Here’s an update from Frances at SocialEmpire.com:

Jeff Reid will no longer be at UnWine’d as of Thursday. Gary Riemer will be acting GM for now.

FigMint in the Plaza 500 Hotel opened to the public today.

Beyond Restaurant & Lounge opened July 31st at the Century Plaza Hotel.

The Vancouver Sweet Nothing from sweetspot has a review on the new Vancouver Restaurant known as FigMint:

FigMint of Your Belly 08/25/2006

We covet New York’s restaurant/lounge scene. The ambiguity of dining and drinking amidst suave dudes and sleek gals in dimly lit enclaves has us near screaming “The Mercer” and “SoHo Grand” in our sleep.

Wide awake and home-based we’re thrilled to say (in a loud or quiet voice) that the Plaza 500 Hotel has made our socializing fantasies of late come true with the new FigMint Restaurant & Lounge.

A palette of charcoal grey and Paul Smith fabric-covered banquettes, club chairs, and ottoman-cubes appeals to our urban senses. Tiffany’s Frank Gehry paper lamp shades hanging from the ceiling like crumpled puffs of clouds have us swooning in delight. (Multiple sips of fig martinis kept us steady.)

Our palette was teased and pleased with executive chef Lee Humphries‘ (formerly Chef de Cuisine at Elixir at the Opus Hotel) dinner menu. We loved the wickedly creamy white onion and Riesling soup with truffle oil ($8); fell for the grilled, wild sockeye salmon with pea shoots ($28); and begged for seconds of the lobster-based gnocchi.

Breakfast, lunch, and dinner are served, as well as brunch on weekends. Valet parking available. Open to the public next week.

Our West Coast persona is now sullied with NYC influence – we love it.

FigMint Restaurant & Lounge
www.figmintrestaurant.com
500 West 12th Ave.
(at Cambie St.)
604-873-1811

Japanese hotdog? Sound appealing? Well it is! On Lorraine‘s reccomendation, I took a chance at the hotdog stand on the corner of Smithe and Burrard, close to the Sutton Place Hotel.

So what’s in a Japadog anyways? There’s two varieties that this particular stand sells.

The Terimayo which hosts Teriyaki Sauce, Mayo, Japanese Seaweed and Fried Onions on a 100% beef hot dog.

The Oroshi is composed of special Soy Sauce, Oroshi Daikon Radish, Green Onions on a Bratwurst (white pork) sausage.

I tried the Oroshi on my last visit and look forward to trying the Terimayo next time. Delicious! The Daikon made the bun a bit soggy towards the end tho but upon comment to the ‘chef’ she said that she’ll endeavour to squeeze the radish out a bit better next time. Photos posted below.

An online word processor from Google. Known as Writely, this ‘lil puppy purportedly does everything that Word does and more — for free!

It outputs PDFs, RSS feeds, slices, dices and is a Ginzu knife. Only caveat? What happens if the government wants access to your documents? Scary.

More coverage at Boing Boing: http://www.boingboing.net/2006/08/20/google_launches_free.html

More coverage at Technorati: http://www.technorati.com/search/…google_launches_free.html

Mobile carriers in Japan are required to allow/support number portability by October 24th. I can’t wait for the same here in Canada. Hopefully this makes the providers more competitive – oh wait, what competition?

From Terrie’s Take #387:

-> Number portability to cost about JPY5,000

KDDI has become the first cell phone operator to publish its fee schedule for customers wanting to switch carriers but wanting to keep their number. This comes in response to the number portability law due to take effect on October 24th. KDDI said it will charge a JPY2,100 termination fee, and for those moving to KDDI from another carrier, the standard sign-up fee of JPY2,835. Since NTT DoCoMo and Softbank Mobile are expected to announce similar rates, this means that for most people wanting to switch carriers, the switch will cost them about JPY5,000 in termination and new sign-up fees. (Source: TT commentary from nikkei.co.jp, Aug 10, 2006)

http://www.nni.nikkei.co.jp/AC/TNKS/Nni20060809D09JFA11.htm

Google Hosted or Gmail for your domain has been hailed as the killer app for those seeking an alternative to corporate groupware. After a short test of the service, it’s my opinion that they still have a very long way to go.

