Investment in HK

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The inevitability of progress stimulates, as when entering into the eclectic house of an artist. Never subject to rules, new aesthetics flow throughout the collection, conveying a feeling of unsentimental refined street dandyism.

SINGULARITY. An independent spirit and visible good taste epitomises the portrait of the cultured street dandy. A touch of irony and personal eccentricity is a visual device, not a way of life.

DESIGN. Sophisticated sharpness penetrates through the solid tailoring background. Street art prints harmoniously synthesise the aesthetic to create a refined urban backdrop. The ‘Giacca Doppia’ debuts for summer, reinventing tailoring with a deconstructed double layer.

SHAPE. Tall, lean and slender proportions are shaped to be graphically masculine. Raw edge tailcoats and sleeveless jackets with clean yet soft necklines are paired with narrow trousers elongating the silhouette. Jackets with multiple layered pockets and trench suits emphasise the waist and enhance the shoulder proportion.

MATERIALS. An invigorating thrill resonates through all the fabrics and materials, miraculously light and compact. Fresh touch cottons, tussah, translucent silks and oversize striped suitings portray a effortlessly breezy air. Kangaroo leathers, ultra-light suedes and linen satins are all strikingly weightless while conveying a sense of inner strength and fortitude.

COLORS. From modern painters to graffiti artists without yielding to any nostalgia. The palette playfully juxtaposes a mix of stripes and contrasting colors, with opaque and shiny finishes. Shades of blue reign supreme, from navy to ink to royal. Discrete tones of natural whites and concretes compact and blur into lilacs.

ACCESSORIES. Distressed raffia top hats give a mercurial twist to the aesthetic. Soft and romantic leather highlights uplift travel bags, belts and bi-color boots. Eccentric coin chains and revolutionary rever scarves confirm the intellectual and fun character of the collection.

“Derived from diverse street dandy sources, Z Zegna is an independent projection of style and look. A touch of personal eccentricity and refinement define the spirit of the Summer collection.”  Alessandro Sartori, Z Zegna Creative Director.

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Even though we knew that red wine and dark chocolate have health benefits, a new study finds that the two are actually potent medicine for killing cancer.

In addition to blueberries, garlic and some teas, Angiogenesis Foundation leader William Li told attendees at the TED Conference in California that red wine and dark chocolate also have cancer-fighting qualities.

“What we eat is really our chemotherapy three times a day,” he said. The foods appear to cut off the blood supply to tumors and quite literally starve them to death. The Foundation went as far as to say that certain foods — like soy, parsley and red grapes — are as effective if not more than FDA approved drugs in battling cancer cells.

So, this Valentine’s Day, indulge in a nice glass of Cabernet and some chocolates without the guilt!

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The iPad was supposed to change the face of computing, to be a completely new form of digital experience. But what Steve Jobs showed us yesterday was in fact little more than a giant iPhone. A giant iPhone that doesn’t even make calls. Many were expecting cameras, kickstands and some crazy new form of text input. The iPad, though, is better defined by what isn’t there.

Flash

Many people will bemoan the lack of support for Adobe’s interactive software, Flash. It wasn’t mentioned, but eagle-eyed viewers would have seen the missing plugin icon on the New York Times site during yesterday’s demo, and given that Apple clearly hates Flash as both a non-open web “standard” and as a buggy, CPU-hungry piece of code, it’s unlikely it will ever be added, unless Apple decides it wants to cut the battery life down to two hours.

Who needs Flash, anyway? YouTube and Vimeo have both switched to H.264 for video streaming (in Chrome and Safari, at least — Firefox doesn’t support it), and the rest of the world of Flash is painful to use.

In fact, we think the lack of Flash in the iPad will be the thing that finally kills Flash itself. If the iPad is as popular as the iPhone and iPod Touch, Flash-capable browsers will eventually be in the minority.

OLED

One of the biggest rumors said that there would be two iPads, one with an OLED screen and one without. But as our own Apple-master Brian X Chen pointed out, an OLED panel of this size runs to around $400. Add in the rest of the hardware and even the top-end $830 model wouldn’t be making Apple much money.

OLED also has some dirty secrets. It may be more colorful, but it uses more power than an LED backlit screen when all the diodes are lit up (white on black text is where OLED energy savings shine). It is also rather dim in comparison, and making an e-reader that you can’t use outdoors would be a stupid move from Apple.

USB

The iPad is meant to be an easy-to-use appliance, not an all-purpose computer. A USB port would mean installing drivers for printers, scanners and anything else you might hook up. But there is a workaround: the dock connector. Apple has already announced a camera connection kit, a $30 pair of adapters which will let you either plug the camera in direct or plug in an SD card to pull off the photos.

