The Kindle is awesome but there could be a very disrupter on the horizon - Plastic Logic powered books.    There is a lot to love about the Kindle, the screen is easy on the eyes, access to a huge library and the battery life.  But it still lacks the tactile experience of a book.  That could now change with the introduction of E Ink from Plastic Logic which is a spin-off company from Cambridge University’s Cavendish Laboratory and specializes in polymer transistors and electronics.

The principal product the company has developed is a flexible plastic electronic display the thickness of a credit-card.   The Plastic Logic approach solves the critical issue in manufacturing high resolution transistor arrays on flexible plastic substrates by using a low temperature process without mask alignment. The process, much simpler than conventional amorphous silicon processes, uses an eclectic mix of standard production equipment from display manufacturing and other industries.

You can see a demo of this very cool technology.  Later this year they will be announcing their eReader and publsiher platforms.  We think it will be a page turner!

Photo credit: aubreyrose.

Many tourists are weary of traveling to New York during the recession, but fear not, it is not expensive as you think. For starters, you need to forget about renting cars or taking cabs and make sure you pick up an unlimited MetroCard. Depending on your stay, there are many options available – either the 7-day or the two week unlimited. With this pass, you are free to travel with virtually no restrictions (must wait 15 minutes if you exit the subway and try to re-enter) throughout the greatest city in our country. Wait time for the trains is negligible, unless of course it is late night on a weekday. Now that you have the keys to the city, let us begin to plan our trip!

To stretch your dollar as much as possible, avoid eating at tourists places at all costs like Herald Square and Times Square that overcharge for poor quality food to unsuspecting tourists. Go a little bit out your way, and take the red line (1, 2, 3 trains) to the Upper West Side and discover Amsterdam Avenue. If the weather is nice, I suggest getting off on 59th street and having a nice walk all the way up to 96th street. I guarantee you will find so many little holes-in-the wall that you will find yourself questioning why Broadway is our most famous avenue. If you want lox or sable head to Barney Greengrass on 541 Amsterdam Ave or if you are in the mood for BBQ, Brother Jimmy’s BBQ on 428 Amsterdam Ave is a sincere barbecue joint with something for everyone. From Ethiopian food to wine tasting to Vietnamese to even Jewish pizza, you can find every type of food. And if you want the best Mexican food in the city, head down to Rancho’s on 86th and Amsterdam and have their famous Paella. Rancho Café has been serving the best home-cooked Mexican cuisine in town. , and don’t forget about their delicious banana burrito. Now that’s a treat!

If you still want to want to eat at a high-end place, all you have to do is head east over to Broadway. The food is definitely worth the prices and you still end up saving compared to what you would pay in the mid-town tourist spots. Broadway is a good for special treat, but if you are on a budget, you can still find great deals here. Ollie’s Broadway on 1991 Broadway Ste 67 is noisy and cavernous, but it’s also a great place for a tasty pre-show noodle dinner. One my favorites is Big Nick’s Burger and Pizza Joint on 2175 Broadway. After-hours diners beware: This menu is so big it has a table of contents! If you want pizza without pretensions from an unassuming storefront parlor, head to Sal’s & Carmine Pizza on 2671 Broadway.

Amsterdam Avenue is a great hidden gem, but try to stay south of 96th street. Broadway is definitely more robust and good eats will continue all the way past Columbia University to about 137th street. Besides being able to find cheap eats, as a honorary New York, you must know where and where not to travel and neighborhood converge pretty quickly! Good luck on the red line and next time we will venture out into the outer boroughs!

Photo credit: alvinkredible.

When you think of Pro Bowl, you automatically think of sunshine, rainbows and smiling faces. This all-star game matches the elite, best-of-the-best players from the AFC against the NFC. Since this was the last year that the NFL Pro Bowl will be held at Aloha Stadium in Honolulu, Hawaii … here are some other inspirations for you to make it out to the island of O’ahu.

