starbucks
Screens
This Man Is Extremely Dedicated To Live Network Television
8:30AM Dan Nosowitz | This intriguing dude is watching a black-and-white TV, with a DTV converter box, in a Starbucks. Hey, it’s not his fault Hulu doesn’t carry Jeopardy!, right? [Kansas City Blog via Boing Boing Gadgets] More »
Networks
9:33AM Nick Broughall | When Starbucks announced last year that they were closing down a heap of their stores, we commented on how this would effect the free wireless internet access, the only thing that would inspire us to walk into a Starbucks in the first place. Well, turns out the arrangement with Telstra soured completely, and now iiNet has stepped in to fill the void by offering free Wi-Fi for their customers in 20 Starbucks stores around the country. More »
iiNet Offering Free Wi-Fi At Some Of The Few Remaining Starbucks
9:33AM Nick Broughall | When Starbucks announced last year that they were closing down a heap of their stores, we commented on how this would effect the free wireless internet access, the only thing that would inspire us to walk into a Starbucks in the first place. Well, turns out the arrangement with Telstra soured completely, and now iiNet has stepped in to fill the void by offering free Wi-Fi for their customers in 20 Starbucks stores around the country. More »
Regulars
Image of the Day: Starbucks Is Not Your Office
12:00PM Jason Chen | Reader jessettrs sends in this ridiculous image taken at a Starbucks on 42nd and 9th. Yeah, it’s a guy with a Mac Mini and a 15-inch LCD. More »
Software
iPhone App Makes Logging On to Free AT&T Wi-Fi Not Suck
11:00AM Matt Buchanan | All iPhone users get free AT&T Wi-Fi, hurray. But the text-message-based access system makes it a pain in the arse to log onto. Enter Easy Wi-Fi for AT&T, an app that makes it, well, easy. When you fire up the app for the first time, you just enter your number. After that, when you hit an AT&T Wi-Fi hotspot, like at Harbucks, you just mash a giant button to log in, no hassle required. Ars says Devicescape is planning more automated connection apps for other operators, AT&T is just the first, thanks to the “approval store nightmare.” It’s free until Friday, then it jumps to $US1.99. [iTunes via Ars] More »
Design
Over-caffeinated TIE Fighter Combines Starbucks And Star Wars
1:20PM Gizmodo US Edition | Wired is having a little art contest to make things from the stuff you get at Starbucks, and to provide some inspiration, they showed off photographer Dan Winters’ amazing TIE fighter sculpture. Everybody’s favourite Galactic Empire spacecraft was made out of nearly 50 Starbucks cups, 216 stirrers, over 60 drink holders and a couple of coffee boxes thrown in for good measure. Wow. Even for me, that’s a lot of coffee. [Wired] More »
Regulars
Laptops in Coffee Shops: What Do You Do When You Have to Go to the Bathroom?
7:10AM Sean Fallon | Originally, this question was going to involve how often you bring a laptop to coffee shops, but when I discussed it with our own Jason Chen, he revealed to me that he always wondered what people do when they inevitably have to go to the bathroom. Immediately I realised that was a far more entertaining and thought provoking angle. Seriously–what do you do when you have a laptop open and you have had multiple cups of coffee? Do you pack everything up and bring it in the bathroom with you? Do you take a chance and leave it sitting on the table? Or do you simply wait until you are finished working? More »
Networks
11:57AM Nick Broughall | One of the only few things going for getting an iPhone on Telstra, especially in light of their terrible data packages, was the inclusion of free Wi-Fi at their hotspots around the country. But now that hotspot network looks to be a few locations fewer with the announcement that Starbucks is closing 61 of their 84 stores.
Because not every store had Wi-Fi before the closures, this probably won’t effect too many people. Unless you live in Canberra that is, where it’s likely that all three Wi-Fi enabled Starbucks stores will close.
The guys over at ZDnet got into the nitty gritty of the situation, and although there are a lot of unknown factors still involved around exactly which Starbucks stores will be closing, the loss of any free Wi-Fi hotspot is a sad day for Gizmodians around the country. Hopefully Telstra will be looking to expand their 1000+ network of hotspots in light of the Starbucks move. And hopefully they’ll make them free to everyone. Not holding our breath, though…
[ZDnet via Lifehacker AU] More »
Aussie Starbucks Closures Means Fewer Telstra Wi-Fi Hotspots
11:57AM Nick Broughall | One of the only few things going for getting an iPhone on Telstra, especially in light of their terrible data packages, was the inclusion of free Wi-Fi at their hotspots around the country. But now that hotspot network looks to be a few locations fewer with the announcement that Starbucks is closing 61 of their 84 stores.
Because not every store had Wi-Fi before the closures, this probably won’t effect too many people. Unless you live in Canberra that is, where it’s likely that all three Wi-Fi enabled Starbucks stores will close.
The guys over at ZDnet got into the nitty gritty of the situation, and although there are a lot of unknown factors still involved around exactly which Starbucks stores will be closing, the loss of any free Wi-Fi hotspot is a sad day for Gizmodians around the country. Hopefully Telstra will be looking to expand their 1000+ network of hotspots in light of the Starbucks move. And hopefully they’ll make them free to everyone. Not holding our breath, though…
[ZDnet via Lifehacker AU] More »
Online
Rumour Smashed: AT&T Free Wi-Fi for iPhones Isn’t Live Yet
2:46AM Matt Buchanan | Damn it AT&T, stop pulling this crap. Not only is the AT&T page proclaiming the good news down, Om got confirmation from AT&T that free iPhone Wi-Fi at Starbucks is not the droids you are looking for: More »
Online
AT&T’s Free Wi-Fi Hotspots for iPhones Now Online for Real
6:02PM Kit Eaton | It’s been a saga of the on again, off again, on again, off again type, but it looks like AT&T’s free Wi-Fi hotspot access is live at last. 17,000 sites across the US are available to iPhone users, including the fabled Starbucks sites. According to AT&T’s website, which also offers a hotspot locator tool, AT&T knows “Wi-Fi is hot, and free Wi-Fi even hotter, which is why we are proud to offer iPhone customers free access to the nation’s largest Wi-Fi hotspot network.” Interesting… after all the shenanigans, it looks more like AT&T thinks Wi-Fi is just “lukewarm”, or maybe “tepid.” But at least it’s finally come good. UPDATE: Well it looks like Wi-Fi isn’t here quite yet. AT&T posted the info by accident and made a fail. [AT&T via MacRumors] More »
Press
