Last week, while chomping on sandwiches from The American Grilled Cheese Kitchen and craning our necks to watch tabco’s skywriting campaign, my colleagues and I had a discussion about the proliferation of seemingly mundane ideas (okay, we actually referred to them as stupid ideas) in the tech industry, receiving ludicrous amounts of financial backing and press.

Let’s admit it—we all think our ideas are superior to most that capture the headlines. But now and then we have to give props to those entrepreneurs who actually execute their ideas instead of mocking others. Here’s a Bay Area example: 

THE MELT | Founder: Jonathan Kaplan a.k.a. The Flip Guy

In a nutshell:

• Offers gourmet grilled cheese sandwiches paired with seasonal soups ($8)
• Utilizes mobile technology that enables customers to remotely place an order and pick it up at any MELT location
• When ordered, customers receive a QR code on their smartphone that can be scanned at any MELT location, allowing them to pay through their phones, skip lines, and pick up their order within minutes
• Various locations opening August 2011 – December 2011; 500 nationwide by 2015

Sources: THE MELT and psfk

I love grilled cheese as much as the next guy, but still…it’s natural to judge. I’ll probably end up a MELT fan though—a bitter one ☺.

After 4+ years of working in life cycle and portfolio management at a major biotech company, I'll be making my official entrance into the tech industry as an Associate Product Manager at Wikia.

I know what most of you are thinking: What in the world is Wikia?

Wikia is a free web hosting service for wikis that was founded by Jimmy Wales and Angela Beesley in 2004. Most people know Jimmy Wales as the founder of the more famous wiki project, Wikipedia.  Wikia and Wikipedia share many of the same goals, which notably include a commitment to "openness" in inviting anyone to contribute content on topics he or she knows well.

But as described on the Wikia website, unlike Wikipedia—the free, open-source encyclopedia to which anyone can contribute content—Wikia focuses “on being the definitive resource on many topics that do not fit into the traditional encyclopedia model, building entire communities around pop culture content.” Wikia expands on the concept of "openness" by not only inviting users to contribute content, but by also inviting users to express their own point of view.

"Communities" is the key word. Visit Wikia and you will find that it is very "social."  In fact, the Wikia team recently introduced a chat feature (still in beta) to several wikis to facilitate richer interactions between users or “Wikians.” So if you're a big fan of anything (and I mean anything, whether it's entertainment, gaming, or lifestyle-related), please visit Wikia.com, where you can create a new wiki, add to/edit a wiki, casually browse content, and/or meet others who are just as crazy as you about whatever it is that floats your boat ☺.

I'm really looking forward to this.

As I watch the relentless downpour of rain outside my bedroom window this holiday vacation, I can't help but think of those who had a truly Blue Christmas and are anticipating a Not-So-Happy New Year. The unemployment rate continues to stand near ten percent and twice that it was in 2007. But this only illustrates part of the job crisis picture.

During the slow work week before this holiday vacation, a co-worker asked me if I had a couple of computer “mice” to spare.

“I have one mouse you can have, but I don't think mice is the correct plural form of the computer mouse,” I responded. He then gave me the weirdest look and basically told me that I was over-analyzing.

“You can't call them mouses,” he said, “because that just sounds redonkulous.”

I swiftly Googled the derivation of the term and discovered something pleasantly surprising. I walked over to my co-worker and explained that, “Mouse is an acronym that stands for Manually-Operated User-Select Equipment. Who's redonkulous now?”

“Okay, you win,” he surrendered. End of conversation.

I didn't share this with my co-worker, but it actually turns out that “mice” and “mouses” are both acceptable plural forms of the computer mouse (and fine, “mice” is much more popular). Manually-Operated User-Select Equipment is merely a bad backronym, and I just couldn't help myself ☺.

And yes, this funny little conversation inspired me to create the cat and mouse vector drawing.

When you're on a tight budget or not trying to be ostentatious, clever packaging can transform a mundane, inexpensive bottle of wine into a memorable gift. Below is an example of thinking outside the bag that will surely engrave a lasting impression (revert to the correct idiom if you were planning on cruelly gifting Franzia).

FYI: A furoshiki is a traditional Japanese wrapping cloth.