Gawker: valleywag, cafe

Kevin Burton wants to mob an SF cafe

ndouglas — Thu, 23 Feb 2006 15:53:47 EST

The effort to invade some innocent wifi cafe continues. Tailrank creator Kevin Burton wants to run a "San Francisco Wifi Bedouin Flash Mob" (which would make a great electronica collective name). Basically, a couple dozen people descend on a wifi cafe, making a show of purchasing power and feeling trendy while doing so.

This is both seriously cool (w00t! flash mob!) and a pain in the ass (to, you know, the regular paying customers).

So as going to a cafe becomes yet another planned-out networking event, those of you who actually like chilling out at cafes can abandon these future reluctant incubators. On the other hand, it'd be fun to see the silent customers at Mission Creek Cafe faced with a loud crowd of Web 2.0 tourists.

San Francisco Wifi Bedouin Flash Mob [Kevin Burton's Feed Blog]

Om Malik blows up SF's best cafes

ndouglas — Wed, 22 Feb 2006 12:16:47 EST

So this is how skateboarders feel when some hotshot blows up their favorite grinding spot.

Tech blogger Om Malik published blogger Jackson West's list of the best San Francisco wifi cafes, inviting homeless startups to plunk down with laptops and Treos.

Among the victims are Coffee to the People, Ritual Roasters (pictured), and...Caffe Trieste? Sure, if you want Tony Long's army of Beat poets to dump your Thinkpads into the bay.

Then again, if these cafes play their cards right, a cafe like RitRo could raise some cash, meet with its customers, and become the coolest. VC fund. Ever.

The new office space [Om Malik]

Startup idea #281: Coffeehouse offices

ndouglas — Tue, 24 Jan 2006 20:49:43 EST

Last year, San Francisco became America's most wireless-saturated city, with 801 public hotspots. Nearly every cafe in the city turned into a wireless workplace (Ritual Roasters, for example).

So in the interest of service journalism, here's a tip to all entrepreneurs: Buy an office building and hire out cubicle space to workers trying to relax.

S.F. offers more wireless access than any U.S. city [SF Gate]