Category Archives: Reviews

Future Of Recreation: Winnebago’s Latest All-Electric, Zero-Emission RV

From a Curbed.com online review:

The RV industry has been slow to adopt electric technology, and the innovations that have occurred are stemming from Europe. In recent years we’ve seen a few eco-friendly concept RVs, like an RV covered in solar panels or a travel trailer that can be towed by an electric car. Most recently, a German company debuted the world’s first manufactured electric camper with a decent range of 249 miles. In the U.S., however, the closest thing to an electric camper is the yet to be produced Rivian truck that features a kitchen and tent for overland camping.

Winnebago RV All-Electric

Although years behind the auto industry, the RV industry is finally making making strides in efficiency and green technology. In the latest eco-friendly news, Winnebago Industries has announced that they will help fund the expansion of Motiv Power Systems, a provider of all electric commercial chassis.

To read more: https://www.curbed.com/2019/10/17/20919270/winnebago-rv-electric-camper-motiv-power-systems-investment

Future Mobility: Toyota Unveils Production-Ready Ultra-Compact BEV To “Support Aging Society”

FRom a Toyota online news release:

Toyota Ultra-Compact BEVThe ultra-compact, two-seater BEV is specifically designed to meet the daily mobility needs of customers who make regular, short-distance trips such as the elderly, newly licensed drivers, or business-people visiting local customers. It can be driven a range of approximately 100 km on a single charge, reach a maximum speed of 60 km/h, and features an extremely short turning radius.

Toyota Motor Corporation (Toyota) today announced that it will display its new, production-ready Ultra-compact BEV (battery electric vehicle) at the FUTURE EXPO special exhibition of the 2019 Tokyo Motor Show ahead of the vehicle’s planned commercial launch in Japan in 2020. The next-generation mobility solution is designed to provide short-distance mobility while limiting impact on the environment.

“We want to create a mobility solution that can support Japan’s ageing society and provide freedom of movement to people at all stages of life,” said Akihiro Yanaka, Head of Development. “With the Ultra-compact BEV, we are proud to offer customers a vehicle that not only allows for greater autonomy, but also requires less space, creates less noise and limits environmental impact.”

To read more: https://global.toyota/en/newsroom/toyota/30063223.html

Top Scenic Bike Rides: The Hilly Scenery Of Bologna’s Back Country

From an Italy Magazine online article:

Bologna Italy BikingThe awesome sight of the expansive Reno river greets you as you enter Casalecchio di Reno. A fairly non-descript satellite town, Casalecchio’s best asset is Parco Della Chiusa (also known as Parco Talon), a vast forest and nature reserve full of crumbling old mansions, hiking trails and great views of the river and undulating hills. The park is a popular spot for picnics and makes a worthwhile destination on its own.

Italy MagazineIn this half-day cycle starting from central Bologna and ending at the small town of Sasso Marconi, you can take in hilly scenery of Bologna’s back country, see where history was made at the villa of radio pioneer Guglielmo Marconi and sample some local delicacies in one of the province’s best osterias. The route is entirely flat, mostly along cycle paths and can be done by even the most beginner cyclist. With no tourists around, it offers a chance to see Italian life in all of its ordinariness, away from the sometimes twee environs of the centro storico.

In total, the ride from Bologna to Sasso Marconi should take you one hour at a leisurely pace, not counting stops along the way. Rent a bicycle from Dynamo, a bike co-op on Via dell’Indipendenza near the bus station – a half day rental will cost you 13 euros.

To read more: https://www.italymagazine.com/featured-story/get-out-town-half-day-cycle-trip-bologna

New Art Books: “Morning Glory On The Vine” By Joni Mitchell Is “Vivid, Intimate”

From a New Yorker online article:

Joni Mitchell Morning Glory on the Vine drawingI became engrossed in Mitchell’s drawings while browsing the book—they’re vivid, intimate—but her handwritten lyrics and poems are just as revelatory. It’s hard not to think about art-making of any kind as an alchemical process, in which feelings and experiences go in and something else comes out. Whatever happens in between is mysterious, if not sublime: suddenly, an ordinary sensation is made beautiful. Our most profound writers do this work with ease, or at least appear to. Mitchell’s lyrics are never overworked or self-conscious, and she manages to be precise in her descriptions while remaining ambiguous about what’s right and what’s wrong; in her songs, the cures and the diseases are sometimes indistinguishable. 

