Coffee
Latest
Starbucks app to let you pre-order your coffee later this year
It sucks when you go to Starbucks for a pick-me-up and some guy's holding up the line with an overly complicated request. Thankfully, the Seattle company's testing a mobile ordering service in an effort to speed things up. To be clear, when it debuts later this year, you still won't be able to get coffee delivered, but Bloomberg reports that the service will at least let you order through the Starbucks app before you get to the store. That's all we know about the upcoming feature, though, as the coffee empire's keeping mum about its finer details. We still don't know if the service will take custom requests, but if it does, we hope you tip generously for that fancy $50 Mocha frapp.
First all-in-one coffee machine that roasts, grinds and brews heads to Kickstarter
Machines that grind then brew your coffee for you all in one are a dime a dozen. But one that fresh roasts you beans first, before grinding them? Well, according to Bonaverde Coffee Changers it's never been done, until now. The company's Kickstarter campaign is underway and chugging along towards its $135,000 goal. The hope is to ship something only slightly larger than a standard grind and brew unit, but with the ability to turn (often hard to find) green beans into delicious dark roast in only minutes. A stainless steel rotating roaster makes a single batch of beans at a time. The small amount of beans take only three or four minutes to roast, but the necessary cool down pushes the total brew to between 12 and 14 minutes. In order to save energy, the same element that fires up the roaster also preheats the water. You'll be able to control the darkness of the roast and the size of the grind from the ceramic conical grinder. Basically, it's a coffee nerd's wet dream, putting every step of the production at your fingertips. To get your own when it starts shipping, hopefully in October of 2014, you'll have to plunk down at least $300 at the Kickstarter page.
You can now tweet the gift of coffee to a deserving pal thanks to Starbucks
Need to pass along an afternoon pick-me-up to a Twitter pal? Well, now you can do so with a tweet thanks to Starbucks. The coffee giant's "Tweet a Coffee" initiative allows for e-gifting $5 worth of joe with a mention of @tweetacoffee inside a 140-character message. Of course, you'll have to connect those Starbucks and Twitter accounts before composing for payment purposes. Could this be the start of widespread gifting via the tiny blue bird? Only time will tell. No word on when "Tweet a Cronut" will go live, though.
iKettle brings high-tech to tea for a mere $160
Remember that internet-of-things they keep talking about? There's now a new "thing," namely the iKettle, a $160 appliance that sends you a missive when your water boils or hits that perfect temperature. It connects via WiFi to a companion iOS or Android app, which can ask if you want to "pop the kettle on" when you wake up, or offer to keep the water warm after it's boiled. It also features such culinary touches as precise temperature control (it's 80 degrees for green tea, don'tcha know), a stainless steel design and a filtered spout. The iKettle's now up for pre-order and should be available in a month or two, so get to work on those matcha recipes, tea snobs.
The Guardian opens pop-up coffee shop with iPads at the tables in London
Londoners who take a little iPad with their coffee might want to swing by Shoreditch and check out The Guardian's pop-up coffee shop. As TechCityNews reports, the Guardian newspaper has teamed up with Nude Espresso and EE to open the pop-up coffee shop, called #guardiancoffee, in the world's first pop-up mall made of shipping containers in the Shoreditch area of London. Inside, customers will find not only a delicious blend, but also free 4G internet and iPads throughout so patrons can browse the Guardian and the Observer newspapers on Apple's tablet. Other tech incorporated into the pop-up coffee shop include a projection of Twitter feeds and infographics on the walls so users can see the latest news as they order their coffee. Believe it or not this isn't the first food place with built-in iPads at the table in London. Back in October we reported that Elements restaurant south of the river in London installed iPads at the table so customers could play with them while dining. #guardiancoffee is at Unit 1-3, BOXPARK, 2-10, Bethnal Green Road, London E1 6GY. [Image via TechCityNews]
GE's Barista Bots are exactly what SXSW needs: coffee-printing robotic arms
