This looks really awesome, Microsoft research have combined the feeds from satellites and telescopes all over to create a window into the universe. The Ted video will show more:

There is more information on their website http://wwtelescope.com/ and release should be in spring time sometime.

Alessi Spring/Summer 2008: “

Alessi have just released their Spring/Summer 2008 range. I’m liking the look of the Orientales collection above.

”

(Via Made in ENGLAND by Gentlemen.)

Damn I wish this flu would go away, feel useless whilst me neck and head aches, my throat sore – enough to stop me from sleeping easily and this general muscle ache all over.

Damn it.

So on Thursday we had done a little shopping and hungry as always we decided to go for some food and fate took us to Odenplan in Vasastan. We ended up going to a “sushi” bar called itamae located at Odengatan 62. I had been here before, but its worth visiting more than once, though to call it a sushi bar is in line with Stockholm’s bastardisation of the word (and Itamae means sushi chef) – its more of a wok/thai place I think and the food is really good and really cheap.

Its basic in the way the best Eastern food places are, quick, the food is delicious and the menu choices are set into three areas, then you choose whether you want vegetarian, chicken, prawns or (I think) pork.

Friday we meant to meet up with some friends of mine and go to Restaurang Himlen (also known as Skybar – not to be confused with SkyBar in the SAS Radisson) located in the old tax office on Götgatan 78 in Södermalm but unfortunately I wasn’t notified early enough to a change of plan by my friends that they had gone somewhere else. We tried to get in anyways at about 7:30pm but greeted by the typically bad doorman Stockholm had to offer was asked to wait outside in the cold for 20 minutes. This despite our party of four matched the numbers of those leaving, and the fact that no one else was waiting led me to believe all the wanted to do was start a line to prove how popular the place is.

I have heard good things about it, but that the doormen are typically bad as is the custom in Stockholm, the drinks really expensive – even for Stockholm and the service terrible.. Mmm. Should we try again?

Instead we ended up going round the corner to the Vampire Lounge on Östgötagatan – a place I have been quite a few times now and well known for their excellent cocktails. We appeared to have arrived in happy hour as the prices of drinks was extremely reasonable – about 29Kr for a Beer and 59Kr for a cocktail, but this soon ended but I would never call the drinks expensive for that you get.

Saturday we tried to go out again to a large party that was happening in Telefonplan but the 13 dance floors and 49 DJs on offer seemed to be over subscribed – good for them, but the queue to get in was apparently from the place all the way to the train station, and getting on the t-bana in the same direction many more seemed to be joining them. Instead we went out in Söder – to SöderTeatern which was hosting what it described as Flamenco music – which it briefly touched upon but it was ok music anyway.

Sunday I wasn’t feeling too good – coming down with the flu but we made it out to a apartment viewing in Södermalm – always interesting, but I think that we will carry on looking but it did have potential thats for sure. Coffee break on Götgatan (will try and get the name of the place) and then back home.

I really like what Johnny Chung Lee Wii is doing with his projects on the Wii and the Wii controller.

There are many good examples on his website with YouTube movies of tracking fingers, multipoint interactive whiteboard, head tracking and more…

Discussion forums are over at WiimoteProject.com .

Yesterday we saw the latest Coen Brothers film: No Country for Old men and I must say that I liked it very much. Firstly the downsides; I am totally unsure about whether I liked or even got the ending at all. And thats about it for the downpoints – I think its probably the best movie the Coen Brothers have directed though not necessarily the most enjoyable.

The acting was first rate, the dialogue was fantastic and I particularly liked Josh Brolin’s character. I also was relieved with the non-hollywood style ending and the fact that they took risked with the main characters development unlike most films that I have seen recently.

All the way though being the geekboy that I am I was also thinking about the brothers use of Apple software to do much of the work on the film – some of the same software that I am using on this laptop…

For a trailer check out: http://www.apple.com/trailers/miramax/nocountryforoldmen/trailer/

Well it appears that Address book in Leopard has got a pretty nasty bug/feature with importing archived address book items.

