Digital ID: 482752. Abbott, Berenice -- Photographer. February 10, 1936 Notes: Code: III.C.1. Man takes pie out of Automat, stone counters and walls below metal and glass display. Source: Changing New York / Berenice Abbott. (more info) Repository: The New York Public Library. Photography Collection, Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs. See more information about this image and others at NYPL Digital Gallery. Persistent URL: digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/id?482752

It is Valentine’s Day weekend and a lot of people (including myself) will be taking loved ones to restaurants. When I was young, I worked at a restaurant that had phones on all the tables. There were no waiters – when the customer was ready to order, they would pick up the phone and it would ring in the kitchen. A cook would answer the phone, write down the order, and cook it. When the food was ready, the cook would ring the phone on the table – and the customer would go pick up the order at the front desk, and pay.

I think it would be cool to experiment with some new (and old) models for running restaurants. I don’t think anything is particularly wrong with current restaurants, I just have a habit of rethinking current ways of doing things.

Below are a few ”what if” thoughts I have when I visit restaurants:

Automats

Automats, where people could go and buy food from what was essentially a gigantic vending machine wall have declined and almost disappeared since the 1950s. As the US interstate system was developed suburbs grew massively out of this massive government action – and the dense urban population that used these restaurants declined. I still wonder why there are not more of these in densely populated cities. Although the personal touch is certainly reduced, the cost and efficiency could make up for that in some instances. With newer technologies and better foods, I would think that super high-tech automats could be created today that would be much better than those that existed in the 50s.

Hub restaurant

A ”hub restaurant” would be a restaurant that served food from other restaurants. For example, the customer would walk into the restaurant and they would have some basic drinks and peanuts or other simple snack-type appetizers. It would not have a kitchen. Instead, it would have a group of ”runners” in place of a kitchen. The customer would have a large menu with items from restaurants that are physically around the restaurant – let’s say within 5 miles. This would be a pretty diverse menu. The customer would still have a waiter/waitress and would still order from them. The customer would get drinks and snacks and could put in their order for a meal. The orders would then be phoned in as pick-up orders at other restaurants and then given to the ”runners” who would go pick them up. The customers would have a restaurant experience, but they would be able to order many different types of food – Italian, burgers, Chinese – all at the same restaurant.

Digital menus

By putting menus on a server, and also allowing orders to be digitally automated, restaurants could take orders via mobile phone. They could also have digital touch menus on all the tables that would allow the menu to be read and allow orders to be made inside the menu via touch. When not in use as a menu, these digital menus could have a browser to surf the web and could have some games built in as well.

Conveyor belts

Sushi restaurants use conveyor belts to allow people to sit down and quickly grab food off the belt and eat. The bill is based on number of plates. What if other types of restaurants used conveyor belts for different types of foods? Special plates could be built using warming elements powered by their proximity to the belt to keep all food items warm (through resonant induction charging). The plates could also be built with RFID built in so that the waiter or waitress could simply scan them to bill you. The plate would know the price of what is on it. The customer would pick up a chicken fried steak plate, a mashed potatoes plate, and a green beans plate. Each would know its price and would tell the table what the bill is. The table itself could sense what plates are sitting on it and tally a bill in real time as you pick items off the belt and put them on the table. I don’t think that this would work in all circumstances, but it could work in situations when the restaurant has a big crowd that is in a hurry (like for lunches).

Mobile restaurant

A restaurant could be built that fits on the back of a tractor trailer. It would drive around town and stop at specified locations to bring on new customers and let off others. It would be a big tractor trailer (with great suspension) that would have a kitchen and rows of tables along the sides. The sides of the trailer would be large windows. The routes would be chosen to maximize great views. Plus, it would stop at scenic points to sit for a while to allow people to eat and enjoy the scenery. Eating at the mobile restaurant would feature a different view every night. This might be especially good for visitors to big cities that would like to see all the sites and get dinner at the same time.

Police make first-ever arrest using unmanned drone | Mail Online.

For my entire life, magazines and newspapers have been words and pictures printed on paper, and for the past 15 years, some of that same exact information has moved to the Web. So in order to improve on that we just take those words and pictures and put them on computers, right? Yes, but there is more. New devices and new technologies will push the meaning “book”, “magazine”, and “newspaper” into new areas. And, news organizations will need to change and develop new skill sets to create these new types of media.

