Smartbuy issue dated August 3, 2011

Smartbuy Business Line

G A D G E T S

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Wednesday, August 3, 2011

A U T O |

L U X U R Y

www.blsmartbuy.com

Kitchen Couture Mouthwatering styles for your kitchen Page 12

WHAT’S HOT this week

Team Smartbuy Editorial Anushya Mamtora anushya@thehindu.co.in

Archana Achal archana.a@thehindu.co.in

Ketaki Bhojnagarwala ketaki@thehindu.co.in

Mahananda Bohidar mahananda@thehindu.co.in

S. Muralidhar muraliswami@thehindu.co.in

Design Bryan Gaughan aqua@thehindu.co.in

Balakrishnan designkbala@thehindu.co.in

Advertising Contact

Conservation station

R. Diwakar

Belkin Conserve Valet

ramdiwakar@thehindu.co.in

Web Advertising Contact N. Amarnath amarnath@thehindu.co.in

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Cover Photo Courtesy: Poggenpohl

Eco projections

This USB charging station from Belkin allows you to save energy by using just one power socket to charge up to four USB devices.

An inbuilt timing device shuts it off after a specified time period, and Valet itself draws zero power when not in use. Effective cord management system keeps the area clutter free. The device includes two cables – USB to USB and USB to micro-USB. Rs 2,399

Epson EB-9 series

The new series of multimedia projectors from Epson offer brightness ratings from 2,600-3,500 ANSI lumens, enabling them to project clear images even in ambient light. Advanced features include Ethernet, optional Wireless LAN projection, multiscreen projection capability and central network control. Low power consumption at just 0.4 watts makes them eco-friendly too.

Rs 58,200 onwards

All-in-one fun

Lenovo IdeaCentre B520

This 23-inch all-in-one desktop PC from Lenovo combines multi-touch along with 3D vision. It features 5-channel speakers, a second generation Intel Core i7 processor, Nvidia GeForce GT graphics, 4GB DDR3 memory and up to 2TB hard drive. Connectivity options include USB 2.0 and 3.0 ports, a 5-in-1 card reader and integrated DVD writer. An optional accessory is the 3-in-1 mouse which doubles up as a motion-drive games controller.

Rs 71,990

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August 3, 2011

A master stroke

Asus ProArt 238Q The new 23-inch, LED-backlit ASUS PA238Q is the latest entrant in the ASUS ProArt Series of displays. With a native resolution of 1920 x 1080, the monitor reproduces 100 per cent of the RGB colour space with every monitor precision calibrated to ensure unmatched colour accuracy. The monitor ships with ASUS-exclusive QuickFit Virtual Scale software to display photos and documents in their true size on screen. With a fully adjustable stand, the connectivity options of the monitor include HDMI, DisplayPort, DVI-D, D-sub, and multiple USB ports.

Rs 17,600

The small wonder

Samsung N100 Weighing a little more than one kg, the Samsung N100 packs in Intel’s MeeGo operating system. The 10.1-inch LED display eliminates glare with its matte finish and is enveloped in Duracase to keep the netbook protected.

The interface has been designed to enable easy web access as well as efficient offline processing. A fast bootup and energy-efficient design makes the N100 a desirable device for those on the move.

Rs 12,290

Ear candy

Sennheiser CX 215 The new set of earphones by Sennheiser guarantee fullbodied stereo sound with their powerful bass. Inspired by the colours of the season, the Sennheiser CX 215 is available in red, orange, bronze, green and blue. With every set of earphones, you have the choice of ear adapters in three different sizes that ensure optimum blockage of background noise.

Rs 1,990

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August 3, 2011

TABLET preview

Apple’s third commandment

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s Apple going to keep things same on the outside but beef it up with quadcore, full HD and NFC on the inside? We may not have to wait long to find out…

Rumour grindmill The iPad 2 may be just finding its feet, but we’re already inundated with rumours about its successor, including one that refuses to go away - that Apple will release a new tablet this year. “The iPad 2 is a fantastic device, but this market is changing more rapidly than in any other chip war I can remember,” says Football Manager supremo Miles Jacobson, who is already working on games that use quadcore processors.

