I’m certainly not arguing that Wal-Mart should be anyone’s grocery store of choice. I’m simply saying I can’t make myself support a business that knows it’s the underdog yet refuses to take advantage of it and doesn’t try to innovate. The kind of innovation I think would be worthwhile for both the small business and the customers isn’t an expensive one either. Starting from (what I consider) the obvious, being a small grocery store in the middle of a college town and not having a Twitter account and Facebook fan page is insane. Running social media campaigns directed towards college students on those platforms is money.

Secondly, the local college’s computer science department spits out senior projects every year, I always thought it’d be an amazing opportunity to leverage your resources and have innovative services built for you… for free. For example, if this grocery store had approached my senior project class, pitching a safe and secure opt-in service that linked into a customer’s rewards card and emailed them recipes based on ingredients they frequently purchased, I would have jumped at the opportunity immediately. I would have been working on a project that I really liked, legitimately give back to a local business, all while creating something pretty useful. The grocery store would have gotten an innovative product that would be much more feasible to build for them compared to the big guys, as a small business is far more flexible. Not to mention, they would have gotten it for free! This would have been a much better project than a robotic bartender (yes, it happened.)

I hold a special place in my heart for small and local businesses, and that’s why I’m so harsh on them then it comes to this kind of thing. I know if I don’t see change and innovation, they’ll eventually be gone. It’s easy to complain about the big corporation running them out of town, but I strongly believe a few small, well-planned moves could retain a lot of their traffic from the big guys, even if the big guys have lower prices.

So what about new websites that push for our seemingly last taboo: money? Blippy.com, which recently came out of private-beta, is a web application that allows users to link their credit/debit cards as well as accounts on iTunes, Amazon, Zappos, Woot, and more. Swipely has also recently popped up on the radar as a social purchasing site, although currently in closed beta. These sites display your purchases publicly (or privately, if you so choose) which allows your friends to view, like, and comment on your purchases. I’ve noticed Blippy has been a bigger comfort hurdle for users to get over than, say, FourSquare. That being said, Blippy has a rather active community, intelligent co-founders, and $1.73 Million in funding. Personally, I see them as one of the more versatile startups around right now. By versatile, I mean the domains they could potentially expand into are insane. Personal finance and capital management? Check. Purchase recommendations? Check. And, more interestingly, a “check-in”-free FourSquare? Check.

An intriguing point to consider, as we ease into a digital comfort-zone, is Facebook Beacon. In 2007, Facebook partnered up with a handful of online retailers to post their user’s recent purchases into the Facebook stream. Many users were outraged, boycotting these retailers, Beacon, and Facebook as a whole. Granted, the opt-out process of Beacon was confusing, but the point is, users weren’t happy with the idea in general, and Beacon was shut down in 2009. Now, only months after Beacon being closed for good, social purchase stream sites have users voluntarily joining (and being happy about it).

So, as we grow closer and closer to becoming a totally cashless society, do sites like Blippy and Swipely have a place? For these sites, and even already established online finance sites like Mint.com, the banks are the bottleneck. I’m hoping that the popularity of these services will encourage banks to step up their online presence and eventually create beautiful and secure bank APIs for developers. As I said, we know Foursquare and Gowalla are becoming more and more popular, and Blipppy/Swipely aren’t totally embraced services yet, but I don’t think they should be overlooked in the check-in game. The kind of data available for restaurant and bar owners is more interesting too; if these establishments begin offering specials to the “mayors,” imagine what they’d do for the “big spenders”.

Loose-leaf tea isn’t difficult, although it seems many folks are quite scared of it. Sure there are a few things you have to take into consideration but it will result in a much higher quality taste over traditional bagged teas. The first step is preparing the water temperature, white and green teas should be brewed using less than boiling water (about 180° F) and black and most herbal teas should be boiling. Steep length is also important – green teas should only be submerged in the water for about 3 minutes. Black teas and most herbals will steep a little longer, between 5 and 7 minutes. That’s really it. As you learn more about tea and more about how YOU like tea, you’ll get very comfortable brewing the perfect cup every time.

The machine itself makes the temperature and steep length very easy on you. It is composed of three separate chambers (hence the name), which regulate all of these factors. The first chamber heats the water to either boiling or just under boiling. Once the water is the perfect temperature, it is released into the second chamber, which contains the tea. It stays in this chamber for as long as you set it, between 2 and 7 minutes. Once the tea has steeped for the appropriate amount of time, it travels through the permanent filter into the final pot, sitting on a hot plate ready for consumption.

I’ve found the middle chamber’s steeping basket to be a nice size for allowing the tea to expand. My problem with many tea infusers (like the dreaded tea-ball) is there simply isn’t enough room for the leaves to expand, but the triniTEA handles this nicely. The permanent filter is also a super nice addition, which is made of a very durable food-grade plastic. Mine has held up for years.

As much as I love this device, it isn’t all perfect. The triniTEA seems to leak water more than most coffee machines. It’s still quite safe for the office environment but sometimes pulling the steeping chamber out to change the leaves or clean results in a small puddle of water. I also dislike that there are just two water temperature settings. I’d much rather set the exact temperature in Fahrenheit. Granted, this is more user friendly but I’m letting my tea geek unleash a little here. The price certainly isn’t ideal either, as coffee drinkers can pick up a simple coffee maker for under 30 bucks. The TriniTEA will set you back about 100 dollars, but it is so, so worth it.

