PSFK Author:
Sukumar

Pennsylvania has joined a growing list of states like Virginia which publish online, the state health department’s restaurant inspection reports. Here are the PA restaurant reports and VA restaurant reports. If you are planning to dine out, you may want to check the reports on your favorite restaurants on these sites.

<Via NRF Smartbrief/Pittsburgh Post Gazette>

Dave Pollard points to a new reporting technique where the reporter’s questions have been edited out leaving only the interviewee’s answers in tact:

I
listened to a fascinating interview on the radio the other day. What
made it fascinating was that the interviewer’s voice, and questions,
had been entirely edited out. What you heard was a very eloquent
explanation of a difficult topic, in which the questions were tacit,
unheard. Compared to most radio articles, op-eds and even interviews,
this spot was tight, engaging and informative. I dubbed it (in the
spirit of the term Un-Conference) an Un-Interview.

Notwithstanding the continuing turmoil against excessive executive compensation, it appears US corporations have severely cut back on the stock option grants to employees. A whopping 71% decline in total economic value of stock option grants has been seen between 2001-2005. As if adding salt to the wounds, most of this cutback has happened in the non-executive ranks.

<Via Watson Wyatt>

Indian retail industry has been buzzing for over a year now about Starbucks’s imminent entry into the India market and Starbucks has not made it easy to understand their plans. Case in point - On Jan 10, Economic Times reported that the government had put Starbucks’s plan on hold because they didn’t give the complete information. On Jan 12th, Bloomberg reported that Starbucks is entering India in partnership with India’s retail powerhouse Pantaloon and Indonesia’s Mitra Adiperkasa. The first store is going to be in India’s capital New Delhi to be opened by the end of the year.

But wait, today, Jan 15th, Economic Times reports [p4, pitch report section] that Yes, Starbucks is opening its first stores in New Delhi and Mumbai but with an yet-to-be-announced joint venture firm. When asked about Pantalook and the Indonesian partner, the Starbucks official declined comment!

The New Scientist magazine reports that a Cornell University researcher has released a "Fabber" device that you can assemble at home using a soldering iron and a screwdriver using a $2,400 kit. The Fabber can generate 3D objects to your spec using plastic and other materials including play-doh, chocolate and icing!

These types of machines typically cost from $20,000 to $1.5MM and so this $2,400 price could kickstart a personal-computer like revolution in the rapid prototyping marketplace.

The Fabber

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Wifinetnews is reporting that some hospitals have started offering wifi to patients and visitors. And, Youtube added a new feature to record onto the site direct from your webcam. Put these two together, and you can imagine all kinds of videos emanating from hospitals!

Philips Research has created what it calls Lumalive light emitting textiles which have waterproof LEDs with wires woven into the fabric. Using these you can make messages flash on your attire which could generate some interesting applications when it hits the street sometime next year.

<Via New Scientist>

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Microsoft has unleashed a high tech school of the future in Philadelphia in collaboration with the Philadelphia School District:

Students — who are called "learners" — use smart cards to register
attendance, open their digital lockers and track calories they consume.
They carry laptops, not books, and the entire campus has wireless
Internet access.

Teachers, or "educators," rather than using
blackboards, have interactive "smart boards" that allow teachers to
zoom in and out, write or draw, and even link to the Internet.

<Via Deal Architect>

Home Depot has decided to cash in on its cachet with the home-improvement types, by posting streaming video ads on its website. If you are a manufacturer of home improvement goods, the Home Depot website maybe a great place to advertise as several manufacturers are finding out.

<Via NRF Smartbrief/Business Week>