@ commenter 5.

If you think Kyle's some wannabe actor, you've got that so wrong. He lives coffee. And I can say with confidence that pretty much all the top baristas in the PNW on down to California, in NYC, in Chicago and elsewhere (and there's hundreds of them) are in it for the coffee, and nothing else.

To put Kyle in the class of what we commonly refer to as PBTCs (persons behind the counter) is a sign of ignorance of what's really going on in the current culinary coffee revolution. There's thousands and thousands of PBTCs... but there's hundreds up on hundreds of true Baristas in the US pushing the limits on their craft and delivering a culinary coffee experience. You can stick with your $3.50 cup-o-crap you're probably used to, or actually step up and taste something singular - visit Intelly, or for that matter, use the Internet to find the top notch cafe in your area and find out what the difference really is.

At Starbucks, they learned how to press the button at a different angle to influence the espresso shot. Then they learned to scrutinize the automated shot to make sure every automated shot looks the same. If it doesn't, they put a call into corporate, and then continue making the shots, by pressing the button at the new and unique angle.

This is just so ridiculous, how much press this PR stunt has gotten. :(

Those who got these for Christmas, tell your gift giver asap. Typically, you're within the window still (just barely) to have your credit card company reverse the charges. Let them deal with it.

I think I've seen this stunt before on Youtube - though I can't find the link. It was from a few years ago (and may be the same people, who knows), with one guy and a big 1990s vintage computer system into a 'bucks. IIRC, he was kicked out of the store.

I'll take 10 seconds if it can deliver 98C water. Otherwise, for coffee (or tea), it's a pass.

The "carbon" footprint of the insulated 3l water heaters from Zojirushi is pretty small, when you take it into context:

- draws a lot of power to heat up, nearly as much as a standard kettle, but does so in a shorter time because of the sealed, vacuum chamber the water is in.

- draws about as much power over 6 hours to maintain heat as a kettle does in 5 minutes to heat up 1l of water

- we frequently use the Zoj to get near boiling water for cooking purposes (boiling veggies, etc), saving all that energy draw the stove would normally have to deliver

- in coffee lab situations, the Zoj uses about 1/4 the power draw that a "water tower" does, though there is a downtime when you have to refill it.

Before I got one of these, I was heating kettles about five or six times a day. Considering I go through one Zoj pot a day (on average), I'm using about half the energy now that I used to, and get the convenience of 208F / 98C water on demand.

After reading Michael Ruhlman's article, I'm pretty convinced he's a charlatan when it comes to food writing; or at least in the sensory skills department.

Regardless of the comments here, there's some pretty basic facts about percolators and coffee that are almost universally accepted by coffee experts - and have been that way for over 30 years now, and longer:

- the chemical makeup of the roasted coffee bean is a delicate, temperature sensitive thing

- caffeine, one of nature's most bitter substances, is very resistant to evaporation or dillution; so while other things are burning off during the boil / reboil cycle of a percolator, caffeine remains, bittering up the beverage. Use a heavy robusta blend like Folgers, and more bitters make it into the sensory cup.

- other undesirable elements are extracted from coffee when it is continuously boiled and reboiled. Anyone who is worth their salt in the coffee biz has tried this experiment and "savoured" the results.

- boiling and reboiling coffee completely obliterates the delicate, subtle flavours that any quality, specialty arabica coffee offers up.

This article would be the equivalent of Robert Parker talking up the virtues of Mad Dog 20/20, if Ruhlman was anywhere near Parker's stature. It's garbage.

Mark Prince
CoffeeGeek.com

Pretty much completely agree with you Joel. I actually had my credit card lined up, ready to go and preorder... until I saw this thing, and was so disappointed.

I hope you're wrong about one thing - I hope it IS a bomb for Apple. I hope it tanks. I hope the company realises their folly that a pursuit for thinness may work fine with something you stuff in your pocket, but it doesn't apply to notebook computers - footprint is supreme, not thinness.

I'm hoping this will be Apple's "Rokr" iPhone attempt. It will bomb, they'll go back to the drawing board, and come out with a truly revolutionary ULTRAPORTABLE that completely redefines what an ultraportable can be, while still remaining true to the tenants of what it's supposed to be:

- lightweight
- small footprint (nothing bigger than a 11.3" WS, imo)
- swappable battery
- usable (and more usable than the ultralight I'm typing on now - a Fujitsu P1620).

Really, really sad introduction by Apple. Thin works for iPods and iPhones. It doesn't work so well for macbooks. Anything 1" thin will do, thanks. Give me a small footprint. And at least 3 USB ports. ;)

Awesome design, so much so I used to put it on the CG Holiday Gift List.

Too bad it's got such a shitty machine inside of it. It's basically got a $125 Saeco Via Veneto driving the 'spro out of it. Boo.

You said:
"I think Starbucks has to do this because maybe contests of pure chance aren't allowed in Canada?"

Pretty much it. There's some stupid law in Canada that giving away prizes and such is a lottery and as such is only allowed by governments, not individuals or corporations, in Canada. So the "skill test" component skirts (skips? absolves) the law. Turns it from random chance to "someone doing a job" or something like that.

We do several contest giveaways every year on my website, and I had to go to a law firm and not only check the legalities of giving away free stuff to Canadians, but spend $$$$ to get the law firm to write up our contest rules and regulations.

10m per pixel? Isn't that small for a HDTV recording from 100km up? I assume that's at full telephoto.

So when are countries that are not the US sending up 1m per pixel resolution camera orbiters so the naysayers can finally be put to bed? ;)

This footage is fantastic - but it's amazing how stark black the shadow areas are on the second part of the vid, just a total contrast from defined mountains and craters to.... black. I'd almost expect the non-sunlit surfaces (ie, the shadow areas) to still be lit by some reflection of the sun-lit sides of the crater holes.

Sigh. At the risk of sounding all pompous and stuff, I really wish Mark would talk to me a bit more before he does some coffee-related stuff on BoingBoing or the video show.... There's some interesting stories I could tell him about Alan Alder, the inventor of this product.

And it doesn't produce crema. ;)

They review fairly well too:

Semi Automatica 8+ page review:
http://www.coffeegeek.com/proreviews/detailed/microcasaautomatica

A Leva Multipage Review:
http://www.coffeegeek.com/proreviews/detailed/microcasaleva

Possibly the best shot of espresso I've ever had in my life came off the Leva machine. It's hands on espresso.