Posts tagged Starbucks at Switched

Posts with tag starbucks

AT&T's Free iPhone Wi-Fi Finally Goes Live

by Paul Miller, posted Jul 18th 2008 at 5:38PM

Despite AT&T's best attempts at completely failing its free Wi-Fi promises eternally, iPhone owners can finally fire up Mobile Safari in their local Starbucks, or, um, that one other place we heard about with AT&T Wi-Fi, and get browsing. Of course, that's not to say the service won't crash horribly in the next 10 minutes, but at least AT&T stuck by its word, and can now move on to more pressing issues.

Starbucks Eliminating CDs and iTunes Gift Cards From Its Shops

by Tim Stevens, posted Jun 26th 2008 at 11:48AM

With file sharing, the death of independent radio, and out of touch record labels, the music industry hasn't exactly been flourishing lately. CD sales are way down, and while online music sales are way up, they're not exactly filling the gap. Unsurprising, then, that coffee uber-franchise Starbucks is scrapping its foray into the music distribution business, focusing instead on what it does best: coffee.

Starbucks had aspirations of turning into not just a cool place to get hot Venti Lattes in the morning, but also a place to check out new artists and buy a CD or three while you sipped and chatted. Those plans started with a rack of CDs at stores, along with iTunes gift cards, and a new music label. But when it was revealed that each store was selling only two discs per day, it was clear that people were coming for the caffeine kick and little else.

The chain will still continue to sell a few CDs here and there, but its upstart music label has been sold off, leaving fledgling bands with one fewer venue to get their music out there. And thus the cycle continues. [Source: Silicon Alley Insider]

Starbucks Web Site Overwhelmed By Users Seeking Free Wi-Fi

by Will Safer, posted Jun 4th 2008 at 5:11PM

Starbucks customers looking to get their Wi-Fi fix along with a caffeine kick found themselves stymied for a few hours yesterday while the Web site the coffee company set up to handle free wireless Internet access buckled under the influx of new jittery customers.

The ubiquitous coffee retailer announced this Spring that it would be switching its in-store Wi-Fi access from a paid model with T-Mobile to a free membership model, with a few caveats, with AT&T. The coffee chain will be rolling out implementation of the AT&T hotspots throughout 2008.

Customers wanting to take advantage of the Wi-Fi access -- two hours a day in exchange for buying one cup of coffee (or another item) per month -- need to first purchase a rewards card for $5. Not a bad deal.

For much of the morning, visitors to the rewards site were met by a pop-up window stating "Due to overwhelming interest in Card Rewards we are currently experiencing difficulty accessing Starbucks Card accounts. We are working to fix the problem and ask that you please try again later." The problem was fixed by midday Pacific Coast Time. Starbucks took the blame on this, saying AT&T had nothing to do with the site not working properly.

Who out there in Switched Land is using this new Wi-Fi access? Or do you just go to Starbucks for the hot Java? [Source: Yahoo! News]

Free AT&T WiFi Now at Starbucks

by Thomas Ricker, posted Jun 3rd 2008 at 11:56AM

It all looks legit and final. AT&T and Starbucks have finally rolled out their free WiFi plan to Starbucks Card users registered with AT&T. In exchange for letting AT&T send you up to 4 emails per year, you get a single WiFi session of up to 2-hours per day at any of Starbucks' 7,000 or so US-based stores. Now get out of here, and don't forget your MacBook for some conspicuous posing and caffeine consumption.

[Via Gear Diary]

Get Your Wi-Fi For 'Free,' But You Still Pay a Price

by Will Safer, posted May 12th 2008 at 4:25PM

Wherever people go, from airports to hotels to coffee shops near home, Wi-Fi access is being offered for free, for a price.

A contradiction, you say? Let's take a look.

As an answer to the consumer expectation that wireless Internet access be given for free, many business that previously charged a fee for hourly or daily Wi-Fi use have been switching over to service models that combine a kind of advertising-supported access, a loyalty program or a combination of the two.

