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May 17, 2011
MANicure & Relaxation
The best man spas in the world
Leela Palace Kempinski, Udaipur, india
The palace is a maze of stunning arches, courtyards and gardens, all finely appointed with gold-leafed floral motifs, mother-of-pearl artefacts and handcrafted white marble with exquisite inlay work in typical Rajasthani style.
It's the sumptuous courtyard overlooking the lake waters that you'll be drawn to, however, as it's here that the ESPA spa, with its tented pamper rooms, gives hours of stress-busting treatments. By having specialists on hand to identify individual needs and tailor treatments accordingly, the experience is designed to offer guests full interaction in the spa process, from the music to the massage oils.
Go for the Royal Knights Of Rajasthan treatment - a four-hour MOT with a facial, scalp massage and aromatherapy massage. All this will leave you feeling immersed in the experience and post-treatment, dare we say it, a little closer to the Big Man.
The Royal Mansour, Marrakech
It's a vast, cool, calm space that offers one of the most comprehensive ranges of treatments you are likely to find anywhere. The highlight is the hammam, a traditional cleansing and massage therapy. A word of warning, though: do this on your first day. Part of the treatment involves a rather harsh once-over with a traditional scrubbing mitt. It hurts (in a good way), especially if you're a bit pink from the sun, but the skin-finishing results are incredible and your tan will last for weeks rather than days after you return. Trust us, in such a closed-off world, where the most taxing activity of the day is getting out of your monstrous bed, these are all-important considerations.
The Montage, Beverly Hills
a huge, 20,000 square feet spread over two lower- ground floors, it channels Andalusian design notes across a broad range of treatments and day-long retreats. Water, too, plays an important part in the procedures, including hydrotherapy baths and the Montage Affusion, a one-of-a-kind water experience featuring multiple shower heads and contrasting temperatures to pep up even the most jet-lagged and jaundiced body.
Make sure you leave time to experience the sauna and steam areas: rather than being hidden away in the changing rooms, these form a large part of the overall approach, and therefore feel, of the place - a pampering spa, certainly, but one that actively and swiftly sets your world to rights.
Four Seasons Provence
Behind the white robes and whale music is an MOT-style service centre that comes with all the scientific credentials of a bona fide dermatologist's clinic. And although the usual pampering treats are on the menu, most men sign up for an ogre-to-Adonis aesthetic overhaul - the kind often promised (but rarely delivered) by over-the-counter concoctions.
Unlike other spa packages, guests at Terre Blanche are subjected to a thorough seven- step screening process before a bespoke programme is devised. Blood tests determine food intolerances and toxicity levels (which are then observed by chefs) while personal trainers plan exercise routines and therapists hand-pick the perfect products.
Gleneagles, Scotland
Try its signature treatment, the Source, a massage therapy that incorporates locally sourced ingredients such as river-washed stones (a footbath) and lavender and oat herbal wrap. Two hours may seem like a protracted amount of time for any man to spend face down on a bed, but trust us, it's way more relaxing than spending four hours following a small white ball.
via GQUK
Leela Palace Kempinski, Udaipur, india
The palace is a maze of stunning arches, courtyards and gardens, all finely appointed with gold-leafed floral motifs, mother-of-pearl artefacts and handcrafted white marble with exquisite inlay work in typical Rajasthani style.
It's the sumptuous courtyard overlooking the lake waters that you'll be drawn to, however, as it's here that the ESPA spa, with its tented pamper rooms, gives hours of stress-busting treatments. By having specialists on hand to identify individual needs and tailor treatments accordingly, the experience is designed to offer guests full interaction in the spa process, from the music to the massage oils.
Go for the Royal Knights Of Rajasthan treatment - a four-hour MOT with a facial, scalp massage and aromatherapy massage. All this will leave you feeling immersed in the experience and post-treatment, dare we say it, a little closer to the Big Man.
The Royal Mansour, Marrakech
It's a vast, cool, calm space that offers one of the most comprehensive ranges of treatments you are likely to find anywhere. The highlight is the hammam, a traditional cleansing and massage therapy. A word of warning, though: do this on your first day. Part of the treatment involves a rather harsh once-over with a traditional scrubbing mitt. It hurts (in a good way), especially if you're a bit pink from the sun, but the skin-finishing results are incredible and your tan will last for weeks rather than days after you return. Trust us, in such a closed-off world, where the most taxing activity of the day is getting out of your monstrous bed, these are all-important considerations.
The Montage, Beverly Hills
a huge, 20,000 square feet spread over two lower- ground floors, it channels Andalusian design notes across a broad range of treatments and day-long retreats. Water, too, plays an important part in the procedures, including hydrotherapy baths and the Montage Affusion, a one-of-a-kind water experience featuring multiple shower heads and contrasting temperatures to pep up even the most jet-lagged and jaundiced body.
Make sure you leave time to experience the sauna and steam areas: rather than being hidden away in the changing rooms, these form a large part of the overall approach, and therefore feel, of the place - a pampering spa, certainly, but one that actively and swiftly sets your world to rights.
Four Seasons Provence
Behind the white robes and whale music is an MOT-style service centre that comes with all the scientific credentials of a bona fide dermatologist's clinic. And although the usual pampering treats are on the menu, most men sign up for an ogre-to-Adonis aesthetic overhaul - the kind often promised (but rarely delivered) by over-the-counter concoctions.
Unlike other spa packages, guests at Terre Blanche are subjected to a thorough seven- step screening process before a bespoke programme is devised. Blood tests determine food intolerances and toxicity levels (which are then observed by chefs) while personal trainers plan exercise routines and therapists hand-pick the perfect products.
