More than a years ago we inherited a bagful of more than 500 corks from James & Daniela. Such was the impressive quantity and pedigree of these corks we were not entirely sure how best to deal with them. At first we tried stringing them together to make small corkboards but this proved to be too inefficient since we were actually drilling little holes into the corks (3 holes per cork) and threading them together. On top of that the result didn’t look too noble. After the initial defeat the corks were left sitting to gather dust for a year before we got back to them.

We finally decided to frame them instead. I saw an example of this outside a Japanese restaurant on my trip back to Auckland. It was huge, must have been about 1.5 x 1 meters and looked damn fine. So when I came back I went in search of a frame with the depth to hold the diameter of the cork (I wasn’t considering slicing the corks after having gone through the ordeal of drilling them). I found a pair of dark grey aluminium frames at Interio. I had originally in mind an aged wooden frame but the dimensions on these babies were like custom made; it was 50×50cm with the depth of 2cm, and they don’t look half bad for CHF45.

Tadek made the patterns on one frame and I on the other. We were going to consolidate our designs and pick nice things from each but in the end we couldn’t be bothered and settled on the original designs. We attached them to the board with generous portions of wood glue. After 1.5 days of drying it holds surprisingly well. I had a couple of the bigger champaign corks standing orthogonally on one of the boards and I could actually hang some little things like keys on it without fear. We added some black pins on the corner so it’s actually functional. However when we pulled the pins out the cork didn’t budge but the frame actually tried to lift from the bottom! Note to self, need to get some better hooks on the walls, in the meantime need to be careful.

Overall it was very satisfying and it used up all the corks. The right cordboard went to James & Daniela and we kept the left one. Click on the thumbnail above to see more closeup shots.

Check out this video on multi-touch screens. It’ll be perfect for public displays in Museums, tourist offices or maybe even photography studios. In any case I hope someone will find a good use for it and not let it go to waste.

My oh my, these OLED audio players just keep getting smaller and smaller! First the mobiBLU DAH-1500i Cube, named the world’s smallest mp3 player, measuring a mere 24mm. Then the iBead 700 comes out measuring 45×45x16.5mm with a color OLED display which also plays photos & videos! Not that many would want to watch a movie on a 1.2 inch screen, unless it comes with super magnifying glasses, but it’s more a matter of showcasing what you can do it on such a tiny device. Oh and lest not forget the X9 XN-F3 color OLED player, even smaller at 40×41x12.8mm. I have small hands and even I have concerns over the handling of controls on that thing.

Cuteness is not all they’ve got going for them. These tiny devices are fully packed with features including FM radio, build in voice recorder, equalizers, stop watch, USB2 and up to 1GB of memory with 2GB in the works. Combined they support a variety of formats like mp3, avi, wma, asf, ogg and jpg.

The mobiBLU DAH-1500i is available from Amazon for $159. The color OLED players are currently only available in Korea, but I can’t wait to see what’s in store for the next generation of color OLED devices.

My Favourite Pan Set 4pcs from Jamie Oliver seems like it would be my favourite too if only I could get it for my minimally equipped pan drawer, by minimally equipped I mean one big, one small all-purpose pan which doesn’t work well for most purposes. Jamie’s set contains:

• 30cm Jamie’s ‘Hot’ Stir Fry - for all the chinese stir fry that I do
• 32cm Jamie’s ‘Sunny Side Up’ Frying Pan - for sunday brunches
• 26cm Jamie’s ‘Perfect’ Saute Pan and Lid - a non-stick small pot I’ve been missing
• 28cm x 24cm Jamie’s ‘Sharks Tooth’ Grill Pan - I really miss having one of this

Sadly Amazon only ship this set within the UK, sigh Granted it may seem all that more desirable given I can’t get it. Another temptation tickled and resisted by Amazon.