The subtle message here is that it’s not a feature for the pros: the lack of a Compact Flash slot in that adapter says “amateur photographers only.”

Expect a lot more of these kinds of accessories, most likely combined with software. How long can it be before, say, EyeTV makes an iPad-compatible TV tuner?

GPS

Apple put a compass inside every iPad, so you’d think that there would be a GPS unit in there, too. The Wi-Fi-only models get nothing, just like the iPod Touch, but more surprising is that the 3G iPads come with Assisted GPS.

Assisted GPS can be one of two things, both of which which offload some work to internet servers and use cell-tower triangulation. The difference is that some AGPS units have real GPS too, and some don’t. We’ll know which the iPad has as soon as we get our hands on one.

Multitasking

From the demonstrations at the Jobsnote it appears that, like the iPhone, we can’t run applications in the background. This will annoy many people, but it will not matter at all to the target user, who will be using the iPad to browse and consume media. In fact, this user will benefit, as the lack of CPU-cycle-sucking background processes is likely a large part of that ten-hour battery life.

If you are authoring content, like this post, then multiple browser windows, a text editor, a mail client and a photo editor all make sense. If you’re reading an e-book, not so much.

Keyboard

Nobody really thought the iPad would have a physical keyboard. That won’t stop the whining, though. The difference, again, between the iPad and a MacBook is that one is a multi-purpose device and the other is a media player.

The fact that Apple actually has made an optional keyboard for it is the biggest surprise (apart from the iPad’s base $500 price). In fact, this little $70 keyboard will mean that, despite its simplified nature, the iPad is enough laptop for many people. Why bother with a $400 netbook when you can have this instead?

Camera

No video camera, no stills camera, and no webcam. The first two will likely never make it into a future iPad, as we all have our iPhones or actual cameras with us, too. But the lack of a webcam is odd, as it closes off the possibility of using the iPad as a videophone.

I figure this is a cost-saving measure on Apple’s part. Too bad, though, as it is the only thing that stops me buying an iPad for my parents, whom I talk to on Skype. There seems to be no other reason not to have a webcam in the bezel other than price. We expect to see one in v2.0.

Verizon

iPhone users hate AT&T, but the only alternative is T-Mobile, whose coverage isn’t as good. Until Verizon switches to the world-standard GSM SIM card, don’t expect to see an Apple product on its network. You can forget all those Verizon iPhone rumors right now.

16:9

The iPad screen is a relatively square, by today’s standards, with an old-school 4:3 screen aspect ratio. This is not ideal for watching widescreen movies: you get a thick black “letterbox” bar top and bottom. But take another look at the hardware: the Apple on the back, and the position of the home button both tell us that the iPad is meant to be used in portrait mode, at least most of the time. And a 16:9 aspect ratio in this orientation would look oddly tall and skinny, like an electronic Marilyn Manson.

It’s a compromise, and a good one. If you really do spend most of your time watching movies on the iPad, maybe you should think about buying, you know, a big TV.

HDMI

There will be video out, likely through the dock connector, as Jobs said during his presentation that you’ll be able to hook the iPad up to a projector. But no HDMI out? How do you hook it up to your HD monitor?

The short answer is that you don’t. The maximum audience for an iPad screening is two. You want more? Use your laptop and hook that up, or your desktop machine. Remember, there are two kinds of people who will buy the iPad. One, nerds like you and me, who care about things like HDMI and also already own a computer that can do that.

And two, people who are buying this instead of a computer. Those people will probably still have DVD collections, or even VCRs. They don’t even know what HDMI is. I think I can guess what Apple thought about putting another expensive connector into the machine just to please a few geeks.

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Alexander McQueen, the fashion world’s reigning provocateur who helped elevate British fashion to the international stage with his unconventional and sometimes macabre designs, was found dead Thursday at his home in London. He was 40.

The police have not released an official report on the cause of death, but his press representatives at KCD Worldwide said it appeared to be a suicide.

As a designer, McQueen was not only a technical genius but a creative genius as well. His theatrical runway productions were often controversial, casting models as witches, rape victims and mental patients, challenging the notions of what is beautiful and what is grotesque.

He was known for rigorously tailored jackets, second-skin repeating-pattern leggings and dresses, gravity-defying lobster-claw shoes — which Lady Gaga daringly donned in her “Bad Romance” video — and a fascination with the macabre that lent itself to suitcases with rib-cage motifs and sweaters with cable-knit skulls and crossbones.

“A gifted iconoclast, who could just as easily be creating art as fashion,” was how former Times fashion editor Mimi Avins described McQueen upon seeing his clothes for the first time in 1996.

Eric Jennings, vice president and men’s fashion director of Saks Fifth Avenue who was among the buyers and media members attending McQueen’s Milan menswear show last month, described the designer Thursday as an icon.

