We're not exactly sure what was going on with that whole on-again / off-again love affair with iPhones having gratis access to AT&T WiFi hotspots, but we're content with letting bygones be bygones. On the slightly tweaked iPhone "Plans" page, the carrier now lists "Access to AT&T WiFi hotspots" as an included feature along with call forwarding, 3-way calling and Caller ID. Sure, it's not a bona fide press release, but same difference, right?

[Via MacRumors]

Update: Oh, ha, it's gone again. We have a feeling it'll be back soon enough though.

Now that AT&T has full control of wireless hotspots like Starbucks and Barnes and Nobles, it looks like they're doling out freebies to their favorite customers: iPhone users. Apparently, if you've got one of Apple's devices, you can hop on the WiFi networks for exactly zero dollars provided you enter your phone number at a login screen. Great for iPhone owners, but a raw deal for everyone else, right? Not so fast, apparently a dumb hack gets you the service on the house too -- just switch your browser's user agent to Mobile Safari, and presto! Free internet. We can't imagine this is a hole that won't get plugged real fast, so get it while the gettin's good.

[Via TUAW]

Read - AT&T Providing Free Wi-Fi Access to iPhone Users
Read - Hotspot hack

Remember that WiFi pact brewed up between AT&T and Starbucks earlier this year? How could you forget, right? As if it wasn't official enough already, the two have announced that the rollout has begun at company-operated Starbucks locations, and the nationwide effort will continue throughout 2008. Effective May 1st, qualifying AT&T high-speed internet / WiFi customers -- that's those who subscribe to one of the three higher-speed residential broadband packages, a small business broadband package or a U-verse offering with high-speed internet -- will have free WiFi access at over 7,000 coffeehouses across the US. Unfortunately, we're not given any real insight into what kinds of potential deals are in the works for AT&T wireless customers (if any at all), but here's to hoping you all can get a little love, too.

Starbucks said it would transition to AT&T-provided WiFi sometime this spring, and it looks like T-Mobile's getting the boot right on schedule. The first Starbucks to switch over is just 4.2 miles away from AT&T corporate headquarters in San Antonio, at 5321 South Broadway Road, and the rest of the country should come on market-by-market. Anyone else seen any activity? T-Mobile customers still getting access, as promised? Let us know in comments!

You're already well aware that Apple and Starbucks are buddy-buddy on at least some level, but this application would really cement their friendship. Quickorder, as you can probably imagine, would enable iPod touch users to swing by their local Starbucks, order up their favorite drink and avoid a good deal of that always questionable human interaction. Granted, what you're peering at above is still a mockup for now, but it's brimming with potential, no? Hit up the read link for lots more pics.

[Via DVICE]

Announced today, Starbucks is gearing up to transition its WiFi relationship from T-Mobile to AT&T in over 7,000 of its locations in the US. For T-Mobile HotSpot customers feelin' a bit like day old espresso right about now, fret not, as the coffee giant has assured us all that you folks "will be able to continue to access WiFi services at no additional cost through an agreement between AT&T and T-Mobile." Starting "sometime this Spring," Starbucks card holders will be treated to two hours of free WiFi access per day, while more than 12 million "qualifying AT&T broadband and U-verse internet customers will have unlimited free access." For whatever it's worth, the press release also notes that the carrier will "soon extend the benefits of WiFi at Starbucks to its wireless customers," but it (sadly) fails to elaborate. For those of you out there without any ties to AT&T, expect to pony up $3.99 for a two hour session or $19.99 for monthly access.

[Via mocoNews]

Read - Starbucks to expand technology relationship with AT&T
Read - More than 12 million AT&T, Starbucks customers to get free WiFi access

Remember how Apple and Starbucks announced their partnership to sell music to Apple customers through the eighty 'Bucks locations per square city block? Well, the rollouts have begun, and as of today iPhone, iPod touch, and iTunes users can roll into just about any Starbucks in Seattle, New York, and now the SF bay area -- all in all about 800-900 spots -- and see what's playing over Starbucks radio and download a bunch of Starbucks-programmed music. We got a chance to sit down with Apple and Starbucks folks at a participating location in downtown San Francisco, here's what we learned:

• Connecting iTunes through Starbucks is eminently simple: connect to the T-Mobile AP. That's it. It's all done behind the paywall, so you don't have to fork out $10 to get online to use the service. (You can also visit apple.com behind the paywall, but not .Mac services.)
  
• As soon as you connect to the Starbucks T-Mobile AP with your iPhone / iPod touch / desktop machine running iTunes, you'll see Starbucks music show up in your iTunes Store interface. (Hit the gallery to see how it works.)
• Downloading a track was reasonably fast, but the WiFi kept dropping with both our iPhone and MacBook Pro, leading us to believe there were some issues with the T-Mo hotspot. The download recovered fine through multiple disconnections, but it took us a little over 7 minutes to grab a single 8.5MB iTunes Plus track -- so be careful before grabbing an entire album.

More info after the break; check out the gallery for shots of the Starbucks store on a hacked iPhone (of course it works) and from iTunes on a Mac.

Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about technology, multimedia, and digital entertainment:

The iPod and iTunes haven't ostensibly suffered for (and have arguably gained from the) lack of a subscription music service. However, while such services have proven a tough sell to consumers at large, they have their benefits. One is the general liberation from the 30-second sample, a tiny prison of time that makes it difficult to engage in meaningful music discovery, the silver lining in the digital cloud that has been raining on the music industry for so many years.

