by Christopher Paul on January 25, 2013 One man’s dream for the ultimate McDonalds restaurant is to have a multi-story location in Times Square which serves every food available at it’s restaurants:
The central attraction of the ground floor level is a huge mega-menu that lists every item from every McDonald’s in the world, because this McDonald’s serves ALL of them. There would probably have to be touch screen gadgets to help you navigate the menu. There would have to be whole screens just dedicated to the soda possibilities. A concierge would offer suggestions. Celebrities on the iPad menus would have their own “meals” combining favorites from home (“Manu Ginóbili says ‘Try the medialunas!'”) with different stuff for a unique combination ONLY available at McWorld. You could get the India-specific Chicken Mexican Wrap (“A traditional Mexican soft flat bread that envelops crispy golden brown chicken encrusted with a Mexican Cajun coating, and a salad mix of iceberg lettuce, carrot, red cabbage and celery, served with eggless mayonnaise, tangy Mexican Salsa sauce and cheddar cheese.” Wherever possible, the menu items’ descriptions should reflect local English style). Maybe a bowl of Malaysian McDonald’s Chicken Porridge or The McArabia Grilled Kofta, available in Pakistan and parts of the Middle East.
It’s actually a really good idea. Though if you really want some international flavor, just visit Queens.
via the Internet
by Christopher Paul on January 24, 2013 by Christopher Paul on January 24, 2013 One of the most compelling features of Apple’s ecosystem is AirPlay. For both audio and video, it’s one of the best ways to get content on your iOS device to something else – a speaker or TV.
Finding good ones can be a challenge. Gear Patrol lists their top ten AirPlay compatible speakers which is a good place to start. I’m in love with their bonus choice, The McAire from McIntosh.
by Christopher Paul on January 24, 2013 Duncan Davidson comments on the different storage methods for eggs across the globe and noticed that the US is one of the only countries where the people refrigerate. He found out:
Not surprisingly, the answer to why we refrigerate eggs in the United States seems to be our reliance on factory farming methods that increase the level of problems like salmonella. To combat this, American eggs are power washed which strips away part of the eggs natural protective coating. Because of this, USDA requires all eggs to be sold refrigerated.
He also believes eggs from other countries generally taste better and loosely attributes our farming/storage methods as the reason why.
by Christopher Paul on January 24, 2013 Many companies who feel threatened by technology and the untapped and often hidden benefits it brings often resort to a “the sky is falling!” mentality and do whatever then can to stop it. Look at the music and movie industries. They are constantly pushing for new laws, restrictions, and schemes to deter what is seen as theft but is usually more a more efficient marketplace.
When questioned on their data, they tend to fall back on the sky is falling cry and, “but, but, piracy!” argument. Others, however, release studies and data to support the idea that these industries are thriving and infringement, though it does happen, isn’t having a negative effect on content creation. It’s often difficult to put into context this counter data but TechDirt has done a good job of highlighting what a non-issue technology is for the entertainment industries. They just released their latest “The Sky Is Rising!” report which shows what has grown and by how much.
What we found this time was that, as expected, there are some big differences within different countries – with some doing better in certain areas, and some struggling in other areas. But, on the whole, the general picture was the same. The various industries were growing. The amount of content being created was growing. The number of new services enabling new business models and new ways to distribute content were growing massively. It’s an exciting time, and the key point is, once again, that there is no “conflict” between tech and content. Rather the two work hand in hand together quite well, with new services enabling all sorts of growth opportunities for artists.
The article links to their full report in PDF and text formats. It starts with some interesting infographics and then moves on to the core content broken up by content industry and then by region. Of course, not every region is targeted (this is a European study) but you can see how it’s not all doom and gloom as the legacy gatekeepers would have you believe.
As usual, it’s an interesting read. I’ve downloaded it to iBooks and will be going through all 42 pages in the PDF over the weekend.