Under the hood If Apple sticks to its usual, yearly release schedule, it’s at a real risk of falling behind its competitors, who have already closed the gap. But what would the iPad 3 look like? We can confidently say it’ll look much

like the current one, at least from the front, though we’ve heard a carbon-fibre chassis may be in the offing. More critical is what’s inside. We’re looking forward to a bigger, 128GB storage option, 4G outside of the UK, NFC, a Spotify-style streaming version of iTunes, dual-HD cameras, a higher-res screen, a quadcore processor and a base price that’s about £10 cheaper than the last one (as usual). Chop chop then, Apple…

What the little birdie says iPad 2 is just a stop-gap “An Apple staffer” reportedly told the Cult of Mac blog that iPad 2 was rushed into production and that the “third-gen iPad is the one to make a song and dance about”. He also said it’s due out this year.

We say: If quadcore tablets are the norm by autumn, will Apple want to wait a further six months before updating its dualcore slow-coach?

Finger-lickin’ NFC Cult of Mac also predicts that the next iPhone will have a NFC chip to allow

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mobile payments and possibly remote control of your Mac over the web. If it can fit in the iPhone 5, it’ll fit in the iPad 3.

We say: Mobile operators are currently investing millions in NFC and there will be money to be made. Apple will want some of that, for sure.

Super Retina Display Concord Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, who has a good record on predictions, believes iPad 3 will have a 2048x1536 display: more HD than full HD. Mind you, he also believes it’ll be five or six inches across. Hmm… We say: Changing the screen size would cause major problems for app developers.

Higher-res screen, yes. Smaller, no.

What iPad 3 won’t have

continue to offer a broader range.

Wireless sync Most things folk say they want on Apple devices are usually un-Apple-esque and would involve spoiling its beautiful/overdesigned lines. However, wireless syncing with iTunes and your hard drive is so elegant, it’s surprising Apple has not implemented it until now. Physically docking to sync media seems just so 2007.

Can an Android dev make it work?

Flash Apple’s stand-off with Adobe has been a long-standing bugbear, with Apple favouring the less battery-intensive HTML5. Use of Flash may have diminished as a result but there are still vast swathes of the web that will be denied to the iPad 3 if it ships this year without Flash. Why should you have to stand for that?

Different screen sizes An entire industry has spawned from the 9.7-inch standard, so if Apple suddenly Predicted launch date: September 2011 This material is translated or reproduced from T3 decides to change its screen ratio, it’ll have app developers all over the world weeping. magazine and is the copyright of or licensed to Future Publishing Limited, a Future plc group company, UK Android and other rivals, however, will 2011. Used under license. All rights reserved

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August 3, 2011

MEDIA PLAYER review

Slingbox Pro-HD: ‘Telly’-portation

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f you spend most of your time in and out of airports, you may not always be in front of your telly to catch your favourite TV shows. Luckily for you, it’s Slingbox to the rescue! This nifty device streams live TV to your PC, smartphone or tablet, so you never have to miss a show again. Read on to find out how it really works.

Out of the box There are two versions of the Slingbox, a standard version and the Pro-HD, and we tested the latter. The Slingbox Pro-HD comes in a slab format almost the size of a small notebook. It’s a fairly basic device in terms of looks, cut out in the shape of an aerobic step bench with tiny grooves on the front fascia.

Technology The basic principle of the Slingbox Pro-HD is ‘placeshifting’. It is a concept that enables consumers to view live, recorded or stored media on a remote device via an internet connection.

Placeshifting technology allows anyone with a broadband internet connection to have direct video streams from their home television sets, DVR or other video sources, such as a DVD player or home security camera, forwarded for viewing remotely on a computer, netbook or a mobile phone at any location where they have a highspeed Internet connection, cellular data network, or Wi-Fi network.

