streuth

The Echo Pack

The echo is a super idea, part sling bag, part camera bag. I am a huge fan of Crumpler brand bags so as soon as I purchased my Nikon D70 I raced over to the St Kilda Crumpler store and purchased the Crumpler Camera bag - but I was disappointed. It is hard to say exactly what was wrong with that bag and just why this one appears to have got it right, but if you focus for a moment on the fact that firstly it does not look like a camera bag, it holds extra stuff in the top compartment, its a comfy sling style and its not too rigid, you probably have the main features. Add to that it has a music (ipod) slod with slot for the headphones - brilliant!

Naneu Pro $69 USD

Kamel

I don't quite know why its taken me so long to get to Kamel, it is not as if it is out of my usual region. Yes I am a creature of habit, but upon crossing from Elwood to Pt Melbourne I started seeking out new and closer venues that fitted my needs, and I found many, some were old friends like Mitsuzu others new such as Dalmatino.

Kamel has been around for a few years, it is a fashionable place with a slightly scandanavian design and a morrocan menu, the food is excellent at very reasonable prices and the coffee is much better than average.

On my visit last Friday we sat in the window seat, the sun and breeze were streaming in and it was a perfect place for a perfect Melbourne spring day. I had a lamb and tabouli pizza, excellent flavours, lots of tabouli and served with yoghurt. Xan had and chicken tangine which was served with couscous, Harrison had pikelets with lemon and cinamon sugar which were delicious (I sneaked a couple of bites).

All up with beer, wine and coffee the bill was about $60 a good deal.

7/10

St. Ali

Discovered a new coffee experience today, St.Ali. I am a big coffee nazi and while I am always one to admire fine latte art, what really gets me is the quality of the espresso, and that starts with beans. St. Ali roast their own beans and have a supply of hard to get speciality roasts for you to buy and make at home. But the space is more than just that, it is a master of clever design, a rough warehouse, with communal tables but quiet nooks for reading the papers, or the latest fashion mag. There is a good range of foods, just the thing for breakfast, lunch or an in between snack and the people are good. What I mean by that comment is the owners and staff, know what it is to provide coffee and food that is made with love and served the way that Melbourne expects. I will be going back - often.

8.5/10

St. Ali
Yarra Place
South Melbourne

flexi pad

this is very cool, very much the kind of thing you want on your office desk, like the old bouncing balls on executive desks, this note paper is malleable, in that it arrives like a stack of ordinary postit notes but you can shape it into the tower most representative of your mood. Cool!

found on Design Within Reach

$22 usd

Chaos Clothing

Chaos Clothing is based just around the corner from my place in Port Melbourne, they are funky t-shirts with great lines like "if you can read this, you can read" and "whales suck" or "what if Google was wrong" my personal favourite "famous people are human too"

Tee Shirts $35

www.chaosindustries.com

funky P-fone

This phone is perfect if you are heavily into VOIP and have been looking for the right phone handset to give you the oldstyle feel! Personally I would have preferred a USB connection, however its funky look makes up for that!

$15usd

thanks to designspotter

check out the product at hulger.com

Placenta Chair

this beautiful chair is designed to roll to the position most comfortable to you. Leather on the inside (comes in a range of colours) fibreglass with gelcoat on the outside means it is ultra hard with an ability to polish any scratches that may appear over years.

comfy

Thanks to trendir.com

A modern lifestyle must for garden or balcony

The Eva Solo bird table which is the ultimate style bird feeder (looks a bit like an upside down wine decanter!) offers beauty even when the birds don't happen to be visiting your place. The feeders hold up to 5L of grain so that means you won't be out there filling them up all the time.

yours for $129 usd

www.yankodesign.com

Karrysafe

Streuth..... here is the latest in personal close body protection for your keys, cards and phone. In fact assuming you want to keep your communicator that close to the body, you could get quite a tingle by setting your phone to silent vibrate mode.

http://www.karrysafe.com/2003/bag66s.htm

thanks to textually.org for the link.

Oh Steve we love them apples

it is absolutely geeky but i sat and watched all of the recent webcast of Apples "One More Thing" announcement on October 13. By now you will all be aware of the amazing new iMac, the video iPod (2 weeks after I stupidly upgraded to a 60gb photo version believing the video was a myth this year) and the other snazzy functionality.

Apple is doing things in a way you just have to stand up and admire, as one lost from the Apple fold for nearly a decade it is good to be back!

www.apple.com

The sexiest new car in the market

This is an outstandingly sexy car, and that coming from the owner of an instant classic 05 Monaro. But WOW this is now top of my winning the lottery spending money list. Uncrate believes this jaguar xk coupe is the obvious next James Bond car and I have to agree. growl.

The price starts at $188k to $233k. 4ltr 242kw engine. 0-100 in 6.4 seconds vroom vroom vroom.

check out the jag site

i wood - would you?

there is no question that the ipod nano is the very coolest thing on the planet right now. And inspite of any small question about scratches on the screen, it is still essential to own one NOW.

Anyway here is a nice little add on if you need a wooden case or should I say casket for your pod.

thanks to ubergizmo

ipod dog

this is without any doubt the silliest thing that has been inspired by an ipod.

the Pod Dog, is a colourful friend that includes some ordinary speakers, a set of coloured lights that change with the music... oh it is all too silly.

find it on the ipod lounge

B&O phone

Samsung have got together with style guru's Bang & Olufsen and have created the new chick phone, not a lot of funky technology rather it features a big screen and a good clamshell design, and buttons reminicisent of a rotary dial phone. Apparently there will be blue tooth and email but its all hearsay - check out more on Gadget Candy

funky fones

for quite sometime plantronics have been leaders in call centre and office voice technologies they have a large range of things you put on your head to stop you getting a crick in your neck. But this is new and far more suited to the creative style, these headphones are wireless and will support both your music and your calls. You can happily listen to your MP3 player, Laptop or other music device via a bluetooth connection, if you get a call, it can easily swap the music for a call again routed from your mobile phone via blue tooth - wow - bluetooth headset and wireless headphones in one outstanding!

approximately $150 USD

thanks to laptop mag

six million dollar solar man

I this world of truly portable electronics, the one thing we all dred is a flat (battery that is), well the nice people at Konarka Technologies think they have this one sorted with a new wearable fabric that can be utilised to sythesize light into electricity. These optoelectric fabrics will be just the thing to drive your i-pod , mobile phone or pocket heater, just don't ask a stranger for a quick recharge!

thanks to ubergizmo and ee times

The black bog roll

This is one very weird idea, black loo paper, it is rather hard to think of why you want this. Ok if you house is decked out to look like a nightclub, then maybe you want to sit on the loo with your cocktail cigarettes (you know the ones that come with gold foil and a range of pretty colours..). Anyway I don't want to consider how the bowl looks with the black paper, probably enough said on this topic

thanks to gizmodo