360 DEGREES Weblog

Now, this has got to be the ultimate space saving bathroom design ever thought of. The Vertebrae vertical bathroom system created by a designer named Paul is the perfect multi-purpose bathroom unit for luxury apartments with a space shortage. Using only 0.4 sq. mts. of floor space, the Vertebrae houses everything you can expect to find in a regular bathroom complete with showerheads, sink, cistern, loo and even a lot of storage units. The space saving bathroom system is made in spanking stainless steel to add class to your small and humble apartment.

Italian upstarts Scuderia just unveiled their Bizzarrini P538 concept, a modern-day update to fabled sixties failure the P538S. That car famously failed to start at the 1967 Le Mans, but its curvy exterior has remained a cult legend. It was designed by Giotto Bizzarrini, who worked on (among others) the Ferrari 250 GTO and Lamborghini’s V-12 engine. (Check out a gallery of the dapper man and his work here.) The new edition has his blessing, and will be officially launched later this month at Italy’s Nardo high-speed test track. Here’s hoping the new 500-hp engine starts.
Bizzarrini P538, price and availability TBD, bizzarrini-p538.com

Nothing more to say!

Watch the salad grow!

I’d love to flush out my full plethora of adjectives in trying to describe to you how much the world’s most expensive car fetched at a recent auction and how envious it made me feel that a quirky Brit had enough money to buy the thing. But, I’ll save my precious vocabulary for later and simply tell you that radio DJ, presenter and a British national celebrity Chris Evans landed himself a shiny 1961 Ferrari 250 GT short-wheelbase California for €7,040,000 which roughly converts to about $10,976,000. This rare black convertible was one of 33 cars and scores of Ferrari memorabilia auctioned on Sunday in the luxury sports carmaker’s hometown of Maranello.

There’s a new planet in the solar system and it’s called Luxury. Actually, it is here on earth, on a little-known island called Nurai, located northeast of Abu Dhabi city.

The 130,000-square-meter island is about to be transformed into an achingly glamorous and luxurious resort and exclusive private residential estate, comprised of one boutique luxury hotel resort with 60 suites, 31 beachfront estates and 36 water villas.

The mammoth project is a collaboration between New York based Studio Dror, led by Dror Benshetrit, that has designed the residences, and the Paris-based firm AW2 are responsible for the design of the hotel.

The sheer scale of the project is awe-inspiring. The incredible multi-storey water villas alone will span 515 square meters each, and comprise three bedrooms, four bathrooms, a private rooftop garden with spa pool, private infinity pool, multiple decks, outdoor barbeque area, gourmet kitchen and concealed service quarters. No doubt, Tom & Katie are making their reservations already.

As for the private Seaside residences (which are sure to be snapped up by Saudi Princes and oil sheiks because they will probably be the only ones who can afford them), the five-bedroom, six bathroom estates span between 3,000 and 6,050 square meters.

Each Seaside estate will include a private beach and garden, rooftop garden with spa pool, infinity swimming pool, indoor reflecting pools, concealed service quarters, entertainment patios, outdoor dining areas, chef and show kitchens, and outdoor showers.

The resort is due to open in 2010 and the prices for the residences start at €20 million.

Mapping the best and worst seats in hundreds of airplanes, SeatGuru is one of our favourite examples of transparency tyranny—the power of detailed information to help consumers find the best of the best and leave the rest behind. So we were pleased to hear about TripKick, a similar venture that’s tackling another aspect of travel: hotel rooms. While TripAdvisor (which acquired SeatGuru in 2007) gives travellers access to detailed hotel reviews by other travellers, who occasionally include info on which rooms to book, there’s definitely an opportunity in getting specific about individual rooms.

TripKick—”your hotel sidekick”—launched with about 250 hotels in 10 US cities, with more to follow. Coverage of each hotel includes detailed information on which rooms to request: which rooms are oversized (rooms ending in 03 and 04, for example), which have great bathrooms or are quieter than others. TripKick, which spent a year gathering all of this information, also points out which floors are better, and which to avoid. Guests are encouraged to add their own reviews and upload photos of rooms they’ve stayed in.

Given they chose a name that isn’t specifically tied to hotels, we wouldn’t be surprised to see TripKick branch out to other areas of travel, too. If you’re in the hotel business, there’s more reason than ever to ensure that each of your rooms has something special to offer. Run a restaurant? Time to make your best tables stand out and rule out any such thing as a bad table.

Assouline’s Millefeuille Library is designed to be a free standing shelfing system specifically for five books from Assouline’s Lifetime collection of books. The Assouline Lifetime collection includes fifteen books on a variety of topics ranging from travel to fashion to film. The shelving system is made of aluminum and features the Assouline logo engraved on the top and in order to remove a book it is necessary to dismantle the shelves using the supplied wrench.

This is the Shadow Caddy that carries your clubs and follows you around the golf course like a shadow. This electronic golf caddy is 100% hands free and it doesn’t needs any manual operation, whatsoever. The Shadow Caddy is controlled by the unique Your Shadow Tracker tracking system that follows you with uncanny accuracy with multi-CPU on-board intelligence which means it performs at all times, and in all situations. Currently its not offered for sale and is available on rental basis.

Celebrate your love of traditional Jewish food by replacing a common, every day beach ball with this genuine Matzah version. It is the official beach ball of Passover.