Although it sounds very similar to controlling your computer over a network connection, the major difference here is that placeshifting essentially deals with devices like television, DVD players, etc.

While there are a lot of software solutions to control devices in your house from a remote location using a computer and an internet connection, the Slingbox ProHD enables you to not only control your video sources

from a remote location but also stream content over the same. Moreover, it doesn’t require a PC to do it.

The Slingbox Pro-HD is a top-of–the line product from Sling Media and comes with a total of four inputs including one coax connection where you can directly connect the cable TV BNC connector. It also has component, composite and S-video connections with stereo audio connections. All these inputs work as throughputs wherein there is an ‘output’ for every input on the device.

Performance Setting up the device is fairly simple. The idea is to connect the Slingbox Pro-HD to your TV and the video source (set-top-box, DVD player, camcorder, etc.) by using the throughputs on the Slingbox Pro-HD. So there is practically no addition of a new device in your regular signal chain as the Slingbox Pro-HD fits in seamlessly with the existing set-up.

The next thing that you have to do is connect it to the home network. Since there is no integrated Wi-Fi in the Slingbox Pro-HD, you are left with no option but to connect it to a LAN cable. If your network router and the set-top box are in different rooms, then Sling Media has signal jumpers/boosters called SlingLink, which come at an extra cost.

Once you have the connections ready you need to configure the Slingbox Pro-HD to the device that you will be using it with. The only pre-requisite here is that the device and the Slingbox Pro-HD have to be on the same network.

Slingbox Pro-HD is as easy as using a set-top box. The best part is that you get an exact replica of the remote for your set-top box (whatever the brand) on your device’s screen. This makes it very easy to control the set-top box and browse through the menu options. This also stands true for most of the other video sources like a DVD player or a camcorder. In case the device that you are using is not

mentioned in the exhaustive list of devices on the website, you also have an option of using the generic virtual remotes provided by Sling Media.

In terms of playback, the Slingbox Pro-HD is flawless.

Another good feature of the Slingbox Pro-HD is that the video streaming is not dependant on the speed of the broadband connection that you are using.

Instead, the picture resolution of the stream is dependant on the speed of the connection. The player automatically adjusts its picture resolution according to your broadband connection. This implies that you will get a seamless stream of video content as far as you have a broadband connectivity of approximately 100kbps or more.

You get an option of letting the player know your broadband speed (approximately) and it will automatically adjust the picture resolution for the stream accordingly. And if you set the same on auto then you don’t have to bother about the speed at all. The player automatically adjusts the resolution for the picture.

If you are using a HD set-top box then the Slingbox can stream all the way up to 1080i as well. But if you are using a Blu-ray player then don’t expect the player to stream 1080p. That feature is yet to come.

The only drawback that we see for the Slingbox is the fact that if a user is using the Slingbox then the people sitting at home will have to compulsorily watch the same channels that the remote user is watching; this is because right now in India we get set-top boxes with only one tuner installed as a result the same tuner is engaged while you watch it through the Slingbox Pro-HD. In the future, once we get set-top boxes with multiple tuners, this problem will be easily solved.

Our verdict In India, there have been devices in the recent past which claimed to feature placeshifting but incorporated it in parts. The Slingbox Pro-HD marks the beginning of the placeshifting era, especially with the mobile internet connectivity hitting 3G. The launch is well-timed in India. As far as the device is concerned, the Slingbox Pro-HD is fairly easy to set up, very easy to use and also effective in terms of streaming performance.

Love: Well priced, effective performance Hate: Lack of integrated Wi-Fi Rs 14,999 AV MAX

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August 3, 2011

GAME review

Post-war Los Angeles is not a pretty place. It’s up to you to clean up the scum of the city, as you don the guise of Detective Cole Phelps and climb the ranks of the LAPD

A Noire, Rockstar Games and Team Bondi’s near seven years in the making love letter to noir cinema and pulp fiction is a hard dame to hate. She’s got the looks, she had the plan, and she nearly pulled it off, but what she didn’t figure out was her audience digging deeper than the grave: you hit the sewer lines and it ain’t pretty.

