月份: 2021 年 5 月

I’m a Starbucks mobile app user, and I’m not going to stop any time soon.

Even before a pandemic came along and forced me to stay inside, I went to Starbucks nearly every day. As somebody who has worked from home for the past four years, I relished any excuse to leave my apartment and walk around. Since Starbucks was the closest coffee shop to me, I became a regular, with the baristas knowing my two orders once they saw me enter the store.

Part of my reliance on Starbucks was that it was a place close to me that had drinks I enjoyed. The other part was the Starbucks mobile app, which not only makes it easy to pay (especially in putting in mobile orders during a pandemic) but also keeps you coming back for more. Many businesses have apps that “gamify” the experience of being a customer, but Starbucks is one of the best. It’s also one of the most sinister.

Many businesses have apps that “gamify” the experience of being a customer, but Starbucks is one of the best.

Gamification …

After over a fortnight of green baize action, we’ve finally reached the grand finale of snooker’s most prestigious tournament. Read on to find out how to watch Mark Selby vs Shaun Murphy online and stream the World Snooker Championship 2021 final no matter where you are in the world.

2005 champion Murphy booked his place in this showdown after pulling off a remarkable turnaround to beat Kyren Wilson 17-12 in their semi-final clash on Saturday.

The world no.7 trailed 10-4 and 11-6 but lived up to his magician nickname to plot an escape that saw him win all five frames after the match resumed at 12-12 on Saturday evening.

He’ll now face three-time champion Selby, after the Jester from Leicester came back from being 13-11 down overnight against Stuart Bingham.

Pulling off breaks of 125 and 132 Selby eventually ground down qualifier Bingham to seal his place in the final, after a gruelling semi-final that lasted almost three hours and 40 minutes longer than Murphy’s victory over Wils…

Two of English football’s biggest rivals battle it out in the Premier League on Sunday in what we expect to be a full-blooded encounter. Don’t miss a moment with our Man United vs Liverpool live stream guide.

While local rivals Man City have all but tied up the Premier League title already, Man United will want to keep the pressure on the Sky Blues with a win today. United come into today’s game on a 7-game unbeaten streak and will be brimming with confidence after thrashing Roma 6-2 in the Europa League in their last outing.

Liverpool are unbeaten in their last 5 Premier League games and will be looking to pick up maximum points in their remaining league games as they play catch-up in the race for Champions League qualification places.

Ole Gunnar Solskjær has little in the way of selection issues. Dean Henderson and Daniel James are likely to return after being rested for the Roma game with Mason Greenwood having only featured briefly, too.

Jürgen Klopp’s Liverpool squad remai…

Being stuck in the middle works for Google.

Since 2016, when the original Pixel debuted, it has felt like Google just needed one more year, and then another, to make the brand a household name. To be broadly considered a success.

And judging by the Pixel’s outsized influence in the Android smartphone market relative to its reported sales numbers, I’d say Google can celebrate that success. Its phones are synonymous with great cameras, with innovative and useful software features, and with playful if divisive approaches to smartphone design.

But influence doesn’t sell phones, and Google’s Sisyphean journey to bring its own Android experience to more people just hasn’t really worked. At the high-end, Pixel phones could never compete with Samsung, LG, Huawei and OnePlus (among others) on sheer brute-force specs; and on the value side, Pixels cost too much to attract the value-conscious buyers of Motorola and Nokia products. As the classic Stealers Wheel song goes, they were stuck …