Javabot takes Coffee Vending to next level

Today, consumers greatly enjoy getting immersed into interactive food and beverage experiences, where they do not just savour, eat and drink, but rather see for themselves actual ingredients and participate in the processing of these ingredients. Whether they make their own pizzas and pastas, grill their own steak, heap up their ice-cream cones or grind and roast their own coffee, more consumers take pleasure in indulging in new, exciting encounters with food and beverages outside their homes.

Javabot walk-in coffee machine in New York is a superb example of how interactive coffee making can be and how the whole coffee experience could be heightened by the various sights, sounds and smells entailed in the coffee roasting and grinding processes. People can select their own blends of coffee roast, grind and have a cup of coffee freshly made in 30 seconds.

The concept behind Mike Caswell’s Javabot also helps change consumers’ perceptions of vended beverages as being old, not fresh, and containing chemical ingredients. This machine displays the natural coffee beans in glass containers and shows consumers the complete coffee making process in a transparent way. It not only provides customized coffee suited to individual preferences, but also makes those fresh, natural, green beans totally visible to consumers, thus ensuring them that a “real” fresh ingredient is used to produce their beverage.

Roasting Plant’s Javabot Store at 81 Orchard St., New York, NY 10002

This coffee machine occupies an entire store front and combines
storage, metering, roasting, grinding and brewing operations.

The design efforts involved the creation of rotary diverters that accurately
guide just the right amount of beans int the pneumatic conveyor for their trip
to one of the brewing machines from Egro Swiss Coffee Systems.

Images: Roasting Plant

ER

What A Great Way For Everyone Become A Business Angel!

Micro loans are a growing industry in developing countries around the world. They are small loans many less than a few hundred dollars to help someone start or expand a business.

Micro loans are different to charity. With charity, people are often suspicious. They are sceptical – they don’t know where their money goes. A micro loan is a zero-interest loan the business owner has to pay back.

With Kiva.org, a person-to-person micro-lending website, you can choose and connect directly with grassroots projects abroad, push and fund your favorite cause. These loans are almost always paid back.

You don’t have to cover all the loan yourself. With Kiva, you can fund as little ($25) or as much of the loan as possible.

Since the launch end of 2005, more than $11 million has been loaned by 100,000 Kiva Lenders to 16′000 entrepreneurs in 36 countries through Kiva.org. President Clinton names Kiva.org as an ideal way for individuals to make a difference in the world in his new book “Giving”.

Video: Nicholas Kristof of The New York Times visits his loan recipient: a baker in Kabul.

Are Mobile Ads the Next Internet Gold Rush?

Mobile web offers a unique opportunity to marketers. The mobile phone is a highly personal device; research shows consumers rarely leave home without their mobile phone. And, because the mobile device is so personal, users are highly engaged with content. The mobile environment is uncluttered; most publishers only allow one ad per page, providing premiere placement for brands.

Mobile phone ad spending is expected to more than double in 2007 to $1.5bn, says an InfoWord article.

But also mobile video advertising clearly opens interesting opportunities for viral videos delivered to mobile phones, although pricing and/or business models still remain a question to be answered.

With increases in the number of high resolution mobile devices and observation of improved quality when ads are optimized to the handset, the MMA Mobile Advertising committee has developed Mobile Advertising Guidelines for Mobile Web (WAP) Banners. Advertisers and publishers should refer to them:

1. Advertisements may not be misleading or deceptive to the recipient in any way.

2. Advertisements promoting illegal products and services are not allowed.

3. The sponsor of any advertising message should be clearly identified either on the ad itself or on the resulting first-level jump page.

4. Special categories of products must comply with existing voluntary industry guidelines (alcohol, tobacco, seepstakes/promotions, and ads targeting children, etc.)

5. Any advertisement for regulated products must comply with existing guidelines for such advertising (e.g. pharmaceutical ads must comply with FDA guidelines).

6. Advertisements should be age appropriate.

7. Potentially controversial advertisements should primarily be avoided, but may be reviewed on a case-by-case basis by publishers and wireless carriers.

8. All claims made in an advertisement must be substantiated before the advertisement is scheduled to appear. Advertising that includes warranties, guarantees, or other types of assurances to the user must comply with all applicable laws, regulations or guidelines regarding such assurances, including but not limited to those set forth by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).

9. Advertisements cannot promote or glorify violence, crime, obscenity, the use of weapons or provide instructions on how to “get away” with crimes or unlawful activity.

10. Language that is offensive, or disturbing, or which is likely to cause outrage, general disapproval, or negative opinion within the community is not allowed.

11. Any customer information provided is limited to the current campaign only. Further interaction with the customer requires an additional opt-in.

[Get the full MMA Mobile Advertising Guidelines]

PEZ

Market Research Is The Worst Way To Learn What Customers Want

“Market research is the worst way to learn what customers want,” says Roger Schank, the former head of Yale’s computer science department in a CNBC five-part Business of Innovation series hosted by Maria Bartiromo. “Surveys can’t determine the real demand for products or services that don’t yet exist”, he states.

“Observation is everything”, claims Schank.

If you want to know what customers really deeply want you need to watch them. Watch people’s behavior. Watch what they do in real life.

A central aspect of innovation is that listening to your best customers will never allow your organization to create game-changing innovations.

In many conversations with European executives I am regularly asked to provide examples about results of our customer observations. Given the sensitivity of the business – we typically work under non-disclosure agreements – I am generally unable to disclose detailed information about any project.

Maria Bartiromo’s Business of Innovation episode New Tricks and Old Dogs provides some great examples about how ethnographic research results were turned into practical solutions. Maria’s guests in this program are Meg Whitman, President of ebay, Vikram Akula, CEO of SKS Microfinance, a business helping Indian women break the shakles of poverty by loaning them small amounts of money to start their own business, Dick Posey, CEO of Moen Incorporated, a leading manufacturer of fashion plumbing products, and Roger Schank. [Get the full Episode ¦ CNBC]

Transcript of CNBC The Business of Innovation, Episode #3

PEZ

Ethnographic Praxis in Industry Conference, EPIC 2007, to be held in Keystone, Colorado/USA

EPIC2007, the third international Ethnographic Praxis in Industry Conference is held in Keystone, Co. USA, October 3-6.

EPIC is the premier international forum bringing together artists, computer scientists, designers, social scientists, marketers, academics and advertisers to discuss recent developments and future advances around ethnographic praxis in industry.

The organizers change the tone of the venue this year – away from the scuttle and bustle of a corporate campus (Intel) to the grandeur of the Rocky Mountains, Colorado. The primary conference program venue is the Keystone Conference Center which is nestled against the forest.

EPIC2007 is all about “Being Heard”. From privileged teenagers to vast populations of oppressed peoples, the last decade has seen a tremendous growth in the promise, and often actuality, of the ability to give voice to oneself, one’s people, one’s issues and one’s ideas. “You” may be Time’s Person of the Year, the “long tail” may be wagging the “You Tube”, “My Space” may be more your space. This year’s theme explores what it means to have voice, to represent, to be represented, to express, to be heard. It explores the ways this happens and what happens when it doesn’t. It also asks after the absence of voice and representation, and all the grey space in between.

Last year’s theme was Transitions, addressing the shifting landscapes of the world at macro and micro levels – global and societal shifts to changes in people’s daily lives. 14 workshops provided hands-on and interactive experiences around key topics in ethnography today.

EPIC2006 Conference Proceeds (pdf 285 pages)

EPIC2006 Slide Show (flickr)

PEZ