Categories
Accessories Must Have Wine

Vinturi: The fastest way to aerate red wine

If you’re in to red wine then this is one of those must haves, especially if you enjoy experimenting with powerful vintages that definitely need a bit of time to breathe.

It’s an arse if you get it wrong. Most good reds usually need half an hour or an hour or so to properly ‘breathe’. The difference in terms of bouquet, flavour and finish between open and 60 minutes later is often quite palpable. But what if a friend pops over? Or if you need to deploy another bottle of red right now? Vinturi is your friend. Let’s have a look at it:

To aerate your wine you simply pour directly from the bottle through the Vinturi Aerator directly into the glass. Job done. It’s ready to drink.

I love it. I think I’ll need to get one.

Here’s what Vinturi delivers:

Better bouquet: Sample the nose of the wine. You’ll appreciate the subtle aromatic differences and the full aroma of the wine. Vinturi allows wine to release its intended aromas.
Enhanced flavours: Take a sip. Vinturi aerated wine tastes better, richer and more expensive as well as more flavoursome with better mouthfeel.
Smoother finish: Vinturi aeration is very effective at softening tannins resulting in a much more pleasant finish. Any bitterness or bad aftertaste is reduced or eliminated.

And the science bit? I’m glad you asked.

The design applies Bernoulli’s principle, which states that as the speed of a moving fluid increases, the pressure within the fluid decreases. When wine is poured in the Vinturi, its design creates an increase in the wine’s velocity and a decrease in its pressure. This pressure difference draws in air, which is mixed with wine for perfect aeration.

There you go.

The Vinturi Aerator retails at £39.95 although if you shop around you’ll probably find it slightly cheaper. This is most certainly ‘job done’ for any of your wine-loving friends given Christmas is coming up.

Here’s the Amazon link:

Categories
Sports Technology

Going Skiing at Christmas? Make sure you’ve got Satski on your phone!

I’ve not made it to Val d’Isere in the French Alps for almost two years now. I really enjoy skiing and I find it a particularly useful occupation during those ‘off days’ between Christmas and New Year when nothing much tends to happen.

The last time I was in Val d’Isere, the iPhone phenomenon was just taking hold. (In fact you can read about those experiences over at Mobile Industry Review.) I remember remarking that smartphones were perfect for skiing. Not only could you locate yourself easily but you could also access a wealth of services there-and-then from your hand. At this point back in 2009, most folk swapped to a dumbphone whilst skiing, or they simply left their mobile phone at the hotel/apartment. The last thing you want to do is fall on your ‘brick’ phone and kill your thigh doing so. Or smash your fragile iPhone.

How times have changed.

I wouldn’t think about going into resort without at least one dedicated app. I had a note over from the chaps at Satski to highlight their latest app which is available on iOS, Android, Windows Mobile 6.5, Windows Phone 7 and BlackBerry. The app looks like it offers almost everything you’d ever need — for a veritable ton of resorts. From weather to locating the nearest doctor or pharmacy, Satski has it covered.

Satski offers a host of features:

  • Navigation — Google Maps isn’t that useful when you’re trying to plan your runs or avoid the horrifying black runs. So Satski has piste/ski trails and resort maps built in.
  • Real Time Stats — So that you can stop for a moment to check vital statistics like maximum speed, distance and so on. Love it.
  • Tracking & Data Storage — Satski will track your movements so you can replay the highlights in the bar later on
  • Locate Me — Highly important when you can’t see anything during a ‘white out’ or useful if you can’t remember quite where you’re standing
  • Emergency — Everything you need in an emergency to connect with local services (including your exact co-ordinates)
  • Resort Info — Standard resort information e.g. doctors, police, ski hire shops, ski schools and so on
  • Buddy Tracking — I love this one. By mutual consent (managed by Satski) you can track where your friends and family are. Absolute genius.

Hugely comprehensive. You’ll find Satski in your app store of choice priced at around €8.75 or thereabouts. If you’re like to get ultra serious, you might consider taking a look at the company’s Standalone GPS unit (€239).

Head over to the Satsports site for more information.

Now, Satski is only as good as the smartphone battery. So please, please, please charge your device up before heading to the slopes. Better still, carry a Proporta or other battery pack just-in-case.

[I should point out that I’ve not been able to try Satski myself so if you’ve done so, or if you’ve other recommendations readers should look at, please do comment below!]

