Most expensive "balloon ride"!!!

Krug, a French winemaker known for their oaky champagne and sister company to Louis Vuitton, began offering the world’s most expensive balloon ride in 2007 when they unveiled Krug Is in the Air, a “bespoke experience.”

The balloon, designed by Camerons of Bristol, has room for up to eight guests, a flight commander and a waiter. The basket has been been customized by Bruno Domeau and Philippe Pérès, who have upholstered it in their luxuriously soft “Togo” leather. The meals, designed by master chefs, are created to complement both the lavish experience and the accompanying Krug Grande Cuvée, Krug’s grand crus.

The Krug Is in the Air balloon was first launched in Paris. It then embarked on a world tour, offering the ultimate ballooning experience in the US, England, Italy, Japan and Hong Kong. The world’s most expensive balloon ride cost €50,000—around US $70,000.

Don't use "CAPITAL" letters in e-mail, you might be "Fired"!!!

Vicki Walker, an Auckland (New Zealand) accountant, was sacked for sending supposedly confrontational emails with words in red, in bold and in CAPITAL LETTERS.

The Employment Relations Authority in New Zealand ruled that Walker was not fairly terminated from her position after sending the emails to co-workers. Her previous employers, ProCare, have now been ordered to pay New Zealand dollars $17,000 (US $11,500/€8000) for unfair dismissal.

Fired in December 2007, after two years with the company, ProCare claim Walker had “caused disharmony in the workplace by using block capitals, bold typeface and red text in her emails.”

Walker claims that the one email used in evidence was in regard to how her team should fill claim forms, and specifies a time and date highlighted in bold red, and a sentence written in capitals and highlighted in bold blue. It reads: “To ensure your staff claim is processed and paid, please do follow the below checklist.”

Walker plans to seek further compensation.

Via Digg

Most beautiful woman in the history - Helen of Troy...

Helen of Troy and the Trojan War were central to the early history of ancient Greece. Helen is the object of one of the most dramatic love stories of all time and one of the main reasons for a ten-year war between the Greeks and Trojans, known as the Trojan War. Helen of Troy is known as the face that launched a thousand ships because of the vast number of warships the Greeks sailed to Troy to retrieve Helen.

The Trojan War Cycle is based on a story from the legendary period of ancient Greece, a time when it was common to trace lineage to the gods. Helen is said to have been a daughter of the king of the gods, Zeus. Her mother was generally considered to have been Leda, the mortal wife of the king of Sparta, Tyndareus.

pic revilo-oliver
Via about

Made in India!!! Funny...

There was a Japanese who went to India for sightseeing.

On the last day, he hired a cab and told the driver to drive to the Airport.During the journey, a Honda drove past the taxi.

Thereupon, the man leaned out of the window excitedly and yelled, "Honda, very fast! Made in Japan!!!

After a while, a Toyota sped past the taxi and again the Japanese man leaned out of the window and yelled, "Toyota, very fast! Made in Japan!"

And then a Mitsubishi sped past the taxi. For the third time, the Japanese leaned out of the window and yelled, "Mitsubishi, very fast! Made in Japan!"

The driver was a little angry, but he kept quiet. And this went on for quite a number of cars.

Finally, the taxi came to the airport. The fare was 800 rupees!!!!

The Japanese exclaimed, "What?? So expensive!"

There upon, the driver yelled back, "Meter, Made in India VERY VERY FAST !!!!!"

Recieved as an email forward...

How to get free themes for your "Blackberry"???

Here is a well designed site which will rock you as soon as you enter it with the huge collection of themes for almost all the blackberry phones. It is none other than blackberrythemes. The site claims to host over 400+ free themes for phone models ranging from Blackberry 8100 to 9600. The themes are all in zip format and you will need a PC and your desktop manager software to install them.



The installation instructions are provided on the contact us page of the website. On the home page you need to select the model of your phone from the list at the top and then you will be directed to a page where the themes are available for download for that particular phone. There is a link below every theme saying "Download zip", just hit it and relax while it downloads. Just install in your blackberry and have fun.

Via blackberrythemes

Samsung "App Store" in the making...