“It’s a tragedy; Alexander McQueen has been a tremendous resource for us,” Jennings said.

Death seemed never to be far from McQueen’s mind both on the runway and off. In a 2008 interview with The Times the day before his 39th birthday, he said the suicide of his longtime friend and mentor, the eccentric stylist Isabella Blow, had a profound effect on him.

And at what turned out to be his final runway show, the presentation of his fall menswear collection last month in Milan, the macabre was manifested as a repeating photo-realistic print pattern that evoked the neatly stacked piles of bones found in catacombs.

McQueen’s death comes days after his mother Joyce’s death Feb. 2, and weeks before he was due to present his fall women’s collection in Paris. He is survived by his father, Ron, and five siblings, Janet McQueen, Tracey Chapman, Jacqui McQueen, Tony McQueen and Michael McQueen.

Let’s see some of his fashion:

Alexander McQueen Spring/Summer 2010 Fashion Show:

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A permanent suspension of Google’s e-mail services(Gmail) in Iran.It has been announced by Iran’s telecommunications agency.And it has also revealed that a national e-mail service for Iranian citizens would soon be rolled out.

It is not clear what effect the order has had on gmail in Iran. Google has not yet commented about the announcement.

Is this a censorship?  Why U.S. government doesn’t say anything loudly?  but when Google said they want to pull out of China, Why the U.S. Government say something loudly?  An ugly political show.

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Watch your backs Facebook and Twitter. Google is coming for you and it looks like they’re playing for keeps. Tongue’s were wagging as the search engine rolled out yet another addition to the expansive Google empire. Google Buzz is the company’s definitive entry into the social media arena.

According to Google’s official blog:

“Google Buzz is a new way to start conversations about the things you find interesting. It’s built right into Gmail, so you don’t have to peck out an entirely new set of friends from scratch — it just works. If you think about it, there’s always been a big social network underlying Gmail. Buzz brings this network to the surface by automatically setting you up to follow the people you email and chat with the most.”

Taking a page from social media content aggregator FriendFeed, Buzz takes status updates, photos, and other content from Facebook, Twitter, and other social networking sites and streams them through your Gmail account. Just like the big boys, Buzz allows users to “Like” a piece of content as well as comment. It also gives recommendations on content you might like based on your friends’ activities. Buzz will also provide suggestions on follow-worthy people based on conversations friends might be having with the person as well as your own feedback. The more you click the “interested” or “not interested” buttons, the better Google Buzz will become with giving quality recommendations. Conversely, it will also use this system to eliminate the content you’re not interested in like spam or someone’s out of touch rant on why Google Wave will revolutionize the web.

In addition to being integrated into your Gmail account, Buzz can also be accessed via cell phone. Buzz Mobile will take a page from Foursquare, Yelp, and the like and use your GPS to update your followers on your current location. Google has already rolled out an app for Blackberry and iPhone users, but it can also be accessed in Google Maps. You can also post photos and comments in the Google Maps version as evidenced by Google’s example of a user posting a picture of a minor accident. Another cool feature is the integration of Google Voice. Using Voice, you can simple speak your update instead of aggravating that thumb injury you’ve sustained from over-texting.

Google Buzz has already started popping up in users’ Gmail accounts and everyone should have it over the next few days.

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Lingering residue from tobacco smoke which clings to upholstery, clothing and the skin releases cancer-causing agents, work in PNAS journal shows. Berkeley scientists in the US ran lab tests and found “substantial levels” of toxins on smoke-exposed material.

They say while banishing smokers to outdoors cuts second-hand smoke, residues will follow them back inside and this “third-hand smoke” may harm. Opponents called it a laughable term designed to frighten people unduly.

The scientists say nicotine stains on clothing, furniture and wallpaper can react with a common indoor pollutant to generate dangerous chemicals called tobacco-specific nitrosamines or TSNAs.

In the tests, contaminated surface exposed to “high but reasonable” amounts of the pollutant nitrous acid – emitted by unvented gas appliances and in car exhaust – boosted levels of newly formed TSNAs 10-fold.

Substantial traces of TSNAs were also found on the inside surfaces of a truck belonging to a heavy smoker.

The researchers say third-hand smoke is an unappreciated health hazard and suggest a complete ban on smoking in homes and in vehicles to eliminate any risk.

Cancer chemicals

Toxic particles from cigarette smoke can linger on surfaces long after the cigarette has been put out, and small children are particularly susceptible because they are likely to breathe in close proximity, or even lick and suck them, they say.

Researcher Lara Gundel, of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, said: “Smoking outside is better than smoking indoors but nicotine residues will stick to a smoker’s skin and clothing.

“Those residues follow a smoker back inside and get spread everywhere. The biggest risk is to young children.