Joni Mitchell Morning Glory on the Vine BookJoni Mitchell, in the foreword to “Morning Glory on the Vine,” her new book of lyrics and illustrations, explains that, in the early nineteen-seventies, just as her fervent and cavernous folk songs were finding a wide audience, she was growing less interested in making music than in drawing. “Once when I was sketching my audience in Central Park, they had to drag me onto the stage,” she writes. Though Mitchell is deeply beloved for her music—her album “Blue” is widely considered one of the greatest LPs of the album era and is still discussed, nearly fifty years later, in reverent, almost disbelieving whispers—she has consistently defined herself as a visual artist. “I have always thought of myself as a painter derailed by circumstance,” she told the Globe and Mail, in 2000. At the very least, painting was where she directed feelings of wonderment and relish. “I sing my sorrow and I paint my joy,” is how she put it.

To read more: https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/joni-mitchell-discusses-her-new-book-of-early-songs-and-drawings

New Books: “Edison” By Pulitzer Prize-Winner Edmund Morris (2019)

From a Wall Street Journal online review:

Edison by Edmuns Morris 2019Not until July 16 did Edison feel that he had a device worth patenting. The application he signed that day specified multiple timpani that “reproduced” vocal inflections and a sibilant-sensitive diaphragm. But a laboratory visitor (spying for Bell) found the instrument more powerful than clear, with the word schism sounding more like kim.

“We have had terrible hard work on the Speaking telegraph,” Batchelor complained to his fellow inventor Ezra Gilliland. For the past five to six weeks, he added, Edison’s team had been “frequently working 2 nights together until we all had to knock off from want of sleep.”

Thomas Alva Edison’s self-proclaimed greatest invention, the phonograph, won him overnight fame. Journalists would marvel that such an acoustic revolution, adding a whole new dimension to human memory, could have been accomplished by a man half deaf in one ear and wholly deaf in the other.

In February 1877, the same month that saw Edison turn 30 and show his first streaks of silver hair, he and his fellow inventor Charles Batchelor began a new series of experiments on what they called, variously, the “telephonic telegraph,” the “speaking telegraph” and the “talking telephone.”

To read more: https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-making-of-thomas-edisons-miraculous-machine-11571324989

Technology: ANA And OmniLabs Unveil “NewMe” Avatar Robot Allowing Humans To Teleport Their Presence Instantaneously

From a Robotics Business Review online article:

NewMe Robot ANAAs part of the ANA Holdings exhibit, ANA is planning to unveil an all-new AVATAR robot “newme” to mark the next phase of the project. Engineered and manufactured by OhnniLabs with its advanced additive manufacturing process and modular architecture, the new robot is specifically designed for the Japanese market based on years of ANA’s research and experience on connecting people across the globe. The AVATAR project, also known as Avatar In,  aims to integrate multiple exponential technologies, including robotics, haptics, AR/VR, and AT, to “enable humanity to instantaneously teleport their presence, consciousness, knowledge and skills to a remote location.”

NewMe Robot ANA Telepresence

NewMe Robot ANA Telepresence

TOKYO – OhmniLabs today announced it was participating at the 2019 Combined Exhibition of Advanced Technologies (aka CEATEC), to be held this week in Chiba, Japan. In addition, the company said it would be participating in ANA Holdings’ exhibit as a partner for the company’s ANA AVATAR project, which highlights telerobotics innovations.

To read more: https://www.roboticsbusinessreview.com/events/ohmnilabs-ana-holdings-partner-on-newme-telerobotics-platform/

Travel Destinations: The Nikko Kanaya Hotel Is A “Glorious Relic From A Lost World” In Japan

From a Wall Street Journal online review:

Nikko Kanaya Hotel Japan HistoryFINICKY WESTERN EATERS would still be relieved to find filet mignon on the French menu of the hotel, now known as the Nikko Kanaya, a 90-minute drive from Tokyo. The dining room itself looks much as it did when it first opened, in 1893 and eagle-eyed diners might notice that the wooden pillars are decorated with flower carvings that echo those of the nearby Toshogu shrine. The views from the guest rooms are likewise unchanged—forest-covered mountains in the background, the same fastidiously manicured gardens in the foreground that the Einsteins strolled in 1922. Other parts of the hotel feel mildly haunted, like a Japanese version of “The Shining.” The wood-paneled lobby is well worn, stairwells creak noticeably and a shadowy cocktail bar features fading black-and-white photos of forgotten ’20s parties, with men in tuxedos and women in frocks smiling at the camera. 

