In today's Remainders: ideas! Ideas of all sorts, ranging from the very good—a ketchup package that allows for dipping—to the very bad—cutting a power cord with scissors—and including no less than two ideas somewhere in between!
Catch Up
Dave Ciesinski, vice president of Heinz, gets it: "The packet has long been the bane of our consumers." But I'm here to tell you some very good news: our 30 year national condiment nightmare might be drawing to a close. Seen here is Heinz's new Dip & Squeeze package, an ingenious system that combines the squeezability of the current ketchup packets with the on-the-go dippability you find in the little plastic tubs that hold Sweet and Sour and Barbecue sauce. I know! I'm very excited about all of this too. Sadly we have to wait a bit longer for full-on dipping and driving nirvana, as Heinz is only rolling out to select fast food locations this fall. But clearly once this thing does hit, every fast food restaurant under the sun is gonna want to get in on the Dip & Squeeze action. GOOD IDEA. [Washington Post]
Cut It Out
If the Dip & Squeeze ketchup packet is a very good idea, here is a very bad idea: cutting an electrical cord with scissors. I guess what's going on here is this: some crazy guy is working late at the office, toiling away at a dead-end job where he isn't appreciated by his boss or colleagues. He's spent the last few hours swallowing his sadness but getting a good amount of work done in the after-hours quiet. That is, until the cleaning lady shows up. She's just doing her job, vacuuming away, but soon our frustrated worker just....can't....TAKEITANYMORE and loses his $#@!, deciding to silence her in the fastest way he can think of: snip snip snipping the vacuum cleaner's cord. Or something like that, but in any event he's served a nice sizzling plate of instant karma. BAD IDEA. [Live Leak]
Big Blue Ball and Chain
An analyst says there's 75% chance that Apple will will stay with AT&T as the iPhone's carrier. Analyzing the cellular markets is tough work, so thankfully Business Insider breaks down this particular bit of analysis for us laypeople:
[the analyst] says he "couldn't find compelling evidence" that AT&T's contract with Apple ends this year. He gives it a 50% chance. Additionally, there's a 25% chance that AT&T would bid for — and win — another year of exclusivity. Add them up, you get 75%.
Hopefully that helps you get a better hold on this slippery situation. In any event we're 100% unimpressed with this uninspired prediction-making. BORING IDEA. [Business Insider]
Protohype
Today the Seattle Times ran an article accompanied by this photo showing a messy Project Natal sensor bar lumped on top of a Gorillapod camera mount. This doesn't tell us much of anything about Natal hardware, or Gorillapods for that matter. Pretty much the only thing it tells us is that people are starved for Natal news and will take whatever scraps they can get. INCOMPLETE IDEA. [Engadget


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