A friend of mine pointed me to a great post which collects together a number of interesting user experience concepts at Smashing magazine. I noticed most are large scale and would lend themselves well to public or external spaces, and along with some of the “natural” interaction techniques presented it could make those objects very engaging and intuitive … but for what purpose? I shall ponder.
Hidden on a quiet street near downtown Mountain View lies a 2 star Michelin rated restaurant named Chez TJ. Most of the restaurants of this caliber seem to be in San Francisco (I’m new to the area and I’m still exploring) so a friend and I decided to sample the local establishment. The atmosphere is relaxed and quiet, and rather romantic in this old Victorian house. The service is prompt and friendly.
You can choose between the 4 course gastronomic menu or the 12 course tasting menu. I chose the tasting menu, to experience a larger range of offerings, and had a very pleasant evening as a result. The food was presented beautifully and the wine pairing with the food was excellent.
The meal started with more simple and subtle tastes and progressively got more adventurous. Some items that stood out for me were:
Glazed sweet potato soup with a vandouvan marshmallow - the soup was perfect velvety texture, and being complimented by a marshmallow was quite surprise but very enjoyable.
Artisan fois gras and apple smoked custard - Fois gras is on of my favorites, but the the pairing with the apple flavouring was magnificent.
Lobster and sweetbread ravioli - Cooked perfectly and flavored with truffles which made the dish absolutely exquisite.
The staff mentioned they change one dish fairly often, so there can always be something new to try.
Chez TJ is great for a quiet dinner of exceptional food and wine, and if you aren’t to concerned with the upper limit of your bill.
see more info at > 
My friend and former Ivrea colleague Noel Perlas is giving away a moleskin. You can check out the post on his blog. He regularly blogs on Interaction Design related topics.
Video : Bad Day at the office!
I saw this video, which in itself was amusing, of people mad and angry at their computers, probably because they didn’t work “appropriately”. Interestingly in most cases, the human took out their frustration with the monitor. Of course, the monitor is only the output of the computer. The evil brains of the computer are in the little beige box where the conspiring CPU lies. It seems that people attribute the characteristics of the computer with the output device, and not surprisingly, that’s where they take out their frustrations.Apple has for a long while been creating integrated desktop computers. Physically merging the monitor and the other guts. This of course more closely mimics the mental model users have of the computer, and so if they take out their frustrations, the evil brain parts will go along with the monitor.
No more innocent monitors will die, while CPUs go unpunished.
Though, I don’t have any proof that someone got that angry with their mac.