Pros of Google Hosted:

• slick Gmail web interface
• 2GB of storage space for each account
• Google Talk is a decent IM solution
• Google Calendar is a decent calendaring solution
• A control panel that allows you to add/remove accounts as well as create aliases

Cons of Google Hosted:

• Migration is clunky, the service doesn’t activate until it detects that you’ve changed MX records, this could mean some serious downtime!!
• Can’t set priority or confidentiality on outgoing mails like you can in Outlook
• A sending limit! Once you reach it, you can’t send any more! (… and this is supposed to be corporate?!)
• No customer support – want someone to help you? FORGET IT!

Here’s some screen shots of Gmail hosted for those of you who are curious:

In conclusion, Google Hosted is a step up for those users seeking an upgrade from POP3-type hosting. If you’re using IMAP4 or a groupware system like Microsoft Exchange, you’re not going to appreciate Gmail for your domain.

Wandered into Salt Tasting Room a couple weeks ago but didn’t get a chance to check it out. Nina and Lorraine have been able to do what I haven’t – check out the legendary Salt. Well, I’ll have to live vicariously through their musings about the place. If that doesn’t work, there’s always sweetspot‘s sweet nothing from July 21st:

07-21-06 Pass the Salt

Ahh, France, so many things to love: the history, the clothes, the men. (S’il vous plaît, they invented French kissing. It doesn’t get any better than that!)

And the way they throw bread, cheese, meat and wine together, creating a meal that rivals five-course feasts from Michelin-starred restaurants. Which is why we were so delighted to stumble across Salt Tasting Room, a sleek new joint that elevates charcuterie and cheese to their rightful place at the top of the gourmet food chain.

At Salt, good things come in threes. Choose any three items from among the 20 meats and cheeses listed on the blackboard. Pick three condiments (and we’re not talking ketchup and relish) from the exotic array of chutneys, nuts and assorted accompaniments and voilà! For $15, you’ve just created your own little taste of Provence, complete with crackers and baguette.

Our tip for first-timers: Let your waiter create a wine and plate combo for you. Our taste buds won’t stop craving stilton, honeycomb and cabernet sauvignon. Or wild boar chorizo paired with organic apricots, or Hungarian salami with Riesling, or. . .

Now bring on the hot waiter and some French kissing. Excusez moi, we meant to say, French dishing. . .

Salt Tasting Room
www.salttastingroom.com
Blood Alley, Gastown
604-633-1912

If your imagination isn’t running wild at the moment, there’s also vitamin v‘s daily dose from July 28th:

10 things we love about salt tasting room

1. Its secretive, Blood Alley entrance in Gastown. Look up for the salt shaker.
2. The gorgeous, clean, modern design—with a picture window looking onto a whitewashed flophouse.
3. GM Chris Stearns’ new faux-hawk. Did he get it for his recent stage in the kitchen at Charlie Trotter?
4. Brilliant and unusual wine selects, like the amazing Italian Feudi di San Gregorio white ($60/bottle).
5. The beautiful concrete bathroom walls. Really.
6. Sean Heather’s (The Irish Heather) prize meat slicer.
7. The modern take on the ploughman’s lunch that constitutes the menu. $15 gets you three meats or cheeses from a rotating list, with Terra bread and crackers. So simple, so smart.
8. The tiny plates of “condiments” that come with roasted Spanish macona almonds, organic Similkameen apricots and French cornichons.
9. The fact that the 50-seat room was standing room only even before the opening was announced.
10. That this list could be a least twice as long.

Read more and view the blog at www.salttastingroom.com

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Got a friend who you think would like this daily dose? Forward this message, and spread the vitamin v goodness – for goodness sake.

Another great Poynteronline posting:

Poynteronline
E-Media Tidbits

Saturday, June 24, 2006

Posted by Laura Ruel 12:05:52 PM

Seconds to Create Credibility

At the Nielsen Norman Group Usability Week’s Friday session, Fundamental Guidelines for Web Usability, Hoa Loranger addressed the importance of site credibility.