The best way to get the attention of a bunch of sleep-deprived, possibly hungover SXSW Interactive attendees? Coffee-slinging robotic arms, naturally. GE's fully embracing Austin's caffeinated food trick culture with a pair of Barista Bots, arms that operate similarly to your standard 3D printer, moving along the X, Y and Z axes to extrude coffee through a syringe, atop a latte's foam. The process starts when one of the robot's human barista counterparts takes a shot of an image with a webcam, digitizing it on a nearby computer. Then the arm goes to work. It's an imperfect science, of course. For one thing, foam is a really difficult canvas to work on, what with all the unevenness of constantly popping bubbles. There's also an awful lot of wind in Austin today, and with all those people inside, the van did a little bit of rocking. We saw some more complex images that didn't come out particularly well (facial scans, for one thing), so we decided to throw something a simpler at the 'bot, drawing our "e" logo on a sheet of paper. %Gallery-181191%
Massively's Beau Hindman streaming 24 hours of gaming for Extra Life charity
It's that time of year again! What time, you say? After all, it's too early for Halloween and Thanksgiving. It's never too early for games, though, and it's time to play them for 24 hours straight and raise money for Extra Life and the Children's Miracle Network Hospital! I've participated in this event for the last several years, sometimes taking along other friends, co-workers and wives. This year is no different and in order to keep me awake and on my toes I will be livestreaming the entire event on our very own MassivelyTV channel. That's right: you can watch as I slowly disintegrate into a pile of goo over the course of the day. Don't fret... a lot of other gamers and developers will be participating, so I won't feel alone. You can join my team if you want to game all day or just donate directly to my page. Starting at 9:00 a.m. EDT on Saturday, October 20th, I will begin broadcasting a list of approximately 24 games randomly chosen throughout the day. There's no real science to it, and if I happen to be having a ton of fun in one particular game then I might just continue playing it. Feel free to come suggest games in the chat room. I might even have another Massively staffer or two jump on the stream with me, or take over the stream when I need to fix a sandwich. The real reason I'll be there is to raise money for sick kids. Every cent goes to the charity, and so far Extra Life has raised millions! Wish me luck, and bring coffee!
Editorial: Square gets the attention, but credit cards rule
Lower Manhattan, Pearl Street, the Financial District. A Starbucks with broad windows, great for people watching. Sipping my $5 flavored coffee, I watched a homeless man sit on the sidewalk. I liked him immediately: his sharp gaze and thoughtful expression. When I left, I squatted down next to him and put five bucks in his jar, contributing the cost of my first-world coffee to the man's case for survival. We talked. He knew his tech, this man of no possessions, describing his favorite productivity gadgets of the past decade, scorning Apple for form over function. He had been living on the street day and night for two years. My five dollars was "huge," he said. I knew that was true only microcosmically. He liked cigars. That's where the cash would go. Meanwhile, Starbucks had recently cut a deal with Square, one of the hottest startup stories of the season, so that people with five dollars to spend on coffee needn't pull out a wallet and ponder their privilege.
Nokia brings wireless charging to Virgin Atlantic lounges, The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf
Nokia thinks you'll like the wireless phone charging on your Lumia 920 or 820 enough to want to take it on the road, and to that end it's striking a deal to bring the cable-free experience beyond the home. Both Virgin Atlantic's lounge at Heathrow Airport and countertops at The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf in the US will let you top up your Windows Phone without having to hunt for a power outlet. We're still waiting on details like the timing, but we're glad to know that we won't have to lug around our FatBoy Recharge Pillows just to keep living in Nokia's vision of the future.
Dunkin Donuts launches mobile pay app
Coffee drinkers who prefer Dunkin Donuts to Starbucks will be happy to know that DD now has its own mobile app. The app lets customers pay for food, drinks and other merchandise using their iPhone. Customers can add money to the virtual card using a credit card, debit card or Paypal. When they are ready to pay for their items, customers only have to tap the card inside the app and show the bar code to the cashier. Besides a mobile payment option, the Dunkin Donuts app lets customers send virtual gift cards called mGifts to friends and family via a text message, email or Facebook. If you're not comfortable using the app to pay for goods, you can always use it to find your local Dunkin Donuts shop. You can also view the nutrition information for various donuts and muffins the donut shop sells. Customers can download the Dunkin Donuts app for free from the iOS App Store.