Waikiki Beach is a great starting point. There are a plethora of hotels, restaurants, bars and shops to keep you busy. The bonus is that you are no more than a hop, skip and a jump away from the beach. So, if you get tired of spending money, you can take a break and relax on the sand or take a dip in the 70 degree all-year-round water.

The best place to go to get out of the city is the North Shore. It’s about an hour’s drive along the gorgeous coast and well worth it. On the way up, you can stop off at the famous Dole plantation where they boast to have the Guiness Book of World Record’s “Largest Maze”. Once you’ve reached your elbows worth of pineapples, you’re only 15 minutes away from the historic Haleiwa town. This town is the gateway to Oahu’s famous North Shore beaches: Pipeline, Sunset and Waimea. In the winter you can catch waves that top 30 feet! Stop for a shaved-ice while you take in the gorgeous scenery.

A secret hidden gem in the North Shore is Giovanni’s Shrimp Truck. Located in Kahuku, it makes for a convenient, delicious stop for lunch or dinner while touring the North Shore and the windward coasts of Oahu. Giovanni’s is one of the oldest and most popular of the shrimp trucks that dot the North Shore—and arguably the best. Though it’s called the White Shrimp Truck, its white exterior is almost completely covered in autographs and graffiti by past and present Giovanni shrimp enthusiasts. Written on a simple whiteboard, the menu options consist only of three shrimp plates, and a hot dog covered in scampi. All shrimp plates come with a dozen shrimp, cost $12, and are served with two big scoops of rice and a fat lemon wedge.

On the way down the eastside of the island you’ll come across what’s locally known as “Chinaman’s Hat” or Mokolii Island. The nickname “Chinaman’s Hat” came from its conical shape resembled the straw coolie hats used by immigrant workers. Chinaman’s Hat is one of the top spots for taking pictures on windward coastline. The island is most accessible from the state’s Kualoa Regional Beach Park. Getting to the island is up to you. Obviously, this requires crossing a body of water in some manner: kayaking, swimming, snorkeling, boating, etc.

If you’re an active person, I truly recommend the hike up Diamond Head. It is located on the South-east Coast of O’ahu at the end of Waikiki overlooking the Pacific Ocean. The trail up, for the most part, is not difficult at all. The views from the top are perfect for picture taking. If you’d prefer to be in the water as opposed to above it, you must snorkel Hanauma Bay. Snorkeling is good at this bay year round. The highlights of the bay are the sheer number and variety of fish. It is a marine preserve area, so feeding of the fish is prohibited. There’s even a little museum before you enter the bay that will familiarize you with the different species of fish. Hanauma Bay is about 10 miles east of Waikiki Beach.

So at the conclusion of the 2009 NFL Pro Bowl, the NFC wins 30-21. Who knows if they’ll bring the game back to Aloha Stadium … but you have to admit you can’t resist the other beauties and attractions of the island.

Well I guess I am outlier as NYT called it grotesque and Tree Hugger says “if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all.”  Well, I love it as it appeals to both my obtuse styling sensibility and interest in clean advanced technologies.

Debuting at the LA Auto Show, this concept car is not another gas-guzzling autrocity (pun intended).  The car is a combination of the Honda racing technology and and their relatively recent interest in fuel cells.  Coming in at 135HP it will be no match for Tesla’s 300HP might.

Honda has been at the fuel cell game since 1999.  The basic concept is that a hydrogen fuel cell powering an electric engine.  The technology is certified Zero Emissions  - no green house gasses or other toxic stuff just a little water vapor coming off this machine.  Honda has a production version of their fuel cell called the FCX Clarity that is being leased in southern California which is pretty great so long as you live and work near one of the 3 (sic) hydrogen stations in LA.   Given the availability of fuel. don’t expect me to be driving one soon.

A breakthrough by scientists from the University of Glasgow could see the storage capacity grow by 150,000 times for the same amount of surface area.  To put this into perspective, 160 Petabytes could theoretically fit on the disk that is now in an iPod.

