For the best in-car sound system around, go British August 24, 2011 IT would be easy to assume that having a spectacular in-car sound system would mean having a spectacularly loud sound system – the kind of pimped-up, bass-heavy bulldozer of a system that occupies the entire boot and can shake a whole neighbourhood. But that would be wrong. Instead of volume and bass thump, consider a [...]
Watch out for the mobile apps that hide malware August 24, 2011 TECH TALK IT would be crass to describe smartphones as the new rock and roll – but they do make beautiful music. But like many top, none-too-reliable performers, your mobile can’t handle money, everybody wants a piece of it and it’s incredibly insecure. Which is dangerous enough in a musician but fatal for a computer [...]
Taking soundbars into orbit August 24, 2011 IT looks like the looming black monolith from 2001, A Space Odyssey, but the speaker system on the left is a deft spatial stereo gizmo constructed by another plucky British company, the sci fi-sounding Orbitsound. Announced this week and coming into shops next month, the soundbar (which has the not-exactly-charismatic title of T12v3) is able [...]
OUT OF OFFICE August 24, 2011 TOULOUSE LAUTREC AT THE COURTAULD A contemporary of the Impressionists and a troubled, dissolute patron of the Moulin Rouge, the stories of Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec’s life can sometimes overshadow his achievements as an artist. The current exhibition at the Courtauld Institute tackles this by shedding interesting light on both. It looks at his relationship with [...]
No frills and certainly no thrills August 23, 2011 THE name Bipper Tepee promises a fun, nifty little car, something with quirky styling and even quirkier personalisation options on the inside, perhaps. And, while it’s no Nissan Cube on the styling front, it’s fair to say that Peugeot’s Bipper Tepee is a reasonably fun-looking car. That said, it does bear more than a passing [...]
CAR TALK August 23, 2011 VW CITY CAR The is Volkswagen’s tiny city car which is being launched at next month’s Frankfurt motor show. Small but as spacious as possible inside, the four-seater will go on sale with a 60PS or75PS three-cylinder petrol engine capable of up to 67mpg with less than 100g/km of CO2. An electric version is coming [...]
Raising hair: new men’s treatment August 22, 2011 I BLAME Ronaldo. When the absurdly sculpted, smooth-as-marble man-boy started appearing on the sides of buses and on billboards in his Armani boxers last year, the game was up: body hair was no longer part of the male ideal. At least David Beckham, Ronaldo’s predecessor in the Armani ads, looked like he could grow a [...]
EPISODE 24: Late nights and Handel operas August 22, 2011 EMMA is passionate about Handel, especially the operas. She’s sung in several Messiahs and we make – well, I make, on her behalf – an annual donation to the Foundling Museum. The Museum commemorates the Foundling Hospital, where annual performances of the Messiah, sometimes conducted by Handel himself, raised funds for the abandoned children in [...]
Quick ways to get in shape August 22, 2011 FITNESS & DIET EXPERT LAST week, a study from the Lancet revealed that exercising for just 15 minutes a day can add three years to your life and cut the risk of cancer by a heartening 10 per cent. Here are my top five ways to maximise those fifteen minutes: you won’t just achieve those [...]
Oasis of life on cold Chiswell Street August 22, 2011 Chiswell Street Dining Rooms 56 Chiswell Street, EC1Y 4SA Tel: 020 7614 0177 FOOD *** SERVICE ***** ATMOSPHERE *** Cost per person without wine: £35 CHISWELL Street, off Moorgate, is not likely to be on your post-work route unless you work there or live in the Barbican. For it’s a long, dreary street, sort of empty-feeling, [...]