? And what fluids does the kit cover, anyways? Let’s say I was leaking some bile…can this kit help me out?
Last one. I snapped this photo at the company store:
Someone must have obviously tried opening up a box; otherwise, why would they need the sign? To whoever you are: enjoy sharing your music with…oh wait, who else owns one? On a small tangent, I was glad to see that the DRM has been cracked. Down with DRM!’
I think that’s enough for the installment. I hope you enjoyed, and we’ll see you all again for the next round of pics.
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Your Starbucks is better than mine…cranberry orange scones, flat screen tv with a listing of the current music playing. We just get crappy blueberry scones and a display in front of the register of the current CD being played. No fair.
Eeeewwwwww re: body fluid cleanup kit! I think there’s one of those in one of the office shuttles.
I wouldn’t want a Zune either.
Hmmm, FF #1…something about that seems vaguely familiar. I have a better idea for you. Since that’s awfully close to the well-established FUF pieces on some other blog that’s sweeping the nation, here’s what you do: From now on, they’re SPFs. What the S stands for is up to you. It can be ’stupid,’ ’silly,’ ‘Silver,’ or ’streptococcal’ even. Then the “Photo Friday” to finish. The cool part of it is that it’ll always sound like sunscreen. That’s right, Jason, your observations and photos are protecting us from the harmful rays of stupidity and general weirdness out there in the world of signage. Each week, the SPF gets stronger, and we’re able to handle the pictures with greater ease and no fear of getting our retinas (ahem) burned by the images. You see what I did there? Man it feels good to be a gangsta.
-PT Load Letter