Categories
Must Have Technology

Why you definitely need to buy the 3M Camcorder Projector

You definitely need one of these for Christmas.

Set aside your top of the range Nexus Prime, or your shiny iPhone 4S. The rest of the family don’t care about that. Granny doesn’t want to admire the latest capabilities of Android’s Ice Cream Sandwich. No. You need one of these to wow the family and friends this holiday season.

It’s from 3M and it’s their latest gizmo that’s going to make you really popular with your wife — because it promises endless hours of entertainment for even the most trying guests.

The name says it all: 3M Camcorder Projector CP45 (Amazon link). Yup. It’s a camcorder and it projects photos and video on to any surface. Think of it like a Flip camera with a super-high-quality projector directly integrated. The intent is simple: You film the children’s football game in the morning and then everyone can watch it later on projected on to your living room wall. Or, anywhere.

I haven’t had hands-on but the projection definition looks really, really smart. It takes photo and HD video. It’s got 2GB of memory on-board, enough for 1,000 photos and 25 minutes of HD video, plus the battery will last for 1.5 hours — enough to capture a lot of action. (You can, by the way, expand the memory dramatically with the MicroSD card slot — up to 32GB). There’s a built-in speaker and microphone and you can connect to some speakers if you really want to show a nice instant-replay.

The projector will display up to 65″ on almost any flat surface — don’t be surprised if your children take to shining it at themselves as it’ll work on clothing too. Ideal conditions obviously call for a bit of a darkened environment so you can see the output in full clarity.

The goodness doesn’t stop there though. You can connect your iPad, iPod Touch or iPhone to the CP45 and it’ll project output from there. Plus it’ll do the same for games consoles and laptops. (Provided you get the right connectors). Absolute genius.

That’s the overview. Now have a watch of the funky video and it’ll show you just how the CP45 works:

Sold?

The RRP is £299. You can now pick it up from an array of retailers online.

I recommend Amazon myself:

I think this is one of those products that you should have in your arsenal, especially with the holidays coming up. All you need to do is show your significant other (i.e. wife/girlfriend) the projection bit and I reckon they’ll be sold. That’s what granny is going to want to see and everyone will have a super time playing with it on Boxing Day. And of course it’s got a heck of a lot of potential beyond Christmas, especially when it comes to the children: Football games, rugby games, school plays, concerts, weddings.

It’s the immediate replay function that knocks this into the must-have-now category. You know when you film something (or take a photo of something) and then everyone else wants to see it? Rubbish. Because they typically have to look at a small screen. How cool will it be to actually say, “No, hold on, let me show you properly.”

Yup. I like this a lot. I’m pleased 3M have brought this to market. I hope to get a look at one shortly.

And here’s the CP45 spec sheet:

Categories
Technology

Update on the Office365 trauma

If you’ve been following my trauma with Office365, then you’ll remember I was less than impressed yesterday at discovering two key problems when I signed-up.

1. The agreement was for a year. Whoops. I specifically clicked ‘pay monthly’ and presumed that was a month-to-month arrangement. No. I should have looked closer.

2. I opted for the £15/month version of the email service so that I could get a licensed copy of Office Professional — you could, just not for Mac. The service had the temerity to tell me to go and buy a copy of Office for Mac 2011 if I’d like to use it with Office365. Errrr, no. You’re Microsoft. You’re one brand as far as I’m concerned, so sort it out.

I’m pleased to report that they’ve responded to my cancellation request but unfortunately there is no way they can do this by pressing a button. At least, not yet. They need to speak to me first. And they’re now closed until 9am tomorrow. So I’ll do that.

Meanwhile I had my Google Apps account for The Pursuit of Quality live within about 5 minutes last night.

Categories
Technology

You still use Tiscali? For your PERSONAL email? You heathen!

I discovered yesterday that a chap I regularly work with is still using Tiscali for his personal email. He’s a high-powered manager, overseeing a number of hugely important projects in the Information Technology industry.

You’d expect more.

At worst, I’d expect at least a Gmail account. At best I’d expect some kind of custom service running on (for example) Google Apps or perhaps even Office365 (a lot of IT folk really still have a lot of love for Microsoft).

The last thing I expected was for this chap to be using a ridiculously old, highly limited, bog standard email service. There’s nothing wrong with it per se.

It just annoys me.