Hello Samsung haters, here is some bad news for you. Samsung has recently announced an app store ala apple and G1 for its mobile devices. People hate samsung mobiles for their battery life, for the cheap built and vintage technology. But not anymore. With almost all the mobile companies jumping into the smartphone businesses, samsung isn't far behind and with the app store they are going to conquer some part of the business world.

Samsung is launching its app store on Sep 14th for the Omnia and I8910 HD handsets for Britain, France and Italy. Later on they are going to expand to other handsets like Omnia II and OmniaLite. The proceedings will follow up for other nations as well. Samsung is supposed to start its app store with around 300 apps to start with and the partners include none other than EA Sports, Capcom, Gameloft, etc.

Via engadget

Where does great thoughts come out from??? LOL!!!

This is the best "thought for the day" I have ever seen. LOL!!! Just think about it and say how good is your thought for the day.

Via twitpic

Where the hell is my "Discount", mate???

Last week I went to this outlet mall which was more like a huge village fair except for the absence of joy rides. There I had a really good time with lot of people around shopping mostly for their kids as that was the week all schools were opening for the fall. That was the first time I saw lots of people at a single avenue after the dreaded swine flu disease has blown in.

What the issue here is, there, in the mall, I went into some branded shoe outlet store. This store claimed to offer lots of discounts on the branded shoes which included (but not just these) brands like Sketchers, Nike, Reebok, etc. In the aisle for sketchers shoes I saw this particular variety of shoes, which costs me a cool $49.99 and it is on discount sale. Then out of curiosity, I wanted to know the real price and I just moved the top label to the side.

What is the real price? Can you guess it was the same price as shown on the discount? How mean of these stores? They are playing with the customers by showing off the real price as discounted price and making fools of them. I wanted to shout at the manager but thought again, let this guy live his life happily. Why spoil his job, when the instructions are from above (read "above" as in from the top brass of the company). This was so annoying and I had left the place in a jiffy without saying a word. Thanks to a friend who has shown this to me, I haven't been fooled by these cheap tricksters...

Wedding in Pune!!!

This is the face of the worst Swine Flu hit city in India, Pune. This pic shows how people are really affected by this dreaded disease. Atleast people had some creativity and they changed the masks of bride and groom to match their outfits. This is really funny...

Via twitpic

Force India scores its first Grand Prix points...

Team Force India has created history by scoring its first points with a podium finish by its driver Giancarlo Fishichella. He finished second behind Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen in the Belgian Grand Prix.

Race position:

Lap 44/44
Position	Drivers	Teams	Pit stops
1	Kimi Raikkonen	Ferrari	2
2	G Fisichella	Force India	2
3	S Vettel	Red Bull	2
4	R Kubika	BM W Suber	2
5	N Heidfeld	M W Suber	2

Sebastian Vettel finished third ahead of Robert Kubica and Nick Heidfeld who finished the race fourth and fifth respectively. This is the first win for Force India after its entry into F1 last season. Force India's other driver Adrian Sutil was 11th to finish the race.

Via TOI

Kill the foul smell with a tea bag...

This is an account from apartment therapy guys where they had an experience of how good a teabag works as a room freshener. Read for yourself.

"Yesterday we were flying back to LA from Seattle and had to take a series of smaller airplanes with just the one compact bathroom in the back. Normally these get pretty...stuffy early on in the flight and the people sitting close to it definitely have a worse flight. But on one of the flights we noticed that upon entering the bathroom it smelled kind of nice, but not like an air freshener, it just smelled pleasant. Shutting the door, we realized what it was:

There, hanging on the back of the door were 4 tea bags (Good Earth Spiced Tea to be exact). Because of the spices they held, it filled the tiny space with a natural aroma that wasn't overpowering but just enough to absorb/mask the other smells. One of the flight attendants must have put the tea bags there to make it more pleasant for everyone. We loved how simple a solution it was using what they probably already had on hand. We plan to raid our tea drawer and try out some mint or chai tea in a hall closet or our own bathroom."

via apartmenttherapy

Calvin at his best...

Click on the image above to have a better view of Calvin, one of my favorite comic characters. He is featured in one of the most famous comic strips Calvin and Hobbes, where-in he does silly and nasty things with his imaginative friend, the stuffed toy tiger - Hobbes. Calvin never ever seizes to enthrall me. Just wanted to share with you...

