Chris Bangle Explains BMW Styling

In this video, BMW design chief Chris Bangle uses the GINA concept car to explain the ideas behind his styling themes.


And once more with music and without Bangle:


Whether or not you like the new look, you must admit that change was necessary. BMW has been under pressure. Their cars have been shamelessly copied for years. If BMW was to remain the styling leader in this game of follow the leader, then they needed to break new ground in automotive styling.

Videos BMW-web.tv
Categories:Cars Movies Design

Snap, Crackle, and Pop

In Australasia this breakfast cereal is called "Rice Bubbles" rather than "Rice Krispies"

Once, as a trivia question, I was asked to name the three cartoon characters used in advertisements for a famous breakfast cereal. In a major malapropism I answered "Crack, Papple, and Snot".

Brian Hackney Interviews Lani Chin

A few weeks ago, Lani (my long suffering partner) granted Brian Hackney a few moments of her time. Brian hosts a San Francisco television magazine called "Eye on the Bay", which airs weekly on local CBS station KPIX.

The theme of the September 23rd edition was SF fog. We live in it. We love it! Brian came to our foggy apartment to talk to Lani and find out why we/she loves the fog.



Categories:San Francisco Movies

Shell Formula 1 Commercial

Thanks Intelligence.Arktip
Categories:Cars Movies

Bath Chair

70L X 58W X 70H cm Steel by Reddish

The "Breakfast at Tiffany's" bathtub couch is as delightful as Audrey Hepburn.

This Bath Chair, however, is not delightful. It is an over thought attempt to re-purpose a bathtub into a chair. And the drain holes make me think it's an urinary incontinence chair. Yuck.

Thanks TreeHugger
Categories:Furniture

iPhone Email Folders

(Note: let me know in the comments if I'm using any computing terms incorrectly)
I was using a POP email account from Earthlink to get email to my iPhone. That worked fine, but the iPhone email application doesn't support user created folders with POP accounts.

The iPhone does support user created folders for IMAP email accounts, but Earthlink doesn't have IMAP email accounts.

Now, what is the difference between IMAP and POP, and why would I prefer IMAP?

Correct me if I'm wrong, but this is what I learnt:
A POP account stores your email on your ISP's server, and copies mail to your PC's email application when requested. When you edit, move, delete or reply to an email you are doing so from the email application on your PC.

An IMAP account stores your email and email folders on your ISP's server, and copies the mail and folders to your PC's mail application when requested. When you edit, move, delete or reply to an email, you are doing so on the server. So changes made to my iPhone email will instantly appear on my iMac email application.

The advantage of IMAP is that email changes are stored on the server, and so any changes made to the email using your PC will appear on any other PC. In my case, email read and deleted on my iPhone will also be deleted from my iMac's mail application. Saves time and keeps my email applications synchronized.

My solution to the lack of Earthlink IMAP support was to forward all email to my Gmail account, and set up IMAP email for Gmail on both my iPhone and Imac. As a bonus, my Gmail folders now appear on my iPhone!





Of course, this Gmail work-around requires some fine tuning. I didn't want the 8,000 old undeleted emails in my Gmail account to appear in my inbox! I could have opened a new gmail account to solve this problem, but instead I used the filters in Gmail to only place new mail in the Inbox. I can still view the other 8,000 in the All Mail folder.

Categories:Gadgets

New Earthlink Mail Settings for iPhone

The last two days I've been confounded by an email problem: I could not send email from my iPhone using my Earthlink account.

The cause of the problem was quite simple: Earthlink has switched to password authentication for outgoing mail. This will stop miscreants from using your email account to send spam.

Change these settings on your iPhone: The outgoing mail server is now "smtpauth.earthlink.net", and Password authentication must be turned on.

So that solves that problem. Now Earthlink, how about allowing IMAP email?

We Don't Have Children. Can you Tell?

New from SuckUK.

Happiness and Success

It's a pity that human evolution does not select for happiness.

Evolution selects for fitness. Fitness is necessary for survival. Happiness is not necessary for survival.

Those people who are most fit to survive are strong, intelligent and adaptable.

Wouldn't it be nice if strength, intelligence and adaptability lead to happiness? It may lead to success, but not happiness.

Happiness is independent of success. A person can consider himself to be successful and yet still be unhappy. It's more likely to be the other around: Happiness leads to success.

