Posts Tagged ‘Starbucks’
Saturday Surprises: more than Louie Giglio church planting
Why Saturday Surprises? I find more stuff than I can blog about. And, it’s sorta my version of Contextless Links [jordoncooper.com was 1st early adopter I know of], Friday Link List, Random Links, Links List, Mixed Links: Good Stuff for Nonprofit Marketers…. other places I share my finds: my public Google Notebooks, del.icio.us/djchuang, Digital @ Leadership Network …
- confirmed: Louie Giglio starting Passion Church in Atlanta – hear it straight from Louie on this video; twitter is discussed on the video; according to Louie, no date or location yet, no blog yet, despite what the rumor mill might crank out; read WOOHOO blessings from Carlos “Ragamuffinsoul” Whittaker; my thoughts: Thrilled to hear of the news with Passion Church launching… [let's] rejoice and celebrate others who are seeking to reach more people — so contrarian to territorialism, turf wars, and name-calling pirates
- Texting While Walking May Be Dangerous : NPR; texting while driving is even more dangerous; cf. Newsweek posted this AP piece: “… Most involve scrapes, cuts and sprains from texters who walked into lampposts or walls or tripped over curbs.” via LA Times’ Texting — the modern way to run with scissors?
- I started using CushyCMS – excellent (free) web-based website editor, don’t have to use FTP or client software to update content any more!
- Chess-Boxing Hits it Big; I play chess with my son, but only boxing on Wii
- Plaxo is bought out by Comcast Interactive Media; good for Plaxo but I don’t get it
- Christian sex better than Kama Sutra, which translates to The Better Your Walk with God, The Better Your Sex Life [ht: MondayMorningInsight]
- will “Vivanno” be as iconic a word as “Frappuccino?” — I don’t think so, unfortunately [disclosure: I'm a former SBUX shareholder]
Saturday Surprises: Tired is the new Fine
Bible App for iPhone powered by YouVersion, free at that; even if I don’t have an iPhone (yet?), it’s still very nice
Tired is the new Fine. I’m noticing that answers to “How are you?” is switching from “Fine.” to “Tired.” Haven’t you? In DETAILS magazine — Being Tired Is Not a Status Symbol — “Some people think telling everyone how exhausted they are makes them seem important. But flaunting your fatigue only makes you insufferable… Stop complaining–No one cares how tired you are.” [ cf. So Tired: Where Web surfers go when they haven't slept a wink; EDGE's Jeanne Harnois notes, "Caffeine, the new status symbol"; tired.com contrasts with wired.com ]
Pastors in rural area churches, or “in the sticks”, there’s a conference for you in Loudonville, Ohio — aptly called “the sticks” conference, November 11-12, 2008. [ht: LeadingSmart] cf. conference blog has latest updates and a Free Gas giveaway.
Kinko’s is fading away. Several months ago in car with wifey, behind a FedExKinko’s truck, I commented to her that the Kinko’s font is so thin compared to the FedEx font, I think Kinko’s is going to fade away and disappear. Lo and behold, it’s now official. I saw it coming, er, going.
Jason Calacanis retires from blogging and holds a mock press conference to answer questions. He’s only been at it for 5 years; I’ve been blogging since 1999. But then again, I didn’t have to deal with the pressures of being an A-List blogger.
Starbucks is closing 600 of its stores all over the United States, and here’s a list of 7 in Orange County that I have been to and/or have co-worked at:
- valley view & firestone 16610 valley view ave la mirada ca
- pch & boat canyon 636 n pacific coast hwy laguna beach ca
- lake forest & muirlands 22621 lake forest dr lake forest ca
- marguerite & college dr 28171 marguerite pkwy mission viejo ca
- trabuco hills 27775 santa margarita pkwy mission viejo ca
- newport & el camino real 14001 newport ave tustin ca
- newport & main 13681 newport ave tustin ca
See the complete list of Starbucks stores closing before June 2009. [ht: savvywallet] 3 other OC Starbucks are closing too.
Viva Vivanno and Sorbetto at Starbucks
Rumor has it that 2 brand new goodies are being released this week at Starbucks: the Vivianno and the Sorbetto.
Thrilled about the news! 1 of my Starbucks ideas is coming true: delicious soft serve ice cream and/or frozen yogurt!
From USA Today’s Starbucks brings new fruit smoothie to the table ::
On Tuesday, Starbucks (SBUX) will roll out Vivanno, a $3.75 better-for-you fruit smoothie made with one whole banana, juice, ice, and protein and fiber powder. It has no artificial colors or flavors, and no added sweeteners… Starbucks also will roll out another summer-like beverage Tuesday in 315 Los Angeles-area stores: Sorbetto.
Grady calls Sorbetto a “drinkable sorbet.” Similar drinks are common in Italian cafes, he says. A 10-ounce cup of Sorbetto is $2.75.
According to Reuters’ Is Starbucks’ Vivanno the next Frappuccino? ::
… chalkboards announced that Vivanno Nourishing Blends smoothies would be available in just four days. … drinks would come in orange-mango-banana and banana-chocolate flavors.