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Gameplay L.A. Noire comprises of a series of bite-sized cases spread across five desks that chronicle Cole Phelps’ journey through the ranks of the LAPD. As a war veteran, you start off as a beat cop and then move on to traffic, homicide, vice and arson. Each desk gives you a different partner to work with, and they’re all fleshed out, interesting characters that keep the game experience from stagnating.

Each of these cases has you performing a series of tasks that will hopefully lead you to the perpetrator. These include investigating crime scenes, collecting evidence that you then use to corner suspects during interrogations, and an action beat that has you using your vehicle, weapon or fists to subdue a suspect.

Examining evidence is especially entertaining as the game lets you pick up objects from

the game world and inspect them. While not all items can be examined, there are some that can have an amazing degree of detail; enough to make out the serial number off a handgun, for instance. There’s some flexibility built into your crime solving, so much so that you can end up accusing the wrong individual, miss clues and even get interrogations wrong. These then lead to new story threads that you wouldn’t otherwise have experienced.

The ambience There’s plenty to like about the experience that L.A. Noire weaves. Everything from the menu screens to the music to the open world environment positively drips atmosphere. Postwar Los Angeles just feels right, with Team Bondi using aerial photographs taken in the days before the cloverleaf invasion to model a massive city that you just want to drive through for no reason other than to take in the sights. There are authentic period cars and pedestrians in period dressage on show. Storefronts are true to the time period, and get this you can sit down anywhere and just take in the view.

You could let your partner chauffer you around during missions, but it’s so much better

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picking out real world landmarks and responding to random street crimes. The neat gridlike street layout makes finding your destination relatively easy, especially since there’s no guided navigation of any kind (apart from the location marker). The lack of an automated day/night cycle does sting, but then you do see the time of day (and weather) vary at specific points during the story. There’s a beautiful selection of licensed period music and radio shows that pipe in over the radio, along with a small set of original songs by Andrew and Simon Hale.

The interiors sets are meticulous in their detail, deserving a nice tip of the hat for Team Bondi’s digital prop wrangler. Weaponry is pleasingly varied and is punchy enough for a game whose focus is clearly on thinking with your mind than your trigger finger. Suspects have a nice solid weight about them as they crumple to the ground, as does Cole while he’s doing a bit of parkouring in some of the games’ on-foot chases. While there may be some wrigglyness to the driving, you’ll soon learn to work with the driving model and its ability to deliver thrilling edge-of-the-seat vehicle pursuits and crunchy crashes.

Team Bondi’s path breaking MotionScan

works as it says on the can, delivering the most authentic faces ever seen in a video game.

You’ll be picking your jaw off the floor as you watch a procession of talented television actors (near 400 of them) bring even the smaller two-bit roles to life.

Whether this kind of investment in lieu of more traditional animation techniques is something that’ll catch on is another question, however. Also, there’s a very evident disconnect between the faces and the bodies of NPCs that were hand-keyed rather than motion captured. The game clocks in at around 20 hours, which is sizable enough in this day and age.

Your mileage may vary if you get stuck into hunting down the collectibles or responding to random street crimes. There’s also a free roam mode that lets you drive around and indulge your destructive side, especially important given that you’re penalised for every traffic infraction you commit during the course of the main story.

Lie to me Where does it all go wrong then? Let’s start with the basic interrogation mechanic. You’re given a measly three choices (truth, doubt and lie) of responses during conversations, but it

becomes increasingly difficult to predict what Cole will say or what tone he’ll take. Also, it’s almost too easy to use the lie option since it allows you to back out of a false accusation.

You never feel like you have true control over conversations, which hurts a game that’s so reliant on conversation.

Reading people’s faces isn’t nearly as intriguing when they’re so obviously acting crafty (twitchy eyes, the works), and what’s even more galling is when you’re slapped with one red herring after another, with no control over which way to steer your investigation. The cases are set up exactly the way Team Bondi saw fit and damned if you try something you weren’t meant to. Also, why does everyone under the slight glare of suspicion become a runner? You’ll lose count of the suspects you’ll be chasing down just because the game wants to add some action to the proceedings.

