Wednesday, January 02, 2008

Armani Hotels and Resorts

Giorgio Armani S.p.A. and EMAAR Hotels & Resorts LLC are pleased to announce that their respective Chairmen, Mr. They have today executed the formal contractual agreement between the two companies for the development of a unique international collection of 'Armani Hotels and Resorts'.

Giorgio Armani has been one of the world's most influential designers who is now set to extend his design sensibilities into the arena of hospitality. Armani Hotels & Resorts will be places that offer the same kind of welcome to guests as the designer would privately extend to his friends and family. The website will continuously update the new Armani Hotel & Resort developments which now includes the Armani Hotel Milano and the Armani Hotel Dubai.

Link Via [AME info]

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Live Cooking Table by pmg

From http://cubeme.com/blog/2007/12/13/live-cooking-table-by-pmg/#more-3901

December 13th, 2007 by Hans

It has a surface made of SCHOTT Ceran glass-ceramic panels which can be decorated individually with your choice of metallic prints. The control elements are hidden within the table: This is how the “Live Cooking Table” is able to keep its sleek aesthetic without cables or buttons and dials.

Due to its modular property the “Live-Cooking-Table” can be extended to a length of up to 6 metres and accommodate about 16 dinner guests.

Via [Dexinger] Via [Designtaxi]

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Tuesday, January 01, 2008

Creative's InPerson WiFi video phone outed by FCC

Tough luck Creative, good news Type A consumers. The FCC just outed Creative's unannounced, inPerson wireless video conferencing solution. Not only that, but they've loosed the user manual, external photos, and even splayed the device wide to reveal a VGA camera, built-in dual microphones, and TI DaVinci graphics chip. Here's what they've got coming: 802.11b/g WiFi and Ethernet, 76-degree wide-angle lens with "excellent low light performance," H.264 video with SIP support, rechargeable/removable Li-ion battery, remote control, headphone jack for privacy, and TV-out to view callers on a larger display. The battery can be charged in 5-hours for a 2-hour run when using the built-in, 7-inch, 16.7 million color LCD at 50% brightness. That lifespan increases to about 5 hours when sending the display to the TV. It's also fully integrated with SightSpeed accounts. As such, it features automatic SightSpeed account login, speed dials, call history and contact list management as you'd expect. So is this the device / service mashup that will finally bring ubiquitous distribution of the dedicated video phone promised since the '50s? No. Of course, even the first generation brown Zune can garner buyer hysteria when the price is right. So go ahead Creative, tell us, how much and when?

 

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Stanford's nanowire battery leapfrogs Li-ion

Stanford claims its latest advances in silicon nanowires have it building batteries with 10 times the capacity of existing Li-ion cells. Apparently people have been trying to stuff silicon -- which has a much higher capacity than existing materials -- into a battery for decades, but since it swells when charged with positively charged lithium and shrinks during use, the silicon has a tendency to "pulverize." Who knew batteries could be so dramatic? Oh, right. The advancement at Stanford, led by Yi Cui, builds the battery in the form of silicon nanowires, giving the silicon room to grow and shrink without damage. A patent is being filed, and Yi Cui is already considering forming a company or licensing the tech to a manufacturer.

 

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DisplayLink's new VGC 4.3 supports Vista Aero 3D

Since simply having a USB-fed monitor would not be bleeding edge enough for you, DisplayLink has updated its Virtual Graphics Card software to support the Windows Vista Aero 3D interface. The update, version 4.3, is available to all DisplayLink-based systems, including USB graphics adapters, docking stations and monitors. DisplayLink claims it's the first implementation of Aero in a network display technology, and since you can plug in up to six displays with VGC, certain maths would say that adds up to a whole bunch of Aero.

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