Gleneagles, Scotland
Try its signature treatment, the Source, a massage therapy that incorporates locally sourced ingredients such as river-washed stones (a footbath) and lavender and oat herbal wrap. Two hours may seem like a protracted amount of time for any man to spend face down on a bed, but trust us, it's way more relaxing than spending four hours following a small white ball.
via GQUK
May 16, 2011
Wireless Wonders
Seagate GoFlex Satellite
The Seagate GoFlex Satellite ($200) is ready to provide your nearly port-less portable with a healthy 500GB of storage, thanks to a built-in Wi-Fi connection that can provide up to three devices with simultaneous access to movies, music, and other media, for up to five hours per charge of its internal battery. Of course, there’s also a USB 3.0 port for connecting to a Mac or PC.
The Seagate GoFlex Satellite ($200) is ready to provide your nearly port-less portable with a healthy 500GB of storage, thanks to a built-in Wi-Fi connection that can provide up to three devices with simultaneous access to movies, music, and other media, for up to five hours per charge of its internal battery. Of course, there’s also a USB 3.0 port for connecting to a Mac or PC.
May 14, 2011
Google Music Service to Debut Without Record Labels
After months of rumors, Google’s cloud-based music player will be revealed at Google I/O, being held today May 10th and tomorrow May 11th. However, it will be a lot more basic than we had hoped.
The New York Times reports that the service will be called Music Beta by Google and will be very similar to Amazon’s recently released Amazon Cloud Player.
Like Amazon, Google will launch without the cooperation of the record labels. We had heard that the company had been tussling with the music industry, particularly the recently sold WMG, and it seems that few of those conflicts have been resolved.
“A couple of major labels were not as collaborative and frankly were demanding a set of business terms that were unreasonable and did not allow us to build a product or a business on a sustainable business,” Jamie Rosenberg, director for digital content for Android told The New York Times. “So we’re not necessarily relying on the partnerships that have proven difficult.”
The result is a service lacking the “sexier” elements like sharing music, buying songs from Google (Amazon’s service allows users to buy songs) and offline caching. Music Beta by Google will allow users to load music that they own onto a server, letting them stream music onto Android phones and tablets using a mobile app or a web-based player. Playlists will also be transferred intact to users’ devices. Bonus users will be able to store 20,000 songs free of charge, as compared to Amazon’s 1,000 free-song upload.
The service launches as an invitation-only product; Verizon Xoom owners will score invites, and other interested parties can sign up at music.google.com. (Check back later for our review.) It only works on devices that support Flash, so iOS-ers are out of luck.
Although Google acknowledges that this service is only a first step, and it hopes to add more features with future label cooperation. Google’s hand was forced into this release since rival Amazon already launched their cloud player but the two services don’t compare. Amazon’s Cloud player is vastly superior making this release disappointing.
Microsoft Buys Skype For 8 Billion
Microsoft has closed on a reported 8 Billion dollar deal for the acquisition of the internet phone service Skype. The cost of this deal has shocked analysts who think it would be a substantial overpayment for the company.
The acquisition will be Microsoft’s biggest, ahead the deal to acquire online advertising company aQuantive in 2007 and would bring it 660 million users worldwide while giving it a foothold in voice and video communications. Analysts suggested the service could be integrated into existing Microsoft products such as its Xbox 360 games console and Kinect gaming systems, or even into its flagship Office product to let users collaborate more effectively.
Speculation has been rife in Silicon Valley for months about Skype’s future. Rumors last week suggested Facebook, Google or Cisco Systems were interested in acquiring it to fold into their own services.
Analysts have favored the idea of the deal, but questioned whether it could ever be worth the price. Skype has debt, which Microsoft would assume in this purchase.
Flexbook Concept: All in One Laptop, E-reader & Tablet
Flexbook is a concept device by Taiwan-based designer Hao-Chun Huang offering something never seen before: portable, multi-use computing within a single device. The concept was shortlisted from over 1000 designs in the recent Designboom competition ‘A life with future computing’, organized in collaboration with FUJITSU.
With a waterproof keypad and 21:9 screen, ‘Flexbook’ is designed for portability and range of use among the constantly connected. It features a flexible structure with a center joint, the laptop can be folded into a range of configurations, while a 180-degree swivel touch screen offers different configurations of viewing, including a laptop and tablet mode.
The design lets the device’s shape reflect its functionality: folded as a book for reading e-books, a tablet for browsing newspapers or in crowded environments, or a laptop when preparing typed documents. ‘Flexbook’ is also easily portable, it even serves as its own case when folded in half.
The device is further customizable through the availability of easily swappable rubber skins, which Huang envisions available for purchase online where users can select their own colors and patterned textures, adding another customizable option to this already brilliant design.
via notoriety
With a waterproof keypad and 21:9 screen, ‘Flexbook’ is designed for portability and range of use among the constantly connected. It features a flexible structure with a center joint, the laptop can be folded into a range of configurations, while a 180-degree swivel touch screen offers different configurations of viewing, including a laptop and tablet mode.
The design lets the device’s shape reflect its functionality: folded as a book for reading e-books, a tablet for browsing newspapers or in crowded environments, or a laptop when preparing typed documents. ‘Flexbook’ is also easily portable, it even serves as its own case when folded in half.
The device is further customizable through the availability of easily swappable rubber skins, which Huang envisions available for purchase online where users can select their own colors and patterned textures, adding another customizable option to this already brilliant design.
via notoriety
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