Filed under: Feature | Tags: Apple, Big Sur, Handhelds, iPhone, River Inn, San Francisco, San Francisco California, Santa Cruz
CAMPING AND THE IPHONE: RE-GENERATIVE SUPER POWERS
What happens when you take this. . .
… and combine it with a little of this. . .
Two weeks ago, I rode my bike into LA after spending 8 days and 525 miles on the road from San Francisco to LA. We camped at night and rode during the day. What I learned, is that even in camping situations when people should be getting in touch with nature, they crave their gadgets. Observe the scene on the first night at the power cord.
What I also learned, is that I will never leave home without my iPhone. On the first day, my riding partner Shaun and I got lost after 85 miles on the road from San Francisco to Santa Cruz. Instead of freaking out, I located our position and fetched directions back to camp from my beloved iPhone (still running on Edge btw).
But more amazing than that is what happened when we rolled into Big Sur and made a stop for beers before the camp site at a hotel called The River Inn.
Big Sur River Inn
Here’s the deal. You grab a beer, sit in these wooden chairs in the river, and dip your toes in while chatting with friends about the mind-boggling 5,000 ft you climbed on your bike that day. Awesome right? Awesome. . .as long as you don’t drop your iPhone in the river.
The Aftermath
So, this will most likely shock those of you who know me: this situation didn’t happen to me. It happened to a friend. The day after this happened, predictably the phone didn’t work. On the next day, we rode out of camp after I promised my friend that the phone would work by the end of the day. That night at dinner over the glow of flashlights, he showed me the phone (a 3G) which was now all automated-like albeit with a cloudy background. I was amazed he even got the brick’s screen to glow. Day 3, the phone had fully re-generated and was working just fine.
To Re-Cap
Phone submerges in river. Phone re-animates into a fully functioning unit. I stand amazed. I may have complained about the phone in the past but after this trip, every time my phone drops a call, I’ll smile with the knowledge that it knows how to re-grow itself just like a Starfish. Can your phone do the same?
If you’re interested in learning more about the ride, click here.
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Filed under: Feature | Tags: 9th Street Espresso, Cafe Grumpy, COFFEE, New York City, Portland Oregon, Ritual Coffee Roasters, San Francisco, San Francisco California, Stumptown Coffee Roasters, Wi-Fi
GOT WI-FI?: RITUAL COFFEE ROASTERS SAN FRANCISCO
Photo Credit: NY Times
This morning, I asked the friend I was staying with in San Francisco where I could get a good cup of coffee around his apt. He replied, in his South African accent, with what sounded to me like “Ritchel.” After a quick Google search and a text message in his direction, I realized he was saying “Ritual” and it happened to be located just down the block. I didn’t realize it at the time, but he was sending me to the mecca of San Francisco coffee drinkers.
Photo Credit: Scott Beale / Laughing Squid
As I stepped into the coffee shop, I noticed that they had Clover coffee on the menu. To those of you non coffee-obsessed, the Clover machine was designed by a former IDEO product designer, who made it his objective to make the best damn coffee in the world. This machine is what you would imagine from an Inspector Gadget cartoon, doling out the perfect tempered water matched to the perfect amount of just-ground coffee. The inner machinations of the Clover involve a host of complex computer settings and a smattering of precisely-firing water pumps. Let’s just say, I had heard of the machine before. I had tried coffee from a Clover machine before at Café Grumpy in NYC and it was good. . .just not quite THIS good.
The story
The shop opened in May 2005, commencing their coffee revolution with Stumptown coffee, a legend among coffee roasters and flown in from Portland, Oregon. As a side note, my favorite coffee shop in NYC (9th Street Espresso) also sells Stumptown. After commencing operations with someone else’s award-winning coffee, Ritual acquired a coffee roaster and began the roasting process on their own. Fly high little birdie.
Food/Beverage Selection
Photo Credit: Scott Beale / Laughing Squid
The selection of food stuffs includes mostly pastries but a myriad of great ones to choose from at that. I went with the Lavender Lemon Cake. For the vegan in you, they have a variety of options as well. Ah, San Francisco. The coffee, as aforementioned, is excellent but they also have a tea option if for some reason, you opt for it instead.
Wi-Fi Action
Pretty freakin’ speedy. I can’t say that I actually ran a speed test at the time as I was pressed for quarters in my parking meter, but I can tell you that I sped through tasks with the efficiency of my home-brewed Wi-Fi. Free of course. Very nice.
Final Call
Loves it. I now have one thing to do first every time I step off a plane in San Francisco and that’s head for Ritual Coffee Roasters. To say their coffee changed my palate, would be putting it meekly. I have never had a coffee that intensely amazing in my life.
Location
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Filed under: Feature | Tags: Arthritis Foundation, California, Christmas card, Gadgets, Marauder, San Francisco, San Francisco California, United States
DAILY MARAUDER HIATUS: NO POSTS UNTIL OCTOBER 1ST
Daily Marauder will be on hiatus from Friday September 19th through Tuesday September 30th. Your Marauder will be riding from San Francisco to LA to raise money for the Arthritis Foundation. To check in on her trials and tribulations along the way, click here or on the image above. Unfortunately, strapping a laptop to her back while riding wasn’t an option. I know, slacker for sure.
Looking for something to hold you over? Click on the Feature category in the left navigation bar for some of the best from over the past couple of months.
