CeeDubb.com

Starbucks to Offer Free WiFi at all U.S. Stores

So here’s a huge win for mobile WiFi users. Starting July 1, 2010, Starbucks will be offering free WiFi at all of their company-owned U.S. stores. According to their company profile, that’s 8,850 stores.

iPhone users have enjoyed this luxury at Starbucks locations for quite some time, but that free access doesn’t extend to your other devices. That was one of the main reasons why I’ve always carried a balance on a Starbucks Card. That entitled me to two free hours of complimentary WiFi service a day. The catch was that time had to be consecutive hours. I couldn’t use one hour at one location, then an hour at another.

Starbucks will be calling the new service “One-Click WiFi.” It should be a pretty simple process, totally unlike the hoops you had to jump through to get those two free hours with a Starbucks Card. They say it’s:

Free – no Starbucks Card required

One-Click – no username or password needed

Unlimited – no 2-hour restriction

Also launching later in the Fall is the Starbucks Digital Network.

The Starbucks Digital Network will offer you free access to exclusive content, community news and local volunteer opportunities on your laptop, tablet or smart phone. And it will only be available in our stores

We’ve teamed up with Yahoo! and a growing list of premium content partners, including the Wall Street Journal, Apple and Zagat, to enrich your coffeehouse experience with interesting news and entertainment cultivated for you.

So what does this mean? Well, for one, a lot of folks that bought WiFi-only iPads can breathe a small sigh of relief because you can pretty much throw a rock and hit a Starbucks within a few feet of you. That may lessen their iPad 3g envy.

I think it’s a win for everyone. Starbucks will sell more coffee and all mobile users have more opportunities to stay connected.

-via The Starbucks Blog

My 20-Year SVHS Reunion is Postponed

Wow! 20 years has gone by in a flash! I didn’t realized that it’s been that long since I waved goodbye to Sierra Vista High School. Hell, I didn’t realize that 10 years flew by since the 10-year reunion back in 2000.

Leave it to good ole Facebook to get that information out to me.

I’m kind of looking forward to this one. It would be nice to see what’s been going on with everyone after all these years. However, when I followed a link posted by a Facebook friend I saw that our reunion scheduled for July 31st is postponed until October 9th, 2010.

This may be a blessing in disguise as I made a suggestion to hold our gathering in Vegas. I mean, come on, it’s Vegas! What better place is there to get silly? It’s an opportunity for us that remained relatively local to get away for a fun-filled weekend and for those that moved way out of the area, a chance to have a fun little weekend vacation! It’s hard for me to stay in a hotel that’s a few towns over. If I plan on grabbing a room at $100/night, I better be in a place where I can actually feel like I’m on a vacation.

If you’re one of the 1990 SVHS High School Alum, here’s where you can find info on our reunion:

http://svhsclassof90.webs.com

Teresa

Vegas? Really, I think Tim Haase attempted that one in October of 09 for the all year reunion and although ...

6 July 10 at 19:48

Sprint Sells 300K HTC EVO 4G Phones. Kind of…

So…you would think that with the HTC EVO 4G being out of stock everywhere, it was a resounding success for its opening weekend launch. While 150K sold is nothing to sneeze at (over $30M), that’s 100% off from what was initially reported by Sprint. Come on! How did you mess those numbers up?

It still pales in comparison to the iPhone’s 2007 launch (500K @ $200M+). Keep in mind that the 1st gen iPhone was sold UNSUBSIDIZED. I distinctly remember shelling out $500 for that one.

The iPhone 3G and 3Gs launches in 2008 and 2009 were 1M for each year ($250M+).

For 2010, I’m expecting Apple will sell at least 1M…probably 1.5M.

in response to HTC EVO 4G Sold Out – Gizmodo

View all 3 comments

Grisel Lominy

Is Bluetooth stable on it?

15 June 10 at 12:09

Ernestina Villarruel

I am one of those individuals who puts their entire life on their cell phone so I received a Centro ...

15 July 10 at 17:44

What Makes 100%

What does it mean to give more than 100%?

Ever wonder about those who say they’re giving more than 100%? We’ve all been to those meetings where someone wants you to give over 100%. How about achieving 103%?

What makes up 100% in life?

Here’s a little mathematical formula that might help answer these questions:

If we represent each letter as a number:

then:

and:

but:

and:

AND, look how far Ass Kissing will take you:

So, one can conclude with mathematical certainty that, while HARD WORK and KNOWLEDGE will get you close, and Attitude will get you there, it’s the BULLSHIT and ASS KISSING that’ll put you over the top.

