360 DEGREES Weblog

Digital publisher Zinio has teamed up with Starwood to offer guests free digital copies of their favourite magazines. As of last month, a variety of well-known titles can be downloaded at Starwood’s Element hotels, with Aloft and Four Points by Sheraton joining at the end of the year.

Zinio’s ‘digital newsstand’ can be accessed on guests’ laptops in their rooms, or via a kiosk in the lobby. After logging on to the Starwood portal and registering with Zinio, guests can select as many single titles as they wish, choosing from a wide range of popular publications like Caribbean Travel & Life, Destination Weddings & Honeymoons, Field & Stream and Ski Magazine. (Prices for magazines purchased through Zinio are normally similar to those paid for paper copies.)

With editions that can be read online or off?and that are identical to their printed brethren?travellers are freed from schlepping around a bag full of paper. Zinio gets the chance to demo its service to new users, and Starwood can offer its guests magazines they actually want to read, instead of a standard selection. And there’s an environmental benefit too, of course, which is fitting since Element is Starwood’s new ‘green’ brand.

If you’ve been getting anxious for Rolls-Royce to get its highly anticipated upcoming “junior” model on the market already, here’s something to keep you occupied in the meantime. Rolls unveiled the 200EX concept to forecast the upcoming Ghost model at the Geneva auto show this past March, but while the production model isn’t anticipated to debut until the Frankfurt show this coming September, the company has already launched an online configurator on its website to let prospective customers and curious enthusiasts alike play around with the various color and trim options likely to appear on the production version. Called the “visualizer”, the website allows you to select from a palette of exterior paint colors, interior leather trims, dashboard wood veneers and even the brushed aluminum front bonnet trim. Not quite as exciting as pulling up at the hottest new club or restaurant in a Rolls-Royce of your own, but it will help you imagine it.

Thanks to the numerous applications and features, the iPhone has become more of a necessity than just a luxury. Here is the latest application for your iPhone that will make you appreciate your phone even more. Known as the Bath-o-matic, this new application from Apple will allow users to select the temperature, depth and fragrance of the water and even how many bubbles they want in the bath provided they buy the

Thanks to the numerous applications and features, the iPhone has become more of a necessity than just a luxury. Here is the latest application for your iPhone that will make you appreciate your phone even more. Known as the Bath-o-matic, this new application from Apple will allow users to select the temperature, depth and fragrance of the water and even how many bubbles they want in the bath provided they buy the

Deep sleepers often sleep right through their alarm, waking up late for wherever they need to be. Bad news! But this new iPod clock radio from iLuv does more than just play music or a buzzer to wake you up; it actually shakes your whole bed.

It does this with a wired accessory that you run from the clock to your mattress. They claim that it’s strong enough to “wake even the deepest of sleepers,” which has got to make it pretty strong. Who knows how it feels to be woken up to a shaking bed, but I guess if you sleep through your alarm consistently you’re willing to try anything.

This office chair made from an authentic F-4 Phantom ejection seat is a fantastic way to exit a meeting where things aren

The Bonhams team?s world-famous Goodwood Festival of Speed auction, now in its 17th year, will take place on July 3 at Chichester, Sussex. As a founding sponsor of this wonderful event, Bonhams will once again line up a great selection of sports, competition and collectors? cars, automobilia and models for sale. Leading this grand auction is a 1965 Ford GT40 Endurance Racing Coupe, a classical 200mph legend that has regularly proved itself as a competitive historic racing front-runner and race winner. The iconic car is estimated at between ?900,000 and ?1,100,000. Other highlights from the sale include a 1922 Sunbeam 2-litre Strasbourg Grand Prix Works Racing Car (?300,000 and ?400,000), a 1963 Morris Mini Cooper S Rally Saloon (?80,000 and ?100,000), a 1931 Bentley 4-Litre Coupe with coachwork by H. J. Mulliner (?180,000 and ?240,000), a 1958 Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud I Drophead Coupe with coachwork by Mulliner & Co (?210,000 and ?240,000) and a 1973 Ferrari 246 GTS Dino which (?65,000 and ?75,000).

For those still out shopping last winter, department stores represented a rare opportunity, tons of inventory marked deeply down. Don’t expect that magic to happen again. More and more stores are announcing that they are reducing inventory so as not to be left holding the bag if shoppers fail to show up. Saks CEO, Stephen Sadove tells Bloomberg that “across the board you are going to find less of the sizes, less of the availability in almost all of the categories.” He also says that markdowns won’t be as dramatic as they were last year. While in previous years the buzzword was “masstige” offering luxury for everyone now Sadove says that “luxury has always been about scarcity.”

The ripple effect of department stores cutting back inventory has already made it increasingly hard for some designer labels to survive. Neiman Marcus and Saks have both said they are cutting back on lines that don’t sell well and linger on the racks. And the recession also seems to be stifling creativity a bit. Stores are looking for staples, classics and safe bets to stock their stores. The avant-garde, trendy and daring is too risky if there are fears that it won’t sell. Brands are making one or two versions of a particular style rather than a wider range. Retail sales are expected to rise slightly by the end of this year but it won’t be enough to make up for last year’s sharp losses.

If you’re anything at all like us, you were just a tad disappointed by the color “options” of Apple’s newest foray into the world of mobile phones, the iPhone 3GS. After all, who wants to be limited to just black and white these days? Not us, that’s for sure — and ColorWare’s just announced a fix for all that. Pricing for these customs jobs runs $150 for the back of the handset, $20 a piece for the bezel frame and button, and $15 the SIM holder. They’ll also do up your earbuds for an additional $15. A small price to pay for beauty, no?