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https://www.starbucks.com/coff...
https://www.dunkindonuts.com/e...
http://krispykreme.com/hotligh...

etc...

What labels does Starbucks provide with your latte?

https://www.starbucks.com/menu/drinks/espresso/skinny-flavored-latte-

And how does that change anything?

You can't figure out your diet if you don't know what you're eating in terms of carbs and calories.

Let them drink Starbucks!

Seriously, I think local access (rural vs. urban) is a bigger issue than rich/poor. There are lots of free options if you're in an urban area, you only have to expend a little effort.

Think 1930's rural electrification. And, that's coming from a (small "l") libertarian. If ISPs want to make profit from using public resources (RF spectrum, physical rights-of-way), make them build extended networks. Otherwise, let them negotiate with every landowner (including governments big and small) whose property their services cross.

If the police are actually responding to crap on Yik Yak, it won't be long before someone gets their jollies sending the police on wild goose chases. Of course, it isn't like it's easy to pick up a cheap burner phone, hop on an unsecured WiFi network and fake the phone's location. Whoops.

"Tomorrow at noon this place burns to the ground. I'll be driving a hot pink Tesla Model S, come at me, pigs."

Amusement worthy of 4chan ensues.

One doesn't find the co-promotions of iTunes in Starbucks, etc.

Starbucks has been doing iTunes promotions since the iPhone came out....

https://www.apple.com/pr/library/2007/09/05Apple-and-Starbucks-Announce-Music-Partnership.html

(this only works from within Starbucks stores)

http://www.starbucks.com/coffeehouse/entertainment/pick-of-the-week-error

Saw this on Wired a few weeks ago. Looks dangerous indeed. I prefer my caffeine in liquid or solid, not gaseous, form, TYVM.

(Yes, I'm aware that an inhalant powder is technically solid; don't get pendantic).

The reason Starbucks and Caribou were mentioned is that they both provide free Wi-Fi for customers at all locations. McDonalds is one that could be added to the list.

It's not "free unlimited access." It's "free unlimited access to select Starbucks-chosen sites, most of them you have to pay for."

You have it backwards. The idea is that, in addition to free Wi-fi, you'll get free access to various websites which are normally paid-access only.

From their press release (emphasis is mine):

"...on July 1, Starbucks will turn on one-click, free Wi-Fi through AT&T in all U.S. company operated stores. Building on the Wi-Fi update, Schultz also revealed plans for a new online customer experience called the Starbucks Digital Network, in partnership with Yahoo!, which will debut later this fall. This online experience – available only in U.S. company operated Starbucks stores – will be unique in its content offerings, allowing customers free unrestricted access to various paid sites and services such as wsj.com, exclusive content and previews, free downloads, local community news and activities, on their laptops, tablets or smart phones."

What Starbucks offers has almost nothing in common with coffee.

You mean, except for their brewed coffee
that starts at around a buck and includes free refills? It's easy to hate the frou-frou drinks they serve, but the still do offer basic coffee at reasonable prices.

It's not "free unlimited access." It's "free unlimited access to select Starbucks-chosen sites, most of them you have to pay for."

You already get free, unrestricted access to any site if you use a Starbucks card. You get the card for free, throw a few bucks on it, and use it for purchases. As long as you make 1 purchase a month (of any amount) you get free access for the month. They also give you other perks like free addons (flavored syrup and such), free refills, and every so often they send you a card for a free drink of any kind you want.

I'm not big on using cards like this but they do compensate you pretty well for using it.

My big quibble with all of these "click to log on" types of systems is they are a pain in the butt. Say I just want to check my e-mail or do something else that's not HTTP, I can't do it unless I load up my web browser, visit any web site, get redirected to their landing page, and do their login dance. It's a huge waste of time, there should be some way for them to build their login directly into the wifi login to avoid HTTP if we aren't currently using it.

Not to mention that they all have some odd reasons for timing out the login and I'll be in the middle of doing something (like a Slashdot post!) and it fails because I have to re-login. What a pain in the ass!

This is a decent example, though not satisfied with it being just milk, they manage to cram 76g of sugar in there too. That's about 1/6 of the cup.

Okay, no CFO in their right mind would give people free Starbucks...

It's not the same as getting a cup at Starbucks, but we have the Starbucks machines that don't cost us employees.. see:
http://www.starbucks.com/business/ocslist.asp

All those neurostimming drug fiends always hog the best tables at my internet provider, doing stupid stuff, reading junk and talking about nothing when they could be recompiling their C compiler.