Fairy Tale Princesses Reimagined

J. Scott Campbell has a slightly different vision of what the fairy tale princesses should look like. I, for one, appreciate his work. This artwork and more is featured in his Fairy Tale Fantasies 2010 Calendar. Disney would hit a whole new demographic if their women looked like this:

You can purchase his calendar HERE.

More of his work can be found HERE.

MobileMe Mail Beta

I got a surprise a few hours ago when logging into my MobileMe Mail. I’m playing with the new beta. I’m pretty sure that I’m no more special than thousands of other MobileMe subscribers, but it’s always is fun trying something new.

When switched to the “Compact View,” the feel and layout is very similar to the iPad’s Mail App. The following pic is the MobileMe Beta:

This next one is the iPad Mail App:

The new feature that I’m excited about most is “Rules.” You’re now able to set Inbox Rules that happen at the server level. With the MobileMe Syncing, these rules are send to all over your devices. The one annoyance I had with the rules on my Mac’s Mail App was that it always had to be running to work on the rest of my devices. I can now leave it powered off. It still needs a bit more work, but moving content to folders at the server level is a great start. Once they can get Smart Folders implemented, it will be a powerhouse.

Mark Lanoie

Is it me or did this article make you want to buy an iPad?

9 June 10 at 04:55

Jean Esau

Like the review. I might do a article about this too. Also, loving the blog design. I used to have ...

13 June 10 at 09:12

Settling into some more web geekery…

…playing around with Posterous. I’m trying to figure out if it’s useful to me. So far, Ping.fm has been the service of choice. With Posterous, I’m trying to sort through the whole Subject/Body format when posting to multiple sites.

 I’ll tackle photo posts a little bit later.

Posted via email from ceedubb’s posterous

Over the Hump Race #1

Here’s my first lap of the Over the Hump Race #1. I finished 11th out of 43 riders with a time of 54:10.

Thank you Matt and John for putting together a fantastic event. I’ll see you on September 15th for Race #2!

For more information, go to http://overthehumpseries.com

Over the Hump Race Course Pre-ride

The course is nice and fast. Don’t miss that downhill right or you’re in the lake. I expect a few will miss it and will end up taking a swim. As you’re coming down the hill towards the lake, DO NOT fixate on the water. If you’re following someone’s line and they miss, you’ll end up in the drink along with them. There should be some course marshals there to warn the racers of some the tricky spots, but I suggest that EVERYONE pre-ride the course. Especially, if you’re a faster rider. It’s not hard at all, but since it’s so fast, you’ll be able to be prepared for the little things (loose corners, rough lines, proper gear to be in, etc.).

Like I said, the course is fast. A casual pre-ride with Matt this morning took 20 minutes. The loop is 3.75 miles long. I’m predicting that 45 minutes will be the rough finishing time of each class. If a beginner or sport rider finishes their loops in 30 minutes, they’re sandbagging.

If you have any questions, ask me!

Back again

Wow! I almost forgot that I had my own website. It’s been quite a long time since I’ve posted on here. Seeing as I’m having a little bout of insomnia, I’ll do a quick little update.

The one word that describes my life right now is “Training.” I got a wild hair to go racing again, so I’m back in training mode and logging the miles on the bike. Hopefully I’ll catch a race or two before this season ends, but I’ll be mtb racing pedal-to-pedal with a bunch of other dirtheads in 2010.

The results of my training will determine what class I’ll race next year. Currently, the plan is to race Cat 3 and hopefully score enough points to win the overall title. If I totally dominate the first two races, I’ll consider moving up to Cat 2 in hopes that I’ll be competitive enough to end the year in the top three.

Whatever I decide to do in the future, it starts with the training I put in NOW. The good part is I’ll be on my bike a lot more. The bad part is that I probably won’t be going on too many rides with my friends. Training can be quite lonely as I’ve got a pretty structured plan that my cycling coach laid out for me. Here’s my schedule:

MONDAY – Recovery/rest day
TUESDAY – Base miles or Lactate tolerance
WEDNESDAY – Base miles
THURSDAY – Low intensity/Technical skills
FRIDAY – Recovery/rest day
SATURDAY – Hill climbing (Ouch)
SUNDAY – Group ride/Race Sim

Yesterday I threw some slicks on the mountain bike to get in some road time. The plan was to ride 2 hours at a heart rate of 163 bpm. At the end 1 hour, I found myself on Pacific Coast Highway with 20 miles on the Garmin. I turned around to head back home…mostly uphill.