The reason I discovered this shocker was because the chap’s wife is having problems. With her sodding Tiscali account. I mean, obviously. She’s trying to get it to work on her Mac. I pointed the chap to the TalkTalk/Tiscali mailbox setup details but there’s some flaw preventing the computer from sending email.

“It’ll be some mail server rubbish,” I informed him. Something like you need to authenticate the SMTP server. Or blah blah. I don’t care. I don’t want to care. NEITHER should he! That, I think is my problem with it all.

Gmail just works.

Anything else, frankly, works better. Gmail, Yahoo — we’ve now got beyond this sort of rubbish, haven’t we?

I haven’t checked to see what kind of ‘package’ you get with the Tiscali email, but given the fact it’s a freebie included for TalkTalk subscribers (as the chap told me, anyway) and given the fact Tiscali doesn’t exist as an outfit anymore, my expectations are set to zero.

It’s so pedestrian, I think that’s the source of my frustration. In fairness to the chap, he just wants it to work too — he doesn’t want to have to think either.

I suggested that he stop expending any more energy on the Tiscali account and swap his wife to Gmail. He can setup an automatic import for all the old email and he can set-it-and-forget-it. Plus it works with everything. Support is even hardcoded into the iPhone email setup process.

What’s the gold plated solution for personal email nowadays? I think it’s got to be your own domain name running on Google Apps. Or perhaps running on your own dedicated server or some kind of cloud system.

What’s your strategy for personal email? Please tell me you’re not using Tiscali.

Categories
Medical/Health

Stay active and healthy with AmeriSciences AS10

If you’re anything like me — i.e. busy, generally a bit stressed and ‘running fast’ most days — then you’ll have the occasional day that looks like this:

– McDonalds
– 3 soggy mini sandwiches during the working lunch meeting
– 1 bag of “Big Eat” Quavers
– Burger King

And of course, plenty of coffee and sugary soft drinks.

It’s not good. Not good at all.

I try to avoid this kind of experience as much as I can. Sometimes though, you just have to run with it. Life and commitments dictate it. So what’s your poor body doing at the end of the day when you’re filling it full of rubbish? Feeling slightly low.

What can do you do to maintain some kind of steady nutrient guarantee when you’re running fast? You might consider taking a look at AmeriSciences AS10. It’s an anti-ageing, anti-oxidant nutritional supplement developed in conjunction with NASA. The manufacturers, AmeriSciences, explain that AS10 has been proven to protect and extend life when exposed to environmental stressors including radiation (or, I imagine, the 837am to Waterloo). AS10 has an unparalleled 95% dissolution rate — which means that the body can maximise the goodness available. Plus it contains powerful anti-oxidant and anti-ageing properties. What really interests me that it’s made from 100% fruit and vegetable derived ingredients (including superfruits like acai, cupacu and acerola, all sustainably harvested in Brazil).

AmeriSciences intend AS10 to provide a “safety net” of vitamins and minerals essential for optimum health — it’ll also function as one of your “five a day”.

You can consume it in two forms: The wine-bottle shaped oral formula or a multivitamin tablet. So if you’re running fast, eating a bit of a crazy diet now and again and feeling a bit run down, perhaps AS10 might be the answer for you. (I’ve not tried AS10, but I’ve tried and regularly use something similar — in fact my wife and all her friends swear by it, so I’ll do a piece about that shortly.)

AS10 is available in the UK via the Harley Medical Group online or at any of their physical clinics. The oral solution is £120/month and the multivitamins are £27 per month.

Categories
Grooming

The Bluebeard’s Revenge: The ultimate shaving experience for real men

Now then I am rather sorry to admit that, yes, when it comes to shaving cream I’m rather pedestrian.

Indeed, it’s highly embarrassing now that I’m forced to think about it: My whole shaving routine is … well, routine. Boring. It’s been the same for years. Now and again someone will give me something for Christmas that I’ll take a brief look at.

For the most part, I’ve stuck with Gillette‘s razors and shaving foam. I know. I know. I should look further afield. I think I owe it to myself to have a look around.

Which brings me to The Bluebeard’s Revenge. The stand out product from their range is reportedly their shaving cream. It’s paraben free (paraben is typically bad news), premium quality, with ingredients including Decelerine that specifically combats tough stubble and the array of frequent shaving problems (i.e. razor rash, burn and bumps).