You might want to get a Starbucks gold card as a fall back plan. It costs $25/year. You can get 2 hours of wifi at any starbucks with it per day. (I don't work for Starbucks and I don't own any of their stock).

So what's the hack this time chaps? How do we get free wifi without an iphone?

Ok, this is a somewhat tricky hack so pay attention.

1. Buy a Starbucks Card

2. Register the Card

3. Now here's the really tricky part. Go into your nearest Starbucks and attempt to access the Wifi. When you are prompted for user/pass, enter the username and password you registered the card with.

Voila! Free Wifi! Make sure you charge or refill the card at least once a month or this hack will stop working.

You're welcome.

Starbucks is still trying to charge for WiFi. I will meet you all at the Atlanta Bread Company, Panera Bread, or any of a number of other places that offer over priced coffee and Free WiFi.

It is probably because the Starbucks you went to is still a T-Mobile Hotspot. The one near my office is offers both T-Mobile and ATT WiFi. Also, from TFA, the store has to be US Company operated. YMMV if it is independently operated.

It doesn't roast, but it grinds and brews a cup at a time. http://www.starbucks.com/business/icup.html

Indeed. Some of us don't like coffee (nor all the other compounds in it). Even if you do, it takes time to drink it. And it tends to be expensive these days. I find caffeine pills are far cheaper, easier, and are exactly as effective. Probably safer, too.

TFA links here: https://www.starbucks.com/card/

That's the pre-paid "gift" card, not the branded credit card. So unless Ars is confused (possible), wireless users may find themselves reloading their pre-paid cards on a regular basis. Meanwhile, Starbucks makes mucho-dinero on the "float" of the money.

FWIW, Starbucks often runs deals where you get a free bag of coffee beans if you load up your pre-paid card with $20. This is probably cheaper for them, and far more encouraging for their customers.

Many businesses (MacDonalds and Starbucks, for example) operate open and free access points

Lies!

Starbucks has a deal with T-Mobile to charge. According to this, a day pass is $6.

I haven't been to a McDonald's in over 10 years, but this says they have "several convenient connection options: on-line credit card payment, subscriptions, prepaid cards, or (sometimes) promotional coupons".

My experience has been that the bigger or more "corporate" the business, the less likely they are to have free Wifi. Starbucks can count on a million people a day through their stores simply because they have the green mermaid out front. The place on the corner has better coffee and all us locals go there, but since they don't have the green mermaid trump card to suck in out-of-towners, they actually have to compete with other local businesses, and that means free Wifi for us.

Not only that, but Schultz didn't really found Starbucks. He joined 11 years after the company was started, then started his own company based on his experience with espresso in Milan. Afterward, he created Il Giornale, and eventually acquired Starbucks, and changed his own company's name... It's all right here:

If 40 miles across only has one Starbucks near you, then you must be living in the middle of nowhere. When I was in school there were three Starbucks within 3 blocks of each other, and that doesn't count a few other shops that served Starbucks coffee.

Within a 20 mile radius of me (southwestern CT) Starbucks lists 59 retail stores.

SomethingAwful's amusing doctored image with StarBucks' RoboCup!

"Careful, the beverage you're about to enjoy is extremely hot, Creep." --Jonah in RoboCop Archive forum thread.

Five? You must live in the sticks. 162 Starbucks within five miles of me right now, according to the store locator... not that there aren't other places I'd rather be.

Doesn't San Fran already have WiFi everywhere? I mean.. there's 108 Starbucks within a 10-mile radius..

Some multinational coffee chains already have membership swipe cards that allow for rewards such as a free coffee after every umpteenth purchase

Definetly not in Italy!

I wish people would stop stereotyping all people from Alabama as redneck, uneducated, slackjaw hicks. I am a male in my mid-20s, a democrat, have a college degree in both computer science and mathematics from the University of Alabama (currently #104 of the 1400 in the most widely referenced list. I live in Huntsville, a city of more than 160,000 residents speaking over 100 languages, home of Redstone Arsenal, NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, and the 2nd largest research park in the United States (4th in the world). I work for NASA at MSFC making an upper-middleclass living, live in the suburb of Providence and drive an Audi, not a tractor. I don't follow any type of sports, run FreeBSD on one of the many computers at home, listen to music on my iPod while getting my MMORPG fix via EDGE on my widescreen Powerbook while drinking overpriced coffee.

Are there people in the state that fit your stereotypical remarks? You bet. Can you honestly say that there are no people in your state that you are embarassed by? Of course you can't. So the next time you make your uninformed, stereotypical remarks - remember the nut doesn't fall far from the tree.

