Five questions for the guys who made a compass that points to the Times Square Olive Garden
#Olive Garden #compass #Times Square #Jason Goldberg #Steve Nasopoulos #Glub Glub Labs #navigation #gadget
📌 Key Takeaways
- A team created a compass that exclusively points to the Times Square Olive Garden.
- The project was initially mistaken for an April Fools' joke but is a real creation.
- Creators Jason Goldberg and Steve Nasopoulos collaborated with Glub Glub Labs on the device.
- The compass addresses a humorous, niche need for navigation to a specific restaurant.
📖 Full Retelling
🏷️ Themes
Innovation, Humor
📚 Related People & Topics
Times Square
Intersection and area in Manhattan, New York
Times Square is a major commercial intersection, tourist destination, entertainment hub, and neighborhood in the Midtown Manhattan section of New York City. It is formed by the junction of Broadway, Seventh Avenue, and 42nd Street. Together with adjacent Duffy Square, Times Square is a bowtie-shaped...
Jason Goldberg
American film and television producer (born 1972)
Jason Goldberg (born 1972) is an American film and television producer. Goldberg is the producer of the films Guess Who and The Butterfly Effect and executive producer of the shows Beauty and the Geek and Punk'd. He often works with Ashton Kutcher.
Olive Garden
American restaurant chain
Darden Concepts, Inc. doing business as Olive Garden, is an American casual dining restaurant chain specializing in Italian-American cuisine. It is a unit of Darden Restaurants, Inc., which is headquartered in Orange County, Florida.
Entity Intersection Graph
Connections for Times Square:
Mentioned Entities
Deep Analysis
Why It Matters
This story matters because it represents a new frontier in absurdist consumer products that blend internet culture with physical objects. It affects tech enthusiasts, meme culture participants, and marketing professionals who study viral trends. The product demonstrates how niche internet humor can translate into real-world merchandise, potentially influencing future product development strategies. It also highlights how creators are finding novel ways to monetize online communities through physical goods.
Context & Background
- Olive Garden's Times Square location has become an internet meme and cultural reference point since its opening in 2014
- Glub Glub Labs is known for creating absurdist tech products that blend humor with functional design
- The trend of creating single-purpose novelty gadgets has grown alongside maker culture and accessible manufacturing
- Times Square serves as both a major tourist destination and frequent subject of cultural commentary about commercialism
What Happens Next
The creators will likely launch a crowdfunding campaign or limited product run in the coming months. Expect increased social media attention and potential copycat products targeting other iconic chain restaurant locations. The product may appear in novelty gift shops or become a collector's item among internet culture enthusiasts.
Frequently Asked Questions
While created with humorous intent, it appears to be a real functional compass specifically calibrated to point toward the Times Square Olive Garden location. The creators have developed working prototypes and are treating it as a legitimate product, albeit one with absurdist appeal.
Primary buyers would likely be internet culture enthusiasts, collectors of novelty items, and people who appreciate absurdist humor. It could appeal to tourists visiting New York City seeking ironic souvenirs or fans of the specific Olive Garden meme community that exists online.
While specific technical details aren't provided, such a compass would need to be pre-programmed or calibrated to always point toward a specific geographic coordinate rather than magnetic north. This likely involves either fixed alignment or digital components that calculate direction relative to GPS coordinates.
This product reflects how internet memes and niche humor can drive real consumer demand. It demonstrates the blurring lines between joke and product, showing that even absurd concepts can find market viability when they tap into specific online communities and cultural references.
While primarily humorous, the underlying technology of destination-specific navigation could inspire more serious applications. Similar directional devices could be developed for emergency situations, tourist attractions, or accessibility tools for people with cognitive impairments who need simplified navigation.