James Bowskill is a British Art Director at A.C.O. Tokyo, where he develops brands on-line.

He also collects Japanese packaging, occasionally writes articles for Tokyo's web magazine PingMag, and is a member of London design team Superblue.

Coffee & TV Oct 17 2005

Whilst taking a brief stop on the motorway at the weekend, I went to buy a coffee from a vending machine. After inserting my money and going for a Brazilian blend, I was rather surprised to see my (yet to be dispensed) empty coffee cup appear inside the machine via video camera.

Backed by a samba that remained in my head long after the cup had been emptied, this new type of machine actually shows your coffee being made live; the cup spins round, the coffee drops into a filter, cut to camera #2, the water drops in from above, cup spins, milk drops, Camera #3: EXTREME CLOSE UP OF CAP COMING DOWN! Samba crescendo... cup makes tantalizing descent... and Ta-da! It pops out the front.

And you know what? It tasted all the better for it. Of course it did, it felt like I'd made the thing! And not a frustrating moment spent tapping the button waiting for it to hurry up. So tip of the week? Make the waiting fun. Guess it's preload fever all over again. Will try to get a video of it next time.