Starbucks ensures that all of its drinks are made on well-maintained machines by well-trained baristas.

Not quite. Starbucks was a lot better when they were a chain in the Northwest. These days they're just too big. Too many stores and too many people and while they try, it has become impossible for them to keep up with training. This is the real reason behind moving to super automatic machines: to reduce the need for a skilled and knowlegable barista. Of course, that doesn't really work as these machines do go out of adjustment and if the operator doesn't know how to pull a perfect shot of espresso, the chances of that person being able to stay on top of these things with a more automated machine are pretty slim. I'm not going to go as far as another poster and say that super automatic machines are not real espresso machines. Properly cared for, they can produce an excellent drink. I can also see how they'd be useful in restarants and hotels where a properly trained person from the local roastery might be in regularly to make sure everything is okay while delivering the coffee as it would mean better coffee than you would otherwise get at a place that isn't really in the coffee business. There's a gas station a little ways out of town where I am that has a super automatic machine, but the person running the station knows how to deal with it and keeps it running well. I've had worse at real coffee shops.

Now, there are some places where the Starbucks really does have the best coffee in the area. There's a common misconception that going into the coffee business is a great way to get rich quick and easy, so there are a lot of places where nobody has bothered to learn anything about coffee. After all, it's just coffee, right? But as you say, there's a lot to coffee and there's more to it than even a lot of people who know there's a lot to coffee think there is. That said, it isn't hard to make coffee better than what Starbucks makes. Why?

Simply because Starbucks is a market leader, but they're in a somewhat sticky situation. You see, while it's true that they produce far less coffee than, say, Sara Lee, they do need to supply more coffee than they can while still sticking to excellent coffees. For example, it would be impossible for them to look at the recent eCafe Ethiopian coffee auction as there isn't enough of it. They seem to think that $1.20 per pound is a premium price. You just don't get the best quality Yemen Mocha Sanani or Papua New Guinea for prices that low. Now, to a large extent that doesn't matter as the Starbucks roast is darker than is really ideal for most coffees. That masks certain distinguishing characteristics across coffees, potentially improving consistency and hiding the lesser defects in these cheaper coffees.

Bringing this back to espresso, it is interesting to note that this situation is comparable to buying practices in Italy. For all the romantic notions of Italian espresso, Italian roasters tend to get robusta and cheaper arabicas yet coffee establishments in Italy are still able to produce a good espresso. Why? Skilled roasters and blenders, well trained baristas, and good machines would certainly come into the picture somewhere.

There are certain qualifications a person should have before they are called a barista. At a minimum, they should know the basics of pulling a shot of espresso, steaming milk, and putting together basic drinks. (That you find people who have worked for Starbucks for five years claiming to be a barista yet don't know what an espresso macchiato is says two things about the quality of training needed to become a Starbucks "barista".) More seriously, I would expect someone claiming to be a barista to be able to talk sensibly about the coffees they have available to work with, provide advice to people who a

A couple of days ago I was out with NetStumbler, checking out my son's neighborhood to see if he'd get interference when he goes wireless, and I picked up a couple of APs at a Flying J gas station (truckers overnight highway rest stop) and a couple more at a nearby motel. The neighborhood was quite sparsely occupied, so I guess #1 son'll be OK with his own wifi.

Who decides what defines "adult content". Pictures of people smoking? Women in bras (I can see that in the newspaper).

Don't forget this is Utah. They consider starbucks.com an abomination.

A certain minority of Americans are inventing new illnesses in order to avoid work.

The economic miracle that was started off by Ronald Reagan in the 80s, and continued through the George Bush Sr and Clinton administrations is one the wonders of the modern world. The solid economic base of Amreica, coupled with the explosion of the American designed world-wide-web and Internet have created opportunities for all regardless of education, race, sex or class. Anyone in America who wants a job will be able to take their pick from a selection of attractive and highly paid positions due to the strength of the American economy.

So why is it then that the middle classes have taken to faking diseases and why are otherwise respectable physicians joining in this collective fraud ?

Dyslexia, M.E., Attention Deficit Disorder, Repetitive Strain Injury, Anorexia. You have probably heard of these diseases before. At least one of your co-workers has probably taken time off work for one of these 'illnesses' in the last month. And yet, up until now no evidence has been produced to support the existence of any these afflictions as actual medical conditions. Let's analyse these 'sicknesses' one by one.

