lounge

Why Airbnb Neighborhoods could make traveling easier for all

When heading to a city like London on a budget, a service like Airbnb can be a godsend: with dozens and dozens of available apartments to choose from, a traveler can easily find a place to stay that's much less expensive than a hotel, and which offers privacy, a sense of home, and maybe most important of all, a kitchen.

Last year, I went to London on business and decided the visit was long enough to merit getting a place through Airbnb. But I hadn't been to the English capital since I was a teenager and had no … Read more

Getting in on the secret of Pixar's 'hidden' speakeasy

If you've worked an office job for any length of time, you've probably found yourself envying "the creatives" -- the people in the design department, say, who always seem to be having more fun than anyone else, with their crazy cubicle setups and unusual work routines.

Matthew Panzarino over at The Next Web has posted a great little story about one of the most extreme -- and awesome -- examples of this that I can imagine.

Panzarino's piece concerns a secret room at Pixar. Judging from what the author says, I should've known about the hideaway before. But I didn't, and you may not have either, so here we go.

It seems that when Pixar moved into its then-new building in Emeryville, Calif., animator Andrew Gordon (who worked on "Monsters Inc.," "Little Nemo," "The Incredibles," and so on) felt a bit of pressure to outdo his co-workers' cubicle craziness. (You can imagine, at a place like Pixar -- which is packed with "creatives" -- just how inventive people get with their work setups.)

Luckily, he discovered a small access hatch in the wall of his office, and -- creative, curious, and mischievous person that he must be -- he wasted no time in doing what many of us probably wouldn't have. He opened it. Then he got on his hands and knees and crawled into it. Then, lo and behold, he discovered a secret "room."… Read more

The Thuggie: Latest trend in semi-ironic, pants-optional lounge-wear

Troops on both sides of the sleeved blanket battleground are quick to defend their sides. For example, a friend of mine proudly reps Team Slanket for its utilitarian foot pocket and softer pile fabric, whereas others prefer the larger back section of the Snuggie that makes it more...blankety. Most recently, a third contender has stepped into the lounge-off hoping to pull in the last demographic unswathed by the trend: it's called the Thuggie.

Its cutesy name is the only similarity between the Thuggie and its competitors; it's basically just an extra-long fleece hoodie that extends down to the wearer's knees for optimum coverage.

There's also a kangaroo pocket in the middle for your remote control and/or snacks, but if you think the idea derived from hip-hop's iconic XXL plain white T-shirt trend, you'd be wrong; the Thuggie's genesis story is actually set on the ski slopes of Canada.

Creator Bryan Pudney and three of his friends went skiing in Whistler, B.C., back in 2009 and handmade the first version of the Thuggie as a joke to mock the bulky fashion of other snow-goers. But like a lot of things you can find on the Internet, the irony faded and it became a hit soon after.

The Thuggie store offers an assortment of colors for $75, or you can "design" your own custom Thuggie for a little more. You can't find Thuggies in stores yet, but I predict it'll hit Duane Reade and Walgreens shelves in time for the winter holidays.

Alternatively, if you're not buying into the whole Thuggie thing, Why Not Apparel Inc. also offers Thugglets for babies and Chuggies for your favorite beverage.

More Thuggie pics after the jump.… Read more

iPad 2 mic quality said to differ between models

If choosing between the 18 different models of the iPad 2 wasn't hard enough, new findings suggest that the hardware differences between the Wi-Fi-only and 3G models of the iPad 2 lead to different audio recording quality, with buyers of the less-expensive Wi-Fi only versions coming out on top.

That claim, made by iLounge as a footnote to its iPad 2 review, centers on how the same microphone is placed in the two different models. On the Wi-Fi-only version, the microphone hole is simply carved out of the larger piece of metal that makes up the back of the … Read more

Suction feet for your iPad

On its Web site, BlueLounge has a quote from Albert Einstein that says, "Everything should be made as simple as possible, but simpler." Well, when it comes to accessories, the company's Cool Feet ($12.95) product, which was initially designed to raise a laptop just enough to "allow a constant cooling airflow," is about as simple as you can get, and now the company is marketing it toward iPad owners.

We're not sure how much sense this makes for an iPad, but we can see how the feet, which have integrated suction cups for … Read more

Gadgettes 154: The Kitchen Sink Episode

Most of the time, you get everything BUT the kitchen sink. But being that we're the Gadgettes, we've decided you deserve a little something extra. So we decided to give you a kitchen sink too.

Subscribe with iTunes (audio) Subscribe with iTunes (video) Subscribe with RSS (audio) Subscribe with RSS (video) EPISODE 154

Misting kitchen sink

Water Lounge Offers Relaxing Stink Control

Gorenje unveils new generation of kitchen appliances at IFA 2009 (thanks Karl!)

Rhapsody approved for iphone

USB Posture Alert Reminder will set you on the straight and narrow

Fug Hoof shoes (thanks Sparkman!)

Why Didn’t … Read more

Spice up mealtime with a musical dinner table

No bachelor pad is complete without a few well-known essential items: music, drink, and mood. But times have moved beyond exotic tunes warming up the hi-fi set, olive adorned martini glasses, and romantic mood lighting. The modern swank setup needs something a little extra to impress today's discerning women.

Instead of laying down the tunes with Arthur Lyman's Taboo, why not spice up and vibe the night with this marimba table? Yes, marimba table. Dinner and a show. You're sure to impress your date with this table that doubles as a musical instrument.

It's a concept … Read more

BurnLounge gone?

I first heard about BurnLounge about a year ago when a fellow musician was approached by one of its representatives in a mall. He asked me if I'd ever heard of them and what I thought.

I did a little digging, smelled a multilevel marketing scheme, and suggested he proceed with caution. Sure enough, later that week the Federal Trade Commission announced it was investigating the company on suspicion of being a pyramid scheme, and a couple weeks later, BurnLounge said it would get rid of its Amway-style program where representatives earned compensation from signing up other reps.

Now … Read more

With this setup, who needs the oxygen?

After having witnessed their rise in the bacchanalian heydey of the dot-com boom, we've always had an odd fascination with oxygen bars. And yes, we admit that it probably has something to do with Dennis Hopper's character in Blue Velvet too.

That aside, the "Entertainment Oxygen Lounge" may prove too difficult to resist even for skeptics like us. Not only does it have the requisite stress-reducing and mood-enhancing equipment, according to BornRich, but it combines that system with a massage chair. And we all know how we feel about those.

It gets even better: Add a … Read more