“Dermal uptake of the nicotine through a child’s skin is likely to occur when the smoker returns and if nitrous acid is in the air, which it usually is, then TSNAs will be formed.”

They are now doing more research to better understand what threat, if any, TSNAs pose.

Amanda Sandford of Action on Smoking and Health said: “The harmful effects of second-hand smoke are already well-established but this study adds a new dimension to the dangers associated with smoking and provides further evidence of the need to protect children, in particular, from exposure to tobacco smoke.

“The study shows that the residue of smoke on surfaces represents a potential risk for cancer but so far we don’t know how big at risk.”

Simon Clark, director of the smokers’ lobby group Forest, remained sceptical.

He said: “The dose makes the poison and there is no evidence that exposure to such minute levels is harmful.

“That doesn’t seem to matter, though. The aim, it seems, is to generate alarm in the hope that people will be stopped from smoking or will give up.

“The real danger is not third-hand smoke but propaganda dressed up as science. Until the evidence of harm is irrefutable, scientists and campaigners should resist the urge to tell us how to live our lives.”

Ed Young of Cancer Research UK said: “This is an interesting piece of research that adds the possibility of an extra level of harm from tobacco smoke.

“There is clear evidence about the harmful effects of second-hand smoke to children, especially in homes and cars.

“The most important step parents can take to protect their families from the dangers of cigarette smoke is to make their homes and cars smokefree.”

Source: BBC News

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Could an iPhone application treat acne? A Texas dermatologist seems to think so.  The AcneApp, launched by Houston-based Dr. Greg Pearson, claims to use red and blue light to fight blemishes and improve the health of one’s skin.

The application’s Web site said, “Studies showed that light treatments were almost twice as effective as benzoyl peroxide, the main ingredient in Proactiv and other common over-the-counter blemish treatments.”

According the Web site, users of the application choose a color — red light is said to have anti-inflammatory properties and blue light is said to fight bacteria — and then hold the iPhone against their skins’ acne-prone areas for two minutes each day.

Citing a study published in the British Journal of Dermatology, AcneApp said treatments alternating red and blue light have been shown to eliminate an acne-causing bacteria and reduce skin blemishes up to 76 percent of the time.

Dr. David Pariser, a dermatologist from Norfolk, Va., who is president of the American Academy of Dermatologists, said that though studies have indeed shown that red and blue light can help your skin, he doubted that this particular application could do the trick.

“It’s true that the light sources do help acne,” he said. “The mechanism by which it works is that it kills p-acne bacteria.”

But he said that in a doctor’s office, a patient’s skin would be exposed to far stronger light than an iPhone screen gives off, and for longer periods of time. In order for the treatment to be effective, he said skin should be exposed to blue light for about 16 minutes and red light for six to eight minutes per session. (Most patients would undergo treatment once a month for several months, he said.)

“You really have to have extremely intense light that requires protection of your eyes,” he said. “It’s not very likely you’re going to get enough light out of the screen of an iPhone to make a difference.”

Dr. Pariser said he wouldn’t be able to give an opinion without seeing the results of clinical trials (which the application has not undergone), but said that though the application would likely not hurt anyone, it would also likely not help much either.

“The principle is correct,” he said. “But I really doubt that this specific application of it would make much diference.”

Reviews from people who have downloaded the $1.99 AcneApp from Apple’s AppStore have been mixed.

“I was very hesitant to purchase this at first because I thought it was simply exploiting peoples’ insecurities, but it works!” said one user.

Another was more skeptical: “Anyone have proof? How long did it take to work [?]”

My personal view is that this application is only a gimmick, and one should not treat it seriously.  In fact, I regard it as a funny app that may work or may not work for its’ intended purpose.

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India’s richest man is eyeing off a takeover of Liverpool.  The Times says Liverpool emerged as a takeover target for the seventh-richest man in the world last night as the pressure mounted on Tom Hicks and George Gillett Jr to cut a deal to sell Anfield.

Mukesh Ambani, the wealthiest man in India, is one of two tycoons from the sub-continent competing to buy a stake in the Merseyside club.

The Sahara Group’s chairman, Subrata Roy, and Ambani’s Reliance Industries have each tendered similar bids to pay off Liverpool’s £237 million debt in return for a 51 per cent stake in the club.

Last night Christian Purslow, the Liverpool chief executive, denied any knowledge of either bid, but The Times reports that approaches began as early as November and that some preliminary talks have taken place.

Ambani, 52, is said to be worth $19.5 billion (about £12.5 billion) — more than the combined worth of Sheikh Mansour and Roman Abramovich — from his investment in Reliance Industries, a petrochemicals giant, according to Forbes business magazine.

If it is true, I am happy over the moon.

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