A lot of these issues wouldn’t have been a problem if the resolution of some of the later story arcs was anywhere near satisfactory.

Instead, you’re left with muddled, inconceivable, contrived story turns that leave you questioning whether the hours you put into the last few cases could have been put to better use.

Saying any more would spoil the story, but

suffice to say that what’s here just isn’t satisfying enough for a discerning gamer. On the other hand, the cases during the beat and traffic desks were much better, because they were designed as compartmentalised nuggets of storytelling.

While these are sizable caveats for a quasiadventure game that L.A. Noire quite clearly is, it’s hard to whole heartedly dissuade gamers from sampling the stellar work Team Bondi has put into so many of its other facets. If only the same love and care that went into its aesthetics had gone into refining the story and the interrogation, we’d have a certified classic on our hands.

Rs 2,499 (Xbox 360) Rs 2,499 (PS3) Rating: 4.5/5 Love: Excellent presentation, decent length and sense of progression.

Hate: Clunky storytelling, stilted interrogations Publisher: Rockstar Developer: Team Bondi Platform: Xbox 360, PS3 CHIP

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August 3, 2011

AUTO focus

The 2012 Porsche Cayman R at a Glance Engine: 3.4-litre six-cylinder with 330 horsepower and 273 pound-feet of torque Transmission: Six-speed manual Speed: 0 to 60 mph in 4.7 seconds Gas mileage per gallon: 19 city; 27 highway Price as tested: $81,685 Best features: Drives like a purist’s vehicle; space for luggage Worst feature: Pricey add-ons Target buyer: The driver who likes a car lean and mean

Lean, mean and Jason H. Harper t’s 3 a.m. and we’re in the airport parking lot in Long Beach, California, hollow-eyed after delays turned the flight from New York into a 12-hour ordeal.

In front of us is the car I’ll be testing for the weekend. My fatigue flutters away. I’m thrilled.

My wife: Not so much.

“It’s puce,” she says.

“It’s a Porsche,” I answer.

“A puce Porsche.”

Just a trick of the overhead fluorescent lights on the paint job of the $66,300 Cayman R. Actually, the sports car is an odd shade of green that reminds me of diluted absinthe. Peridot, Porsche calls it, like the gem stone. So that’s better. Sort of.

“Look, how practical,” I say, throwing Miranda’s rolling bag and my two backpacks into the rear hatch. Impressive for a two-seat sports car built for speed.

We’ve got more than an hour of driving ahead, so I insert the key into the left-hand ignition, a peculiar Porsche idiosyncrasy, and start the sixcylinder, mid-mounted engine. I hear a pleasant buzz behind my head.

“This trip is already worth it,” I declare, illustrating the danger of marrying a car nut. The sports seats are narrow and extremely firm. Ideal for cradling you during G-turns on the track; not

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so great after being crammed on an airplane.

Porsche first released the Cayman in 2006 as a fixed-roof sibling to the Boxster roadster. Both are light and have motors located behind the cockpit. The R is lighter, faster and more expensive than the regular $51,900 Cayman and $62,100 Cayman S models.

The car takes to corners like a bloodhound sticks to the trail of a chain gang escapee. Point it in the right direction and its instincts are irrepressible.

Catching the 911 The conspiracy-minded among us believe there’s a good reason Porsche has never released a Cayman with an engine as powerful as the venerable 911 - it just might whip its more expensive uncle.

The 911 has a rear-mounted engine, a quirk that is also an engineering liability.

The R model Cayman we’re driving would give a base 911 a run for its money. That’s $66,300 versus $79,000; 330 horses versus 345. The R has dumped 121 pounds over the Cayman S, weighing only 2,855 pounds. It also bumped up the engine by 10 horsepower. The bloodhound’s diet has given it more bite.

