posted by Charles H. Russo on Jul 31
If your car doesn’t already run on corn oil, you don’t have bluetooth enabled, and your iPod can’t download more music from the Apple Store when you’re driving, you need a new car. Okay, so maybe you don’t, but in a couple years, it may not be too far-fetched of an idea to think about “upgrading” to a car that does. Think is working on it.
No, that isn’t a typo. Think is a company owned by Jan-Olaf Willums, a company that was formerly run by Ford Motor Company. After investing $150 million into design work targeting the California market, only to hear rumor that CARB would be no more, Ford sold Think to a Swiss-based electronics company. Willums, seeing potential in the idea, purchased the now, near bankrupt company and has proceeded to resurrect the ideas and designs into fully functioning prototypes, with plans to produce a significant quantity of cars in the next five years.
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posted by Charles H. Russo on Jul 30
If your car doesn’t already run on corn oil, you don’t have bluetooth enabled, and your iPod can’t download more music from the Apple Store when you’re driving, you need a new car. Okay, so maybe you don’t, but in a couple years, it may not be too far-fetched of an idea to think about “upgrading” to a car that does. Think is working on it.
No, that isn’t a typo. Think is a company owned by Jan-Olaf Willums, a company that was formerly run by Ford Motor Company. After investing $150 million into design work targeting the California market, only to hear rumor that CARB would be no more, Ford sold Think to a Swiss-based electronics company. Willums, seeing potential in the idea, purchased the now, near bankrupt company and has proceeded to resurrect the ideas and designs into fully functioning prototypes, with plans to produce a significant quantity of cars in the next five years.
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posted by Charles H. Russo on Jul 30
Does this sound familiar… You
posted by Charles H. Russo on Jul 30
When it comes to eating abroad, I’ve always thought there was a comfy middle ground between the anti-bacterial fanatics and the types who will gladly down anything that’s in front of them. Yes, it pays to be prudent sometimes, especially when you are fresh off the plane and your stomach still thinks it’s in your sanitized homeland, a place where the bacteria coming down your gullet are familiar. Plus let’s be real, street food in Thailand or Turkey is a different story than street food in Nepal or Nigeria. You’ve got to have the sense to know the difference.
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posted by Charles H. Russo on Jul 29
Yes dad, it’s a real submarine
OK - so I’m heading to Waikiki and Oahu with my family (two boys - 8 and 6) and my lovely wife. What to do? Of course we planned on spending time on the beach, heading to the north shore (no waves in June… doh!) and enjoying the multitude of shops and restaurants. But we needed some adventure!
So browsing the Viator products for Honolulu I stumbled upon the Atlantis Submarine. Interesting… I wrongly assumed that Submarines were limited to Paul Allen and the world’s major navies. I decide to give it a go.
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posted by Charles H. Russo on Jul 29
What do you call it when people stay in locally owned guesthouses, spend money in local restaurants, and get beyond the basic tour bus sites? Most of us who have been around a bit would just call that “traveling,” but get ready for a new term for it: “geotourism.”
That’s the gist of this AP article, “No tourist traps - geotourism gains popularity.” Stories like this always make me laugh, but that’s partly because I’m a travel writer and I know that there’s nothing editors like more than to look like they’re on top of some hot new trend. Of course there’s nothing new about wanting a more authentic experience. What has changed is that the luxury travelers who can buy any kind of experience they want are figuring out there’s more to travel than luxury hotels and seeing the sites. After all, there’s a thin line now between a luxury hotel and their mansion back home with a maid, butler, and giant pool with waterfall. What they can’t get at home is excitement and the seeing of something truly different. We can only hope it rocks their world a little bit and makes them think about what kind of good they can do with an extra million they’ve got lying around.
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posted by Charles H. Russo on Jul 29
Here’s a news flash: reality TV shows are really fake. Even when they’re travel shows.
A post at HotelChatter discusses the revelation that the Discovery Channel show “Man Vs. Wild” is a bunch of hooey. “In the end kids, remember–never trust reality TV.”
The story originally came from the New York Post, with the kind of headline we’d expect from them: Grylls’ Thrills Bogus. A producer from the show says that while host Bear Grylls was supposedly braving the elements and dehydration in the wilderness, he was really holed up in a nice hotel with comfy mattresses and cable TV. And it gets better:
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posted by Charles H. Russo on Jul 29
After the release of the Apple iPhone, the folks over at Earthcomber has announced that they have just released a version of their Earthcomber software for the iPhone. If you’re not familiar with Earthcomber, it takes the idea of having a mobile yellow pages, directory assistance, as well as driving directions and incorporates them into one simplistic program onto your mobile. The nice thing is that it doesn’t just stop there. Instead of forcing you to search by names or subject words to get the results you want, you can simply input your location and browse through the results. Broken into different categories, Earthcomber makes it easier to find eating locations, gas stations, essential shops along a trip, and even Wi-Fi hotspots. It also allows you to browse through a certain city’s attraction list, making it a nice trip companion, allowing you to quickly find trendy locations for late night music, or that well-known yet hidden diner for a nice lunch.
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posted by Charles H. Russo on Jul 29
I just stumbled across a new footwear company that seems to have some pretty good designs. The company is called Ahnu. The Ahnu name comes from Celtic mythology, from the goddess of balance and well being. Balance, seems like a good feature to have in a shoe.
They don
posted by Charles H. Russo on Jul 29
Editor’s Note: The 52nd Venice Biennale runs June 10 - November 21, 2007
Venice hosts the 52nd Biennale in 2007
Venice brings to mind a glorious past of glamorous parties in Palazzo lining the Grand Canal: champagne flowing, voices chattering, rich fabrics rustling.
This year, I was lucky enough to be in Venice during the opening of the 52nd Venice Biennale. There were parties, there was champagne (fabrics, sadly, do not rustle much these days). I was privy to the glamour of it all from a lumbering vaparetto on the Grand Canal. But even getting a glimpse of people mingling on the rooftop of the Peggy Guggenheim Gallery, gossiping in the party-dressed Rialto Market and networking at the Palazzo Giustinian Lolin made me feel I was in Venice at a special time.
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