Well,  we ended up having some iPod Shuffles left over from the BIO2008 International Convention, in San Diego, Calif.  After running the Patent Baristas’ iBarista contest, it turned out to be harder than expected to just “bump into” someone in a crowd of 20,000.

So, I thought I’d give everyone a shot at picking up one of the iBarista iPods from Editor-in-Chief Barista, Stephen Albainy-Jenei.  There are now two (2) all new chances to win and it can’t be easier.  I can’t wait to give these away.

Chance 1.

For everyone to have an equal chance, I will randomly select a winner of an Apple iPod shuffle 1 GB from everyone who submits a new  comment on the PatentBaristas.com website in the month of July ‘08.  One entry per person — multiple comments will not increase your chances.  Comment spammers will be disqualified.

Chance 2.

For a chance to win another Apple iPod shuffle 1 GB, all you need to do is post a new link to the PatentBaristas.com website on your website.  I will randomly select a winner from everyone who posts a new link to the PatentBaristas.com website in the month of July ‘08.  One entry per person — multiple links will not increase your chances.  Link spammers will be disqualified.

There are a few, uh, provisos. Ah, a couple of quid pro quo. 

We reserve the right to disqualify any entry that looks like it isn’t legitimate. The winner will be contacted at the email address entered or available on their website. Failure to respond within 5 days will result in the prize being given to someone else. If a winner lives somewhere that we can’t ship to directly using standard shipping, a cash (e.g., PayPal™) value prize may be substituted.

Otherwise, all of the previous iBarista iPod Giveaway Terms and Conditions still apply.

That’s it.

Good luck.

Posted July 1st, 2008 by Stephen Albainy-Jenei in Light Roast, Current Affairs
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BIO2008 conference attendee Ben Keeton, of the Kentucky BioAlliance, won a Patent Baristas iPod this week.  Ben was the first person to find me at the 2008 BIO International Convention in San Diego and ask for the Patent Baristas’ iBarista iPod.

Ben picked up a nice teal-colored iPod shuffle after asking for it Thursday.  Ben was attending BIO and coordinating the Commonwealth of Kentucky Reception for Gov. Steven L. Beshear, which was quite an affair atop the Marriott.

Admittedly, Ben had a bit of an advantage since we’d met a couple of times in the past so he recognized me immediately — as anyone on the convention floor knows, reading the tiny print on the name badges of strangers as people flood by is not too easy.

While several bloggers in attendance recognized me at the conference, they declined to accept an iPod saying they wanted to let them go to the nonbloggers.  Now, I have some iPods left over so I’ll be looking for suggestions on how to give them away.

Posted June 19th, 2008 by Stephen Albainy-Jenei in Light Roast, Conferences
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The Baristas rock and now you can, too! Editor-in-Chief Barista, Stephen Albainy-Jenei, will be giving away some iPod Shuffles at the 2008 BIO International Convention, June 17-20, 2008 at the San Diego Convention Center in San Diego, Calif.

Basically, all you have to do to win is be the first person to find me on the Exhibitor Hall floor at Bio2008 and ask for the iBarista iPod. That’s it.

Each day I attend of the convention, I will carry one Apple iPod shuffle 1 GB — of some random color — in my pocket. The first person to find me in the Exhibitor Hall and specifically ask me for the iBarista iPod shuffle prize, gets it on the spot (see all the iPod Giveaway Terms and Conditions here).

Of course, the trick is that there are over 20,000 attendees expected and that’s a lot of folks walking around over 220,000 square feet of exhibition space. But, I ran in to lots of people I know last year so I know it’s possible. I’ll be visiting quite a number of booths so look for me around the hall — I can’t wait to give these away!

If you’d like to meet up during the conference, drop me a note and we’ll schedule some time to have coffee together.

Posted June 4th, 2008 by Stephen Albainy-Jenei in Light Roast, Conferences
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I like coffee and keep up on coffee-related items.  While a frequent patron of Starbucks, I think small, individual coffee shops bring a fresh perspective to the coffee experience.  And so we watch with sadness as many small operators are shut out by the coffee juggernaut.

Now a federal judge has declared that coffee shop owner Penny Stafford can go to trial in an attempt to prove that Starbucks “cluster-bombs” neighborhoods — the practice of adding more and more stores to compete against each other and drive off competition.

The court concluded that Stafford has offered plausible evidence that the company’s leasing deals in Seattle and Bellevue may violate antitrust law and illegally blocked her from opening competing stores in those buildings. Stafford claims the15,000-store empire cannibalizes its own stores by adding other company outlets nearby, keeping competitors out.

Stafford contends she was repeatedly told by leasing agents for Class A buildings in Seattle and Bellevue where Starbucks operates that she couldn’t rent available space because, “if any space opened up, Starbucks would get the lease” under an exclusivity agreement.  One major U.S. office-property firm told her it has a nationwide arrangement to rent only to Starbucks, she claims.  Stafford has already collected almost 44,000 pages of Starbucks’ internal papers.

Starbucks is now opening new stores at the average rate of seven a day, or one every 3.4 hours. 

Trial has been tentatively set to begin Nov. 20, 2008.

More here.

Posted December 3rd, 2007 by Stephen Albainy-Jenei in Light Roast
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