But evolution does not select for happiness. I wish human evolution did select for happiness. I wish I was happier. I wish we were all happier.

Fast Food Fascist Nation

For a few weeks after September 11th 2001 we had the world's sympathy and support. We were world citizens. But then we pissed it all away when we started the wars. We could have been a great nation. We could have shown some class.

Instead we are now the world's largest fascist nation. The rest of the First World cannot fathom us: Why we ban books and abortion, take religion so seriously, question Evolution, and consume consume consume. Why we let the profit motive control health care. Why we don't belong to labour unions. Why we won't get off our knees and kick the boss in the balls!

By our actions in Iraq, haven't we proved the terrorists were right?

Categories:Politics

When Cars Collide

In California, when two cars collide, the drivers leave their vehicles where ever they come to rest until the police and tow trucks arrive. Sigh.

After a car accident it's either obvious or impossible to know who was at fault. So leaving the cars blocking the street is unnecessary. If you have a collision, collect your thoughts together and get your car off the road and out of the way.

Perhaps people really think the traffic police will perform a thorough investigation of the accident scene to find out who is to blame for the mishap? They won't. They'll just fill out an accident report for you to give to your insurance company. Just like the police do when a house is burgled, or a pocket is picked.

The California Department of Transportation must agree with me. They've been putting up these signs on Interstate 880.

Categories:Cars

Holly Golightly had a Bathtub Couch?

Breakfast at Tiffany's is one of my favourite movies. So how could I have missed the bathtub couch from Holly Golightly's apartment? Maybe the couch was featured more in the publicity stills than in the movie?



Categories:Furniture Movies

Acting Advice from Ricky Gervais

Lani read this article to me from the Esquire magazine website, and we both had a good laugh.



"...always play characters who have your haircut. That saves an hour in the morning. No wigs, no beards. Forget it. I had to wear a beard for one day. Ridiculous. Forty minutes. No. My haircut: ten minutes. And don't choose ridiculous costumes. Choose normal clothes. Ordinary trousers, ordinary shoes that you can put on yourself. Costume: five minutes. Hair and makeup: ten minutes. That's it. No costumes. No wigs. Own haircut.

"Two: Do your own accent. You don't want to have vocal coaching. Don't do anything that needs skill. If there's a scene and it says " . . . rides a horse," say, "You do not need me to ride that horse." Because you'll have to learn how to ride a horse. That could take, like, two weeks. Too busy. Too much trouble.

"Three: Always say that your character should be sitting down. Don't ever be standing at the beginning of a scene. So if it starts off, "There's a knock at the door, you get up and answer the door," you'll be up and down for eight hours. Convince them that you should sit there and say, "Come in."...

"Four: If there are long and complicated monologues, cut them. Say, "I don't think I'd say that." No one will think you're being lazy; it comes across as integrity.

Photo BBC
Categories:Movies

Whimsical Doorbell

By Hong Kong designer Li Jianye.

Thanks Unplggd
Categories:Gadgets Design

The Perfect Bicycle for Personal Transportation

It seems to me that we Californians have suffered from never having bicycles that are appropriate and efficient for daily transportation. Here's my evidence:

1) Cruiser bikes. Overweight toys rather than transportation.
2) 10-speed bikes of the 70's. Cheap imitations of racing bikes. Poor ergonomics.
3) Mountain bikes. The ones I see being used for serious transportation are poorly designed heavy and inefficient dual suspension models sold by discount chain (haha) stores.

Now this is a bike I'd buy for riding to work:



The Trek SoHo is a modern update of the bicycle I rode to school. I rode a Raleigh with 3-speed Archer internal gears, full mud guards, chain guard, upright riding position, and a rack on the back for my books. It served me well, and never ate the cuffs of my school uniform pants during my 5 years of high school (yes, I was in the upper 6th Form).

The SoHo has improved on the old design with an aluminium frame, 8-speed hub, roller drum-brakes, and braze-ons for the rack. And Trek chose to use belt-drive to keep it clean. $990.

Update 9/7/2008:
Be sure to read Mark Stosberg's excellent article on Recreation vs Transportation Bikes from his Bikes as Transportation Blog.

Thanks Gizmodo
Categories:Cars

Tag Taper-it Candle Shaver

Like a large pencil sharpener, it neatly shapes the candle end to fit in candle holders.
$2.95 at CB2.

Labor Day