‘OverDrive is a digital distribution and publishing company that partners with thousands of libraries, schools, and universities around the globe to give users access to ebooks on any device they may own. The beauty of the OverDrive service though is that it’s not limited to Kindle owners, but it supports them and Kindle app users. The OverDrive Media Console works on Mac OS systems, Windows computers, iOS devices, Android devices, and Windows Phones, and OverDrive locations support lending ebooks to more ereaders and tablets than we can list here. It’s safe to say that if there’s a library near you in the search results, you can take any device and borrow an ebook to read.

A few months ago, Amazon announced that Kindle owners could visit their local libraries to check out books, which was really their way of announcing Amazon finally partnered with OverDrive for distribution to Kindle devices. OverDrive already works worldwide. To find out if your library participates, visit OverDrive Search, click Library Search, and type in your ZIP or postal code. Odds are there’s some location near you.’ (via Lifehacker).

 

 

‘Gwilym Davies has sworn off lattes and flat whites. The 2009 World Barista Champion has also removed cappuccinos and cortados from the menu of his Prufrock Coffee trolley at London’s Present. Gibraltar, SG-120 and all the other groovy terms for an espresso with hot milk have been banished from his vocabulary. Henceforce all his milk-marbleised coffees will be identified by their cup sizes: 4 oz, 6 oz or 8 oz.

The trouble with his old menu, according to Gwilym, was that the coffee names mythologised what were, from his hands, fundamentally the same drink: a double espresso blended with varying quantities of milk he steamed and textured in the identical manner. Furthermore, the terms were confusing and meant different things to different people from different places. It was problematic to figure out what each customer’s understanding of a flat white or a cortado was and frustrating when what the barista champion served measured below – or above – each one’s expectations.’ (Via YoungandFoodish, thanks to William Gibson)

[Fighting a small battle against pretension, I have always insisted on ordering my coffee as  ‘small’, ‘medium’ or ‘large’ when I have occasion to patronize a Starbucks.]

Related:

• Cappuccino vs Caffe Latte (savesavesave.blogspot.com)
• Choices (sorted.net.au)
• i wanna be a barista, lalala. (ask.metafilter.com)
• Barista’s “Starbucks Rant” song gets him fired (boingboing.net)