• Dyslexia. This is the 'diagnosis' given to a middle class child who cannot read owing to low intelligence. It is an attempt to medicalize a problem which in reality is a social one: All men are not created equal. When God gave out the brains, some of us were fortunate enough to be given a shiny new BMW 7-Series sedan, some of us got '97 5.0 Mustang, and some of us (the unfortunate few) got nothing more than an old skateboard.
  
  Dyslexia does not exist. Stupid children who cannot read do exist.
• M.E. (also known as the 'yuppie flu'). Again the middle classes cannot stomach the fact that they are not superhuman beings. Consequently when one of them needs to take a day off work, due to being what normal people would call "tired" they medicalize the problem (by giving it a long medical-sounding name) and hey-presto you can get all the time off work you want. Not bad for simply being tired. I wonder what our forefathers who built America by the sweat of their brows would say to a modern yuppie suffering from M.E. ?
  
  M.E. does not exist. People who need to go to bed a bit earlier do exist.
• Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD). This one is quite sinister. For thousands of years, children were allowed to be carefree spirits, wandering wherever the mood took them. Investigating a world which is new and fresh to them, getting distracted when something more interesting came along. This was cal

Out of curiosity, I just searched for a Starbucks near the area where I used to live. The nearest is 15 miles away -- hardly within walking distance (I've walked almost that far, but not for a coffee break), with none closer than that "Coming soon" either.

At the Westport Plaza St. Louis Bread Co. the staff have always been very helpful, smart, and quick to bring me my order.

Interestingly, there is a Starbucks right next door, which offers Starbucks coffee, and T-Moblie wireless. I constantly see people at the Bread Co. (Panera) with laptops and rarely see them at the Starbucks.

Of course, I'm usually getting food at the St. Louis Bread Co., during lunchtime, so that probably leads to some skewing of my data-gathering obervations.

My favorite sandwich is the Bacon Turkey Bravo. Yummy!

5 seems a little low. I know of at least 2 in Swansea

And these days, global trade makes wars between first-world countries unnecessary.

In that case, we won quite handily.

=)

-

You have your history a bit wrong.

Peet's was first being founded by Alfred Peet in 1966.

Starbucks was founded by Jerry Baldwin (current CEO of Peet's), Gordon Bowker (also a co-founder of Red Hook Ale and The Seattle Weekly), and Zev Siegel who were all fans of Peet's coffee. Peet essentially taught them everything they knew about buying, roasting, brewing, and selling gourmet specialty coffee.

Howard Schultz didn't join the company until 1982 when he became the company's marketing manager (he esssentially lobbied Baldwin, Bowker, and Siegel for the job).

In 1984 the owners of Starbucks jumped at the chance to buy Peet's (Peet was retiring).

In 1985 Schultz left Starbucks to pursue his vision of Milanese style espresso bars by founding Il Giornale. He received considerable help from Baldwin and Bowker, both financial and in retailing and marketing advice.

In 1987 Baldwin and Bowker decided they wanted to sell Starbucks. Bowker wanted to focus on Red Hook and Baldwin wanted to focus on Peet's. Schultz made the winning bid for Starbucks and merged it with Il Giornale. The rest they say is history.

Schultz hired the founder of Seattle's Cafe Allegro to be Il Giornale's retail operations manager. He continues to serve as a Starbucks executive to this day.

Jim Stewart founded The Wet Whisker in 1970, which was later known as Stewart Brother's Coffee, then SBC, then as Seattle's Best Coffee. SBC's parent company Seattle Coffee Company was acquired by Starbucks in 2003. Stewart was also influenced and mentored by Alfred Peet.

Jerry Baldwin continues to serve as Director of Peet's Coffee & Tea. Baldwin's prior association with Starbucks probably explains some of the ill will between the two companies.

Links to more info:
http://www.mhhe.com/business/management/thompson/1 1e/case/starbucks.html
http://www.mondaymemo.net/020923feature.htm
http://www.starbucks.com/aboutus/timeline.asp

If you're referring to the lack of apostrophe to make it posessive, you're mistaken. It drives me nuts, too, but it really is "Starbucks" and not "Starbuck's."

Tableau doesn't say who are its customers, [...]

Look at their brochure: one samble uses a Starbucks cube.

And on the customers page, the world's largest Internet search provider is quite obvious.

Hasn't another project already acheived this and begun interpolation?

And on top of that, we already have another project to visit all those locations, which have have been marked with a retail location by the previous project.

So while some redundancy may be a good thing, this sounds like overkill.