The vehicle gets a small fixed wing in the rear and rather immodest Porsche lettering along the sides. Peridot is not the only available colour.

Photos: Bloomberg

Peridot green Bark We zoom onto the I-405 South, and I engage a switch that opens flaps to the muffler - a $2,810 option that lets the engine bark more freely.

Snick-snick-snicking through the perfectly situated manual gears, we’re soon in sixth. A double- clutch, PDK automated transmission is available for $3,660 more. Those who spend time on the race track might also consider the $8,150 ceramic composite brakes.

At this hour there’s still traffic, but fellow drivers are bombing along at speeds far above the posted 65. A simple dip of the gas is all that’s needed to keep up. The weight of the gas pedal and steering are perfectly tuned and utterly harmonious - better than any Porsche I’ve driven.

There’s no doubt that the Cayman R would handle miraculously on the racetrack. In the real world, however, the less-weight/more-power formula requires a bit of explanation.

Weight watching “What’s with these dorky pull straps?” my wife asks, fingering a floppy piece of fabric where the interior door handle should be.

“Taking off the handles saves weight,” I reply.

“Really? Then why does it have that huge clock?” she asks, pointing to the dial atop the dashboard. Not a clock, I explain, but the sport

chronographer, which records laps times on the racetrack. “Now that’s needless weight,” she says. What she can’t see are the lighter aluminium doors and re-engineered wheels, which also whittle away pounds. Oh, there’s no air conditioner, either. That’s a $1,760 option.

We exit on a toll road leading toward the ocean, taking us through rolling hills. It’s extremely dark and misting lightly. It feels as if we have this part of California to ourselves and I leave the stereo off, enjoying the sound of 19-inch tyres confidently grabbing slick pavement.

There’s something about the feel of a two-seat Porsche that remains mechanical and linear, divorced from the cold digital sensation of many new sports cars. The Cayman R embodies this.

It’s after 4 a.m. when we finally arrive at our rented house in Oceanside, north of San Diego.

Some dozen friends are already here, gathered for an annual 10K charity foot race. Every year I show up in a different sports car. It’s become part of the event itself, somehow.

The next morning several early risers are sipping coffee and standing around the Cayman R. “Awesome ride,” says one. “But what’s up with that colour?”

(The author writes about autos for Muse, the arts and leisure section of Bloomberg News.

The opinions expressed are his own.)

BLING corner

Monsoon magic

Cosmopolitan cocktail

Sprinkle your monsoon mood with some sparkly jewellery from D’damas. Their new Rain Droplets collection combines gold and diamonds in fluid designs for the rain goddess in you.

Available at their outlets.

Rs 10,500 onwards

C. Krishniah Chetty and Sons launches its new cocktail jewellery collection for the cosmopolitan woman. The pieces dazzle with brilliant-cut diamonds, gold and brandy topaz.

Available at its stores.

Rs 75,000 onwards

Curvaceous beauty Accessorise your wrist with bracelets from Popley Eternal’s collection Armilla, made from 18k white and yellow gold with diamonds.

Available at its store in Mumbai.

Rs 6 lakh onwards

Gentlemen! Here please Tribhovandas Bhimji Zaveri launches The Gentlemen’s Collection, a range of gold and diamond rings, bracelets and other jewellery for the modern man.

Available at their stores in select cities.

Rs 20,000 onwards

‘Purr’fect panther Unleash your feline charm with the Panther ring by Varuna D Jani. Wrap this sapphire and diamond encrusted beauty around your finger and let it do all the talking.

Available at her boutique in Mumbai.

Price on request

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August 3, 2011

MELANGE luxury redefined

Faas, Faaster, Faastest Outrun the competition with shoes from the new PUMA Faas Collection. A rockershape outsole and grooves help increase speed while maintaining stability. The shoes add a dash of colour to your ‘shoedrobe’ too.

Available at all PUMA outlets.

