Starbucks just introduced their Starbucks Gold Card for

…people who really love Starbucks

This is actually a pretty good deal especially for those of you that make those daily visits..and you know who you are.

Annual membership will set you back $25. What do you get for handing over your McDonald’s $1 menu feast?

Then when you register, you’ll unlock additional value:

Even for the casual visitor this is still a great deal just for your 2 FREE beverages and 2 hours of WiFi. Head on over to your local Starbucks to get started. YEs, you can sign up online but then you miss out on your first FREE drink.

I finally broke down and replaced my InCase case for my new iPhone 3G the other day.  I actually had another case I had been using for a few months with my 1st gen iPhone.  It was one of those cheap $10 deals with a magnetic closure. The case itself was a little large for my phone but it was cheap and did its job without being to bulky.  I actually prefer to just throw my phone in my pocket and go but when I’m in my executive fatigues (ie. dress pants) I find that I am more comfortable with the phone on my hip out of my pocket. 

I purchased the InCase case since my previous experience was great.  A well made product that lasted and fit nicely not to mention the minimalist feel of it on my belt.  The second reason for my purchase and most important is because of the magnets in the flap of my cheap case.  Every time I put my 3G iPhone in the case with the magnetic closure, the phone seemed to freak out.  I mean that it would get warm as if the GPS or mobile radio would just run on forever getting very hot.

I did some research online and the results were mixed.  Some posts stated the same or worse results when using a case with a magnetic closure.  While others reported no problems.  Some went in depth as to the what the magnets were made from.  Apparently the magnets made from rare earth metals are very powerful and thus create numerous problems.  What I did notice was that the bad results tended to be more from users of the 3G iPhone versus the 1st generation model. 

Maybe my problems were just in my head but I’m not really willing to take that risk to save a few dollars.  So what has your experience been with cases with magnetic closures?  I know I was always taught that magnets and electronic devices don’t go together but I think that depends on the magnet…right??

In celebration of our 11th anniversary, I took my wife to see UB40 last night (she loves them…last year went to Vegas to see them).  We were expecting  a lot of traffic getting to the venue but surprisingly there was none. Not only was UB40 playing but we got a nice little surprise in Maxi Priest being a part of the show.

The concert was at the Filene Center @ Wolftrap and it’s a nice venue for sitting outside and having a nice picnic and a few drinks.  Of course, this is hurricane season so we had box seats which were pretty cool.  The biggest shock came with finding out that Ali Campbell (the lead singer since the beginning) had left the band back in February.  I guess my wife is not as big a fan as I thought she was   Still a great concert but the group’s sound was not quite what it used to be.  Other news was that the bands MC’s visa was denied so he was unable to travel to the U.S. for the concert and as Robin Campbell put it "We can all sleep easier tonight knowing this" LOL

What was really funny to see was the number of iPhones in the audience.  After the lights went out, it was pretty easy to pick them out in the crowd especially the delayed shutter animation when taking pictures.  I was really excited to finally be able to use the myLite app from doApps.com to help bring the band back on stage.

Not familiar with the myLite app for the iPhone? Check out the video below to see it in action.

concert,ub40,mylite

A surprise storm hit my house a few days ago. The storm came up and went away in about 15 minutes and the havoc it left was pretty bad.  OK so not bad like my house was gone by surprise, more like ‘your internet is gone and I left a few other surprises for you to find’.  The power didn’t even blink out and there was only a couple really close (wihtin half a mile) lightening strikes that made me jump.  Didn’t seem like a big deal as this isn’t our first storm. 

I checked my email on my phone as usual and then realized that I wasn’t flipping out of Edge and connecting to my WiFi. Thinking that maybe the modem just needed to be reset (as it seems to from time to time), I headed to the basement to get my house back online.  OhNo…no lights flickering.  No power to the unit, no big deal I say, storm must have tripped a breaker…nope.  Seems as though the only item in my house not connected to a surge protector was my modem.  Oh hum…no biggy, there’s a lot of places around my house offering up free WiFi (library, Panera)  I did think about asking one of my neighbors to get access to their network for a few days so I could order a new modem.  The biggest surprise came from my wife who seemed to be really upset that the internet was on the blink.  She needed to get into her Facebook account.

I picked up a new modem (linksys cm100) from my local WalMart since they were $15 cheaper than any other big box store around.  I could have ordered it online and saved a few more dollars but getting up and running was far more important.

Oh, so what was the other surprise left by the storm?  A few days later I find that my stereo has been blown as well.  It was connected to a surge protector but that never even tripped.  I’m a little surprised since nothing else blew that was connected to the same strip.  The protector is from Belkin and it seems like a fairly simple process of putting in a claim with them (if I can find my receipt for the darn thing).  I fill out an online form and send them the claim and the surge protector.  I’m gonna give it a try but not sure what they’ll do since the thing didn’t trip (ie. doesn’t seem to show any big power jumped through it).