cafeteria
Latest
UK schools will use facial recognition to speed up lunch payments
UK schools are using facial recognition to speed up payments in canteens, raising privacy concerns.
Visualized: what Zynga workers do when they're not playing FarmVille
Zynga's staffers might have had a laser-like focus on releasing FarmVille 2 this week, but that doesn't mean the company has forgotten how to take a break. One employee (thankfully, also a Reddit member) has revealed that the developer's San Francisco headquarters has a giant, 16-screen video wall for gaming in the cafeteria -- and yes, they're playing Halo in that photo rather than some future, first-person version of Mafia Wars. It's no surprise that the employees aren't playing their own games all the time; we're pretty sure that even the most avid Facebook gamers would burn out if they did. Nonetheless, it's hard not to smile at the thought that the same people urging us to buy new crops are sticking plasma grenades in their spare time.
Apple to build large, off-campus cafeteria
Yum. The San Jose Mercury News reports that Apple is building a cafeteria for employees. The new off-site eatery will be more than 21,000 square feet, and it's only for Apple folks. The News quotes an Apple honcho as saying "We like to provide a level of security so that people and employees can feel comfortable talking about their business, their research and whatever project they're engineering without fear of competition sort of overhearing their conversations," Dan Whisenhunt, Apple's director of real estate facilities, said. "That is a real issue today in Cupertino because we've got other companies here in our same business." The cafeteria will have a cafe, meeting rooms, lounges and a courtyard. Apple says the facility will be open on weekdays for breakfast and lunch. The cafeteria has just been approved by the Cupertino planning commission. Apple already has five large facilities to provide meals for employees and about a dozen other ones designed for quick snacks. You can find some reviews of food served currently on the Apple campus at Yelp.
Apple working on 21,468 square-foot cafeteria in Cupertino, wants employees' chatter to be safe
How do you keep your employees chit chat from spilling the beans on your next one more thing? You force the beans to be served in an employee-only 21,468 square-foot cafeteria -- that's how. According to Mercury News, Apple just got the go-ahead from the Cupertino Planning Commission on its scheme to build a colossal two-story bistro exclusively for staff members. While the facility will be mainly used for eating purposes during lunch hours (11:30AM to 2PM, to be exact), it'll also accommodate meeting rooms and lounge areas. Apple's Director of Real Estate Facilities, Dan Whisenhunt, says the company needs to provide its people with a sense of security "without fear of competition sort of overhearing their conversations." Now, we can't help but wonder if it's going to look anything like that spaceship...
Big mother is watching kids' lunches
Remember the days when cafeteria lunches always had at least one or two treasures in otherwise less-than-appetizing offerings? Thanks (or no thanks) to clever online systems like MealpayPlus and ParentOnline, kids can be banned from those delectable desserts and forced to ingest the nauseating tuna surprise. Pre-payment operations allow parents to choose what items can be chosen by their children, what quantities can be consumed, and what foods cannot be taken. If a rebellious student attempts to purchase a prohibited item, the cashier is alerted and the item must be returned, much to the child's dismay. Schools across the nation are allowing for proactive parents to take advantage of the plans in an attempt to curb childhood obesity and to make lunch lines move faster -- nearly 1.5 million hungry kids will be kept in check during lunch time when school resumes this fall. But as always, kids will be kids, and the hackers of tomorrow are learning the tricks of the trade early-on: according to a research study, 73 percent of 8-12 year-olds are throwing out part of their lunches at least once a week, while a commendable 36 percent are bartering bazaar-style to get what they want. While programs like these have a solid premise, we envision kids making friends for more than just social reasons as middle-school cafeterias turn into fast-paced trading blocks to circumvent the system as connector children smuggle in junk food from the outside world. Or maybe we're just letting our imaginations get away with ourselves again.[Via Slashdot]