Faas 300: Rs 3,999 and Faas 500: Rs 5,999

‘Pen’ny for your thoughts Fill reams of paper with your thoughts using the new Ondoro range of luxury pens from Faber-Castell. The hexagonal shape makes for comfortable use and the chrome end pieces add a touch of class.

Available at all William Penn outlets.

Rs 6,000 to Rs 6,800

Slip it on This summer, Reebok launches stylish slippers as part of its Easytone range.

Stride out in these silver and purple stunners or choose from their other funky options.

Available at all Reebok outlets.

Rs 3,999

Metallic Magic Be a show-stopper with the new Chameleon Laser-cut leather pumps

by Fendi. The metallic leather cover carries a unique perforated design while the four inch chameleon heels are adorned with a delicate swirl pattern.

Available at its boutique at Emporio Mall, New Delhi.

Rs 41,500

Juice boost!

Feel refreshed with Viva La Juicy, the new fragrance from Juicy Couture. With notes of caramel woods, honeysuckle, mandarin and wild berries, this perfume can add that spring to your step.

Available at select lifestyle stores.

Rs 4,930 (100ml) and Rs 3,780 (50ml)

KITCHEN trends

Florida FamilyKitchen: Tangent-The Furniture Mall

What’s cookin’!

Keeping with the trends of kitchen décor doubles the pleasure of cooking.

2011 adds its own zesty style to modern kitchens by dabbling in exotic countertops, colour pops, island styles and innovative lighting.

ARCHANA ACHAL and ANUSHYA MAMTORA chalk out some interesting kitchen fashion to indulge in this season

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entilation and hygiene? Check.

Fancy appliances? Check. Stylish cutlery? Check. Passion for cooking? Check. Amidst all these ingredients that go into creating the perfect place to cook and eat, the décor of the kitchen is perhaps one of the most important. Functional yet stylish, kitchen interiors are getting snazzier, bolder, innovative and interesting. This year saw some fun and classic styles seeping in.

Here are a few we loved which will transform your kitchen into a visual delight.

Island hopping Single, L-shaped and U-shaped platforms

are passé. For those who have the convenience of space, it’s the addition of the island counter in the middle of the kitchen that is popular. The island can either be a platform to gather and eat, a workspace with sink, dishwasher and preparation space or a combination of both. Hacker has interesting two-tier islands that are a classic way to separate the work and dining spaces. Since the island is the visual focal point of the kitchen, brands stylise it with two different countertops to demarcate the space, or even better, accommodate two islands. The island usually blends in with the rest of the kitchen décor, but this season is all about adding that surprise

Hacker Flying Bridge: Hacker Kitchens

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August 3, 2011

element. A pop of colour, a striking countertop or exquisite carvings, the island is a visual highlight.

To top it off With the range of countertop material available today, those who love to experiment are steering clear of granite or laminate options. The countertop can be made the cynosure by choosing something as exotic as fossil stone, glass or semi-precious stones. The Green River Stone Company has innovative countertops where the slabs contain fossils of fish sourced directly from nature. You can also go for a glass countertop from ThinkGlass or CBD Glass Studios.

When lit from below, these glass countertops can soften or brighten the ambience of your kitchen. Countertops made from semi-precious stones like amethyst and tiger-eye are a sure-fire way to add oomph to your kitchen. The Concetto series by Caesarstone carries a number of exotic countertop slabs like blue agate, apple jasper and petrified wood. Metals are in too, with sheets of copper, zinc and stainless steel being popular picks.

Art thou inspired?

Art movements have been the inspiration for home décor for a very long time now.

