Reader Mail
Marc Takeno sent me three great links. First, in response to yesterday’s Starbucks post, he pointed me at an interesting Seattle Times article that describes the competition between Tully’s and Starbucks in Japan. Tully’s is holding its own with a smoking section (Starbucks is smoke-free) and an older clientele who stay loyal to their brand. Starbucks is trying to transition from being a trendy brand enjoyed by young consumers to having some staying power in a fickle market. The next link from Marc is the NASA Java applet that lets you see the path of the satellites orbiting our home planet. Examine the cluster of satellites in geosynchronous orbit over North America sending info to those little dishes attached to houses. Figure out which Iridium satellite you’d be using if you had one of their phones. And marvel at how far away the GPS satellites are when you can use a handheld device to access their transmissions. Last link from Marc: A Pringles can turned wireless Internet antenna.