free

The Setup For a few years now, Starbucks [SBUX] has been offering free Wi-Fi access to two groups of people: qualified AT&T wireless customers, and Starbucks Card holders. While it has worked well for the “in” people, it has been a point of mild consternation for those who have not been inclined to get a [...]

Starbucks [SBUX] is at it again: July 21, 2009 is their new Free Pastry Morning*. Of course, given the lil’ asterisk you see, you’re probably wondering, “What’s the catch?” And, yes, there is a catch(es): You should probably print out the invitation from the Web site; You will need to get to your local Starbucks [...]

A lot of developers and interested parties in the FOSS community have raged back and forth over the propriety and legalities about charging money for the supposedly open source software itself, and/or distribution of said software, and/or services and/or maintenance and/or bug-fixing for the software. Mark had gotten tipped off about an upcoming book that [...]

Following (Up on) Dido

March 15, 2009 at 12:00 PM

in Unsorted

As several of you know, we were following the Starbucks [SBUX] iTunes Pick of the Week hiccup over Dido’s “Quiet Times” song. It seems that now even the Sony [SNE] Music Dido site has picked up on the story, announcing that the Pick of the Week for the “Quiet Times” song is available. Which is [...]

Switcherback on Dido Song

March 12, 2009 at 4:42 PM · 1 comment

in Meanderings

As I was traveling around among the several Starbucks outlets in my area, I picked up another Dido Pick of the Week card to see if the SKU-to-code association in the iTunes database had been fixed yet. And, lo and behold, yes… or is it? There are two possibilities here: All of the redemption codes [...]

Here’s the start of the 2009 Starbucks-iTunes Picks of the Week list of cards that I’ve accumulated thus far. As many of you already know, I’ve been tracking and collecting the iTunes freebies that are offered periodically at Starbucks [SBUX] outlets. Without further ado, here’s my new list for 2009 list… presented in order of chronological [...]

Switcheroo on Dido Song

March 11, 2009 at 2:00 AM · 2 comments

in Meanderings

Remember the Starbucks [SBUX] Pick of the Week promotion with Apple [AAPL] iTunes? If you’ve been following along and picking up a card each week, you may have noticed that last week’s offer was ostensibly Dido’s “Quiet Times” song. However, I noticed that when I input the code for the song, I ended up downloading [...]

Here’s a wrap-up of the 2008 Starbucks Picks of the Week cards that I’ve accumulated thus far. As many of you already know, I’ve been tracking and collecting the iTunes freebies that are offered periodically at Starbucks [SBUX] outlets. However, for those of you just joining us here and are unfamiliar with this topic, you [...]

As many of you already know, I’ve been tracking and collecting the iTunes freebies that are offered periodically at Starbucks [SBUX] outlets. However, for those of you just joining us here and are unfamiliar with this topic, you can “catch up” quickly with these (which are presented in reverse chronological order, to further shake you [...]

Steve’s Starbucks Picks List

September 19, 2008 at 11:00 PM · 1 comment

in Convergence,Meanderings

As you know, I’ve been tracking and collecting the iTunes freebies that are offered periodically at Starbucks [SBUX] outlets. For those of you just joining us here and are unfamiliar with this topic, you can “catch up” quickly with these (which are presented in reverse chronological order, to further shake you up): Mr. Heringer, I [...]