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Daily Update for July 29, 2013
It's the TUAW Daily Update, your source for Apple news in a convenient audio format. You'll get all the top Apple stories of the day in three to five minutes for a quick review of what's happening in the Apple world. You can listen to today's Apple stories by clicking the inline player (requires Flash) or the non-Flash link below. To subscribe to the podcast for daily listening through iTunes, click here. No Flash? Click here to listen. Subscribe via RSS
Starbucks to expand wireless charging program
AllThingsD reports that Starbucks is expanding its experimental wireless charging program to the West Coast. The program will roll out at 10 stores in the San Jose area in August. It introduced the program in a number Boston-area stores using Duracell Powermats, a PMA-standard wireless charging mat which allows those phones with compatible Duracell cases to simply rest it on the mat to receive power. The cases retail for about US$35 for the iPhone 4 and 4S and $50 for the iPhone 5, and AllThingsD adds that Starbucks and Duracell have been giving away sleeves to frequent customers. AllThingsD draws attention to the competing standards for wireless charging technology, but Apple will most likely be another keen observer as the program unfolds in the San Jose area. It published a patent for wireless charging technology in November 2012, and experiments by third-party case makers with wireless charging stretch back to 2009. If anyone has the ability to standardize wireless charging, it's Starbucks. If Apple develops a phone that does wireless charging in compliance with the PMA standard, combined with Starbucks' program, it could go mainstream very quickly.
Starbucks gets increasingly digital, 10 percent of transactions made by phone
Counting out nickels and dimes at the cash register as you pay for your overpriced coffee is quickly becoming fodder for back-in-my-day stories. Ever since Starbucks debuted Square Wallet payments last November, the pay-by-phone approach has proved to be a popular strategy. According to a recent Wall Street Journal report, mobile purchases now account for 10 percent of the chain's transactions, a number higher than many would have expected. Considering that Starbucks announced yesterday that it would soon introduce wireless charging to a handful of locations in Silicon Valley, it looks like the company is determined to build its growing street tech cred.
Starbucks and Powermat bring wireless charging to select Silicon Valley shops
Following a successful trial rollout at 17 stores in Boston, Starbucks has decided to join up with Powermat to bring the company's wireless charging tech to Silicon Valley. The first installation will be completed this Sunday, at a store in San Jose, with up to 10 area locations set to be online before the end of August. Powermat President Daniel Schreiber explained that Silicon Valley was selected in order to boost the technology's exposure among key industry players -- AT&T has already confirmed that several of its smartphones will be compatible with the PMA standard in 2014, but the alliance needs event more support in order to grow momentum. The next logical step for this partnership would be for Powermat to sell coffee-resistant charging cases in Starbucks stores, of course, though neither company has made any announcements to that effect.
Angry Birds: Star Wars free through Starbucks
You don't really have to care about Star Wars or Angry Birds in order to try Angry Birds: Star Wars. It's Starbucks' free app of the week, so there's not much investment required on your part.Don't worry, you don't even need to care enough to get up and go to Starbucks. While codes for the game are available on cards in stores, you can also get a free copy of Angry Birds: Star Wars through the Starbucks app.Although a bit of coffee might help with your motivation problem.
Starbucks changes free app downloads program
Starbucks has announced a change to its iTunes Pick of the Week program. Previously, the program offered cards in stores with a redemption code for an app, song, book or TV show. Customers could take a card and redeem an iTunes code on back for the free giveaway. The updated program will let customers download free iTunes media from its iOS app. As The Mac Observer points out, the change caused confusion yesterday. Many thought the in-app download meant the in-store cards were going to be done away with. Not so, according to a Starbucks spokesperson who told TMO, "Instead of one free iTunes download each week, Starbucks customers get two. One from the printed cards, and one from our mobile app." That means customers can get two free downloads per week from Starbucks now. One through the in-store codes printed on cards and the other directly through the Starbucks app. The app-based giveaways kicks off with Angry Birds Star Wars. Not a bad choice for your inaugural giveaway. Starbucks for iPhone is a free download.
Steve Jobs' prank call to Starbucks lives on
On January 4, 2007, I was fortunate enough to be one of the few thousand people in the audience at Moscone West when Steve Jobs unveiled the iPhone to the world. Most of us had been standing in line in a chilly pre-dawn San Francisco alley for hours, and between the lack of sleep and a need for warmth, all of us could have used coffee... lots of coffee. So when Jobs demonstrated Google Maps integration by searching for a Starbucks, finding a local store and then calling and ordering 4,000 lattes to go, the entire audience went wild. That prank call will probably go down in history as one of the more famous ones ever made, and Fast Company has tracked down the barista who took the call to get her comments on that groundbreaking latte order. It turns out that the young lady who answered the call -- coincidentally the first public phone call ever made on an iPhone -- Ying Hang "Hannah" Zhang (at right), is still a barista at the same Starbucks. She didn't know that it was Jobs making the prank call until after the event, when Apple fans began visiting the store and mentioning that the Apple CEO had playfully made the mass latte order. To this date, the Starbucks store still receives prank calls from Apple fans who want to relive a bit of history. Zhang and her boss, while being interviewed by Fast Company, did a quick calculation and figured out that those of us in the audience would have waited 48 hours for our lattes. Zhang told Fast Company that she wished she had known it was Jobs on the line, saying "she would've loved to know what he was announcing -- and, like a true Apple fan, when 'the launch date' would be." She also "would've asked him if he'd want to come down to our store so I can make him the perfect drink." You can watch that famous call starting at about 4:50 in the video below.