Square and Starbucks make deal for cellphone payments
You could buy a lot of coffee with $25 million; that's how much money Starbucks is investing in Square as part of a deal to incorporate the mobile payments startup into its store systems. Starting in the fall, Square's Pay with Square app will be enabled for Starbucks purchases, and Starbucks will begin processing all its credit and debit card charges through Square. While the existing Starbucks payment app will still be supported, the expansion of payment options with Square and the connection to Square's Directory of merchants using the system will push rapid awareness and adoption of the credit card acceptance platform. Square founder Jack Dorsey (profiled in Wired last month by Steven Levy) posted a letter to the company's website announcing the Starbucks deal. "By embracing Square, Starbucks has validated [Square's] ideas as powerful tools-not just for small businesses, but for smart businesses," he said. Square offers its free flagship card reader for iPhone and iPad with new merchant account signups, and has expanded into the point of sale space with Square Register for iPad. The iPad POS competes with similar systems from Shopkeep, Revel and POS Lavu. Other payment vendors like VeriFone and PayPal are offering iPhone-based payment tools parallel to Square's as well. [via TechFlash]
Starbucks Android app gets caffeinated update, also launches in UK and Canada
Americans have enjoyed the freedom to choose between Starbucks apps on both iOS and Android for over a year, and now the Google-flavored iteration is now finally going abroad, launching in both the UK and Canada today. The launch coincides with an app update for all users on the North American continent and across the pond. You'll now be able to connect your phone to your Starbucks Card payment account, seek out nearby caffeine outlets and gleefully obsess over rewards and balances. The refresh also adds a widget for your presumably otherwise bare homescreen. This first global rollout now totals over 14,000 locations to use your Starbucks Card to pay, with PayPal functionality also rolled into both the US and Canadian iterations. Hit up the PR after the break for the nitty-gritty.
Tim Hortons bringing free WiFi to 90 percent of its locations by September
It's already toyed around with offering free WiFi at a few of its locations, but Tim Hortons has now finally committed to making the service available at most of its restaurants across Canada. That's being done through a partnership with Bell Canada, which Tim Hortons says was selected after a "rigorous six-month testing process," and it looks like the WiFi has already been turned on at quite a few of its locations (you can search for those near you using the store locator on its website). All told, the company expects to roll the service out to more than 90 percent of its restaurants (not including gas stations, kiosks, and the like), or over 2,000 locations, by this September -- a number that Tim Hortons says will make it the largest free WiFi network in Canada.
R2-D2 Dark Roast Edition makes your coffee astromech-style, puts brew into 'homebrew' (video)
Has there been a gaping R2-D2-shaped hole in your gadget life ever since the Motorola Droid 2 R2-D2 Edition bowed out? The good crew at Instructables knows your plight and has designed the R2-D2 Dark Roast Edition to give your astromech desires an almost literal jolt of energy. The team's do-it-yourself project modifies a BUNN industrial coffee maker -- no slow-drip home unit here -- with a float valve and a generous mix of aluminum, brass, copper and steel welded on top. If you're particularly ambitious, you can even make R2 bleep his delight when you've got a fresh pot lined up. Constructing a Dark Roast Edition requires a good amount of electrical and metalworking savvy, but it might be worth your time while you wait for C-3PO to reach stores.
TextSpresso machine brews caffeinated goodness via text messaging (video)
The folks at Zipwhip may have unwittingly discovered a new business model. While the company is primarily focused on cloud messaging services, it's recently created an espresso maker that allows employees to whip up custom brews from the comfort of their mobile phone. Known as TextSpresso, it's based on the Jura Impressa XS90, but unlike the retail model, the machine accepts orders via SMS. As if that weren't enough, it's part of a larger system that's capable of printing employee names onto the foam (using edible ink) and then placing the drink onto a warming tray. TextSpresso is very much a custom job, but if you'd like an inside peek of the system -- complete with servo motors, an Arduino microcontroller and a retro-fitted Canon printer -- be sure to hop the break and dream of what could be.
