Royster's Blog

The days of looking for your cell phone charger are over! Earlier this year at the Consumer Electronics Show Powermat launched this cool product which can charge your cell phone, camera, video game system and even laptop simply by resting the device on the mat – no cords or plugs involved! Why can’t I come up with these simple, ingenious ideas? As they say, you can come up with a thousand terrible ideas, but if your 1001st is brilliant then you can still end up a billionaire.

 
Just in time for this great country’s birthday, British researchers announced the discovery of a rare original copy of America’s Declaration of Independence.  An original copy was recently found in the National Archives in Kew, England.  The print, part of the series of copies known collectively as the Dunlap Broadside, were the first copies of the Declaration of Independence. They were printed by John Dunlap of Philadelphia and distributed to political and military leaders, including George Washington, and dispatched throughout the colonies to be read to the public. National Archives officials said they weren’t sure how the Declaration of Independence copy ended up there.  As for its value?  The last one found was sold at an auction for $8.14 million in 2000.

For those who haven’t seen the new movie Star Wars: Revenge of the Fallen, allow me to summarize…

1. Megan Fox leans over a motorcycle

2. New robots are introduced, such as The Fallen (hence the title)…

3. …and Rampage

4. Megan Fox appears scantily clad in several scenes

5. Stuff blows up

6. More gratuitous scenes with Megan Fox, who does a lot of running and almost falls out of her top

7. Ginormous final battle takes place (in Egypt!!)

8. More stuff blows up

9. Megan Fox thankfully survives and will undoubtedly appear in the next movie

 

Hopefully next time around her top won’t be as secure.

“When the show got to be No. 3, I figured it was our acting. When it got to be No. 1, I decided it could only be because none of us wears a bra.”
- Farrah Fawcett, on Charlie’s Angels

103 inches.  1200 pounds.  $111,805.

Those are the specs for Bang & Olufsen’s new plasma TV which they recently unleashed on the unsuspecting public.

B&O’s new model, called the BeoVision 4, has some mindblowing features.

The unit requires a structural-integrity questionnaire for purchase and five piano movers for delivery. It can be mounted on a wall, or be shipped with a motorized stand that can lift the screen, which is parked at a position three inches off the ground, but when turned on it rises silently and once aloft, can tilt or rotate to the viewer’s desired position. The BeoLab 10 centre channel speaker is integrated into the TV beneath the screen, and moves forward to become flush with the TV once it has been turned on. The process is reversed once the plasma is put into standby mode. Its automatic color management entails one attached mini-camera uses a drop-down gradient to automatically correct the color every hundred hours; another adjusts the brightness and contrast relative to the ambient light in the room. The unit will not be on display at any retail locations, but rather, will only be available on a custom build basis. Each unit requires at least a 3-4 month lead time for delivery and “white glove” installation.  Color options include black, silver, red, blue, and dark grey.   Additional bells and whistles include 1080p resolution, automatic picture control, and an anti-reflection coated contrast screen.

When asked his rationale of launching a $100K+ TV in this economy, Zean Nielsen, president of B&O America, answered, ”Why the hell not?”

I like his style!

Kris Van Assche  just released a new line of leather bags for Dior Homme called DH1.  The style looks appealing to both the weekend traveler or the gym rat.  Prices are exorbitant, but I suspect that if you’re paying four digits for your gym bag, then someone else is probably carrying your stuff for you.  Jeeves, where are you?!?

$1,780, available in New York and L.A. stores in July, diorhomme.com

Anyone have a month to spare in their life?  I certainly don’t.  As a matter of fact, I am currently in the red for my vacation time (this isn’t stopping me from taking another trip though).  If you do have 30 days to spare, the 5 star Soneva Gili Resort in the Maldives is offering a ridiculously sweet promotional package.

The promo goes something like this: Any guest who pays for two weeks of accommodations gets two more weeks for free!  Read it and weep ladies and gentlemen…FREE.

Sounds too good to be true, right?  There must be a catch of some sort.  Well, there is.

The catch is that guests who partake in the promo must commit to daily community service on the island.  What does this entail, you ask?

Community service in a tropical island context mostly consists of teaching English to local kids, cleaning up the beach, making brooms or thatched roofs, and helping in the local clinic. And, guests need only work for four of their 14 free days, leaving 10 days more for uninterrupted bliss.  The deal is dubbed “The Eco Seasons Offer Package” and begins today, June 1 and runs through December 22.

So let me get this straight – if I educate some kids, help out the environment, and play doctor for the locals, I get to stay at an ultra-luxe resort for free?  Where do I sign up??

I never knew that Ferrari made jet airplanes.  Talk about flying in style!

I always find it amusing when celebs are called out for wearing bootlegged stuff…

The May issue of XXL magazine featuring Rick Ross on the cover shows him wearing a pair of Louis Vuitton sunglasses. A spokesperson for the luxury-goods maker recently contacted the magazine to inform them that the sunglasses were counterfeit. The letter reads as follows:

Dear Editor:

We were dismayed to see the cover of the May 2009 issue of XXL Magazine, which features a photo of Rick Ross wearing a pair of sunglasses prominently featuring counterfeit Louis Vuitton trademarks. Because the photo has generated considerable confusion among your readers and Louis Vuitton customers among others, we feel it is important to clarify several points.

The first is that the sunglasses Mr. Ross is wearing were not made by Louis Vuitton, and in fact, are counterfeit. Louis Vuitton did not grant permission to Mr. Ross or to whoever did make the sunglasses to use our trademarks. The second is that no affiliation, sponsorship or association exists between Rick Ross or XXL and Louis Vuitton. The third is that counterfeiting is illegal.

Thank you for giving us the opportunity to correct the confusion.

Sincerely,
Michael D. Pantalony, Esq.
Louis Vuitton Malletier