The Lab in London
25-3-2013
From 25 to 27 April 2013 a new event ‘The Lab’ will be launched at the Tobacco Dock in London, organized by the people behind the ‘Taste Festival’ and AEG organisation. This unique event offers three evenings of gastronomic and interactive experiences with some of the world’s best chefs. Experience the cooking techniques from top chef Alex Atala who’s restaurant D.O.M. in Sao Paulo is currently fourth best in the world, or get inspired during the ‘Noma Flavor Test’ by Lars Williams (Noma’s head of research and development). Check the other participants at their website.
Swimming in the middle of the rainforest
22-3-2013
The luxurious villas of Ubud Hanging Gardens are located in the heart of Bali and are a paradise for nature, culture and art seekers. The villas have spectacular views of the surrounding hills and moutains and overlooks the winding Ayung River and the old temple Ubud. The infinity-edge pool stands on two levels, and overlooks the rainforest with monkeys. Besides this large pool each villa has its own horizon-edge pool. Click to see more pictures.
Inspiration on your sandwich
21-3-2013
The toaster ‘The Image Toaster’ surprises you every morning with a random image from Google, toasted on your sandwich. The toaster can be connected to the computer via USB and searches for pictures that are related to a date, such as Easter. The toaster roasts the pictures on the slice of bread. This is still a prototype that has been created for a Creative Technology course “Innovation Lab” at the University by Scott van Haastrecht. But it would be nice a portion of inspiration in the morning or even be fun to serve in a restaurant!
Escape Flight choose a destination for people
21-3-2013
Sometimes it’s difficult to choose a destination when you want to get away for the weekend. Recently the travel site ‘Escape Flight’ launched in the U.K. ‘Escape Flight’ chooses a destination for their clients, they only have to give input as what they are looking for, like culture, food, nightlife or outdoor and sort results based on price, hassle or weather. So ‘Escape Flight’ works by finding locations that provide characteristics and attributes selected by the user, rather than searching directly for a specific deal. ‘Escape Flight is currently only operational for flights that depart from London.
Fridge with Touch screen
21-3-2013
Samsung and LG are set to introduce a smart fridge with touchscreen. The Wi-Fi fridge allows you to make a shopping list, or suggest recipes based on ingredients stored inside. The fridge can be connect with a smartphone, so you can continually add ingredients for a recipe. There is also a Twitter feed and Google calendars. With this system the fridge can reduce the food waste. The system without the connection to Evernote has been introduced in 2011.
Pay the bill with an app
20-3-2013
How often did you get a great service at a restaurant and as only point of irritation had to wait too long for the bill? With the new app ‘Cover’, that will be introduced soon, you can walk out of the restaurant without physically paying the bill. The payment is taken from a credit card stored on the app. Guests do make their reservation through the app and enter the payment information. The ‘Uber’s payment experience at restaurants’ according to Clover. It’s a new way of paying that is in particular useful for restaurants, it saves time and turns tables faster.
Protest Lasagne
18-3-2013
Slow Food Italy conducted, together with a number of restaurants in Italy the campaign ‘Ne le Abbiamo tasche Ripiene!’ last week. This action (from March 6 until March the 17th) was launched to protest against the escalating incidence of food scandals. During this action chefs across the country prepared their traditional filled pasta dishes, revealed the recipe and the exact origin of the ingredients to their customers.
Urban Coffee Farm in Melbourne
15-3-2013
The Australian design firm HASSELL designed the ‘Urban Coffee Farm and Brew Bar’ for the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival. A total of 125 coffee trees have transformed the ‘Red Stairs’ (a popular public Amphitheatre in Melbourne) into a terraced coffee farm. Shipping containers, packaging crates and timber pallets have also been added to demonstrate the journey that coffee beans take. This will creates a unique experience while visitors sit among the trees sipping their coffee. More pictures at PSFK.
Floating vending machine
15-3-2013
Enjoying the sun, swimming in the sea and in between drinking an Ice Tea.. That’s possible in Cape Town. At one of the trendiest beaches of Cape Town, Lipton Ice Tea has introduced the first driving vending machine in the world.
Rent a smartphone in Hong Kong
15-3-2013
Hong Kong-based Handy is leasing Android smartphones out to visitors, pre-loaded with free calls, 3G internet access and apps to help them navigate their destination. Handy provides users with the most up-to-date information and the latest happenings in Hong Kong. The smartphones can be picked up from the Hong Kong International Airport and it is possible to connect the phones with laptops to the internet and helps tourist avoid spending time looking for free wi-fi. Earlier we saw that tourist can hire a tablet with free wi-fi in Singapore and guests of the London’s Stratford Holiday Inn can use a Samsung Galaxy S III during their stay.