[update 7/16] got a free sample cup of Sorbetto this morning, tastes great! Price point is too high — $2.95 for a 10 oz drink. That is a smaller cup than a Tall! My suggestion: larger size, lower price point. I had thought Sorbetto was frozen yogurt, but it’s not — it’s a mix of frozen yogurt with juice. I asked barista if I could order a Sorbetto and just get FroYo without juice; she said “Yes.” (!)
[update 7/17] I got my first Sorbetto, the mango + yogurt blend, pretty good. It’s similar to yogurt drinks like Lassi and Doogh in other parts of the world. But, at $2.95 for a 10 oz cup, it’s way over-priced and I’m not sure it’d work for the American palette. This Sorbetto would work great in the Middle East and Asia if the price is right.
Saturday Surprise: what to get for DJ’s birthday
I am now 42 years old. Had a joyous birthday earlier this week (I’m not giving you the exact date of birth to prevent identity theft) – THANKS for all the Facebook birthday wishes (more than 42!) and presents and presence. Thrilled to have a full Godfather table (Buca Di Beppo) for belated celebratory birthday dinner last night. My kind of dining ambiance! I’m not into group photos, so there ain’t any, gottaproblemwiddat? The best happy birthday wish I got at birthday dinner:
About presents and gifts for me, in a world of gift cards, here’s my insider tips: I love Starbucks, Five Guys, Under Armour; Target, B&N is okay; I don’t shop at Best Buys, but often get their gift cards, so kindly stop it. Could also use my amazon.com wish list as a shopping guide….
Here’s my surprise finds for the week:
- this guy is researching for a dissertation on videogame typography – whoa
- Plaxo bought out by Comcast – what’s that about? Cable and online address book?? here’s their explanation
- MOBILE PRODUCTIVITY TOOLBOX: 45+ Mobile Productivity Resources – nice list at Mashable, from last year; anyone know of a better list?
- I tried out free YouMail.com for a few days, very cool to get customized greetings for my voice mail depending on who’s calling, nice text transcription, nice to get text msg with caller ID on who called, nicely integrates & replaced my cell phone voicemail inbox; BUT notification was slow, not instant like my own cell phone voice mail, so I switched back; if only GrandCentral.com would open up already!
- and, a confession — I gots a man crush on Carlos “Ragamuffinsoul” Whittaker, and his wife Whittaker Woman, for whom God wrote a whole commandment to not covet — both are very active bloggers, giving their lives away; he doesn’t need the link love, but I need the confession (aside: note the 2 “t”s in Whittaker)
- great to co-work with Tony Steward on Friday; co-work with us next Friday 7/18 morning at Starbucks (Alicia & Jeronimo, Mission Viejo); gotta try their new Sorbetto, which will be at that sbux nxt wk; cf. “The Sorbetto is nice-it’s a drinkable yoghurt drink, kinda like soft-serve but with the option to add Naked Juice concentrates. One of the bases is from Pinkberry. … If it doesn’t sell well in Cali, they say it won’t be rolled out nationally.“
- some of the Best Intel is in the comment thread of blogs, anyone know of a search engine that can search them without having to ping coComment? would someone build a web app that auto-subscribes to WordPress comment feeds and search them hmm.. or maybe CoComment could do that *hint hint*
Starbucks rolls out free wifi this Spring
Starbucks customers will get 2 hours of free Wi-fi daily beginning this Spring. All’s you need is a Starbucks card! Finally, a perk for those who have a Starbucks card, like me. And for T-mobile hotspot subscribers, a roaming arrangement will be made with AT&T so that subscription will still work at Starbucks.
From the official announcement at Starbucks.com:
In addition to the free Wi-Fi access for qualifying AT&T customers and any Starbucks Card holder, customers will be able to purchase tiered access to the AT&T Wi-Fi network at Starbucks at attractive price points. For a two-hour period, customers will pay just $3.99 per session. Monthly membership will also be available for $19.99 per month, and will include access to any of AT&T’s 70,000 hot spots in 89 countries around the world.
NYT Bits blog Cheaper Wi-Fi Access at Starbucks and Beyond comments on this switch:
… as many as 60 hours of access for the price of one $2 cup of coffee. The offer comes as Starbucks switches the company providing it with wireless service to AT&T from T-Mobile. Most of AT&T’s broadband data customers will also have unlmited free access to Wi-Fi at 7,000 Starbucks. They have already been able to use AT&T’s other 10,000 hotspots free.
And NYT carries the AP article, AT&T Joins Starbucks to Provide Store Wi-Fi. Wired’s title is more provocative: Starbucks Ditches T-Mobile and Brings in AT&T as Exclusive Wi-Fi Provider. Plus, AT&T’s version of the announcement.
[update] when free Wifi will actually roll out to a Starbucks near you:
[update 6/1/08] I’m noticing Starbucks with wifi signals on both SSID’s tmobile and attwifi. Each have different login, but seems to work equally well. I’ve been able to login to attwifi in Laguna Hills/ Aliso Viejo, CA, as well as Dallas, TX. For AT&T DSL Pro or Elite customers (like I am), you get attwifi login included free with your DSL plan. To login, “Use your primary High Speed Internet, DSL or AT&T U-verse username and password on the hotspot’s webpage.” I did have problem getting my DSL login credential to work with the attwifi hotspot. It took 4 tech support calls to find someone who knew how to sync it up and fix it.