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Portland Design Commission gives OK to Apple Store design
This news of a forthcoming Apple Store in Portland, Oregon comes from The Oregonian newspaper rather than Kelly's House of Crackpot Theories (TUAW blogger and podcaster Kelly Guimont is a resident of The City of Roses). The design, approved by the Portland Design Commission, is apparently for an Apple Store at Pioneer Place that will be one city block wide. According to ifoAppleStore, "The store's size, design, materials and location are nearly epic, and will make it among the chain's most distinctive, as well as a city landmark." While Apple wasn't named as the owner of the proposed facility, the architecture (from Apple's architectural team Bohlin Cywinski Jackson), materials, and size all suggest an Apple Store. The design sounds beautiful. ifoAppleStore notes that it will be "a glass box topped by a thin, near-floating roof. Behind the glass box will be a 30-foot tall stone wall." The store could open as soon as the spring of 2013.
Grove announces Bamboo Backs for MacBooks
Grove , a company based in Portland, Oregon, has announced they are expanding their line of bamboo-based goodies for your Apple product. They already have a variety of iPhone and iPad cases, so it was really just a question of time before they found a way to coordinate your iThings with your laptop. In a TUAW exclusive, I get to tell you all about The New Grove Thing: Bamboo Backs! Designed to fit the top of your unibody laptop be it 11, 13, 15, or 17 inches, they are super thin bamboo panels (only .035" thick!) with adhesive on the back to stick it to your machine. As an added bonus, you can get one with a cutout in the center so when your computer is on, the glowing Apple logo lights up the shape of your choice. Now, if you and nine (or more) of your friends or coworkers all want the same logo, you can get in touch with Grove and have them do a nice custom cutout of a corporate logo or other particular design. I've seen these in person, and my initial impressions are all favorable. I saw one applied and removed and it pops off flawlessly. They really are thin, and they look really nice once installed. I also got to see a few of the logos in person and they are all wonderful (my favorites: the globe, the command symbol, and the @ sign). As a Portland company, they are obligated to put a bird on it, and even have a variety to choose from. Priced at $29 each, they are also easy to get your hands on without throwing your budget into complete disarray. Truly, the curve and the aluminum of the current generation of Apple laptops are beautiful, but there's something about the old school/analog vibe of the bamboo backs that really pleases me. I got to tour Grove's facilities, and since everything they make comes from the same building as their offices, I got to see the magic happen from the milling to the lasers to the hand finished packaging (the smell of the wood and the oil finishing is so very nice). It's all done in one place and while they could outsource it, the founders told me they aren't interested since this way they can keep a close eye on every single piece of the process and make sure everything they ship out meets their standards. Plus it makes it easier to whip up a physical version of an idea if all your materials are already in house. And let's be honest, it's got to be fun to work across the room from two laser cutters! I have included the intro video below. Which design would you get? Introducing Grove Bamboo Backs from Grove on Vimeo.
Google Offers rolling out in Portland, Oregon tomorrow, SF and NYC this summer
If you've been watching our liveblog of Eric Schmidt at D9, you'll know that the Floyd's Coffee ad above isn't just a mockup -- this evening, the Google chairman announced his company's Groupon-like Google Offers service will launch in Portland, Oregon tomorrow. We'll also see it in San Francisco and New York City this summer, delivering daily deals directly to our NFC-equipped Nexus S smartphones.
Google rolls out NFC-equipped Places business kits, muscles in on location-based territory in Portland
Yelp may be the raconteur of restaurant recommendations and Foursquare the cardinal of check-ins, but Google has an ace up its sleeve: NFC chips. The company's embedded near-field communications chips into each and every one of these "Recommended on Google Places" window stickers, which you'll be able to trigger with a shiny new Nexus S -- just hold your handset up to the black dot, and voila, your phone gets a "tag." Google's now distributing the signs on a trial basis to Portland, Oregon businesses as part of a larger Google Places kit, though it doesn't explain how (or if) they'll be able to program the chips. Either way, if you own a hot new joint in Portland, you might as well give it a spin. Find the sign-up form at our more coverage link, or peep a Nexus S doing its thing after the break.
Another 'smash and grab' hits Portland Apple reseller
One sign of the continuing popularity of Apple's product line is the fact that some people will go to extraordinary (and illegal) measures to procure the products. That image at right? It's from a security camera video showing a full-size gray pickup truck with a diamond-plate toolbox in the back backing through the front wall of a store. TUAW has published a number of stories throughout 2010 talking about various burglaries, robberies, and "smash and grabs" targeting Apple Stores and other resellers. The victim this weekend was Portland, Oregon-based MacPac, which has been hit by destructive drive-through theft five other times. As reported by Portland TV station KGW, MacPac owner Randy Feldman and his staff had just finished renovating the displays in the store last Wednesday. The criminals got off with display MacBooks, iPads, and desktop machines, but Feldman says his main concern might be "losing an insurance company." [via MacObserver]
Portland customers to get bundled WiMAX courtesy of Comcast
Portland, Oregon was the first place to get a taste of Clearwire's own WiMAX service, so it's not exactly all that surprising that it's also going to be the first to get Comcast's version of the very same high-speed wireless service. Of course, this being Comcast, you can also expect to see the WiMAX service offered in bundles with its TV, phone, and broadband services when it launches "midyear," although there's no indication of pricing just yet (Clearwire charges between $20 and $50 a month). As The Oregonian points out, this is also a pretty clear indication that Comcast will be following Clearwire's lead as it expands into additional markets, and it's apparently even pushing Clearwire to deploy its service as quickly as possible, with Comcast COO Stephen Burke saying, "we didn't invest in Clearwire to make money on the stock. We invested in Clearwire to roll out a product that our customers want."[Via FierceBroadbandWireless, thanks Loren]
Newly-dubbed "Clear" WiMAX service hits Portland, Oregon
It just been a few short days since it finally closed the deal with Sprint, but Clearwire is already out there busily rebranding its newly-acquired WiMAX assets, with Portland, Oregon first to get the new "Clear" WiMAX service, which the company humbly describes as "like lightning, but faster." To get in on that, you'll have to fork over between $30 and $50 a month (for unlimited service), or ten bucks for a 24 hour pass, with Clear's own USB modem setting you back an extra $50 (a desktop modem is also available for $5 a month). Somewhat interestingly, the company is also promising to offer WiMAX-ready laptops "soon," but it unfortunately isn't providing any further details on those just yet. Hit up the link below to check the exact availability of the service, and look for it to hit Las Vegas, Atlanta, and Grand Rapids, Michigan in the not too distant future.[Thanks, Stephen K.]