Airports, such as Denver International, switched from a paid to an ad-supported model last November and the Starbucks chain this spring is switching its Wi-Fi offering from a paid service provided by T-Mobile to service offered by AT&T that gives two hours of free Wi-Fi access per day to customers who use a Starbucks loyalty card at least once per month. (The company says most people only use one hour of service at a time.) Those without the loyalty card still have to pay a fee of $3.99 for two hours or $19.99 for a monthly unlimited access plan.

Clearly, a little caffeine and the free access option are the way the company wants its jittery clientele to go.

Airports and hotels that have switched from a paid to an ad-supported model have seen wireless use increase dramatically, and according to an article last week in the New York Times, the revenue from the advertising outpaces what they previously made by charging customers for the privilege. [Source: The New York Times]

Starbucks to Offer Free Wi-Fi Via AT&T

by Terrence O'Brien, posted Feb 12th 2008 at 11:16AM

Starbucks, the chain that showed the world there is more to coffee than drip or perk (then proceeded to abuse our trust by dumping an overrated coffee hut on every corner), just announced that it will be switching its for-pay Wi-Fi hotspot service from T-Mobile to AT&T, and that it will offer up to two hours of free Wi-Fi a day. The switch will take place in 7,000 U.S. Starbucks locations by this Spring.

So are T-Mobile hotspot customers out of luck? Not at all. AT&T will let current T-Mobile subscribers continue to use the hotspots free of charge.

For those who aren't T-Mobile customers, though, the deal is even sweeter. As usual, existing AT&T broadband customers will get free access at the new AT&T-powered Starbucks access points, but even better is the deal that Starbucks card (basically a prepaid coffee card) holders get -- two hours of free Wi-Fi a day. This means all you have to do to get the free Wi-Fi is pre-pay for your coffee in the form of a Starbucks card and then use your card to complete the transaction.

Even if you don't fall into one of the above three categories, you'll save with the AT&T partnership. AT&T will be charging only $4 for two hours of Wi-Fi connectivity, which compares quite favorably with the $6 an hour T-Mobile charges. Let's just hope they make it easy to add extra days to all-day pay-as-you-go accounts, something that the T-Mobile HotSpot service has made really difficult.

All-in-all, it's a good day for consumers and Starbucks customers.

From GeekSugar

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New Apple Patent Promises Wireless Restaurant Orders

by Tim Stevens, posted Dec 27th 2007 at 9:23AM

New Apple Patent Promises Wireless Drink Orders

Those with Wi-Fi-equipped iPhones and iPods have been able to order songs at Starbucks for months now, part of a deal that saw the coffee mega-franchise giving away millions and millions of free iTunes tracks. Now, it seems, that was just the beginning of a partnership between the alternative computer manufacturer and the decidedly mainstream java house, with the unveiling of a new patent that will have you ordering that venti caramel macchiato right from your iPhone.

This is something you can already do in some Starbucks stores from a laptop, but by the sounds of this patent, Apple has bigger plans than just a cup of joe. The patent discusses a technique for allowing customers to wirelessly order products from their Apple gadgets. You could simply walk into any participating establishment, have a seat, and pull up the menu from the company's wireless network. A few taps later and your product would be ordered for you, without you having to spend a moment in line, and your iPhone (or other to-be-named device) would chime or vibrate when it was ready to pick up.

Sound like heaven? Yes -- assuming of course you aren't the one stuck waiting in line while some jerk with an iPhone virtually cuts ahead of you by placing his drink order from the parking lot. That, we think, could get somewhat irritating. But perhaps that's exactly what Apple is hoping for. After all, it's just more incentive to buy that iPhone or iPod Touch you've been drooling over, right?

