Where’s My Water?Jack Johnson Has It
Went to two different Starbucks during the week and picked up these goodies.
Where’s My Water? is a fun problem solving game, and there’s Jack Johnson singing Better Together with Paula Fuga.
itunes
Got the Instapaper
Yoda808 gave me the heads up so I went back to my favorite Starbucks and got myself Instapaper, this week’s app pick of the week. Â Instapaper, the overall service, is awesome. In essence, you can save web pages for offline viewing. But there’s much more. You can share page links easily, view web pages in a stripped down version getting rid of ads and other distracting visuals. You can even configure popular Twitter apps like Tweetbot to integrate with Instapaper.
All I’m trying to say, really, is go to Starbucks, and pickup the Instapaper freebie this week. It’s so worth it.
Kayak Pro Pick of the Week
If you haven’t done so already, travel lovers need to stop by Starbucks for the Pick of the Week. This week features the iOS app, Kayak Pro.
Restocked Picks at Starbucks
After not having much luck with Starbucks Picks of the Week, reader Yoda808 commented.
[blackbirdpie url=”https://twitter.com/yoda808/status/200734049717850112″]
So I headed to a different Starbucks location and was welcomed with a well stocked selection.
What a difference a store makes! Thanks Jasmin Hilario for keeping your Starbucks in tip top shape!
On a more recent visit, I also picked up Anthony Bourdain’s No Reservations, Naples episode.
Catching Up with Starbucks Freebies
Even though I was away at Shaver Lake for only a short while, it seems like I missed out on quite a few freebies from the Starbucks and Apple collabo.
From the App Store, there’s Snapseed. The iTunes Pick of the Week is Leonard Cohen’s Banjo. The iBookstore offers up the Best American Series – 20 Short Stories and Essays. Lastly, the free TV episode is WordGirl’s Thorn in the Sidekick/Crime Takes a Holiday.
(Sorta) Failed First Google Music Purchase
Now that Google Music is rocking, I figured I’d give its accompanying Android Market a run and buy a song. From the radio, I soundtracked Young Blood by The Naked and Famous on their album, Passive Me Aggressive You. As a quick test comparing Google, Amazon, and iTunes, I searched for “young blood passive me aggressive you” on the respective services.
Here’s what I got on Google Music. No match found.
Here’s what I got on Amazon’s MP3 Store. Entire album found with the single costing $0.99.
Here’s what I got on iTunes. Entire album found with the single costing $1.29.
What would you surmise seeing these results? I’d say Google Music fail, right? It’s the only music service that doesn’t offer this song. But… I changed my search terms on Google Music and looked for “naked famous”. And guess what shows up?
The single is actually there, hiding in plain sight. This is really strange, since Google being Google is synonymous with search. Why wasn’t this song found when searching for its title and the album name? Maybe the songs are still being indexed or something, I don’t know.
Once I found Young Blood, I easily completed the purchase and shared a listen on Google+. I downloaded the single via the web and imported into iTunes. Then I uploaded the song to my Amazon Cloud Drive. Â Sadly though, this Google Music-purchased single won’t be available in iCloud without subscribing to iTunes Match.
Overall, a bit of a rough start with Google Music. Â I’m pleased I eventually found the single but am confused why searches didn’t find it initially given Google’s searching strength. Â Maybe the service is just being passive aggressive during launch?
Useful Links
Just listing some useful links that I’ve referenced.
- iTunes for Mac: Moving your iTunes Media folder. When you want to move your iTunes files to another hard drive.
- Time Machine backup error: Too big for backup volume. When Time Machine acts up and refuses to backup your files.
- Drobo and Lion Mac OS X 10.7 compatibility.
- How to safely shutdown your Drobo.
- Configure Drobo to work with Lion’s Time Machine.
Kaskade Fire & Ice – 5 Stars?
After one day on the market, Kaskade’s Fire & Ice has an average rating of 5 stars from 732 ratings in iTunes. Ten bucks for twenty tracks. Can they really be that good?
Yes, they can. Fiery beats juxtaposed to chilled trance. Nice.
Starbucks Pick Catering to Kids and Parents
Have you noticed a few of the recent Starbucks Pick of the Week have catered towards kids (and their parents)? This past week’s Pick is The Monster at the End of this Book, an interactive app from Sesame Street.
I wonder what Starbucks rationale is for this offering? Getting kids hooked on Starbucks at an early age? Giving parents an excuse to stop by for some lattes and of course, to pick up the free Sesame Street app?
From Tracks to Apps to Chapters
The Starbucks Pick of the Week started off offering free music tracks. Three years later, mobile apps were added to the mix.
Now three weeks after apps were added, chapters from books are now part of the Pick of the Week program. For this week, you can get an extended sample of The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern. Use the code found on cards at Starbucks locations and download your free chapter from within iBooks (or at home using iTunes). After a minute or two, check your library.
And there is no relation between author Erin and the Mortal Instruments’ Clary Fray/Fairchild/Morgenstern. But what a coincidence with the Morgenstern surname.
Apple’s Economic Influence Infographic
From Time magazine. I love the infographic’s design and stats on how Apple’s products have a definite economic impact. The full article and infographic are behind Time’s paywall.
Completing “21”
Adele’s simple yet powerful performance at MTV’s Music Video Awards 2011 is what compelled me to purchase her latest release, 21.
I already owned Rumour Has It and a few versions of Rolling in the Deep so why not complete the entire album? Thanks to Jeremy for pointing out this awesome performance.