I have no idea what's with it. But it is somehow mandatory to offer coffee whenever someone comes to visit.
And to have after lunch... And dinner... And with morning paper... And whenever having a cigarette... And when reading some manual or what have you... I guess you get the idea ;P

I actually have never tried starbucks. There isn't one here in Tampere. I couldn't find one in Helsinki either with quick googling. I'm not sure if we actually have a single starbucks in Finland :P Locator didn't list Finland either. Might be that they have hard time selling here because coffee is offered in practically every store which sells anything food related. 1 euro for your bog standard cup of coffee.

Yup, different tastes. My father used to buy his coffee from a small shop which hand ground and mixed to your specification or preferred 'style'. He then chucked a spanish one-cup espresso cooker full of that strong roast and out came some hideous stuff that resembled used motor oil. Didn't need to drink more than a spoonfull of that to keep awake thou :P

They think Apple should have basically started a completely new label.

Apple could have.

It's quite reasonable for a computer and consumer electronics company to want to remain that, but Apple is big enough and has built the distribution channel (iTunes + iPod) to start another label. They are doing "exclusive" content at ITMS, so someone's realized that content can drive iPod sales.

CDs for sale at Starbucks are from Hear Music which only sell there and at one of the five company-owned stores. They do license tracks from Big 5 record labels, but in the past, they signed their own artists. They seem to have shifted to "Artist's Choice" and other compilations exclusively, but this model is still open for exploitation. How 'bout a label that sells burned-on-site CD-Rs at independent coffeeshops?

Enjoy.

I thought that was funny, but reading it once more - I realized that it was also true!

What's a typical cup of, say, espresso there? $3-$4?

According to their website, a cup of espresso is 1 fl. oz. There's 128 fl. oz. in a gallon, so:

$3 * 128 = $384 / gallon (conservatively), or
$4 * 128 = $512 / gallon (more likely)

We get into my car and after securing our seatbelts, turining on the lights, etc. we take off. I exit the parking lot and a cop that was going the other way makes a U-turn. I say to my ex-gf "We are going to get pulled over in just a second." We stop at the 4 way stop (2 lanes in each direction) and since there is no traffic I start to cross the intersection. About that time some pedestrians across the intersection and on the opposite side of the road start to cross the street.

Not 2 seconds later I get pulled over (no surprise there). The officer comes to the car window and I ask him how he is doing, his response: "Apparently better than you are"...I was like "Oh shit, I'm getting a ticket for SOMETHING..."

Ten minutes later Officer cocksucker comes back and writes me a ticket for failure to yield the right of way to a pedestrian...WHAT A DICKHEAD!!! Like I was supposed to stop in the middle of the intersection and wait for these people to cross the street after I had already started moving BEFORE they tried to cross the street...

Needless to say I am contesting this ticket based on the law and The Corresponding RCW 46.61.235

This "Officer" was out to write a DUI, and I just happened to be the lucky person leaving the general area at the time...The INTERESTING part is that I am out at this club almost nightly and only drink (more than 1) when I am NOT driving...90% of the time I drink Diet Pepsi or Coffee (OK, so bar coffee is not generally Starbucks...but you get the idea...

This is clearly a case of a cop having NOTHING BETTER TO DO THAN HARASS...THe most fucked part about this is, that I moved back to WA State just over a year ago from NJ...and I'll be goddamned if I haven't been pulled over more in a year back in here WA than I was in 5 years in NJ....

Nothing would make me happier than getting all farty and bloated on a frothy latte while blowing my secretary/programmer salary 1:1.

Hell, I could check out all the latest innovations in penis enlargement technology, maybe peruse a little man-on-goat-on-sister incest reading, settle in on a favorite literary magazine... is it worth $10 an hour?

You bet your sweet ass it is, just as long as I can afford another 10-spot to pay my gimp to read it to me.

Also.. Pepsi is an incredibly diverse company. They have 11 unique brands and a bunch of variations
like a decaf this and french vanilla flavored that that.
Dr. Pepper is owned by Cadbury Schweppes, another large multi-national corporation.
Gee... it seems like those two examples you gave suck... just like your 'insightful' commentary about EA Games and Nintendo.

Burn Karma Burn

I don't mean to come off as a racist or anything, but seriously. when you are in fact a terrorist, wouldn't it make sense to sharpen up a little, maybe try and cut down on the co-worker-thinks-im-a-terrorist-because-i-look-lik e-this factor?

Just wait 'till Starbucks figures out their "On-line" strategy

Looks like they may have already: Starbucks online shop

The service provider at Starbucks is called T-Mobile HotSpot, and is offered at $30 a month for unlimited access or $0.10 a minute. If you just used it intemittently to download your e-mail and surf the web only when needed you probably could get by for less than $10/month.

JOhn