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(Photo by Davity Dave)

My question is whether or not the car will be passing through the enclaves of wealth on the east side of Lake Washington like Mercer Island and Medina, where Microsoft chairman Bill Gates has his four-story underground bunker. Still, the homes of Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz and Clearwire founder Craig McCaw are all within Seattle city limits, so happy Street View hunting! (Photos by Jed Rosenzweig)

I was on the verge of deleting my Facebook profile, except that as a Gawker Median, I have to have one per company policy. (Well, that, and Facebook's resident chanteuse Randi "Jayne" Zuckerberg left a note on my wall — air kisses!) I settled for deleting all but the basic apps. Just don't tell Mashable's Pete Cashmore the sky is falling. He seems like such a sensitive lad. (Photo by tomnono)

• 1. Richer espresso mix. Starbucks espresso machines have been recalibrated to mix a stronger dose. It's not as powerful as Peet's, but it's more in that direction. My daily triple-shot tastes a lot thicker.
• 2. Shot glasses. Instead of pouring directly into your cup, all shots are now dispensed into clear glass shot glasses. The barista must visually approve the shot before pouring it into a cup. This not only checks the mix, it prevents stale, crema-free shots from being served after lying around too long.
• 3. Smaller steamer pitchers. No more giant tub-o-foam, but rather smaller batches of steamed milk and foam more tailored and fresh to each order.

Starbucks has a new sign posted in its stores: "Your drink should be perfect, every time. If not, let us know and we'll make it right." A lofty goal. Espresso shots are now being poured into shot glasses first, instead of directly into your cup. The theory is that baristas will be able to tell if the espresso is too strong or weak before schlepping it to you, at the expense of a few seconds of prep time. Unfortunately for purists, Starbucks will still be using automatic espresso machines, but Ann-Marie Kurtz, Starbucks' manager of global coffee and tea education — does that fit on a business card? — says "it's not as simple as pushing a button."

Did you go to Starbucks today? Was your cup somehow more perfect today than it was before yesterday? Do share in the comments.

(Photo by AP/Eric Risberg)

Just buy the minimum prepaid Starbucks Card, and you get two hours a day. Not just that day, but every day you have that card, until AT&T gets greedy again.

The $10/day price that T-Mobile charged was a price barrier that kept out the riff-raff. Now, every Paul, Owen and Nicholas with an iPhone or a laptop will be clogging up my third place. Thanks a lot, AT&T.

AT&T Wireless customers don't get the love yet, but AT&T spokesman Brad Mays says "this is a strong advantage for AT&T and it only makes sense for us to leverage this network for our entire customer base, including Mobility customers." Translation: Free Wi-Fi for AT&T customers, maybe. Here's hoping. I don't know anyone who raves about their AT&T DSL, but I know plenty of iPhone users who would love this. And yes, iPhone + Starbucks + Land Rover makes me the ultimate yuppie.

When is the last time an outpost of the latte empire captured Starbucks chairman Howard Schultz's vision of "a 'third place' where people gather between home and work and feel some of the romance of the European cafe." In fact, the ease with which McDonald's has entered the gourmet-coffee arena proves that Schultz's "third place" is little more than a fast-food joint. Unfortunately for the ubiquitous coffee joint, Mickey D's has been in the fast-food game much, much longer.

The idea of targeting ads to willing customers is not wholly flawed. HotorNot founder James Hong points out that more than 32,000 860,000 Facebook users have declared Starbucks "hot" on his company's Facebook HotLists application. Not shabby at all, but even then, that hasn't hit mass-audience status. Let's say Starbucks advertised to every single one of those users and got them into a coffee shop every day? It still wouldn't really move the needle on sales.

And if Starbucks visits are on the decline, does Starbucks want to preach to the converted — or reach new customers who don't already identify with the brand? Perhaps Starbucks should buy ads that are targeted to people who aren't its fans. Or here's an idea. How about an old-fashioned TV campaign? Last I checked, almost the entire population of the U.S. watches television, while only two-thirds are online.