THE 19TH-CENTURY FOREIGNERS who first ventured to the Japanese mountain town of Nikko came away enchanted by the scenery: ornate Shinto shrines set among rivers, forests and waterfalls. But those same visitors were less impressed with the lodging options. Many griped about the local inns, furnished with futon-beds set on the floor and paper walls that offered no privacy. And the food? Overly exotic at best. British traveler Isabella Bird offered a typical review: “The fishy and vegetable abominations known as ‘Japanese food’ can only be swallowed and digested by a few, and that after long practice.” In 1873, in an attempt to cater to Western sensibilities, Zenichiro Kanaya, a 21-year-old temple musician, opened rooms in his family house, serving guests simply-prepared poultry, rainbow trout and eggs.

To read more: https://www.wsj.com/articles/this-japanese-hotel-is-a-glorious-relic-from-a-lost-world-11571314355

Future Of Housing: Autonomous Off-The-Grid Prefabricated Smart Homes From Haus.me

From a Dwell.com online review:

Autonomous off the grid smart houses from Haus.meHaus.me is aimed at the luxury market, with pricing starting at $199,999 for the grid-connected base model, which can be customized to include off-grid technologies and other add-ons and finishes.

“We have plans to make it more affordable, but right now the key point is that we use high-quality finishes, natural wood, expensive electronics, built-in furniture, smart appliances, and more,” says Gerbut. “It’s a luxury dwelling and vacation home that you can install anywhere in the world.”

After years of research and prototyping, haus.me is now officially accepting sales—and last month they completed their first delivery: a fully autonomous 400-square-foot mOne unit in Ukraine that runs entirely on solar power.

Autonomous off the grid smart houses from Haus.me

What makes the haus.me product different is how it’s built, says Gerbut. “When someone starts building a house, they usually start with the frame and then go to insulation, but we did it the opposite way. We developed a patented composite polymer insulation that can also be 3D printed into a construction material for building walls.”

Website: https://haus.me/

To read more: https://www.dwell.com/article/hauseme-3d-printed-off-grid-prefab-house-1c2afec7?utm_medium=email&utm_source=postup&utm_campaign=&list=1

New Destination Hotels: Le Grand Contrôle At The Château de Versailles Opens In Spring 2020

From a Curbed.com online article:

Le Grand Contrôle Hotel Versailles FrancePart of the luxury hotel chain Les Airelles, Le Grand Contrôle is named for the building it will occupy—a 17th-century structure once used as the finance hub of the palace. The hotel will have 14 rooms, some of them apartments, as well as a wellness center, indoor swimming pool, and an Alain Ducase restaurant.

Its views include the ornate gardens outside of the Orangery, a building custom built for housing the palace’s array of tropical trees during winter.

Though the hotel is keeping mum about the details on the interior, The Spaces reports that Parisian designer Christophe Tollemer will render the hotel in classic 18th-century style, gold, glass, and molding. There’s no word on rates yet, but we’ll go ahead and guess they’ll be as haute as the hotel itself.

To read more: https://www.curbed.com/2019/10/16/20916473/versailles-france-hotel-le-grand-controle

Remembering Legendary New Yorker Cartoonist Dana Fradon (1922-2019)

From a New Yorker online posting:

New Yorker Cartoonist Dana FradonFradon’s elaborate drawings were generous masterpieces of compressed fun. One carefully detailed illustration, published in 1987, depicts a chauffeured convertible making its way up a manicured, tree-lined drive, toward an extravagant hilltop mansion. The self-satisfied owner, seated in the rear seat, says to his companion, “It’s my one indulgence.”

Dana Fradon, a New Yorker cartoonist who died on October 3rd, at the age of ninety-seven, was the last of the magazine’s legendary artists who were brought to its pages by Harold Ross. Fradon, starting in 1948, contributed almost fourteen hundred finely honed drawings of mirth and satire. The surprising stories and frozen moments in his work entertained and delighted readers for decades.

To read more: https://www.newyorker.com/culture/postscript/the-timeless-cartoons-of-dana-fradon