The TriniTEA can be purchased from Adagio Teas(http://www.adagio.com/teaware/triniTEA.html)

Price: $99.00

Grade: A-

Look and feel: I decided to try the Nooka AO because I thought it was quite a handsome wallet. I fell in love with its unique design, and the sloped edges make it look like no other wallet I’ve ever seen. The entire AO is made from a very soft and smooth silicone. This makes it super comfortable and very capable of stretching to fit a LOT of cards. Unfortunately, it also picks up a ton of lint, which is obviously very undesirable. The Nooka AO is available in 5 colors (grey, black, blue, green, and orange) but I feel like everyone (including myself) goes with the grey. My guess is they all show equal amounts of lint but perhaps black is more forgiving.

Functionality: Oy. I can deal with the lint. I can deal with there only being one desirable color. I just can’t deal with the fact that it’s a horrible wallet for storing money. Cash money that is. If you can get away with using cards 99% of your life, this may just be your next wallet. Sadly, New York is a cash town. Just ask the guy at the deli to swipe your card for that 2 dollar Vitamin Water, he’ll love that. So because this wallet lacks a dedicated, full bill size pocket, you have to quad-fold each bill. It gets messy and is always unorganized (more like the Nooka Asset UNorganizer…eh, eh?). My driver’s license, credit card, and metro card all slide out quickly and beautifully. Cash is another story, so much so that I often just carry it in my front pocket and constantly feel like I’m missing cash because it just gets stuffed into whatever pocket I feel like. I’m actually pretty sure this wallet is going to cause me to lose money.

Additional Thoughts: The Nooka AO has made me think a lot about my definition of design (as a programmer this concept is new to me). Should functionality be sacrificed for aesthetics? High-heels aren’t even close to being functional, yet many women (and some men) put themselves through it everyday in the name of style and design. But shouldn’t good design also be based on how much functionality it maintains – like this amazingly beautiful sink? My feelings are still unclear and despite how much I dislike this wallet, I’ll most likely continue using it over my boring yet functional bi-fold wallet. No matter how much I hate its lack of functionality, I love the design. On a very positive note, I spoke with the Nooka AO designer via Twitter, who tells me version 2 of the Nooka AO will fix this horrible lack of dedicated cash space issue. Sadly, I was not given an expected release date. The current Nooka AO is available now at Nooka.com.

Price: 35.00

Grade: C-

Perhaps it’s because Photoshop and I don’t get along, yet I still like the instant gratification of seeing a mock-up. Either way, when I was in 9th grade, I bought a sketch pad that never left the side of my bed. Every night before I went to sleep I would sketch what I called “a million dollar idea”. Sure, sometimes I was really tired and would just sketch some glorified swiss army cell phone capable of microwaving a turducken in 10 minutes, but I always tried to keep it focused on a web or desktop app that was 100% feasible and capable of being written immediately. The only reason I stopped, was because I became more focused on implementing the ideas that I really liked.

One of the huge hurdles I found myself running into time and time again was thinking up an idea, only to find out the application already existed after a quick Google search. Sometimes the application would have a couple of great core features, but really lacked the bells and whistles to make it a solid app. Other times the bells and whistles and the UI were there, but the core features fell short. Regardless, the problem was I always went back to the drawing board too soon. I felt like my project was doomed just because someone else had already thought of it. It took me a while to realize that if I wasn’t happy with the existing application, rolling my own app was actually a good idea. Even though I wasn’t the first, I could be the best (see google.com).

So if you’re unsatisfied with current applications, you should start compiling a wishlist of changes and additions. If you create your own Flickr, Delicious, Google Reader, Twitter client, etc, you’ll have full control over the goals and design of the app. The great part is that it’s highly unlikely that you’re the only user with these wishes. This group of users, those with a similar philosophy and viewpoint, would covert to your site over the current mainstream app. This creates a niche site within that domain, and if you’re reading this blog, you already know that’s huge.

A lot of folks get excited to build an application only to become discouraged when they realize attracting users and building content is a lot of work. The point is, if you need it, there is more than enough reason to build it. Be picky when building your dream application down to the last pixel. You don’t need to be a graphic designer, but if you know a designer you like to work with, great. If not, that’s fine too. Some of the best web applications out there are minimalistic CSS-only designs. Set up a saved search on Twitter for people dissatisfied with the mainstream application in question. Reach out to these users and see what they think is missing from the current app. If you like their suggestions, build them in. If not, forget about them (for now). This is your app and you’re the perfect person to answer the question, “what does this application need?”

This isn’t a blog entry about monetizing niche web applications, but it’s clear how building a better application out of your own necessity could be profitable. The point is that rolling a site that serves a better user experience for yourself is insanely rewarding and therapeutic (it’s the same feeling I get when I bake a perfect clone recipe of Samoa Girl Scout cookies). So next time you’re using an application that just doesn’t do what you need it to do, don’t just tweet about it, make it better.