Ritual: The Forgotten Sweet Spot of Old Media

Lifehacker just pointed to a four-year old entry on how to fold a newspaper: Real Simple magazine has an old but good step-by-step guide to folding an unwieldy broadsheet newspaper for easy reading on the go. It’s really just a matter of a few well placed folds, but if you don’t already have a good … Read more

Power to the Consumer. (Is That All?)

Jan Chipchase, roving Nokia researcher, as ever inspires and provokes with this piece on the psychology of the coffee cup: This Akasaka coffee shop includes a row of accessible power sockets (running a long the edge of the window) primarily to support laptop use – though over the course of an hour a number of … Read more

Welcome to Setarbak

Not sure who to credit for this one. Let me know if it’s you.  Not sure where this originates, but it’s doing the rounds. A terrible example of Indonesia’s rampant property rights abuse, or a reflection of Indonesian-ness? (For non-Bahasa speakers, just say the first word quickly. The second means coffee, not, in this case, … Read more

My Starbucks, My Love

I love the Starbucks at Jakarta’s International Airport, and it saddens me I won’t be frequenting it all that much from now on. Today when I grabbed my favourite slot near the entrance (only one with a power outlet, away from the arctic blast further in), I posed my usual question: Is the WiFi working? … Read more

Starbucks Comes To Tsunami-hit Aceh

Indonesians don’t have much time for trademarks, copyright and all that kind of thing, but they do have a great sense of humour and a resilience that inspires. Here’s a new cafe that has just opened for business near the airport in Aceh’s Meulaboh, one of the worst hit areas: (picture courtesy of Radio68H. The … Read more