Just a little over 2 weeks ago, I ordered a personalized Starbucks Coffee card and, low and behold, it arrived today! I’d give it an 8 on a scale of 1-10; it’s clever and generally works, but there are still a few bumps in the road to work out.

The Envelope

Pros: A “real” stamp and not a preprinted indicia or meter stamp, “pseudo” handwriting is certainly more friendly than general computer fonts, generous size card and envelope, and the envelope is made 30% post consumer waste. (Read the article)

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This weekend a part of my history made a major change; the Madison WI newspaper The Capital Times stopped publishing its print edition and went entirely online. Today’s New York Times highlighted the move, and set me to thinking about a city I used to call “my home town.”

The Cap Times, as it is fondly (or not so fondly, depending on your political orientation) regarded in Madison, was “my” paper. In time of rapidly changing information delivery, the move is not unexpected nor is it necessarily the death blow anticipated by doom sayers. (Read the article)

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Here’s one for the new and unusual technology list!

Your tickets - whether for an airline flight, a cruises, or a train trip - can now tell you the time. A combination boarding pass and wristwatch, called Ticketime (designed by Jacky Wu, Neo Chen & Eric Liu), is composed of a paper ticket/boarding pass, a detachable “smart strip” watch, and a small magnet to hold the watch closed on your wrist. (Read the article)

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Not so very long ago, if you wanted hook a projector to your laptop for a presentation, you had to haul around a piece of equipment that was so big it was guaranteed to give you back spasms. Digital projectors are shrinking faster and faster, and now there is the Pico Projector.

Microvision - a company located practically in the shadow of the Microsoft campus in Redmond WA - is coming out with the PicoP, an ultra miniature projector that can deliver full color, high-resolution images. The PicoP is small enough now to be embedded into a tiny peripheral that connects to a mobile phone, but may someday actually be built into it. (Read the article)

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What more can be said? Movement generates energy; this dress captures and stores it.

An MIT-designed outfit modeled by grad student Heather Knight at the Seamless: Computational Couture fashion show at Boston’s Museum of Science in Janu­ary 2008, captures and stores energy generated by natural body movements. (Check out the video that follows.) (Read the article)

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Examples of “mass customization” turn up every day; and I’ve discovered yet another one!

Today I wanted to take advantage of a nice little benefit for holders of “registered” Starbucks cards - a free refill! But first I had to make sure my card was registered. Doing so I discovered a great new service - customizable Starbucks cards! (Read the article)

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