Google Pay received a big update last month that integrated Google Wallet’s old peer-to-peer sending features, while adding new “Sending” and “Passes” tabs to the Android app. Relaunched earlier this year, Google’s payment service is widely available and can now be used in the Starbucks for Android app.
Pokémon Go is teaming up with Sprint to turn businesses into PokéStops and Gyms as part of Niantic’s latest move to keep players in the game. The news comes just one day before Starbucks is expected to do the same while introducing a Pokémon Go-themed drink for trainers. Niantic has also teased out when we might start seeing new monsters appear in the game.
After Android Pay finally launched in the UK last month, Google is doing its best to encourage Brits to give it a try. It’s announced a monthly Android Pay Day, offering discounts for using the service to pay, with the first of these taking place today.
If you haven’t got time to stand around in a Starbucks queue to place your order, the good news is that you no longer have to. The company, which first allowed iPhone users to place orders on the mobile app before reaching the store, has now added the same functionality to the Android app …
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Whether or not you believe Starbucks coffee tastes burnt (I don’t), there’s always a reason to be happy when a popular app from a major company adopts Google’s new Material Design language. That’s just what the company did today with a new update.
Starbucks version 3.2 for Android is a gentle introduction to Material Design — the app continues to fall in line with the muted colors of the Starbucks brand, not too bright and bold like many early Material Design apps I’ve seen, and animations are subtle, like how the hamburger menu icon shifts during the transition of opening and closing the menu. Small details like elements appearing to open from a touch point remind you that it’s Material. It looks good.
Sadly, however, the app still lacks the new Order & Pay functionality Starbucks recently added to its iOS app and began promoting in stores, which allows customers to order menu items from their phone and pick them up when they arrive. Starbucks still labels that functionality as being in beta, though, so I’ll give them some slack. As a Starbucks loyalist I’m just glad to see them recognizing Android as a legitimate place to have a presence.
This update also brings added menu details so you can see all the menu items currently available at US stores (PSL, anyone?), and the obligatory “bug fixes.” It’s available on Google Play now.
Starbucks has confirmed multiple reports of users of its smartphone app having three-figure sums stolen from their accounts in the form of gift certificates, reports CNN.
One user lost $550 in a matter of minutes, his account auto-reloaded each time it was emptied by a hacker sending a series of $50 gift cards. Other users have also reported three-figure losses within a matter of seconds or minutes …
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Google promised back in July that its deal to provide free WiFi at 7,000 U.S. Starbucks locations would include connections up to 100x faster than usual in cities with Google Fiber – and it has now started to deliver on that. The company announced in its Google Fiber blog that a Kansas City branch is now home to the fastest Starbucks WiFi in the U.S.
At the corner of 41st and Main Street, a Kansas City Starbucks is teeming with people writing emails, streaming music, sharing videos, and more. Now that same Starbucks—one of the busiest in Kansas City—is the first to be connected directly to Google Fiber, so anyone visiting the store can get super-fast Internet with their Pumpkin Spice Latte.
The technofest doesn’t end there, either …
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The Starbucks app on Android has always been on the forefront of mobile payment and technology features, and this evening, the app has received an update making it even more useful for customers. Bumping the app to version 2.7, the update today adds a handful of new features, including the ability to pay tips digitally and shake your phone to pay.
Starbucks, in partnership with Duracell, is starting a nationwide rollout of a wireless charging system for smartphones. The system is powered by Duracell’s Powermat technology, which we reviewed last July. The program will place 100,000 of the Duracell chargers at specially-marked tables in each Starbucks location. Users would then be able to charge any phone using a compatible wireless charging system.
So far the program has only rolled out in a few stores, but it’s scheduled to reach more markets by next year. There’s not a timetable yet for when the rollout will be complete.
While the program is only available in a few stores right now, a page on the website for the initiative lists locations where the service is currently offered.
San Jose Mercury News reports Mountain View City Council last night approved a new five-year deal with Google that will see the company revamp its aging free WiFi network in the city:
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Engadget reports that Google has been testing a new iOS and Android app at its Mountain View campus recently that would allow users to automatically join public WiFi hotspots without going through the usual log-in process. Google is apparently considering using the app in connection with its recently announced deal to provide WiFi to 7000 Starbucks locations in the US:
According to our sources, the search giant has built Android and iOS versions of an app that automatically authenticate and connect to its free hotspots inside Starbucks stores or wherever they are available. Google is currently trialling the Android app at its Mountain View HQ and has plans to offer an iOS app too.
Perhaps more interesting is Engadget’s claim that Google has “specific plans” to roll out more Google WiFi hotspots in the US and Canada as part of the ongoing “Google WiFi” effort it first launched in Mountain View back in 2006.
The report adds that the app could link to a user’s Google account and “install a dedicated security certificate on their device to automatically authenticate devices when a connection is available.” Engadget says an expanded partnership with Boingo is also a possibility:
Google may also expand its partnership with Boingo, extending logins to locations where it’s footing the bill for free wireless.
Google plans to have its WiFi rolled out at all 7000 Starbucks locations by the end of the year.
After a brief announcement back in June that it had partnered with Starbucks to offer free, unlimited music through its new Google Play All Access streaming service, Google today announced that it will soon be supplying WiFi to all Starbucks locations in the US. That also includes its new gigabit Google Fiber internet service where available:
When your local Starbucks WiFi network goes Google, you’ll be able to surf the web at speeds up to 10x faster than before. If you’re in a Google Fiber city, we’re hoping to get you a connection that’s up to 100x faster.
Up until now, AT&T provided free Wifi access to Starbucks customers in the US (and T-Mobile before that), but it appears that will no longer be the case following the roll out of Google’s networks in the coming weeks.
Google plans to start rolling out its new Starbucks networks next month and hopes to have all 7,000 US locations up and running on its networks within 18 months. Google noted, “You’ll know your new network is ready to go when you can log in to the “Google Starbucks” SSID.”
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Google announced today on Google+ that a new partnership with Starbucks will provide free WiFi and the ability for customers at Starbucks locations to stream unlimited songs, radio and more from Google’s recently launched AllAccess music service. Apple has of course offered similar promotions and continues to offer free iTunes content and more through Starbucks locations. Back in 2007 it announced a partnership with Starbucks in the US to offer a free iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store, and it continues to offer its free app and song of the week picks through physical cards in store and through mobile apps.
Google’s new streaming music service is still limited to the US, so we’re assuming the new promotion is also limited to Starbucks locations within the country. Last we heard an iOS app for the service would be arriving sometime this month.
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Marisa Mayer just made the announcement:
So, today, I’m thrilled that Google has acquired Zagat. Moving forward, Zagat will be a cornerstone of our local offering—delighting people with their impressive array of reviews, ratings and insights, while enabling people everywhere to find extraordinary (and ordinary) experiences around the corner and around the world.
That is an interesting play which I’m pretty sure no one was expecting. It gives Google a huge foothold in local and will certainly put Yelp, Open Table and company on the defensive and will also fit in nicely with its Offers service. Zagat’s statement below the fold:
