But, since we all know that a watched pot never boils, a random Youtube video is pulled to the exact time it takes to cook your egg. When the video's done, so's your breakfast.

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On a side note, I love the term squidgy. We should adopt it on this continent post haste.

It doesn't change anything. It doesn't send anyone a message. It's totally preaching to the choir. But it just works.

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But they don't confine giving them away to their physical locations, they even include them with online orders. During checkout you have the option to "bag me" or not. The inclusion of the thumbnail of the bag is a nice visual touch that subtly makes the user feel as though they're getting a bonus with their order. I also like that their playful use of language extends into the checkout process. 

click to embiggenThanks to Russell for the tip. No thanks to Russell for the picture of him in tight lululemon pants that's now stuck in my head.

Last week she rushed home to show me this:

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Starbucks goes the extra mile by individually boxing cupcakes for the on-the-go dessert lover.

If you're in a hurry, but really want to enjoy a cuppy-cake when you get home, the last thing you want is some deformed abomination waiting for you at the bottom of a bag. Plus, the little package makes a great surprise treat for someone who needs a little cheering up.

And I checked; they're made of 100% recycled materials.

The attention to detail is astounding. I am a big fan of taking advantage of the medium in a unique way to sell your message. In this case, each piece dispatches a zombie in a different fashion. Be it a DVD saw blade to the head, a staple through the eyes or my favourite, a binder clip pierced through the face.

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Gore has never been so pretty or meaningful.
(Courtesy of Boing Boing)

But this screenshot from the Twitterrific's iPad implementation (courtesy of Signal vs. Noise) demonstrates how easy it is to provide feedback on a pretty common occurrence when replying to tweets. 

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The section pertaining to the concept of synesthesia (a sensation produced in one modality when a stimulus is applied to another modality) is particularly interesting. Spiked objects evoke a certain internal warning bell in people and he's conceived a simple way of implementing this is in button design. I would love to see some real world implementations of his example:

Which do you find more effective?

I highly recommend checking out his entire talk here: The Science of Aesthetics.

There's a great honesty to the company, which is really endearing to a customer looking for an alternative to the Microsoft Word beheamouth. They know that the product isn't for everybody, and are very upfront about it:

Is Scrivener the right tool for you? 
...Because Scrivener is about shaping chunks of text into a final typescript, Scrivener knows nothing of pages until it comes to exporting or printing and therefore does not have the page layout viewing features of modern word processor applications. So if you are just looking for an alternative to Word you might want to try Nisus Writer or Mellel. If you are drawn by Scrivener's full screen mode but aren't bothered about its large writing project management tools, try WriteRoom...

The old rules of never mentioning the competition (at least in a good light) don't apply here. They even go so far as to dedicate a page on their site espousing the benefits of a bunch of competing products.

Smartly, they reinforce the 30 day free trial of their own software in each of these places, so why not give it a try? It might just be right for you.

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Ok, so you're back, and now you understand. This tower defense game is full of amazing art design, great, addictive gameplay and a wicked sense of humour. The attention detail even spills into the list of in-game achievements.

As you scroll down the hole that houses the descriptions, you'll come across aritfacts from popular PopCap games. I especially love the unicorn skeleton from Peggle that makes an appearance. But if you're ever vigilant and continue digging for a bit longer you'll end up in China, upside down, proving that the Zombie Apocalypse isn't confined to the North American suburbs.

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RipIt, from The Little App Factory is software for ripping entire DVDs to your hard drive. And once installed they've devised a great way to get you to take a look at the other pieces of software that they develop.

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The writing is sincere and the the discount is pretty substantive. And best of all, it works. I immediately checked out the rest of their wares and am seriously considering purchasing one.