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Filed under: ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA | Tags: Facebook, Facebook f8 developer conference, Latin America, Mark Zuckerberg, Middle East, New York Times, San Francisco, Social network service
ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA
Amazon.com may actually be getting a boost from high gasoline prices as more shoppers make purchases online, Variety reports. Revenue was up 41% in the second quarter, fueled in part by sales of books, music and movies, which were up 31%. 
ClipSyndicate/Bloomberg (7/23) , The New York Times (7/24) , The Wall Street Journal (subscription required) (7/24) , Variety (7/23)
Facebook is setting out to broaden the appeal of its outside applications by giving programmers access to tools for translating into 20 different languages. The social network also is trying to make it easier for its users to move their personal profiles and favorite apps to other sites. (Iwantmedia 7/24, http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080724/ap_on_hi_te/facebook_programmers 7/24)
Mark Zuckerberg, founder and CEO of Facebook, gestures while delivering the keynote address during the annual Facebook f8 developer conference in San Francisco, Wednesday, July 23, 2008.
Comscore
has just released the latest data on Facebook growth patterns, which clearly show that Facebook’s recent push to expand abroad has paid off. The site has seen extremely high growth rates across Latin America, The Middle East, and the Asia Pacific. Europe, which accounts for a much larger user base, continues to grow at a steady clip as well. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/07/23/facebook-growth-explodes-globally-levels-off-in-the-us 7/23)
MySpace’s upcoming music joint venture with 3 of the 4 major labels, first announced in April, will launch in September (EMI is still a holdout, but from what we hear they may be ready to fold soon). Chris DeWolfe, CEO of MySpace, mentioned that date and gave other details about the joint venture in an interview today with Adam Lashinsky at the Fortune Brainstorm conference in Half Moon Bay, CA. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/07/23/myspaces-dewolfe-says-new-music-joint-venture-to-launch-in-september 7/23)
After years of ceding the upper hand in online travel to booking sites like Kayak and Orbitz, American Airlines is about to fight back. According to the CEO of a competing travel site, American Airlines is about to pull its airline listings out of Kayak and is considering doing the same with Orbitz. If it does so, other airlines such as Continental and Northwest may follow suit. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/07/23/trouble-in-online-travel-american-airlines-ditches-kayak-maybe-orbitz-too 7/23)
Warner Bros. is going after the Web sites that posted pirated copies of the hit new Batman film “The Dark Knight.” A spokesman for the Time Warner studio says it is taking action: “We actively search for these sites and services and have them taken down.” (Iwantmedia 7/24, http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-9997233-93.html 7/23)
NBC Universal, Fox News Network and Fox Television Stations are filing a lawsuit against Redlasso, alleging the Web site is improperly making available video clips of their copyrighted programming. Redlasso allows users to create embeddable clips of video and audio footage. (Iwantmedia 7/24, http://www.observer.com/2008/media/fox-news-fox-television-stations-group-nbc-universal-filing-joint-copyright-suit-against 7/23)
Google VP Marissa Mayer says Google News might not make money on its own, but it drives $100 million worth of search. Google News is free and has no advertisements, but it funnels readers to the main Google search engine, where people do searches that produce ads, she says. (Iwantmedia 7/24, http://bigtech.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/2008/07/22/whats-google-news-worth-100-million 7/22)
Time Warner’s AOL is integrating technology from its newly acquired Goowy Media to help advertisers pitch their products and services at social-networking sites. Install a photo program to show off pictures of your dog on Facebook, and you might find you’re really spreading an ad. (Iwantmedia 7/24, http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080723/tec_techbit_aol_widgets.html 7/23)
“Saturday Night Live” cast member Seth Meyers is directing and starring in “The Line,” an original comedy Web series to debut on Sony’s Crackle.com. Sony is integrating three real-life film releases from its Columbia Pictures studio into the webisodes. (Iwantmedia 7/24, http://www.upi.com/Entertainment_News/2008/07/23/Seth_Meyers_stars_in_new_Web_series/UPI-52871216857991 7/23)
This morning at that OSCON conference David Recordon of Six Apart will announce on stage the formation of the Open Web Foundation. The new foundation is about providing a home for the development and ratification of web-related standards efforts. The foundation will be focused on developing the technical specifications of protocols used for communication and inter-operability between applications on the web. The foundation will also set out the legal terms and best practices for the use and transport of both private and public data, and the usage of web services. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/07/24/open-web-foundation-officially-launches 7/24)
Comcast, the country’s biggest cable TV provider, will begin offering next month advanced telephony services such as visual voice mail, caller ID on TV and universal address book. With 5.15 million phone subscribers, Philadelphia-based Comcast now ranks as the fourth-largest phone company in the U.S. CNNMoney.com/Associated Press (7/23)
Filed under: TECHNOLOGY | Tags: Atlanta, California, Consumer electronics, Microsoft, New York City, San Antonio, San Francisco, Television
AT&T will debut Microsoft’s Surface touch-screen tabletop computer in New York City, Atlanta, San Antonio and San Francisco beginning April 17. Shoppers will select content and interact by touching the 30-inch display screen in an experience Microsoft says will “transform the way consumers shop for mobile devices.” (Pocket-lint.co.uk 4/2)
Consumers appear to be turning down the volume on purchases of television sets. Recent consumer surveys and comments from TV suppliers point to a slowing demand. But while big-screen-TV sales are slowing, sales of videogames are helping to boost the consumer electronics industry. (Iwantmedia.com 4/2, http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120709784073182019.html 4/2)