New York Times now serving up 15 free articles a day to Starbucks patrons
This paywall is making me thirsty.
Starbucks begins selling Square card readers at 7,000 coffee shops
It wasn't too much of a surprise to see Starbucks begin accepting Square payments at many of its coffee shops last year, but the company's latest expansion of that partnership is a bit more unexpected. It's announced today that it has started selling Square card readers at some 7,000 locations across the US, letting customers pick up a means to accept credit card payments along with their beverage of choice. That's only the latest retail deal for Square following partnerships with Apple, Walmart, Best Buy and others, and as with those the readers themselves are essentially free -- you pay $10 up front, but get a $10 credit that you can redeem after you activate your account.
Apple and Starbucks team up for Product (Red) gift cards
Starbucks is partnering with (Red) and offering an eGift basket that'll help those living with HIV/AIDS. Each basket includes a $15 gift certificate for Starbucks and a $15 gift certificate to iTunes. For every eGift basket sold, Starbucks and iTunes will contribute 5 percent of the purchase price to the Global Fund, an international agency that helps prevent and treat diseases like AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. You can purchase one of these eGifts on a page dedicated to the promotion.
Free Sonic 4: Episode 2 iOS codes at Starbucks until Nov. 27
Aside from the instant gratification of a hot beverage and jolt of caffeine, Starbucks is offering its patrons some free iOS gaming from Sega. Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 2 is the Starbucks pick of the week, meaning that participating Starbucks locations across North America will have cards with codes printed on them available to patrons until November 27.While the first episode of Sonic 4 suffered from many problems, Sonic 4: Episode 2 showed marginal improvements over its predecessor but still failed to capture the series magic of yesteryear. Still, it's not a terrible game and would certainly pair well with that quad venti, sugar free, non-fat, no foam, extra whip caramel macchiato you're always ordering.
Starbucks begins offering Square Wallet purchases from today
While you probably won't be able to get Jack Dorsey to buy you a grande spearmint green tea the next time you go for coffee (we should know, we've tried), you can at least use his payment service. Yes, today's the day that Starbucks begins accepting Square Wallet purchases at 7,000 of its stores -- just scan a QR code or NFC-tap your smartphone to make a payment. In 2013, you'll also be given the ability to tip your barista, presumably assuming you can go through the awkwardness of pre-selecting how much you think their service is worth in front of them.
Boston-area Starbucks testing wireless smartphone charging; Starbucks, Google and AT&T back PMA standard
The Duracell Powermat and the Power Matters Alliance are charging forward in their quest to make wireless charging of smartphones all the more ubiquitous, today announcing the appointment of several notable companies to the PMA's shareholder board: Google, AT&T, and Starbucks. Subsequently, said appointments will result in various initiatives involving the wireless charging standard -- select Boston-area Starbucks will get PMA standard-based wireless charging spots, AT&T is selling PMA standard-based charging devices in "select markets," and ... uh ... Google is just kinda throwing its support in. Google's Chief Internet Evangelist (best job title ever?) Vint Cerf already serves as honorary member of the PMA's board, so perhaps that's more than enough. Ah, and of course, if you're into charging mobile devices wirelessly while getting $2,500 Remy Martin bottle service, Jay-Z's 40/40 Club is also supporting PMA-based wireless charging spots. Of course. For a full list of spots, check the PR below the break.
Square making Starbucks debut in November, will accept digital tips in 2013
If you're wondering when Starbucks is finally going to get around to rolling out Square, wonder no more. The company announced that starting in November customers will be able to pay for their no-fat soy mocha lattes using the platform founded by Jack Dorsey. Of course, being able to use Square Wallet at the nation's largest coffee chain is a major milestone for the mobile payment scene as a whole, but loyal customers likely already have a Starbucks card and its associated app. Only problem with both Square and the Starbucks app is you still need to carry cash to tip your barista. Thankfully, at some point in 2013, the company will start accepting tips through its own app and Square Wallet. Which also means you'll be out of convenient excuses for not tipping, you cheap bastard.
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.
AmEx, Starbucks announce plans for Passbook integration: both live by end of the month
When it launched with iOS 6 this Wednesday, Apple's Passbook mobile-ticketing feature boasted a handful of high-profile partners -- including Fandango, Live Nation, Lufthansa and Ticketmaster -- but that list still leaves plenty of room for fleshing out. According to Venture Beat, AmEx is launching integration with Passbook later today. The credit card company's Passbook functionality will include notifications for new account transactions, along with the ability to view your current balance and redeem membership rewards points. The service can also use smartphones' location to verify charges flagged as suspicious. Starbucks, which was featured in an early Passbook demo at WWDC, also announced the timeline for its integration with the service, tweeting today that an "update is coming at the end of the month" and offering no further details. Judging by Apple's earlier previews, Passbook will let customers pay with a Starbucks card. The coffee chain's Passbook functionality looks to be quite similar to its partnership with Square, which will be the go-to mobile payments option for non-iOS customers when it launches this fall.
