coffee

Latte printer puts portraits on your cup of joe

It takes a steady hand and creative sensibilities to craft great coffee art. Still, there are certain limitations to the medium. It's hard, for example, to create a somewhat photo-realistic image. Unless you have a latte printer that can do it for you.

Taiwan coffee chain Let's Cafe has a series of kiosk-like locations. It's in competition with chains that run full stores. To separate itself, the company introduced a marketing gimmick that combines portraits, printing, mobile, and a steaming hot cup of coffee.

The Let's Cafe latte printer works when customers upload an image from their mobile phone to the machine. Put a cup of joe under it and the machine sprinkles the image onto the top of the latte in the form of cocoa powder. Text can also be added, so conceivably you could make your own drinkable LOLcats.… Read more

Shiny Panasonic coffeemaker smells good

They say we eat with our eyes first, yet that is only half the story. Clearly, whoever this "they" is either has a terrible sense of smell or a very bad cold. Eyes are great for getting a sneak peek of what's to come, but it is the nose that knows before all. Naturally, some edibles have more odiferous enticements than others with breakfast having a pretty big hold on olfactory actions. However, bacon and the scent of toasting bread are not the beginning of the story.

Wafting into the bedroom first thing in the morning, the … Read more

A coffeemaker for every day of the week

Coffee might not be essential to life (although the jury is still out on that one), but it does show up every day of the week. The ubiquitous brown beverage that supplies a caffeinated jolt to imbibers can be enjoyed seemingly in a million different ways. However, before the cream and the sugar quandary comes up, how to brew it must first be addressed.

The Hamilton Beach (Model 49983) Two-Way Deluxe Coffeemaker ($99.99; available in August) is actually even more versatile than the name would imply. While true that the coffeemaker is designed to brew into either a travel … Read more

Coffee with Apple CEO auction closes at $610K

After 86 bids, the coffee meeting with Apple's CEO has sold for $610,000.

The winning bidder is anonymous, and goes only by "a********s."

The "power meeting" was part of a campaign by auction site CharityBuzz to raise money for the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights. It promises little beyond some coffee and facetime with Cook at Apple's headquarters in Cupertino, Calif.

The auction is now officially tied for the highest-grossing CharityBuzz has ever had. It's matched up with last month's auction for a Lamborghini Aventador, which … Read more

Meet the current frontrunner for $580K coffee with Tim Cook

Entrepreneur Rakesh Kumar says he's "blown away" by the deluge of phone calls and traffic his site's getting after he pledged to plunk down more than half a million dollars for a half-hour coffee meeting with Apple CEO Tim Cook.

"The Web site's gotten an incredible spike," Kumar told CNET in a phone interview on Friday.

Kumar, whose company DrBluetooth is working on a Bluetooth headset that encrypts voice and can be controlled through gestures, is the latest in a string of more than 80 people who have bid on a chance to … Read more

Sticker collection grows on Facebook, Path

CNET Update dusts off the sticker book:

Social media has gone sticker crazy. Today's video explains Facebook's latest update to messaging and how rival network Path is playing cute-cartoon hardball (or should I say football?)

Also in this tech roundup:

- Twitter is testing ways to tell you what's being tweeted by users near you

- Nintendo releases a major system update to the Wii U

- Android notebooks may be hitting stores, priced as low as $200

- AT&T rolls out home security and monitoring service

- Charity auction for "power meeting" with Apple CEO has bids exceeding $500,000Read more

Nokia's wireless chargers perk up local coffee shops

Last September, Nokia kicked off the launch of its Nokia Lumia 920 with promises of exposing more people to wireless charging -- an available, but underused capability -- by bringing it to spots where people go.

Specifically, Nokia said it would sponsor wireless charging stations using the Qi protocol at Virgin America airport lounges and Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf stores.

Earlier this week, I finally saw Nokia's power-promotion installed at my favorite Coffee Bean location on San Francisco's busy Market Street. What a sorry sight it was.

Market Street is a bustling downtown location, so I'm … Read more

Capresso brews a cup of coffee or tea in 60 seconds

Apparently, there are times when brewing an entire pot of coffee is not desired. Perhaps this occurs while running late or just trying to get out of the house. (Certainly there can be no other sane reason why just one cup will satisfy.) In any event, for those rare times when just a cup will do, one countertop coffeemaker is ready to provide. In less than 60 seconds, thankfully.

The Capresso a la Carte Cup-to-Carafe Coffee & Tea Maker ($179.95) not only understands that time is of the essence when waiting for coffee, but that a nice cup of … Read more

How one cartoonist 'live-tooned' SXSW

AUSTIN, Texas -- Without a doubt, Grumpy Cat was the most talked-about sensation at the Mashable tent here at South by Southwest Interactive over the weekend. Editorial cartoonist Shannon Wheeler has been "live-tooning" the show for VentureBeat, and he chronicled his experience of not being able to see the diminutive feline.

The line for Grumpy Cat was the longest line at the show this year, winding around the block and requiring several hours of waiting. Wheeler, for his part, noted accurately that, "Grumpy Cat is more popular than Al Gore."

Artist brews piping-hot geeky art from lattes

If you're a latte drinker, you've surely noticed that the foamy swirl on top often resembles abstract art.

Japanese artist Yuko Honda uses a latte's liquid canvas to create creamy logos inspired by popular Web sites and software. Her blog, Geeklatte, showcases a few hundred cups of latte art featuring images ranging from Tux the Linux penguin to the play button seen in the middle of YouTube videos and insignias for companies such as Intel, Cisco, Zynga, and Amazon. … Read more