IWOOT #11

I Want One of Those #11:

If I can't have a Lumix G-1 (see IWOOT #5) then how about an Olympus Pen E-P1 Micro Four Thirds Digital SLR Camera (17mm silver pancake lens, VF-1 external optical view finder kit)?

IWOOT #10 iPad Dynabook?

'Some tech mavens believed the new (Apple iPad) device might finally fulfill the promise of the "Dynabook." This is a device conceived four decades ago by the visionary computer pioneer Alan Kay as a prototypical personal computer (this was before Kay actually conceived the first personal computer at the legendary Xerox Palo Alto Research Center). The Dynabook, he wrote in 1972, would be “a tool, a toy, a medium of expression, a source of unending pleasure and delight." It would be a device with which musicians could compose and authors write, teachers teach and children learn. It would offer electronic access to the world's libraries. It would have a high-quality flat screen and a keyboard. It would be less than 4 pounds.

The Apple iPad is 1.5 pounds, but in other ways it still falls short of the Dynabook, especially in the inadequacy of its keyboard. (Though it will accommodate Brushes, an onscreen painting program available on the iPhone.) It's still a device better suited to distributing than to creating content...'
 
Early comment on the Apple iPad launch courtesy of the LA Times

IWOOT #9 - Dent Big Ben Watch

Good enough for Simon Cowell, good enough for me (but without the diamonds, thanks). Happy Birthday, Mr Cowell.

www.dentlondon.com

IWOOT #8 - Planet Waves

(left) Visions of J, inspired by Visions of Johanna (100% montepulciano grape), and (right) the round, fruity Planet Waves (75% montepulciano, 25% merlot), named after the 1974 Dylan album. (Below) Antonio Terni.

Inspired by Bob Dylan's autobiography and a CD of his Theme Time Radio Hour (a great showcase for Dylan's droll observations and little-heard, often off-the-wall early pop), I came across wine inspired by the great songsmith.

Dylan has an association with Fattoria Le Terrazze, the excellent producer in Le Marche (home of the ubiquitous Verdicchio wine), an undersung but rising region on the Adriatic coast of Italy. Le Terrazze is run by Dylan fanatic Antonio Terni, a yachtsman and former nuclear scientist who was profiled in Lawrence Osborne’s snarky chronicle, “The Accidental Connoisseur: An Irreverent Journey Through the Wine World.’’


However, at 39 squid a bottle from Berry Bros & Rudd, it will have to remain in the IWOOT league...


View partial source: New York Times, Dining & Wine & Telegraph.co.uk: The vines they are a-changin''

IWOOT #7

A Virgin Media Freedom Netbook. It's Virgin Wireless-N compatible (plus Intel Atom processor, 10.2in screen, Windows XP, 1GB of RAM and 120GB HDD), as is the rest of our abode - enough said? Yes, please, I Want One Of Those, Santa.

Virgin Media has completed the rollout of its fibre optic broadband network. At the same time the operator has reduced the price to below £30 and announced its own branded laptop. Although the 50 Mbps speeds Virgin has deployed through DOCSIS 3 are half that found in continental European networks it is still the fastest such service in the UK. The Virgin network covers 12 million homes. From Sep 1 2009 the cost is being reduced to £28 when taken with a phoneline and £38 as a standalone product. Story here.

IWOOT #6 - CrunchPad

The CrunchPad protoype is hyped by the New York Times. An iPhone without the phone but with a useful screensize for web browsing... Yes, I would pay for a subscription to my favourite newspaper if they gave me one of these to read it on. But what would we use to make bedding for pets and wrapping up broken glasses?

View partial source (and more photos): TechCrunch

IWOOT #5 Lumix - Like an SLR, only SMLR

The Panasonic Lumix G-1 looks simply awesome. It adopts the Micro Four Thirds System standard for digital camera systems without a mirror box. It's a 12-megapixel digital, interchangeable lens camera that's both extremely compact - 40% smaller than other comparable digital SLR cameras - and very portable. As they say, 'Like an SLR, only SMLR'. iA (Intelligent Auto) and Live View (the 3" LCD screen displays precisely how the exposure compensation and white balance adjustment will affect your photo) modes for idiots like me, too. Only 449 squid at Jessops - certainly good competition for the Nikon D80 and Canon EOS 450D. I really do Want One Of Those.

• View partial source at CNET

IWOOT #4 - Godin multiac

I Want One Of Those #4: Godin multiac ACS-SA Slim

Nylon-strung, cedar top, narrow, 1.715" neck width, 16" fingerboard 

radius, glorious black high-gloss finish. 

* Brilliantly used by Marcio Faraco.

* www.godinguitars.com

IWOOT #3 - Laurent Perrier Garden

Photo: Julian Desborough for Times Online. Julian's blog is here.

* I Want One Of Those #3. Simple, I just need a Laurent-Perrier Garden (Gold medal winner at RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2009, designed by Luciano Giubbilei) - delivered and installed while I'm at work one day, please. Well, it would be a nice surprise...

* View a 360 degree panorama here.

IWOOT #2 - Yamaha DC7M4

I Want One Of Those #2 - a 7' 6" Yamaha Grand Piano with built-in Disklavier, a system that plays back everything you play. Simply amazing... 

* Yamaha Design

* Yamaha centralised piano production 2011 - Kakegawa

* 30 April 2009 saw the announcement that the last piano manufacturing factory in the UK (they made around 30 a day) will close in Nov 2009. Kemble, whose main shareholder has been Yamaha since the late 1970s, will no longer make pianos at their Milton Keynes factory. Joint MD Brian Kemble said: "During the 1980s recession Yamaha rode to our rescue, and thanks to them we have continued manufacturing for another 23 years. We owe Yamaha a huge debt of gratitude for this." I worked for them at Chappell's in New Bond Street, a music department store that they also owned, and also feel a debt of gratitude.

IWOOT #1

I Want One Of Those #1

* Ok, Ok, so I'm a family kind of guy. My motoring aspirations may not have the same heady heights as Jeremy Clarkson, but I know what I like. And I like my Toyota RAV4. So, in the US they have this larger version of the RAV4 called the Highlander. Not only is it roomier but it's also a hybrid, so -  bingo - I'd get to green as well. I can dream, can't I?