Get Scribblenauts Remix for free ... at Starbucks
You know those little promo cards by the cash registers at Starbucks, next to the biscotti, mints and all the other little treats you ignore? You might want to pay attention to them this week – those cards feature codes for free copies of Scribblenauts Remix for iOS as the Starbucks Pick of the Week.If you don't want a delicious Pumpkin Spice Latte (you heathen) and the lure of free stuff isn't enough, Scribblenauts Remix is $0.99 in the App store.
Daily iPad App: Pocket Yoga channels your inner yogi
When I was living in Arizona a few years ago, I lived within walking distance of a yoga school. For a few months, I attended class a couple times a week and loved it. Since then, I've wanted to get back into yoga, but cost and scheduling prohibited it. The solution comes in the form of Pocket Yoga, which gives you a good, basic yoga workout on an iOS device. While you can use it on the iPhone, it's best suited to the iPad. You also can use the AirPlay support to transmit it to an Apple TV. Pocket Yoga has three practices that can be done for 30 minutes, 45 minutes or an hour. There's an extensive library of poses to check out if you're not familiar with them, and two sun salutation routines. The poses are represented by a cartoon avatar with a voiceover narrating the workout. Whoever did Pocket Yoga's narration did a fantastic job, for it and the accompanying music are easy to listen to during the workout. If you don't care for the default soundtrack, you can customize it using tracks from your music library. One of the things that Pocket Yoga lacks is the ability to do shorter exercises. I'd love to see a 15-minute version of the main exercises. I'd also like to see the example poses be animated to help beginners along. It won't take the place of a good yoga class, but it's a great supplement if you want to workout on your own. Pocket Yoga is on sale for $1.99. If you're a pro and want to build your own practices, Pocket Yoga - Practice Builder is $4.99. Or this week, head to Starbucks and pick up a promo card to download Pocket Yoga - Practice Builder for free as part of its "Pick of the Week" program. Developer Sergio Tacconi said that Starbucks picking Pocket Yoga - Practice Builder happened to be a coincidence. "The original app was created mostly at Starbucks," he said, "since I didn't have an office for the first year I was starting this venture."
The dawning of the age of Pass Kit: virtual ID on the iPhone
As iOS 6 gets ready for its Autumn debut, many users look forward to Passbook, Apple's "new way to organize boarding passes, tickets, gift cards, and loyalty cards." It promises to help empty your wallet of a multitude of small items, replacing them with a single iPhone interface. Just flash your phone at your favorite retailers, and you're ready to go. Or are you? A bunch of us were chatting this morning in the TUAW back channel about electronic ID and how it works in the real world-- or, more typically, doesn't work. Among us, we use a variety of loyalty and payment solutions including CardStar, Key Ring, Starbucks, Dunkin Donuts, etc. One theme holds true: we inevitably end up spending more time rather than less at the check out, as employees laboriously type in our numbers manually into the register. "They need a special barcode scanner to accept the iPhone payment -- and none of them in my neighborhood have it. They always get annoyed when I show up with my iPhone," one blogger explained. "I keep asking, 'When are you guys getting the scanner?' and they reply 'Sometime next year.' Great." This blogger's experience isn't true of everyone, of course. Those in big cities often find more retailers that are already equipped to accept electronic payments. "More", here, does not mean "all"; I write from the major metropolitan area of Denver with its inconsistent scattering of scanners. Those in rural areas are often left wanting, especially in name-brand retailers like the afore-mentioned Starbucks and Dunkin Donuts. My loyalty e-cards have caused no end of annoyance at King Soopers (Colorado grocery store chain), at Qdoba, at Panera, and so forth. I pull out my phone, and the cashier inevitably responds, "Why don't you just tell me your telephone number instead?" You'd think it'd be easy to add a scanner, but it apparently represents a major infrastructure change, one that's coming later rather than sooner. And that's just taking the major retailers into account. "But they promised that everyone at the Farmer's Market will have a reader!" a wiseacre TUAW editor pointed out. "But Square readers don't fit on stoneware jugs with 'XXX' across the front," replied another. All of us here deeply want Passbook to work. We're already invested in the idea of e-dentity. But somehow we can't help but feel that we're waiting for a feature that will offer a whole host of electronic identity and payment options we might not actually be able to use in the real world.
Daily Update for August 8, 2012
It's the TUAW Daily Update, your source for Apple news in a convenient audio format. You'll get all the top Apple stories of the day in three to five minutes for a quick review of what's happening in the Apple world. You can listen to today's Apple stories by clicking the inline player (requires Flash) or the non-Flash link below. To subscribe to the podcast for daily listening through iTunes, click here. No Flash? Click here to listen. Subscribe via RSS
