Starbucks joins forces with The New York Times to bring selected content to your phone

It isn’t all that long ago that Starbucks announced its partnership with Spotify, allowing baristas to influence the music playing in-store. Today, we have news that Starbucks will join forces with The New York Times to bring selected news and content to Starbuck’s official app from 2016.

A total of 15 news articles covering social, business and political issues will be delivered directly to the Starbucks mobile app. Purchasing digital and print subscriptions will earn customers Gold Stars, which can then be exchanged for free food and drink by the 10 million My Starbucks Rewards loyalty members. Starbucks has partnered up with The New York Times and Spotify, what company would you like to see them partner up with next?

Full Press Release:

 

SEATTLE, July 21, 2015 – Starbucks Coffee Company (NASDAQ: SBUX) today announced an elevated digital news experience for the Starbucks® mobile app, the result of an expanded relationship with The New York Times Company (NYSE: NYT) which publishes one of the most widely-read and authoritative news publications in the world.  As part of the agreement, The New York Times top news of the day as well as a selection of other articles addressing key social, political and economic issues will be available for free via the Starbucks® mobile app for the 10 million My Starbucks Rewards® loyalty members. These customers will also have the opportunity to earn “Stars” through paid digital and print subscriptions to The New York Times.  

“We see a future in which the Starbucks retail experience seamlessly extends to the mobile devices our millions of customers carry with them every day,” said Howard Schultz, chairman and ceo of Starbucks. “Our relationship with The New York Times is the perfect example of bringing this vision to life.  We have proudly sold millions of copies of the paper in Starbucks stores for more than a decade, and are excited to bring this experience to the next level by enabling Starbucks loyal customers to take the best of The New York Times with them wherever they go, whenever they want it.” 

Beginning in the first half of 2016, as part of this Starbucks digital news experience, the daily and weekend briefings from The New York Timeswill be delivered to My Starbucks Rewards® loyalty members through the Starbucks® mobile app as well as other relevant articles from The Times recommended by Starbucks.  Additional articles recommended by Starbucks will come from other media sources over time.  

Mark Thompson, president and CEO of The New York Times Company said, “We have enjoyed a long and fruitful association with Starbucks and we’re delighted that this agreement will further extend our digital relationship. This is another in a series of arrangements we have made recently in order to ensure that The Times continue to expand the reach of our journalism to new and interesting pools of readers. We’re particularly happy that Starbucks has also put in place an appealing incentive to turn these readers into subscribers.”

Free digital access to 15 articles per day on NYTimes.com is already available in many U.S.-based Starbucks stores through the Starbucks Digital Network. The New York Times newspaper is also widely distributed in Starbucks stores across the country.

“This expanded relationship with The New York Times allows us to directly engage our most loyal customers with the latest and most relevant news of the day,” added Kevin Johnson, president and coo of Starbucks.  “Through these types of relationships, we are well on our journey to provide our most loyal customers with the opportunity to earn Stars everywhere and redeem them for food and beverages in Starbucks stores.”

My Starbucks Rewards® loyalty members will be able to “Earn Stars Everywhere,” through both Starbucks and non-Starbucks purchases.  Starbucks recently announced a multi-year deal with Spotify, which first introduced this new opportunity for Starbucks loyalty program members to earn Stars through purchases made with other companies. As part of today’s announcement, My Starbucks Rewards customers will also earn Stars by purchasing paid digital and print subscriptions toThe New York Times. Customers will then have the ability to redeem those earned Stars for food and beverages at participating Starbucks® stores.

The agreement with The New York Times links more than 7,000 company-operated Starbucks stores in the U.S. with the 10 million My Starbucks Rewards® loyalty members in a new and highly relevant way. Furthering its plan to build one of the most robust digital ecosystems of any retailer in the world, Starbucks continues to find new ways and platforms to engage and stay connected with its customers.  Providing its most loyal customers with the most relevant news of the day from one of the most trusted news authorities, The New York Times, is one more way that Starbucks enriches its customer relationships with benefits that are meaningful and unique.

 

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Xiaomi takes the wraps off a 32GB variant of the Mi 4i

As predicted, Xiaomi has today unveiled the 32GB variant of its flagship smartphone, the Mi 4i, in India. The handset will be available in a dark grey colorway and carry a reasonable price tag of INR 14,999 ($235).

The 32GB model isn’t set to face a standard release like its 16GB counterpart, though. Instead, it will be obtainable via flash sales, the first of which is scheduled to take place at PM local time on Tuesday, July 28.

As for the specifications, the Mi 4i features a 5-inch Full HD display, a Snapdragon 615 System-on-Chip (SoC) with an octa-core CPU, 2GB of RAM, an Adreno 405 GPU and a 3,120mAh non-removable battery.

If you like the sound of the Mi 4i and would like to find out how to pre-register for the flash sale that’s arranged to take place next Tuesday — hit the source link below.

Source: Xiaomi

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Pentagon confirms Iraq drone crash that surfaced online

There are a lot of hoaxes on the internet, but if you see images of a drone that looks like the one above, lying motionless in the middle of the desert, then you can be sure those aren’t fake. Pentagon has admitted to BuzzFeed that the pictures of a drone crash that recently started circulating on social media websites are real. Those photos were posted on Twitter by Iraqi journalist Steve Ishak, who told the publication that he got them from a follower who, in turn, got them from local villagers in the country’s Samawa province. “We can confirm an MQ-1 crashed on its way to its recovery base in Iraq,” military spokesperson Major Genieve David said, adding that the UAV malfunctioned due to “loss of communication.”

The images themselves corroborate the major’s claim, because it doesn’t seem like the plane was shot down, and the damage it incurred at least looked consistent with a crash. MQ-1 Predator Gray Eagle drones are part of the U.S. Army’s Aviation Modernization Plan, cost around $21 million each and can carry payload, including Hellfire missiles, weighing up to 1,075 pounds. David, who didn’t elaborate on what the broken drone was used for, said the broken UAV wasn’t carrying any weapon. At the moment, Pentagon is working with Iraq to recover the MQ-1’s metallic carcass, even though the drone might never fly again.

A U.S drone crashed in the desert of Samawa province in southern iraq earlier today pic.twitter.com/VbQiCPJFJ6

– Steven Nabil (@stevoiraq) July 21, 2015

NEW photo :The U.S drone that crashed in Samawa province ( near the cement factory) pic.twitter.com/0j93LoE2az

– Steven Nabil (@stevoiraq) July 21, 2015

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Source: Steven Nabil (1), (2), Buzzfeed