We finally received our Lensbaby 2.0, a selective focus SLR camera lens which lets you selectively bring an area of the photo into sharp focus while letting the rest of the image blur away. I ordered it after seeing some stunning photos from the Lensbabies gallery. I was surprised to find it arrive in a small and light cube box without much protection (so that’s why the shipping rate was so low), and it didn’t really require more. The Lensbaby has a remarkably simple construction and to put it simply it consists of a lens at the end of a bendable pipe. That is not to say it’s of low quality, on the contrary, it’s well built and light enough to carry it with the camera everywhere.

The pipe is a queer little thing reminiscent of the Michelin Man. To focus you compress and extend the pipe while bending the pipe will shift the ’sweet spot’ which is the selected focus area. BTW, this is all done manually with your fingertips. It’s not so easy to get right, not merely from the hand coordination perspective but also because the human eye is not too good at selecting the perfect focus.

Lensbaby lets you change the aperture by dropping a disc onto the lens which is then held in place by small magnets and removed by a soft rubbery pen, what a neat little design. The disc comes in 4 different sizes allowing for 5 aperture settings (f2.0, f2.8, f4.0, f5.6, and f8.0). The larger the aperture, the smaller the sweet spot and darker the lens.

On a Canon 350D aka Digital Rebel XT you can take photos with the Lensbaby in AV mode set to the aperture of the Lensbaby. Works really well, perfect exposure, color. You can see some of our photos taken with the Lensbaby by clicking on the image. Some of them are taken with an external flash.

There is a new glass in town for wine, stemless I might add. It’s a new generation of wine glasses for the practical drinker who doesn’t appreciate the beauty in the fragility of a long steam which is prone to breaking when washed, knocked over by careless gestures, or strangled in heated discussions. Though these things don’t tend to happen too frequently it can put tension on our poor nerves. I first saw this from Riedel O, available in different shapes and sizes for the optimal tasting of different grapes, then I saw it again from Bodum So Long, it must be catching on. It was hard to judge the difference from the photos so I seeked a physical examination in the shops. I first saw the Riedel O series. Excellent material, shape, quality, like their glasses just without the stem. I like the look, it has a smartness to it. However as I put my hand around it I could hardly hold it due to its wide circumference and my small hand. Swirling would be difficult. I then checked out Bodum. I really should have done it the other way around because once I’ve felt Riedel’s quality the Bodum tumbler felt cheap in comparison. It had no substance and the shape is not as esthetically pleasing as the Riedel.I’ve made no purchases for now but perhaps I’ll come back to it after I break a couple of my stem glasses.

Andel’s Hotel in Prague remains one of the favourite hotels I’ve stayed at. The building itself is architecturally chic, using modern glass construction with a touch of playfulness in the design. You can see part of the hotel in the left half of the picture, I believe the suspended block is part of the hotel restaurant. The interior of the hotel is minimalist in style but it keeps you interested with different textures and design. The bathroom design is a little weird though. The toilet inside the bathroom sectioned off with a transparent glass door which gives you a kind of eerie aquarium affect when you’re using the toilet. Apart from that I have little to complain about, the rooms has one of the most comfortable sheets and pillows I’ve slept in, the breakfast buffet is excellent, location is great - it’s close to the “Golden city” center and a train station.

To top it off I found a bargain rate through cheaptickets for €107/night for a double room, plus €20/night for parking.

Rex Hotel is a very good choice if you’re arriving in Rome by train. It’s around 5-10min walk from Roma Termini. It is tastefully decorated and it looks like it has been recently renovated. The staff all speaks English and is very friendly and helpful. The narrow walkways and reception feels a bit crammed but the room itself is reasonably sized. I read the delux double rooms are very spacious and may be worth the upgrade, however for the special rate we got through octopu travel for €116/night the upgrade doesn’t seem to be that great of a deal anymore. There is also scooter rental closeby the hotel. Scooter really is the best way to travel in Rome. It was so convenient and such great fun! We could also visit sites on the outskirts of Rome like the catacomb.