Without any doubt, everyone one of us, internet users, are the reason why the Internet is what it is today! If we were all alike and everyone talked about pretty much the same stuff, the net would be a very boring place, wouldn’t it?
Today I just stumbled upon this video from a group protesting in favor of Net Neutrality… its characters are so unique that I’ve decided to blog about it:
Check their website: http://wearetheweb.org/ if you’d like to know more about their cause.
August 11th, 2006
UPDATE II: According to this article from Diário Económico, the first Starbucks will hit Portugal in August this year, and will probably open first in the downtown lisbon! 
Curiously precisely 2(!) years after this post initially took place!
UPDATE: According to this Reuters article, 2008 will be the year StarBucks reaches Portugal
According to a portuguese business journal (”Jornal de Negócios”) StarBucks is getting ready to enter the portuguese market.
It’s indeed a great news for all (like myself!) who are, kind of, addicted to StarBucks coffee beverages (my favorite up until now is the Caramel Macchiato).
On the other end, it also lets me a bit sad feeling… during the last couple of years we have seen portuguese people moving away from the more traditional coffee places, places where once people stayed and read book a journal, hangout with friends, meet with girls, places like the Brasileira for instance which used to be everywhere are now a turist place only, places where the “BICA” was born, BICA is the traditional name for a short expresso and means in portuguese “Beba Isto Com Açucar” which translates to someting like “Dring this with sugar”, recalling the earlier days in Portugal when people started consuming coffee and couldn’t cope with its sour taste.
These days portuguese coffee drinkers seem to prefer the stand up coffee places… a shame really, I just hope that StarBucks can help revive, not only the fine coffee beverages, but also this excellent social feeling of having a coffee.
August 11th, 2006