Teaching machines to think March 7, 2012 At this moment, your brain is being bombarded with data. Not just from the conventional five senses, but with information about your balance, hunger, the positions of your limbs and the urgency of your next bowel movement. To cope with this assault, the brain must be ruthless in its compression. For instance, light signals are [...]
How the Fiat Panda became cool March 6, 2012 IN 1980, the original Fiat Panda was designed by Giorgetto Giugiaro to be a small, cheap and cheerful, no frills utility vehicle. Clever innovations included a hammock-like rear seat that could be folded flat to make a bed or removed completely to generate van-like load space. Fiat has sold 6.5 million Pandas since then and [...]
CAR TALK March 6, 2012 LAMBORGHINI AVENTADOR J Lamborghini has just revealed the monstrously powerful 700hp Aventador J convertible at the 2012 Geneva Motor Show. The one-off two-seater has no windscreen and no roof to reduce weight, so the driver and passenger have to gear up like race drivers before heading off. The car is so low the rear view [...]
House prices fall 0.5 per cent March 6, 2012 British house prices dipped 0.5 per cent in February, largely offsetting January’s 0.6 per cent rise, data from mortgage lender Halifax showed. House prices fell 1.9 per cent in the three months to February compared with a year ago, taking the average price of a home to £160,118. Lower inflation in the coming months should [...]
The rise of gourmet cinema March 5, 2012 WE settled into our indecently capacious seats, placed our drinks on the sidetables and leaned back, sighing with satisfaction. This was certainly the First Class cabin of cinemas: leg room enough for a couple of giants; an array of buttons for seat adjustment and waiter-summoning and, of course, a substantial food menu masterminded by one [...]
Something more than Sauvignon March 5, 2012 HEAD SOMMELIER AND MANAGER OF LUTYENS RESTAURANT WITh spring on the way, my thoughts have turned to warm weather wines. But I wish people would think outside the Sauvignon Blanc box. If you like SB, shake it up a bit with these grapes: Albariño: When I started my career in London in the late 90s [...]
WHERE TO WINE AND DINE WHILE YOU WATCH March 5, 2012 THE AUBIN CINEMA The Shoreditch House cinema is open to the public: it’s a 45-seat theatre with velvet chairs and a tasty snack bar. The one odd thing about it is that it’s within an Aubin and Wills “concept store” – A&W is the more grown-up arm of Jack Wills. £10 (regular seat); £24 (deluxe [...]
Out with the old skin and in with the new for spring March 5, 2012 KATE SOMERVILLE: EXFOLIKATE INTENSIVE EXFOLIATING TREATMENT £80, uk.spacenk.com Celebrity facialist Somerville has created the ultimate skin polish and deep-clean. Expect to glow. RODIN: OLIO LUSSO LUXURY BODY OIL £68, liberty.co.uk City A.M.’s top treat for the body, this warm, golden oil smells of health and will soften your winter-hardened skin right up. OMOROVICZA: GOLD SUGAR SCRUB [...]
Trick your body into dropping a dress size March 5, 2012 FITNESS & DIET EXPERT IF you’re having trouble shedding those winter pounds, try these tips for getting the ball (and the fat) rolling. Get scribbling Carry a notebook with you for a week and write down every morsel that passes your lips – studies show that you wind up eating 15 per cent less if [...]
Episode 48: Noel’s birthday party plans March 5, 2012 Noel lies in bed, staring up at the constellations of stars glowing in the dark on the ceiling above him. Recent bedtime stories have whizzed us through child-friendly, abridged nineteenth century classics: Frankenstein, Jekyll and Hyde, Dracula and most recently, Treasure Island, as much for my ill-read benefit as for Noel’s. And tonight, we’ve just [...]