For more of Calvin follow here

Nokia N900 up for grabs in Germany and Italy...

The new Nokia N900 device from Nokia is now available for pre-order in countries like Germany and Italy. The price posted there is around $860 which is pretty big but considering the features it is offering, it is OK. If you want to buy in stores then you have to wait till October '09 until it gets available in stores.

Nokia N900 comes with a 32GB of storage with a microSD card and is upgradable upto 48GB. The CPU is a ARM Cortex A-8 processor and the phone is equipped with a slide out QWERTY keyboard. It also hosts a 5MP camera.

Via engadget

Wish You a Happy Birthday, Michael...

Today is the birthday of Michael "The POP" Jackson. Just remembering him, doesn't cost me a penny. Will listen his songs today as a tribute to him...

Dear Starbucks - A letter with Love...

Via Digg

President Barack Obama holidaying...

The American President Barack Obama is now on a vacation but he isn't far away from the eyes of praying media. These are the shots taken when he is in Massachusetts. The Obama family paid a visit to Nancy's restaurant, a seafood joint in Oak Bluffs, on the island of Martha's vineyard. Barack Obama, Michelle and their two daughters, Malia and Sasha were seen having a cozy time together.

Via Perez

Dual Screen Laptops - First of its kind...

In a bid to outrun other Laptop makers, the Laptop maker Gscreen has outrun itself by making a dual screen laptop. This is the first of its kind in a laptop and it is going to be released to general public before the holidays. Spacebook laptop is one such laptop from gScreen and it has two 15.4" displays for you to play around with. These laptops will be really cool for the multi-tasking guys. The second screen stows away behind the first and slides out when you really need it.

You can have a selection of Core 2 Duos, 4GBs of RAM, NVIDIA GeForce 900M graphics and a 7200 RPM drive. All of this could cost you somewhere around $3000. There might also be a 13" model in the making and get ready to embrace them when they arrive at your local store by this holidays.

Via engadget

Dakota Fanning from "Twilight"...

This is an official pic of Dakota Fanning from the movie "Twilight". She is acting as Jane a frighteningly fantastic member of the Volturi. This is from the first official shots of the royal vampire family that is featured in The Twilight Saga: New Moon.

Via Perez

Fuelling a space shuttle... isn't that easy "to do"!!!

This is the pic of the space shuttle Discovery being fueled, not for a fight though but for a flight on friday. This is being done in Kennedy space center based in Florida. I was reading about this and I was like amazed to know that the external tank capacity of Discovery space shuttle is about 1.6 Million pounds of liquid fuel. This is huge huge amounts of fuel.

But when they were trying to fuel it the day before they found some bad spot in the fuel tank due to which, they had to stop fueling it and the launch was delayed to friday. Hope you get a glimpse of it somehow....

Loch Ness monster... spotted or not???

Jason Cooke, a 25 year old security guard from Nottingham, discovered(actually identified) what could be a big clue towards the existence of the legend, Loch Ness Monster. Loch Ness Monster is tattooed as the creature that exists in the waters of Loch Ness in the Scottish Highlands. It was first said to be spotted in the year 1933. Though there is no solid proof of existence other than the blurry pics and the stories that have been surrounding its existence.

Lately Mr. Jason has found this pic from Google Earth, where-in there is an image of a creature that is exactly similar to the Loch Ness Monster that we are talking about. The shape seen on the surface of the 22-mile Scottish loch is 65ft long and appears to have an oval body, a tail and four legs or flippers. To see the object, enter co-ordinates Latitude 57°12'52.13"N, Longitude 4°34'14.16"W in Google Earth.

Via TheSun

Portable Operating Systems are the way to go...

Did you ever thought to have an Operating System that can be portable.?I mean really portable like you can carry it on your jump drive or like you don't need a big computer for it to work or like you can handle it within a GB of space. This is where the portable Operating Systems come into picture. These portable OS's are mostly free and are freeware in most cases. They include all the regular stuff like support for cd/dvd, play music, movies, etc and they are minus the crap.