New devices/ technologies

iPad devices can be future they are looking for. I have been looking for something like the iPad to be created for some years now, because I believed that a tablet-type device that is properly designed and marketed would mark the big turning point for computing and media. My guess has always been that there is a big market for tablet computers. The reason being that it meets most people’s home computing needs. Many people only surf the web and do a few other basic tasks – yet the industry is selling computers that run powerful applications which casual users will never buy. So tons of hard drive space is left dormant as people move more and more into the cloud for their computing. A solution that invests less in hard drive space and expensive hardware, but which invests in a user experience – all in a low cost device – can be a winner – especially for books, newspapers and magazines. But, new skills we be required.

New skill sets to create a new product

Old media companies – like newspapers and book and magazine publishers have a new skill set to develop. Skills in printing on paper will continue to decline, while multi-media skills will be in increased demand. Over the past decade these media companies have moved in that direction because of the web. But technology will re-make media and publishing companies into content, trust, curation and multi-media expert companies. “Newspaper” will become an antiquated term – kind of like “carriage”. Paper won’t be involved in the process of most newspaper distribution. Being able to research and write well will still be critical – but what will be needed more and more is the ability to turn information into videos, pictures, images and interactive features. The iPad type devices will mean this type of content will be more easily accessible for everyone. Unbound from the more expensive, bulkier and slow-to-boot-up computers – the tablets will boot almost instantly and do all the things you want to do more conveniently. This type of device makes a great platform for a lot of things – including better books, magazines and newspapers.

For example, we have all read text books. Imagine a new type of textbook on a tablet device. It would have interactive charts, graphs based on real data sets. The data would be in the textbook and could allow the student to create their own queries and charts – another level of interactivity. Video and sound could be incorporated. Social functions would be available, too. Text and images could be shared with friends instantly. This is the textbook of the future, and it looks a lot like the book, magazine and newspaper of the future as well. I have a Kindle, which I like a lot. But I expect more from media now, because of the internet. I will be reading a Kindle and I will think: “I need to email this paragraph to a friend”. But it does not have that capability – right now.

A couple of my favorite media sources – The Economist and the Wall Street Journal seem to be at the leading edge in these areas. And, from data I have seen, these two sources are not experiencing the big decline in subscribers that have plagued other newspapers and magazines. Part of this is because these two news sources are simply superior news organizations and writers – but another reason is that they moved earlier than others to incorporate what technology could offer their readers. Especially the Wall Street Journal, which for years now has done a great job of creating interactive features on its website. These features, and ways of working, will move onto tablet computers in the long run. I think this may apply to books as well. I believe books will also morph into multi-media and data-driven experiences. This will shape new media – and will reshape the companies behind them. This will be disturbing for many in the industry but exciting for consumers of their valuable content.

Total paid subscriptions are starting to really fall off of a cliff for print media. This is greatly due to the Internet and the fact that they are giving their product away on the Internet.

Interestingly enough, out of the top 25 newspapers, only one has seen growth in 2008-2009 – the Wall Street Journal.

Link: MINT-DEATH-OF-NEWS-R2.png (PNG Image, 1100×2001 pixels)

Here is a video about Kiva’s automated warehouse robots. I love this concept.

Forrester Research latest survey of 4,706 consumers showed that most consumers are only willing to pay $50 – $99 for an eReader.  Even though the current retail price point is currently at $199 and higher.  These are the questions asked of those surveyed.

• At what price would you consider an electronic book device/eBook reader a bargain?
• At what price would you consider an electronic book device/eBook reader expensive but still purchase it?
• What price would be so inexpensive that you would question the quality of an electronic book device/eBook reader?
• What price would be so expensive that you would not consider buying an electronic book device/eBook reader?

I think most consumers still enjoy having an actual book.  I believe once the price of eReaders come down, more consumers will be willing to make the jump to eBooks.

[Forrester Research]

Starting on September 1, 2009 the Federal Trade Commission has decided to make automated marketing robocalls illegal.  Telemarketers that violate this policy may face penalties up to $16,000 per call.

Heathrow Airport’s is going to have 18 personal rapid transport (PRT) vehicles.  The driver-less taxis will move passengers around Heathrow Airport.

“The four-passenger personal rapid transport (PRT) vehicles, unveiled this week at the Science Museum in London, take airport-goers on a special narrow road from Heathrow’s Terminal 5 to various parking lots. Passengers use a touch screen to type in their destination, press a start button, and the battery-powered vehicle zips along at 25 mph to their destination. There’s a reason the pods look so futuristic–they were designed by Mark Lowson, who worked on the Saturn Rocket that launched Apollo missions.”

[Fast Company]