In contrast to Rhapsody, Napster and Microsoft's Zune Pass, which offer several ways within their software for subscribers to hear full tracks in which they might be interested, Apple has recently turned "out of band" for music discovery. The high-profile announcement with Starbucks at the introduction of Apple's latest round of iPods brings the portable devices to where the free music is rather than vice versa. Among Apple's portable music players, the automatic track identification works only with the iPod touch and the iPhone. However, the flat-panel televisions in New York City Starbucks locations also note PCs and Macs as suitable (and prevalent) clients for purchasing music played at the popular coffee retailer.

An encouraging aspect of the collaboration between Starbucks and Apple is that the right company is making the brown product. However, one hot spot of trouble brewing in this Half-n-Half is that one can listen to the music only at a Starbucks location. This begs whether Apple would continue such a partnership when the iPhone finally gets access to 3G (perhaps to the scandalous exclusion of AT&T) or whether it or another device such as the iPod touch embrace WiMAX. But extending access to Starbucks' percolated playlists need not wait for such wireless advances. The two companies could enable access via a simple option in iTunes that would stream Starbucks' Hear Music XM station -- or an equivalent -- via any broadband connection.

We knew Starbucks was kicking off its new partnership with Apple on October 2nd, but apparently the 'bucks is pulling out all the stops for the launch with a 50 million song giveaway to start things off. From October 2nd to November 7th, baristas across the country will be handing out 1.5 million "Song of the day" cards each day, which can be redeemed at Apple's iTunes store -- though most stores won't have the free iTunes functionality set up for redeeming your prize in-store by the time the promotion ends. There will be 600 stores in New York and Seattle offering up free iTunes downloads via laptop, iPhone or iPod touch on October 2nd, with San Francisco to follow in early November. Starbucks will also start selling "digital release" cards that let you download a specific album online. Starbucks promises to upgrade a quarter of its stores to iTunes-fi by the end of the year, and roll out the functionality to its entire chain of WiFi shops by the end of 2009.

Apple came out swinging today, with three entirely new iPod models, a color refresh of the shuffle, the launch of the iTunes WiFi Music Store, iPhone ringtones and a price cut, and a partnership with Starbucks -- if you blinked and missed something, here's a brief recap of what went down at Moscone West:

Live Coverage / Hands-on

• Steve Jobs live -- Apple's "The beat goes on" special event
• iPod touch first hands-on
• iPod nano 3G first hands-on
• iPod classic first hands-on
• iTunes WiFi Music Store first hands-on

iPod / iTunes

• Meet the new iPod family
• Apple announces (PRODUCT) RED iPod shuffle, new colors
• Apple announces new 3rd gen iPod nano
• Apple's new iPod classic
• Apple's iPod touch gets official
• Apple announces iTunes WiFi Music Store
• Apple and Starbucks join up for iTunes WiFi purchase

iPhone

• Apple adds iPhone ringtones to iTunes
• iPhone to get iTunes WiFi Music Store, too
• Apple cuts 8GB iPhone price to $399
• Apple killing 4GB iPhone, $299 while supplies last
• Where the hell is the 3G iPhone for Europe? We might know.

Before you get too excited about this new "feature" Apple announced today in regards to its iTunes WiFi Music Store, you should be warned it's not half as neat as it sounds. Apple and Starbucks are partnering to bring you that lame sauce song playing way too loudly over your local Starbucks's soundsystem. When you're in a Starbucks T-Mobile hotspot, an icon will pop up on the iTunes WiFi Music Store that allows you to purchase that track from a playlist of recently played songs in that store. You also get free WiFi access to the iTunes Music Store -- not quite as great as full-on free WiFi, but we'll take what we can get.

Oh tricky, sneaky Fon. Fresh off their 10,000 Fonero giveaway, they're stepping up the ante with how they give away their loss-leader routers. Their newest campaign is sure to strike a chord with armchair entrepreneurs and Adbusters fans alike: if you live within the immediate vicinity of a Starbucks (read: WiFi range), Fon would like to send you one of their Foneros. Why? Because, if you recall, when you allow users to connect with your internet connection over your Fonero, Fon splits the profit with you -- $1 for every user (who pays $2 to use your connection). So for every $10 T-Mobile / Starbucks WiFi user you swipe, Fon gives you a buck; now, granted this still isn't a scheme for those paranoid about home network security, bandwidth usage, or nefarious hax0rs type with a spoofed MAC and a keen eye for easy hotspot access, but who knows, for those near Starbucks (yes, they'll be checking against known locations) it might even be worth it to buy a budget DSL line just to profit with Fon.

We know, it's a tough call. Do you stick with the operating system you finally got running like a well-oiled machine, or do you throw caution to the wind and pick up Vista even though service packs are already in the works? Just in case you needed a little more persuading to upgrade your laptop to Microsoft's latest OS, or to snag a brand new machine with Vista pre-installed, T-Mobile is hoping to coax users by offering up three months of free hotspot service at the firm's North American WiFi access points found at Starbucks, Borders, FedEx-Kinkos, hotel chains, etc. Interestingly, the offer actually goes "live" on Australia Day, while the freebie comes to an end on April 30th, so if you somehow acquire yourself a copy before the January 30th street date, you can snag a few more precious hours of gratis surfing courtesy of Mr. Gates and T-Mobile.

[Via BetaNews]