This is a nanotechnology breakthrough where researchers tell us they:

"assemble a functional nanocluster that incorporates two electron donating groups, and position them precisely 0.32 nm apart so that they can form a totally new type of molecular switching device. This is unprecedented and provides a route to produce new a molecule-based switch that can be easily manipulated using an electric field. By taking these nano-scale clusters, just a nanometer in size, and placing them onto a gold or carbon, we can control the switching ability. Not only is this a new type of switchable molecule, but by grafting the molecule on to metal (gold) or carbon means that we can potentially bridge the gap between traditional semiconductor devices and components for nanoscale plastic electronics. The key advantage of the molecule sized switch is information / transistor density in traditional semi-conductors.  Molecule sized switches would lead to increasing data storage to say 4 Petabits per square inch."

I could have said it better, not.  The geniuses behind this are Professor Lee Cronin and Dr Malcolm Kadodwala.

Demi Moore ’s boy toy, Ashton Kutcher, seems to have a promising new deal going with his telephony venture - Ooma.  It has been out for a year and they have had to drop the price but it seems to be getting real traction.  The price includes unlimited US calling forever!  While it’s a bit more expensive than the MagicJack you do not need to leave a computer on and Ooma’s call quality is superior.  All the basic features like CallerID and Voice Mail are included, while an optional Premier tier of service ($99/yr) offers additional features such as extra lines/numbers and conference calling.  Hopefully this one will work out better than Kutcher’s crappy movies.

The Nissan Mori electric scooter is a bit too Fischer Price for my taste but if this independent designer’s vision is produced I think it may be the next iMac (vintage ‘99).  The design incorporates state of the art technology by adjusting itself, while all mechanical and maintenance issues are managed by the on-board computer.  It is electric so there should be air benefits but probably no less carbon footprint. 

How much are you willing to pay for something like this?

Great post on learning from failure in a start-up. 

MTV Games announced that the second installment of the popular "Rock Band" game will be released in September and will be initially exclusive to Xbox 360.  Like the original Rock Band, the game is being developed by the MTV-owned Harmonix games studio who also developed Guitar Hero. Details of the product will be announced at E3 in Los Angeles later this month but the developers have announced an unusual twist - it will be fully compatible with the original instruments, as well as the more than 100 songs that were available to download for the first "Rock Band so they have will be competing on more than the typical game planned obsolescence. 

In the original Rock Star, players can select are guitar, bass, drums or vocals as they hit the road as either an aspiring superstar solo act, or for the first time in game genre history take on the true collaborative and challenging nature of music as they form a band and jam together in multiplayer action from home or around the world.  Either way players will have to master their stage presence through the various game modes and polish their rock chops via the unrivaled Rock Band song list if they hope to make it out of the garage, into the clubs and finally on to the main stage.  Rock Band is a natural extension of the passion for Guitar Hero - and you know that there are lots of fanatics out there!

The English Cotswolds are known for their natural beauty but soon it will also be world famous for its Eco-Friendly homes in the Cirencester area.  One development,  The Lower Mill Estate, offers “distinctive, sustainable, modernist second homes, in a rural setting”.  The development was a 550 acre mining site which has been transformed into a seven lake reserve fed by three rivers and offers beautiful plant and wildlife.  The above, to-be-built house, known as the Orchid house exemplifies the uniqueness of designs where they have strived to achieve a harmony with the surrounding nature and yet blow your socks off with gorgeous, jaw dropping architecture.  

The Orchid house was designed by London based designer Sarah Featherstone and will boast many green features including  an underground geothermal heating system and a planet switch.  The project was recently sold for a price rumored to be more than $14 Million - that is one incredible second home! Other designers of properties in the Lower Mill Estate include  Richard Reid, Will Alsop .

Image Credits: www.dailymail.co.uk