When I make large changes to my Address Book I have got into the habit of backing up, and with Plaxo and several other services and devices syncing off it I can often need it.

Today somehow my address book contacts got really messed up and I thought “well lucky me I have backups from when it was last in good shape, so no problem, I will just import the backup”. Unfortunately it appears that the import of Address Book archives is broken.

Address Book archives the address book items into a abbu file. This appears to be a special file format that is in reality a folder containing Metadata, images and other files quite like the location:

~/Library/Application Support/AddressBook/ (hidden on my mac for some reason).

When I went to use the import facility it asked whether I wanted to overwrite the existing contacts (I did) but then nothing. There was information in the console, but it was different everytime and not one import. Looking on the web, I could see that I wasn’t the only one with the problem, and there was no solution. So I looked to myself to find out how to get it back.

Now please understand that this isn’t a recommended solution and I don’t know how it could possibly effect someone else if they tried this, so do so at your own risk, but I had nothing to lose.

Firstly, I deleted all the files under ~/Library/Application Support/AddressBook/ with Address Book closed. Then I opened Address Book, I created a new contact, then I imported the abbu file. I got all my contacts back and they all look intact from the last backup.

Then I used Plaxo to sync them back to the service…

So this weekend went to a few more places, after work I went to Belgobaren (Bryggargatan 12 just off Vasagatan), not the first time that I have been there but its a good place with an excellent range of Belgium beer and it was located very close to T-Centralen. Unfortunately the service that we got for food was non-existant so we left as it took 20 minutes to get just a menu, so I would recommend it for the excellent Kwak, Chimey or Duvel they have but I am not so sure about the food.

From there we went to meet some friends at Akkurat on Hornsgatan in Södermalm, a place which I wasn’t particularly happy about going to – it doesn’t seem to have the best clientele from walking past but in its favour you can get Chimey and Guiness there and seems to sport a broad range of drinks, but I wouldn’t recommend it.

And I revisited Indigo Bar, on Götgatan in Södermalm, a nice little place although everytime that I have been there its been packed. Still its easy and one of the better places at the north end of Götgatan.

Looking for a brunch spot in Södermalm we decided to try Dolly’s Saloon on Götgatan, probably way after brunch time as it was advertised as having brunch, though I can’t say anything we saw to eat there was brunch and we ended up ordering lamb racks with potato wedges and a steak with fries – it was priced the same as a normal priced good meal in Stockholm, but was probably less than average and way more filling than we needed at the time. I don’t think that I will be going back as we have had far better meals for less. Some of the paintings inside though are laughably bad..

Following on from this we went shopping in Söder and including the usual places ended up in the Adidas originals shop and on Sunday Filippa K in Bruno mall, Götgatan 36. It also houses Whyred, Reiss, Stuk and American Apparel amongst others.

This looks like a really nice stand for Apple computers with an integral 4 port USB hub. Raising the display might also help usability because I feel the default position is slightly too low.

You can get them from Macessity.

Last night we went out shopping, ended up buying something in Keihls store in Stockholm. As always the service was great and we found out that if you are not happy with a product you can take it back and exchange it for something different. Very unusual for a cosmetics company.

After that we went to find some food, originally we thought about going to get some Tapas, but instead ended up around Rådmansgatan, and after a short walk decided to try Paladar de Cuba, Tegnérgatan 19 and I must say that we were quite impressed. Both ordering the same thing, Beef with Chorizo and with Cassava and it was excellent, particularly the Cassava – I think the first time that I have tried this root vegetable and hopefully not the last. The surroundings in the restaurant and the service was both good, so I would definitely recommend Paladar again

From here we went around the corner to the Cinema on Sveavågen, and choose to see Before the Devil knows you’re dead and what a disappointment that was, its probably one of the most pointless and boring movies I have seen at the cinema and the only highlight was getting to the end of it and going home. One to miss at the cinema, ignore for rental and definitely don’t buy it in the shops…