“It is an important factor [that determines] whether a person will visit a site and will stay on your site,” said Loranger. “You have seconds on the home page to make a good first impression.”

Loranger cited the work of BJ Fogg at Stanford University to describe how to create feelings of credibility on your site:

• Good visual design
• Third-party endorsements of your work
• Providing a physical/street address for your organization.
• Updated content — not just content, but recent awards, etc.
• Promotional content and ads that are relevant to the site’s content
• No typos or bugs
• Easy to use

Loranger provided examples credible vs. not credible sites. Sean’s Painting was noted as less credible than Chism Brothers Painting. Similarly, Loan Finders was described as creating a less credible feeling than Lending Tree. She also noted the overwhelming form that appears on the second click on the Loan Finders site as also having a negative impact on credibility.

E-mail this item | Add Your Comments | QuickLink this item: A103568

Another great Poynteronline posting:

Poynteronline
E-Media Tidbits

Friday, June 23, 2006

Posted by Laura Ruel 7:25:08 AM

Text Ads Get the Most Looks

Here at the Nielsen/Norman Group’s Usability Week in San Francisco, Jakob Nielsen and Kara Pernice Coyne yesterday presented results from their first use of eyetracking to evaluate Web design.

Similar to the results in Poynter’s Eyetrack III study, their research on ads shows that people do not look at static ads with graphic treatment.

Users seem to “zone out” (with their peripheral vision) ads and other site elements that have clearly distinguishable ad features such as graphics and colors that make the ads look different from the rest of the site, or animated ads.

Nielsen/Norman’s study found that people spend, on average, less than one second viewing display/graphical treatment ads. Users did look at animated ads when they preceded content and were forced. However, in these cases the user had nothing else to view.

“Is this what you want to do to your users?” Coyne said.

When users DO look at ads with graphics, those ads usually have:

• Heavy use of large, clear text
• A color scheme that matches the site’s style
• Attention-grabbing proprieties such as black text on a white background, words such as “free” and interactive (UI) elements.

(More coverage of this research)
E-mail this item | Add Your Comments | QuickLink this item: A103463

With the need now, more than ever, to reach an audience that is bombarded all the time with stuff, it makes more and more sense to refine your message. One of the things we’re working on now with Urban Mixer is the visual element.

Poynteronline has always been a good source for all things online, period. Here’s such a posting which was totally helpful:

E-Media Tidbits – What Makes Web Images Attractive

Poynteronline
E-Media Tidbits

Friday, June 23, 2006

Posted by Laura Ruel 11:25:09 AM

What Makes Web Images Attractive

More from the Nielsen/Norman Group’s Usability Week in San Francisco. (Previous coverage) Yesterday Jakob Nielsen and Kara Pernice Coyne presented the results of their first use of eyetracking to evaluate Web design.

They offered one interesting and much-discussed observation: Task-oriented users really don’t pay attention to images on Web pages.

Similar to Poynter’s Eyetrack III results, and the results of an initial study done by my organization, the Digital Storytelling Effects Lab (DiSEL), NNG found that images seem to be most effective when a user is browsing or when images are directly related to the content’s overall presentation.

Both Eyetrack III and the NNG study found that faces in images tend to attract users’ focus. NNG mentioned to the dangers of using images as “an obstacle course.” Images that appear unnecessary, at least peripherally, can be erroneously tuned out.

According to NNG, images that do NOT attract attention share these traits:

• Generic/stock art
• Off-putting, cold, fake, too polished or “set up”
• Not related to content
• Look like advertisements
• Low contrast in terms of color — not crisp

Meanwhile, images that DO get attention share these traits:

• Related to page content
• Clearly composed and appropriately cropped
• Contain “approachable” people who are smiling, looking at the camera, not models
• Show areas of personal/private anatomy (Men tended to fixate on these areas more than women — really!)
• Items a user may want to buy.

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