Here is a list of 6 hot portable Operating Systems::
* Puppy Linux
* Slax
* Ubuntu portable
* Crunchbang Linux
* Damn Small Linux(DSL)
* Knoppix

Most of these portable OS require as low as 100 MB of your ram. Puppy Linux is around 93 MB in size and the Slax is under 200 MB in the size issue. They contain most of the regularly used applications in the portable format as well.

Via TOI

Funny homeless guys' signs...

These guys are really creative in their job, just imagine how good they would have been earning, if they turned their creativity sideways into something really useful...

Via Digg

Dicing onions - The easy way...

I have been using this technique for a while now and I am familiar with how to use this easy way of dicing onions. This is the best way ever to get the onions diced unless you don't have those machines costing you hundreds of dollars just for dicing onions. Just wanted to share with you...

Apple's Snow Leopard Reviewed - Nothing New...

The guys at LifeHacker have reviewed the latest edition of OS from Apple - The Snow Leopard. They were clearly straight forward and they have ultimately declared that it isn't that great and you don't even need to upgrade unless you need a slight performance boost. The dock's interactiveness has been greatly increased and the finder is better in this version but who cares for such minor tweaks.


There is no support for third party applications to increase their loading and unloading which means nothing new in that category. The upgrade costs you less than $30 is the only bright thing with this OS. The performance upgrades are good only with the in-built apps and doesn't effect the third party app's much. Regarding functionality there is nothing new in this OS. They are like "We have reached the end of development" kinda mood while developing this OS. Check the full review with videos after the jump.

Lifehacker

Internet speed rankings of various countries...

I have been in the impression that the internet service that I have been using is one of the best till today and thought that America is the leader in the internet service providers. But not anymore. The latest research by an independent agency provided some shocking results where-in the ranking of US of A is abysmal according to me.

The report given out by the CWA (Communications Workers of America) has ranked South Korea as the no. 1 in internet connection speeds with an average download speed of 20.4 MB/s which is 4 times faster than the average internet download speed in US of A, which is 5.1 MB/s. Here goes the list of the countries with highest average internet download speeds::

* South Korea - 20.4 MBPS * Japan - 15.8 MBPS * Sweden - 12.8 MBPS * Netherlands - 11 MBPS

The report also says that,"People in Japan can upload a high-def video in 12 minutes, compared to a grueling 2.5 hours at the US average upload speed." This is harsh reality. And you have been paying in US $ all this while. The United States was ranked at 20th position in broadband penetration as well.

Via Yahoo

N97 Mini press shot spotted...

Nokia's new N97 Mini is spotted somewhere in the wild. This is supposedly a press shot of Nokia N97 Mini and I found it through engadget website. The recently released Nokia N97 has attracted much criticism and hasn't had its foray into the public that easily. Now they have come up with this new Nokia N97 Mini.


The Nokia N97 Mini is supposedly a smaller, cheaper version of the regular Nokia N97. The "Mini"mal features might include the downgrading of storage space from 32 GB to 16 or 8 GB and the price cut to be around $144 from the N97 original. The features are supposed to be almost the same and you can have the look and feel of the original N97. Lets wait and see...

Via Engadget

Jessica Biel may harm your computer!!!

Ever heard of a celebrity harming your personal computer. It's now that you start hearing things. In a recently released list of celebrities, searching for whom might infect your computer, Jessica Biel stood first in the list. This is funny but true to the core. There is a lot of chance that the predators are prowling out there and are trying by every means to take your computer under their control.

The celebrities are searched for a lot on the web and it is the best chance for malicious software and malware to lure you to their sites and in turn infect your system. McAfee is one of those umpteen antivirus softwares available in the market and they have bookmarked some of the celebrity searches and released a list of celebrities who could prove to be dangerous to your computer. Here goes the list::

Jessica Biel
Beyonce knowles
Jennifer Aniston
Tom Brady
Jessica Simpson
Gisele Bundchen
Miley Cyrus
Megan Fox, Angelina Jolie
Ashley Tisdale
Brad Pitt

These celebrities are the top ten searches, making which could prove fatal to your computer. The sites hosting wallpapers, screensavers, videos and other stuff regarding these celebrities could harm your computer. So be careful and spread the word.

Via evilbeatgossip

Mentos and Diet Coke - World record attempt!!!