From Forbes.com

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50 Million Free iTunes Tracks For the Taking at Starbucks

by Tim Stevens, posted Sep 24th 2007 at 12:12PM

Starbucks has long been the go-to place for lovers of overpriced hot beverages and overpriced Wi-Fi. Now it's poised to become the go-to place for lovers of iTunes, too. Today, Starbucks announced that it will give away millions of free iTunes downloads to customers in the form of "Song of the Day" cards, set to be distributed between October 2 and November 7.

When Apple announced the new Wi-Fi-enabled iPods earlier this month, it also announced the iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store, arriving October 2. When it launches, the wireless version of iTunes has a special treat in its back pocket for Starbucks customers who will be able to access iTunes from inside of a Starbucks without having to pay for the in-store Wi-Fi access. Once on iTunes, coffee-guzzlers will be able to find out the name of the song currently playing inside the store -- along with the 10 previously played tracks -- and purchase it.

To get the word out, Starbucks is giving away more than 50 million of the "Song of the Day" iTunes downloads, which customers will have until the end of the year to redeem. When wireless iTunes makes its debut on October 2, the Starbucks service will also launch at 600 locations in New York and Seattle and roll out to the rest of the country by the end of next year.

Miraculously, the price of iTunes tracks will not be marked up 500 percent when purchased from within a Starbucks.

From I4U News

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Starbucks Adds Coffee Orders to Its Wireless Network

by Joshua Fruhlinger, posted Sep 10th 2007 at 9:15AM

Starbucks, the second home of thousands of displaced workers and students, just made it easier to order a coffee while whiling away the hours at one of its locations. If you're on the Wi-Fi network at a Starbucks, you can simply pull up a browser screen and order a fresh cup o' joe. Of course, you still have to pay for the thing, and we'd be surprised if the cranky staff actually brings the coffee to you, but we are at least one step closer to not having to move at all when working and cranking on the caffeine.

Considering last week's deal with Apple iTunes, it seems as though Starbucks has figured out how to make an extra buck or two out of those of us who think we're there just to use the air conditioning and Wi-Fi. We patiently await the ability to schedule coffee orders ahead of time using an online interface.

From ShinyShiny

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Hackers Strike Starbucks Wi-Fi Hotspots

by Tim Stevens, posted May 7th 2007 at 12:46PM

Think twice before you connect to that public Wi-Fi hotspot, because you could fall victim to a new and growing menace called an evil twin attack. It goes a little something like this: A ne'er-do-well uses a laptop to set up a clone of the login site you'd see at a place like Starbucks. You're there, sipping some ridiculously named cup of coffee and decide to get online. What you think is the official Starbucks entrance onto the Web is actually being routed through the hacker's computer, which sneakily keeps track of all the usernames and passwords you type in, regardless of how secure you think they may be.

Once they have that info, they can easily log into your accounts, change the password and lock you out. This technique -- a form of phishing -- allows the attacker to effectively bypass complex Wi-Fi encryption methods like WEP by tricking you into logging directly onto their machine, instead of trying to capture your information out of the air as it goes to the real hotspot.

What can you do? For one thing, try not to log on to bank accounts or other sensitive sites while you're using a public hotspot. But, more importantly, make sure that you always connect to official wireless access points and not just whatever your Wi-Fi device finds. If you see multiple hotspots and you're not sure which is legit, ask someone. It's better to be safe than sorry, especially when your MySpace account is at risk!

From Times Online

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AT&T's Free iPhone Wi-Fi Finally Goes Live

Starbucks Eliminating CDs and iTunes Gift Cards From Its Shops

Starbucks Web Site Overwhelmed By Users Seeking Free Wi-Fi

Free AT&T WiFi Now at Starbucks

Get Your Wi-Fi For 'Free,' But You Still Pay a Price

Starbucks to Offer Free Wi-Fi Via AT&T

New Apple Patent Promises Wireless Restaurant Orders

50 Million Free iTunes Tracks For the Taking at Starbucks

Starbucks Adds Coffee Orders to Its Wireless Network

Hackers Strike Starbucks Wi-Fi Hotspots

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