What's the Difference between Arabica and Robusta Beans

The Atlantic has a good description on the difference between arabica and robusta coffee beans. Whenever possible look for arabica beans when buying your coffee. It is not a guarantee of quality but arabica beans generally make better coffee.

Starbucks Wins Another Taste Test

Starbucks coffee has come in first place in taste tests against Dunkin Donuts and McDonalds. This is on the heels of the first place showing in Zagat's survey.

Friday Book Review: Wake

I'm a huge fan of Canadian novelist Robert J Sawyer. I was very excited when I had a chance to meet him at a book signing in Ottawa for his latest novel, Wake.

Wake's protagonist, Caitlin Decter, is a blind 15 year old girl living in Canada. She is about to undergo a new experimental procedure that may cure her blindness. The surgery puts an implant in her eye which will fix the signals going to her primary visual cortex. The catch is the implant must communicate with an off board device for signal processing which the dub the eyePod.

An unexpected side benefit of the the implant is that it allows her to visualize the world wide web. This allows Caitlin to detect an emerging intelligence on the web. Could this been the singularity that features so heavily in books by Vinge and Stross?

There are two side plots going on. One is the outbreak of an advanced strain of the bird flu in China and the other is the emergence of a Chimpanzee who can communicate in sign language.

Along with the main story Sawyer draws parallels to the life of Helen Keller. Keller was blind and deaf from an early age up until she was 7 when a governess learned how to communicate with her. When you read the book you can see how it relates to Cailin, the singularity and the chimp.

Sadly, the only negative point is that this is the first part of a trilogy so while you get a satisfying read you don't get the complete story. Mind you don't let that discourage you from picking up another great book from one of Canada's finest.

The iPhone App I Wish Tim Horton's Had

Mashable has a good article on Dunkin Run. This iPhone app allows you to keep track of coffee orders when you next run out for coffee at Dunkin Donuts. It even saves past orders so you can easily re-create a past run. Of course, it has the ubiquitous store finder feature as well.

For those of us in Canada we'll have to make do with Timmy Me for now.

Wilkins Coffee Ad's

It's amazing to think these commercials were done by Jim Henson of The Muppets fame. It does make me want some Wilkins Coffee.

Coffee Making Robot

If you liked this video Digg it!.

Auto Login your iPhone to Starbucks Wireless

No word on whether we'll get a similar deal here in Canada. The crux of the matter is Rogers sells the iPhone but Bell does the wifi for Starbucks.