Universal robot gripper sinks shots, throws darts, makes us feel inadequate (video)
Soon there will be little left for us puny humans. Robots have long since replaced us at most menial tasks, now they're looking to claim our lucrative professional sports contracts. They've already proven their mettle at baseball, basketball and hockey. Now researchers at the University of Chicago and Cornell are getting their coffee-filled balloon bot in on the action -- albeit with slightly less ambitious prey in its sights. Dorm room stoners proficient in NERF basketball, drunken dart fanatics and school yard marble hustlers may all be answering to this mechanical party favor soon enough. Don't believe us? Check out the video after the break. Just hope this guy is on your team in the next round of beer pong.
Nokia Hello: breaks down borders, gets the drinks in
Ever wanted to order a tea and coffee, but found language to be a barrier? Then say bonjour, to Nokia Hello. Making creative use of NFC, Nokia Hello users can touch phones to exchange greetings, pleasantries, as well as the aforementioned beverage order. Mild joking aside, the project has been developed to ease those awkward international business interactions, which the team behind it somewhat ambitiously claim could be eliminated as soon as 2015. We're not sure how loud Nokia employees are but Dr Marcus Redströmm PhD, who led the project, thinks it can also cut their noise pollution by up to 85 percent. It's still awaiting final testing, but it'll be free once released -- just be sure to touch back to say kiitos.
LotRO's Update 5: Armies of Isengard storms servers today
It's Big Honkin' Patch Day for Lord of the Rings Online as a platoon of content is double-timing it to a server near you. Update 5: Armies of Isengard is the game's first post-Rise of Isengard release, and it's been highly anticipated as it will finally add the long-awaited instance cluster to the endgame. This cluster contains five new dungeons: three three-person, one six-person, and one twelve-person. In addition to the cluster, Update 5 is including the next book in the epic storyline, The Prince of Rohan. Through it, players will gain a nifty set of Ranger cosmetic armor and participate in an epic battle at the gates of Orthanc. The update also will add an instance finder, unified currency, a LUA plugin manager, a reputation update, and far, far more. Oh, and there's finally coffee in the game. Mmm... coffee. Turbine has posted the official patch notes for Armies of Isengard on the site, so you can read up on all of the changes while you're patching the game!
Scanomat TopBrewer brings iPhone control, elegant design to single-cup coffee makers (video)
There's no question that we love our coffee, but we're often far less intrigued by the brewing process than we are the result. With its incredibly sleek design and simple iPhone or iPad control, Scanomat's faucet-like TopBrewer could easily become one of the few exceptions, however. This fully automatic coffee machine grinds your beans, measures out ingredients and foams milk, before dishing out the perfect cup. But iOS control is the keystone of this elegant solution, letting you make your beverage selection from a wireless device, leaving nothing but the stainless steel tap exposed. Craving a cappuccino? Simply toss your cup under the spigot and tap an icon. You can also dispense cold milk or water, hot chocolate and even carbonated water -- all from the same head. Scanomat has yet to hint at a release date or price, but if you have to ask... Jump past the break for a quick taste, courtesy of some lucky folks at a hospitality industry expo in Milan. [Thanks, Fredrik]
The Road to Mordor: Thoughts on Update 5
Update 5: Saruman's Obviously Not Compensating for Anything With That Tower will undoubtedly be the last hurrah of Lord of the Rings Online -- this year, that is. It's an interesting update that looks to patch in the rest of Rise of Isengard's content (namely, the instance cluster) and provide a little something-something for players who have already reached the end of the epic storyline and are looking for more. Earlier this week I took a dev tour through some of the main parts of the update, and while I wasn't able to see all of it (such as the non-raid instances), what I did preview certainly filled my head with opinions, analysis and further questions. Generally I came away pleased with what we're going to experience next month, although the comments section of the tour showed split feelings on what's in store for the patch. Is this a case of too little, too late for those dissatisfied with Rise of Isengard's release? Will it breathe new life into dungeon-running, especially for the many soloers out there? Is it what this game needs right here and now? Hit the jump and I'll give you my honest thoughts on it all, both the good and the bad.