Diet coke and Mentos share a long history. Whenever they are combined there is a legend that says that birds stop flying, fish stopping swimming,etc. Ok seriously speaking, whenever you add mentos to diet coke there is some kind of weird reaction between them and that causes the coke to bubble up and out of the bottle. Here is a video of a world record attempt with the combination of these two legends. Fun to watch...

Stop apples from browning - The easy way!!!

Nobody wants to eat an apple that has a brown colored layer on it's pieces. Why actually does apple pieces turn into brown color? It is when you cut the apple into pieces, there are these enzymes on the apple pieces that act with the surrounding oxygen and get oxidized and brings in the brown color over the apples. Lifehacker has a solution for this.

When you cut the apple into pieces, make sure that you cut the apple under water. This will stop the apple from getting oxidized by stopping the enzymes from getting into contact with the oxygen. Then store the remaining pieces of apple under water as well and they will stay fresh for long. This idea really works well. Try it out.

lifehacker

How a flash drive is exactly made???

I thought the flash drives would be made in a more sophisticated environment but after looking at this video, I feel like its ok, even a layman can do this jobs with all those equipment available. Of course my favorite brand for flash drives is Sandisk and I trust them a lot and hope they release one such video as well...

Want to know what's hot on the "WEB"???

Here is a site called "popurls.com" where you will get the latest and the most popular posting on the internet around the world. This site works on an algorithm, by which they get the most popular posts from different social networking sites, video hosting sites and lots of other websites, into one place and that's popurls.com.

Did you notice the name "popurls" sounds something similar to "populars". They exactly are doing the same. If something is really popular on Digg.com, you will find that here under the tab named "digg". In this site you can find popular posts or articles from twitter, digg, reddit, delicious, flickr, metafilter, technorati, youtube, google news, nytimes, and a lot of other sites as well. Try it out once to feel exactly what I am saying...

popurls

Why are people still using IE6??? LOL!!!

This is a funny representation of why people are still struck with the Internet Explorer 6 version of the browser. It has been ages since industry has declared the demise of IE6 but still people can't get enough of it. One of the main reasons for IE6 still being around is the laziness of people. This part is not included in the pic above. But still the pictorial representation is pretty good.

Via Digg

400 years of Galileo's telescope....

On 25th August, 1609, Galileo Galilei, an Italian Astronomer and Philosopher, showed Venetian merchants his new creation - The Telescope. It has been 400 years since and the birth of telescope has been a landmark in scientific research since then. Though it is a landmark now, but back then, things weren't the same. Catholic church never welcomed his device and the sad part is that Galileo had to spend the last decade of his life in house arrest.


The pic above is a reconstruction of the original telescope made by Galileo. Let's wish happy birthday to our beloved "Telescope"...

Via Google , Guardian

Hi! I am a PC with fast processor and lots of viruses...

This is another funny take on Windows OS by Macs. Here is a celebrity posed as PC and the usual digs are made by the consumer for a change...

There are somethings that money can't buy!!!

This is from one of my favorite movies. I didn't understand what this movie was all about when I was a kid. But when I understood it, I felt it was better when I didn't understand. The mool-ti-pass girl is Milla Jovovich, who became a bigger star with the "Resident Evil" saga. Thought this is funny and wanted to share with you...

Yahoo wakes up at last!!! 25MB attachments and Fullscreen video chat...

Yahoo has done something today what it should have done some months back or may be a year back. The mail attachment limit which has been around for a while now at the 10MB mark has been raised high today to a cool 25MB limit. I don't know why but why don't these guys remove this attachment limit and make us free like they have removed the inbox mail limit?

Also some cool features have been added to the new beta of Yahoo messenger. In messenger now you can have your video chat with a full screen window which is definitely a cool thing to have. The beta also sports a side window which allows you to see what your friends are doing on twitter or other websites. This beta is of course just for windows operating systems only and as expected is a free download.

Forgot to mention that Yahoo mail is now allowing its users to hook up third party applications into all new Yahoo! mail. These third party apps include Paypal, flickr, Picnik, Xoopit and many more...

Yahoo Messenger 10 Beta

Microsoft Zune HD package stripped...