There’s a science bit too: Decelerine actually helps reduce the “Desperate Dan” look. Have a read of the detail here. Suffice to say that after 60 days use, you should notice a substantial reduction in hair length and density.

There is no excuse nowadays to turn up at work looking like someone’s taken a carving knife to your chin. And I have to say, dressed in a pinstripe but looking like a Desperate Dan arse is quite annoying. Often I get to 5pm and despite having a wet shave that morning, I’ll look as if I could certainly use another one.

The Bluebeard’s Revenge (“the ultimate shaving experience for real men”) looks rather good. I have to say, after a few minutes perusing the company’s website, I really do like their attitude. Witness, for example, the “Warning, this is not for the bumfluff brigade” page. Love it.

The company offers a whole range of shaving equipment, creams and balms. I have to say I’m not sure if I’m brave enough to try out the Scimitar yet though. You can also buy online directly from their site.

I’m going to see if I can check some out and I’ll let you know how I get on.

Categories
Accessories Technology

Clear your Christmas List for Bang & Olufsen

Hello to the team at Bang & Olufsen.

I have a confession to make in this regard. I walked past the Bang & Olufsen shop almost every weekend for about a year when I lived in Marlow, Buckinghamshire. I walked straight past. I didn’t go in.

This is because a) I didn’t want to be tempted and b) I had the wee man (Archie) in the buggy and didn’t think he’d appreciate having to watch me stare at technology for hours.

So Hello to Bang & Olufsen — especially the team at the company’s Glasgow Merchant City store. (By the way, I do recommend checking out their gallery demonstrating the installation of Scotland’s biggest TV — in a room that, if you ask me, really should be a lot bigger). They’ve put together a rather handy Christmas Wish List for tech lovers.

You know what’s coming, right?

Yes. A litany of gorgeous looking, super-expensive technology.

First up? They recommend BeoSound 8. This is precisely what you need if you’ve been thinking about getting a speaker dock for your iPad, iPod or iPhone. Here’s the science bit:

It’s conical speaker eliminates internal resonances and also creates a sleek and unobtrusive design which will suit any room in the home.

I’d buy one. Speaking of which, it’s retailing for £935. Now let’s have a picture of it:

BeoSound 8 in yellow

Next up, the team recommend the BeoCom 2 as “a conversation piece”. I like what they did there — the BeoCom is a phone. But, yes — this is Bang & Olufsen we’re talking about so it’s not.just.any.phone. It’s crafted from a single piece of aluminium, sits naturally in your hand and the gentle curve matches your face. Useful and stylish. £735. I think I need a few of these.

Let’s have a photo of that:

BeoCom 2

I would really like to check out the next gizmo on the list: The BeoTime Alarm Clock. It will, the team at Glasgow reliably state, transform your traditional morning ritual into an extraordinary experience. It’s got a built-in motion sensor along with subtle automatic backlighting. I do very much like the look of this sitting on the bedside table. £299. Here’s the photo (in-situ):

BeoTime

Next, the team list the highly reasonable £105 Form 2 headphones. I’ll just do a link for this one as I’d like to move over to BeoVision now.

Yes.

BeoVision looks to be the ultimate for me. It’s the last item on the list.

First though, seriously — watch this introductory video:

Now I’ve bought the concept, what’s the BeoVision 4 all about? Well it comes in two sizes: 85″ and 103″.

I automatically want the 103″, obviously.

I won’t bore you with the specs except to quote the BeoVision introductory paragraph:

In BeoVision 4, Bang & Olufsen’s advanced picture engines are combined with the best Full HD 3D plasma screens in 85 or 103 inches, to achieve a phenomenal viewing experience. No ordinary plasma screen can beat BeoVision 4 in terms of long term picture quality. All plasmas degrade with time, but BeoVision 4 has the remedy – in the form of Automatic Colour Management, a unique system that compensates for the effects of aging. A tiny built-in camera serves as your in-house technician, checking your screen after every 100 hours of use and adjusting the colour balance accordingly

Ah I think I need a BeoVision. With my existing setup I can’t tell you how flipping annoying it is having to arse around with the picture/contrast settings every time I want to watch something properly. And then trying to choose between LIVE or SURROUND or ROCK or whatever audio profiles, none of which really seem that good. I won’t admit to you just how embarrassing my existing solution is. It’s shocking. It’s about a billion miles from BeoVision. Suffice to say I had to augment the sound on my existing TV with a set of JBL Creature III speakers.

