I'm out at Pheedo's offices this week for a round of meetings and it seems that Bill has a line on all of the best cafes in town. I love it! We were at a home-town place this morning called 'Ann's Sunshine Cafe' where, get this - there are four shelves of mugs on the wall - all with this Ann's logo and all with the patrons' names printed on them. Wow - holy personalization and loyalty. Which got me to thinking that all of this stuff about 'the third place' and our 20/30 X-something coffee shop generation is really nothing special. People have been doing this for years...only in the mornings :)

Interesting as it was, I found this piece on Wired this morning even more interesting. Connecting people who are ultra-connected (via the internet) yet disconnected to the general atmosphere and conversation in the place by virtue of their staring at a computer screen. I'm 100% guilty of this. I go to coffee shops "to work", not to converse with people. However, it seems that the folks behind PlaceSite are trying to connect us 'computer zombies' dwelling behind our laptop screens in coffee shops.

I don't buy it. Perhaps this granola, coffee shop tech-savvy generation should get low tech. Really, how hard is it to look up from your screen and see who's around you and walk over and chat...or if you're in a proper cafe, just shout across the room to them like we were this morning, and like the morning coffee-clutch club has been doing for ages.

Not only is it a loyalty thing, but one of prestige. Pubs have been doing that for ages. By the way, did Bill have a mug?