Microsoft Zune HD is creating a kind of hysteria everywhere, (atleast among Zune fans) and now the leaks and rumors have been adding lot of fuel to the ongoing fire. The latest in the line-up of leaks are the photos from a bestbuy store in US.


Here in bestbuy a sales man coupled with a tech geek have opened a package of Zune HD and with lot of enthusiasm have photographed all the components that accompany the Zune for you. The all new Zune HD accompanies a pair of Headphones similar to its previous version and there is a USB connectivity cable and a charging dock. A big booklet with the working and a few instructions imprinted on it is the other component of the box. Guess this works out well for Microsoft.

Via Zunespring

Why I hate Yahoo! Messenger...

Basically the instant messengers are a big waste of time and moreover Yahoo messenger is like a free pass for addiction to chatting. Keeping these basic things away, why I hate Yahoo! Messenger comes from the fact that it uses tonnes of my RAM and still claims to be CPU friendly. I don't know what that exactly means.

Being CPU friendly means, you should be light in weight and you should play cool for other softwares to run simultaneously without any hiccups. But if Yahoo Messenger is running in the background and you want to run something important in the front, you are at the mercy of the messenger.
Not just being a memory hungry beast but Yahoo messenger download is also like a pain in the wrong place. You will be given a small install engine first to download from the main site. Then when you initiate it, the engine downloads a heavily loaded messenger into the computer and if that doesn't freak you out, the installation time definitely will make you cry with your face between your legs. Ofcourse it offers some good means of chatting but is there some way we can get rid of this heavy thing. Yes, you can by switching over to gtalk or someother messenger client.

Mac OSX Snow Leopard - Arriving on Aug 28th...

Today morning many users reported that Apple website was down and everyone had just one thought on their minds - Apple's new OS X - Snow Leopard. And true to everyone's imagination, Apple has given out a press release saying that Snow Leopard is going to be shipped to general consumer from the 28th of this month. August 28th is going to be the D-Day for Snow Leopard.

It is informed that Snow Leopard will ship out as a $29 upgrade on 28th August 2009 which happens to be a friday and the weekend is going to be a pretty busy time for the employees of the dispatch section from Apple. You can get yours now from Apple.com.

Via Giz

"Shutter Island" - Leonardo Dicaprio aiming for the OSCARS!!!

This movie is coming from Martin Scorsese, the famous director and his protege (kinda) Leonardo Dicaprio. This ad is kinda creepy but it will definitely enthuse you with its dark concept. Hope the movie is good as well...

Miss Venezuela is Miss Universe - Like I said!!!

Miss Venezuela has done it again and she is crowned the Miss Universe 2009. I and a friend of mine had a small chat regarding this contest and we zeroed in on Miss Venezuela to be this years Miss Universe days before the real contest and our predictions have come up 100% correct. I don't know what these girls eat but they are the most beautiful girls alive, I guess.

With this crown, Venezuela has achieved 5 Miss Universe, 5 Miss World and 4 Miss International crowns till date and it is way more than any other country. The new Miss Universe is "Stefania Fernandez", who is an 18 year old Virgo and her hobbies include tennis and swimming. She is an hybrid, by hybrid I mean she has her origins from different countries like Russian, Ukrainian, Galician and Polish origins.

pic via bodogbeat

"Booklet 3G" - From Nokia, A revolution or what???

Here's a surprise netbook from Nokia, the cellphone maker. With a 10.1 inch display and Windows Operating System coupled with an atom processor, "Booklet 3G" has come up as a sudden surprise from Nokia. It has dedicated 3G wireless and a hot swappable sim card. It has integrated GPS, HDMI output, 12 hour battery, bluetooth and wireless connectivity.

If u r wondering how big is this netbook from Nokia, don't let ur thoughts rule the reality. It comes as a .78 inch, 2.7 lb body made out of aluminium. This will be like a treat to Nokia fans. Right now there is no tip off on the official price and release date yet.

Via Engadget

Get yourself X-RAY photographed!!!

Here is a guy named Nick Veasey, who I think is a bit weird. But his work speaks a lot about him. He has been x-ray photographing a lot of things and his photographs include cellphones, ipod, shoes, laptops and even a Boeing 777 Jet. I guess this is his hobby as none allows to get x-ray photographed daily right!!! For his entire collection follow the link below...

Nick