The New Coffee Bars: Unplug, Drink, Go
Cafes in NYC are starting to eschew comfy lounges and tables for Italian-style high bars and counters to discourage laptop users and refocus on the joy of coffee drinking.
My things
One thing I particularly love at the moment about my iPhone 3G is nothing to do with the phone itself, rather an app that I have running most of the day.
It’s called Things and you could describe it in a nutshell as a to do list manager or task manager. But that would be selling it short.
I use Things as my personal oracle of — er — things. I check it when I get up, I plan my day on it whilst travelling into work, I get great pleasure from ticking things off and hate when something that I planned to get done, doesn’t.
Nothing is more satisfying that ticking that little checkbox against an item that’s been sitting in the Today list for more than it should or when completing anything in the Someday list.
The desktop version is great for keeping everything in sync (plus with the latest version you can add reoccurring items, something not yet available on the iPhone version), however the power of this great little app is being able to access it anywhere anytime to add that thing you know you should really get around to doing someday and to remember that other thing you got out of bed to do.
Not sure what I’d do without this little app. I’m really looking forward to giving it a spin on an iPad, their iPad version looks insane. And while I’m linking to videos, Apple also have a great one up profiling the developers behind Things.
S1K qualifying
Some shots from last Friday’s qualifying session for the 2010 Sepang 1000km enduro.
McLaren F1 turns 20
Incredible to believe that the mighty McLaren F1 turns twenty this week. Twenty!
At the time it was launched, I can remember reading and re-reading magazine articles about the development and specifications of the F1 – from the use of kit-cars to test various components prior to building a chassis proper; the three-seat, driver in the middle, passengers behind the driver on each side layout (still brilliant, yet still not emulated); that carbon fibre chassis (a first); the gold foil lined engine bay; the titanium tool kit; the built-in modem to dial back to the factory during servicing; and the time one of the initial prototypes was lost in a high-speed roll testing in Namibia.
This extraordinary car even made it into Aussie folklore with a story of a certain car-loving beverage company CEO importing one to Australia – only to have his “mechanic” roll it into a ditch somewhere on West Head north of Sydney, far from any local BMW dealership. Or so the story goes.
I’ve had the privilege of seeing an F1 up close on three occasions, though unfortunately only ever on static display: firstly at the ’95 Sydney Motorshow when one was displayed on the BMW stand (above), another time gawking at the example that sat on the showroom floor of the sole McLaren dealership on Park Lane, London for many years – same car that sold at auction in 2008 for £2.3m with 485km on the clock…
Closest I’ve been to one was the time I stumbled across this example (below) parked on Flinders Lane in the Melbourne CBD, one lunchtime a few years back.
Suffice to say, if I had the means – a McLaren F1 would be at the top of my supercar shopping list.
Three-cheers for the McLaren F1!