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Contrary to expectations, guests given the numeral-only menu spent significantly more than those who received a menu with prices showing a dollar sign or those whose menus had prices written out in words. Psychological theory, by contrast, predicted that the scripted format would draw higher sales. It’s interesting to note that affluent restaurateurs have probably been aware of this for years. Based solely on anecdotal evidence, currency symbols on the menu decrease as the average price increases. ...

Research scientists at the Fraunhofer Institute for Interfacial Engineering and Biotechnology IGB in Stuttgart working in conjunction with their colleagues from the company Logos Innovationen have found a way of converting this air humidity autonomously and decentrally into drinkable water. “The process we have developed is based exclusively on renewable energy sources such as thermal solar collectors and photovoltaic cells, which makes this method completely energy-autonomous. It will therefore function in regions where there is no electrical infrastructure,” says Siegfried Egner, head of department at the IGB. The principle of the process is as follows: hygroscopic brine – saline solution which absorbs moisture – runs down a tower-shaped unit and absorbs water from the air. It is then sucked into a tank a few meters off the ground in which a vacuum prevails. Energy from solar collectors heats up the brine, which is diluted by the water it has absorbed. ...

“Remember your dreams and fight for them. You must know what you want from life. There is just one thing that makes your dream become impossible: the fear of failure. Never forget your Personal Legend. Never forget your dreams. Your silent heart will guide you. Be silent now. It is the possibility of a dream that makes life interesting. You can choose between being a victim of destiny or an adventurer who is fighting for something important.” ...

Viewers who haven’t thought much about how all that food in the grocery store got to be there will likely find it hard to toss a few packages of pork chops and some Froot Loops in the cart and call it a day. Some viewers will undoubtedly look away during the meat cutting and processing scenes. For parents the eye-averting moment will come during repeated slow-motion scenes of a 2-year-old’s last vacation. His mother, now a food-safety advocate, explains in a tearful voice-over the gruesome details of his death after he ate hamburger tainted with E. coli. ...

So bottom line: Copying hurts you. You miss out on what makes something good. Instead, try to be exposed to a variety of perspectives and points of view. Take whatever you find useful and leave the rest behind. Fill in the gaps with your own ideas. In the end you have make your own way forward. [via 37signals.com] When I first decided to learn HTML, I cruised around the World Wide Web, surfed even, looking for sites that I liked. “View Source” became my new best friend. I ripped code from page after page, threw it into a text editor, made changes, poked, prodded, and flipped code to see how it all worked. ...

[via enjoymentland.com] More “Hooray!” please.

Have you ever noticed that when Microsoft makes a product announcement that people actually get excited about, it’s almost always for a product that isn’t scheduled to ship for a year or more? The Project Natal demo sure looks cool, but Microsoft has long ago burned through its “cried wolf” credibility for me. This thing is vapory even by Microsoft’s standards. Let’s see it when it ships. John has it right. Microsoft needs to take at least one page from the book of Apple marketing tricks and stay silent until a release is imminent. Or as Shakespeare wrote, “Seal up your lips, and give no words but mum.” ...

User interface design is one of my big interests. I do not talk about it much because I have so many pet peeves with interfaces. The irritation factor is high. However, once in a great while, somebody gets it right, and there are grand “A-ha!” moments to be shared by all. This time, the interface improvement involved a single button and a huge boost in company sales. [via Shawn Blanc, via Derek Powazek] ...

Brian Clark wrote a good piece over on Copyblogger today. He covers some common misuses and pluralizations (yes, that is a word) of words. I fear I am guilty of making some of the mistakes mentioned. I shall try my hardest not to make any of those mistakes again. One of the worst offenders in my toolbox is “hopefully”. ###Hopefully This word is used incorrectly so much (including by me) it may be too late. But let’s make you smarter anyway. ...

Every day I encounter some new social network, a new iPhone application, a new Web 2.0 application. For most of them, I take a pass. After all, do we really need yet another social network? How many social networking aggregation tools can one person use? Is there a need for multiple flashlight applications on the iPhone while I still cannot get a decent terminal application? Are we at Web 2.1 yet? Today, I was pleasantly surprised when I found the web application, Picnik. ...