I really think uWink would be a hit in Asia. It’s like an Internet cafe on steroids.

Click here for video promo.

I made pancakes a couple weekends ago, which reminded me that using a spoon to scoop batter and drip it into a frying pan is a messy, and imperfect process!

Welcome The Batter Blaster, a pressurized can filled with organic pancake mix, where you can point the can to the grill and shoot batter, to create perfect pancakes every time!

San Jose-based Provina has raised $4 million, led by VantagePoint Venture Partners, to market its software and home wine making machine – the WinePod, which retails for $3,499. The machine and software control the fermentation and appropriate aging temperature, which determine the customized taste of the wine. Premium quality grapes can be ordered from the best regions in California.

News release available here.

I once read that roasted coffee beans oxidize and become stale only seven days after roasting. Ground coffee oxidizes after only three days. So, bottom line is that most of us drink stale coffee, even if you use an airtight container. Meanwhile, green unroasted coffee beans stay fresh for up to a year. Home roasting is one solution for fresh coffee, but the conditions for optimal coffee roasting are extremely precise, and it’s easy to burn the coffee beans etc., and many are willing to sacrifice some taste for the convenience of store bought coffee.

Starbucks has done a good job of educating coffee consumers of the benefit of quality coffee, but the experience could certainly be improved. In the era of “you,” I believe there’s an opportunity to create a chain of Fire Roasted Coffee houses (the domain firecoffee.com was available at the time of this writing), where consumers can select among a variety of green coffee beans in canisters (so they could select Kona beans, or Columbian beans, or Kenyan beans, for example), and then select the type of fire roasting they want (ie french roasted, vanilla roasted, orange roasted etc.). During the roasting, consumers can watch the expert fire roasters, or meet with people, or read, or browse music or book selections. There could also be online ordering, so you can custom order your coffee from home and pick it up or have it delivered in time for optimal freshness and taste.

I love brick oven pizza, and believe a brick oven creates not only superior pizza, but also can dramatically improve the ambiance of a restaurant. A coffee house with a brick fire oven for coffee roasting would achieve a similar kind of experience, and also better tasting, fresher coffee to either consume at the shop or to take home.

[UPDATE: A variation of this, a more earth friendly approach: Solar roasted coffee]

Krispy Kreme Donuts has clearly lost its luster.

Meanwhile, Sprinkles Cupcakes, a cupcake shop in Beverly Hills, is the newest rage. Why doesn’t Krispy Kreme introduce exotic flavored, and made from scratch with all natural ingredients cupcakes before Sprinkles goes nationwide?

But there’s nothing truly special in my opinion with fresh cupcakes, just as there is nothing truly special with a Krispy Kreme donut.

BUT, FRIED COKE is a different story! An award-winning food inventor introduced deep-fried coke syrup at the Texas State Fair, and it was a hit! It actually sounds delicious, and I’m sure tastes even better than it sounds.

Why isn’t there coke flavored ice-cream or frozen yogurt, by the way, or Sprite or 7 up Sorbet?

Remember when cookie dough ice-cream was introduced? What a great concept. I also liked the idea from The Apprentice of ice-cream with chunks of donut.

Any weird dessert ideas out there?

Speaking of branded entertainment…

Check out this M&M’s Flash game. [via neatorama]

OneCafe, a Swedish company, claims to have developed a patented coffee bag which combines the taste of regular filtered coffee with the convenience of a tea bag. In a consumer taste test, 88% of testers found the coffee to be better tasting than the coffee they normally drink. [thanks, Red Ferret]

Cool and imaginative entertainment and casino and hotel and retail concepts abound in Las Vegas. Future developments and entertainment options are only limited by imagination, which has no limits. To mix things up here at SHARKRIDE, I propose a little competition: I will accept submissions for imaginative hotel, casino, restaurant, show, or entertainment venue Vegas concepts via email, or comments and will select what I believe to be the 5 best to be voted on by SHARKRIDE readers – feel free to submit as many ideas as you want. The submission deadline will be Sunday, September 10, 11:59pm PT. I will subsequently figure out how to do that blog voting thing, and will paypal the winner $50!

To foster imaginative thinking, here are a few of my own concept synopsis samples:

1) A James Bond fantasy laser tag game played in a casino complex – perhaps there could even be a mission – such as an Oceans 11 inspired heist challenge!

2) A Space Hotel and Casino with midget alien servers, weightless simulators, rooms with planet shaped beds that hang from the “space” ceiling, a virtual UFO abduction experience, a space station replica etc.

3) A “heaven” themed Hotel and Casino, which features famous artist and celebrity sponsored visions of heaven – there could be different visionary concepts within the hotel – perhaps even a feature where you can select your favorite things from a list of available options, and a semi-custom heaven experience can be created for you. Bikini clad women serving warm chocolate chip cookies, and margaritas under palm trees, for instance.

4) Underwater restaurants and Ice Bars and rock and roll and Hollywood and jungle themed restaurants have been done, but what about a restaurant where you need to catch the fish you want to eat, or catch a chicken with your bare hands, or a simulated hunting game, or pick vegetables in a real garden, and then master chefs prepare you a gourmet meal with your selected elements as you watch, or perhaps there could be a conveyor belt type floor that travels through different themed sections, where the menu options can be presented via various themed shows hosted by theatrical chefs.

5) The ultimate putt putt golf experience that goes way beyond the ordinary “gypsie” theme. Perhaps there can be cars won for holes-in-one, and other organized wagering. Instead of spinning windmills, there could be pong-like robots, and the course would exist on multiple levels, so you would need to climb up and down volcanoes or over ravines with crocodiles, and you can challenge “pros” employed by the course who are basically comedians, or dressed up animals – and there would be laser shows, and really cool water hazards that spray water etc. — whatever, you get the idea.

Let’s have some fun!

Heinz’s Talking Labels Service allows you to create custom labels for ketchup bottles! A 14 oz glass bottle of ketchup costs $6.

“BANG HARDER!” or “Got blood?”

[thanks, uncrate]