links for 2009-12-29

• Starbucks Gossip: "From the Comfy Chair": Juan returns to the lobby store at Starbucks HQ for his final column
  Wouldn't it be nice if every partner treated every customer as someone who might be further up in the SBUX chain of command? That would be a win/win situation for all involved and, perhaps, might even be a start to regaining some of the visceral emotion about the brand that seems to have been lost.
  (tags: starbucks coffee customerservice)
• Brain Chips: Artificial Intelligence Is All in Your Head – GigaOM
  Article is just one image, which is kinda weird. Still.
  (tags: technology intelligence ai future science brain chip cybernetics cyberpunk)
• The Joy of Tech comic… Big Zucker is watching.
  (tags: funny privacy facebook)
• Make: Online : "Invisible" semi-trailer
  Transparentius, by noted Russian design firm Art Lebedev, consists of a semi-trailer equipped with a projector that displays the view from a forward-looking camera on the back of the trailer
  (tags: design transport)
• 5 Best Data Visualization Projects of the Year – 2009 | FlowingData
  With all the new projects this year, it was hard to filter down to the best, but here they are: two honorable mentions and the five best data visualization projects of 2009. Visualizations were chosen based on analysis, aesthetics, and most importantly, how well they told their story (or how well they let you tell yours).
  (tags: visualization datavisualization data analysis design datamining graph)