I think I need to recalculate my training zones because maintaining a constant 163 bpm was hard work. Maybe my max heart rate is lower than I thought. I think I may have gotten an erroneous reading when I was doing my max heart rate drill. I need to call my coach for a bit of guidance. Base mile days are supposed to be at a relatively easy pace. I was tooling along pretty quickly.

Facebook Terms of Use Reverts to “Normal”

Looks like the uproar over Facebook’s new Terms of Use has had an effect. They’ve reverted back to the old terms while they “resolve issues.”

Here’s the message on Facebook:

Over the past few days, we have received a lot of feedback about the new terms we posted two weeks ago. Because of this response, we have decided to return to our previous Terms of Use while we resolve the issues that people have raised.

If you want to share your thoughts on our new terms, check out our group Facebook Bill of Rights and Responsibilities.

Get your minds out of the gutter.

Haiku from years past

We have to go back a few years to 1988 when I was tasked to write some haikus for one of my high school English classes. I wrote two of them, but there’s only one that I’ve always remembered:

A woman’s beauty…
   Measured not of the body,
but of heart and soul.

You still need to vote

Everyone still needs to vote tomorrow or Tuesday. Even if you don’t support any of the candidates. Not voting at all is a total waste and doesn’t make sense. You don’t have to vote Republican or Democratic.

There’s McKinney and Clemente for the Green Party. Keyes and Drake for the American Independents. Nader and Gonzalez for the Peace and Freedom Party. Barr and Root for the Libertarians. If none of those tickets are to your liking, you can always do a “Write-In.”

Then there’s voting for your U.S. Representative, Senator, Mayor, City Councilman, City Clerk, City Treasurer, etc… All those positions have Write-Ins, as well.

Then there’s those little things…what were they? Oh yeah, the Ballot Measures.

It’s hard to respect the act of not voting at all when you have the means to do so. Believe me, I once thought that not voting was voicing my opinion. It’s not. If you don’t get to the polls, any opinion you have is moot.

My political rant for the evening…

A few moments ago I came across the post of a fellow Facebooker:

“…hoping everyone will vote Yes on 8. It’s about preserving God’s institution of marriage.”

For some reason it got me to respond and here’s what I said:

Sorry…can’t vote yes. A passing of this proposition will do nothing to preserve the institution of marriage. Regardless of my view, I can’t support an action that will take away the rights of others. Same-sex marriage is a CIVIL ISSUE, not a religious one.

Next, I’ll be relegated to the back of the bus again and I’ll have separate-but-equal establishments where I may conduct my business.

I think my rant was sparked by my annoyance of anyone urging me to vote one way or another. I don’t view advertisements and endorsements in that way because…well…that’s just the nature of them. I think it more directly applies to those that have a more personal interaction with me.

I wouldn’t ever tell someone how they should vote or what stand to take on an issue. I recognize that not everyone will share my views for whatever reason. Depending on our life experiences, socialization and beliefs, our view on the world can be dramatically different from one another.

I can only tell you what my view is and why. Keep in mind that my personal view may or may not influence my vote. Alan Thicke, Gloria Loring and Al Burton hit the nail on the head with this lyric:

“What might be right for you, may not be right for some.”

You may ask, “Whachu talkin’ ’bout Willis?” so I’ll give an example. In most cases, I don’t believe in abortion, but I’m still Pro-Choice. A friend tried to point out how that didn’t make sense, but I argued that it was quite simple. Pro-Choice simply says “choose abortion” or “do not choose abortion.” It’s a choice, right? In the Pro-Choice decision I “Choose Life,” others may not. My view is centered around using abortion as a form of birth control. I will never vote for legislation that will take away someone’s right to choose.

Anyway, I have an internal and external dialogue. My INTERNAL dialogue will hope that everyone will vote for Obama, vote no on Prop 1A, vote no on Prop 2, vote no on Prop 3, etc. Oh yeah…vote no on Prop 8. However, my EXTERNAL dialogue just hopes that however you vote, it’s for reasons that make sense.

If you want to know how I’m voting and why, just ask me. I’ll be happy to tell you. I may ask you how you’re voting and why. If we happen to get in a debate on an issue, make sure your arguments make sense. If the argument happens to be on Prop 8, make sure your stance is more than “preserving God’s institution of marriage.” Just know that we’ll have a Bible and current marriage statistics available for the discussion. Not to mention other examples of discriminatory legislation thrown in to boot because Prop 8 ain’t as simple as it seems.

“If you want to protect marriage, ban divorce.”