Besides offering a Full HD 3D “phenomenal viewing experience”, what’s the retail price for the BeoVision then? Care to hazard a guess? Well, I think you’d need to make a choice between either a full spec Range Rover or the BeoVision 4 103″ model.

The 85″ BeoVision 4 is £52,150.

The 103″ BeoVision 4 is £82,085.

This is how it should look in your house:

BeoVision 4

Very, very nice.

Categories
Accessories Chap Who Has Everything Technology

Bring some country flair to your sooped-up technology with this Tweed iPad Case

I thought I’d go for a long title on this one.

It’s de rigueur nowadays to have a decent case for your iPad. Those cheap, black rubbish plastic monstrosity shouldn’t be allowed. Either keep your iPad naked or get a decent case.

And if you’d like to bring a bit of a traditional contrast to your iPad, then this is precisely what you need: The Tweed Case from the Unique Boutique company!

Because you need a proper case for your iPad

It’s handmade so delivery time is a minimum of 4-weeks. For the purists reading, I’m not sure if it’s Harris Tweed, Donegal Tweed or perhaps standard tweed. I’ll get on to Unique Boutique and find out.

This is precisely the sort of thing that wives might consider giving to their husbands-who-have-everything (particularly if they’re not that into Fish & Chips). But I also reckon this is a smart gift for chaps to give other chaps. It’s a safe one, isn’t it? You can’t go wrong, even if you don’t-really-know-them-that-much. If they don’t have an iPad, then you’re flattering them by presuming they do. If they have an iPad, the chances are they’ve got a rubbish cover (or non at all). Just, make sure the chap doesn’t work for RIM or Motorola, makers of the iPad rivals.

Now then, the cost? Well, it’s not at all crazy. Handmade? I was thinking this might well be one of those half-the-price-of-the-iPad style covers. But no. It’s a highly reasonable £75.

I have to point out that I haven’t seen or held one in the flesh but from the photos — I’ve included a close-up photo of the stitching below — it does look very good quality.

Purchase at Unique Boutique.

Categories
Accessories Chap Who Has Everything

Fish ‘n’ Chips Case: A useful, practical indulgence!

Right then, we’ve all had this problem now and again I’m sure: You find yourself in one of the smarter village High Streets surrounded by 16th Century tumbledown cottages that you remember seeing for sale in excess of £1m in Country Life. There’s the occasional Knight Frank sign. There are one or two super-gastro pubs. Bentley Continental GTs everywhere. Oh, and Range Rovers.

You decide to pop to the very smart chip shop for a traditional Fish & Chips. But wait, what’s missing? I’ll tell you! It’s a critical requirement for any right thinking gentleman: The Fish ‘n’ Chips case.

This does look utterly gorgeous.

Have a look, first of all, then I’ll explain:

Because you've got everything else -- and sometimes the chip shop doesn't have any wooden forks left

So as you can see, it’s a nicely sized case that looks like it will sit perfectly on your shoulders. It’s described as the ultimate indulgence and although I can’t disagree with that statement, the utilitarian in me does see a use for it. Inside the handmade lined rosewood case, you’ll find two important additions to elevate the standard gastro-Fish & Chip experience: A hip flask and a fork.

But, of course, it’s not just a standard hip flask. No. This one is hand-glazed ceramic. The fork? Silver.

And you know what, eating Fish & Chips without a fork is a little bit annoying. Forks are the way ahead — but I do find those wooden ones that most chip shops offer a little bit temporary. So the fork, genius.

As for the flask, fill it with your favourite tipple.

I can think of about 4 people in my immediate circle who would love this. One chap I can positively guarantee would manufacture opportunities to actually use this Fish ‘n’ Chips case at least twice a month. Above anything, I think he’d really appreciate the way the case sits on his tweed blazer.

Given the case is handmade and the flask is hand-glazed, there’s an 8 week lead time for any orders.

And the damage? £1,400.

I’m definitely filing this under ‘for the chap who has everything’ because I’m pretty confident, he doesn’t yet have one of these.

The case retailer, The Unique Boutique Company, has a wide array of other goods that you should take a look at. I’ve signed up to their newsletter. I’m delighted I’ve found them. Plus it looks like they do a nice line in hampers too. (That’s something else I need to look at soon.)