It’s hard to find a nice coffee offering in Russia. The statement is sad, but still holds true. I’m a newbie in coffee drinking, but already have my own preferences about it, and apparently there is little to no understanding among the numerous fast-foods and coffee-houses of what a good cup of coffee should taste like.

This is my personal experience, though, I’m not pretending to sound/act as an expert, but here is the top 2 places I would buy a cup of Cappuccino at:

1. Starbucks. If you’re lucky enough to find a Starbucks nearby, then this is a nobrainer – go get it there! The best coffee one can find in Russia is served at this place.
2. Chockoladnitsa (aka Chocolateer). This is surprisingly good place to get a decent cup of Cappuccino. Even though the range of products is not as wide as in Starbucks, the taste still holds close to original.

Now, lets take a look at fast-food offers. Generally, you shouldn’t buy coffee there, it sucks! However, if there is no other place around, take a chance at MacDonald’s or Sbarro. And, please, never ever waste your dimes at places like ‘Rostiks KFC’, ‘Kroshka-Kartoshka’ (‘Little Potato’), ‘Teremok’ and such. You’ll get an over-burned, cheap, sometimes even chemically over-flavored drink, which has no resemblance to anything like coffee, and may be very dangerous to your stomach too!

So, if you want to drink a cup of coffee in Russia, find a Starbucks or a coffee-house, but not a fast-food. Happy Labor Day!

There are so many apps at the App Store right now. Some of them are almost perfect, some are a waste of money, others are free. Is the App Store overflooded?

As far as I can tell it is, and by the time Apple’s Big Conference takes place (which is very soon), over 50 000 apps will be available all and all! That’s a huge number, and the real problem becomes not just to write a great app, but to market it, promote it, deliver it to the right audience. Why am I that concerned?

I’m going to become an iPhone developer. By the end of this summer, I’m planning on learning the C programming language, then Objective-C, and then Cocoa implementation. Along with the self-education, I’m going to set up a company, get enrolled with the Apple Developer Program, and get my app approved.

Is it enough of a goal for the next three months? I believe so! To follow along with the quest, visit www.SimpleBeat.com, it’s the blog I’m writing on this specific topic. And by the way, you’ve guessed it right: Simple Beat is the name of my company!

Things happen in our lives with at a lightspeed pace these days, but the big problem people of all nations were struggling through is AI, Artificial Intellegence. Today’s pick looks like one of the steps towards figuring out the thing.

A week ago one of the greatest scientists of modern days, mathematician Stephen Wolfram, launched his ambitious project, Wolfram|Alpha engine. It’s not search, it’s rather analytics done with math.

WolframAlpha

As the project builds up its knowledge base, the answers will get deeper and much more diverse. This is mainly an English language based project also. But still, the results already fascinate! You can get information on stocks, weather, cities, famous people, and everything computable.

So, if you’re into trends, dynamics, economics, analytics, then it’s definitely your choice. Even if you’re not into all or any of above, just give it a try, enter your name, your birth date, your city and see how it all turns out for you. It’s fun!

I’ve never been a Star Trek fan. In fact, I’ve never seen a complete episode or movie of this series. What a shame, now I think.

I went to see Star Trek because of all the talks about it from people I trust to be… m-m-m… trusted! The movie was out for about a week when I’ve finally got to it. And it was a blast! Again, I’m not a trekkie, but now I just have to watch at least a TV season of it, or a few original movies.

The story got me interested. I do agree that this is a huge accomplishment on the part of screenwriters and producers. The whole thing is quite enjoyable, be you a trekkie, or just an ordinary man.

I do recommend watching it on big screen, the effects are great and even those camera ‘flares’ add to the atmosphere. The plot is intrigueing, twisted, captivating. The cast is perfect, everyone is so great in doing what he/she is supposed to do (peace, the redshirt). And if you’re new to Star Trek this is the best trampoline into the series, you’ll want to see all of the rest badly!