Now, the artistic touches flow from the living room to the kitchen, with recent styles being Art Deco and Pop Art. A welcome change from the much-used and most popular minimalist style is the Art Deco style kitchen which uses details purely for art’s sake. You can add some Deco to your kitchen décor by introducing the sunburst pattern to your cabinets. You can also add a rounded finish to your countertop while using geometric-patterned tiles for the backsplash to create contrast. Veneta Cucine’s Tulipano Calice kitchen has softly moulded cabinets below with sharp-edged cabinets above making for interesting contrast in lines. Their Oyster series plays with the colour blue and incorporates interesting textures in the backsplash and cabinets. If colours are the focus of your kitchen, take a bite out of the Pop Art pie and paint your cabinet bright yellow, orange or neon red. You can even add an Andy Warhol print or two to emphasise the style. Tangent’s Florida Family style kitchen has bright red cabinets alternating with dark toned ones, along with quirky etching on the backsplash. Veneta Cucine’s Atlantica kitchen plays up the summery feel with a bright yellow breakfast nook and blue walls. The Pop Art style kitchen is like having a unique style statement.

CBD Glass Studios

Porsche Design Kitchen P’7340: Poggenpohl

Let there be light Who thought that exquisite chandeliers and unique lighting fixtures would find space in the kitchen! Brightening up contemporary kitchens today are wellplanned lighting styles that highlight different portions of the kitchens and add to the drama. Even if your kitchen is small, the right lighting can add life to it. Popular trends this year include one prominent fixture in the centre of the kitchen, pendant lighting above island counters and inbuiltlighting through onyx or glass countertops.

Chandeliers this season are mostly in sync with the kitchen décor, though some designers do add in a quirky element.

Apart from the above four fashionable options, this year also saw a lot of classic all-white décor, stainless steel and aluminium highlights, smart storage solutions and a slice of nature adorning the kitchen.

Guests coming in for dinner? Well, who’s complaining! archana.a@thehindu.co.in anushya@thehindu.co.in

Johnson Kitchens

TASTER’S choice

Burgundies on a new high

Photos: Bloomberg

John Mariani he oft repeated advice to fledgling wine drinkers is to just “drink what you like,” in the hope they will at some point graduate from five-dollar plonk to 10-dollar plonk and maybe one day appreciate much better wines.

Such counsel is about as effective as telling a kid to read what they want, hoping they will soon ditch Harry Potter and graduate to Dostoevsky.

My advice to the budding wine enthusiast is to go out and buy a very good wine that is typical of its type, thereby having a standard by which to measure other wines. Were I to recommend an introduction to fine Cabernet Sauvignon, I’d suggest a third- or fourthcru Bordeaux or a Napa Valley estate in the $30-$50 range. For a premium Italian wine, a Barolo or Barbaresco. When it comes to Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, however, I’d shy away from recommending big, flashy, oaky California examples and instead focus on French Burgundies.

The problem is, the very best Burgundies are out of reach for most consumers - a bottle of Romanee-Conti costs about $10,000 - and, unlike the wines of Bordeaux, which come from single estates, a single-vineyard Burgundy may be owned by many negociants (merchants) who buy the grapes or wine, must then make blends bottled under their own label.

Becoming familiar with obscure Burgundy negociants is a lifelong project. But many well-established companies like Bouchard Pere & Fils, Louis Jadot, Domaine Leroy, and Joseph Drouhin are not only readily available

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in the global market but produce a wide range of consistently good wines, including some of the most illustrious and expensive.

Father’s Day pair So on Father’s Day this year, I celebrated by opening two Joseph Drouhin bottlings, a 2009 Meursault ($45.50) and a 2009 Morey-Saint-Denis ($50), the first with spaghetti with a basil pesto sauce, the latter with a grilled veal chop.

These are wines of enormous refinement, not to be drunk without food, and they vividly reminded me how distinctive Burgundian Chardonnay and Pinot Noir can be.

The Meursault’s Chardonnay grapes are picked by hand in selected vineyards from “trusted growers.” They are gently pressed and aged nine to 10 months, using only 30 per cent new oak barrels, so that the subtlety of the wine remains and the complexity of the fruit itself is revealed both in the nose and the palate, with a creamy finish that is quintessentially Chardonnay.

Spiders under control Morey-Saint-Denis, on the Cote de Nuits between Gevrey- Chambertin and Chambolle-Musigny, only garnered its own appellation in 1935. Relative to its more famous neighbours, which have grand cru status, Morey-Saint-De-

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nis wines are generally less expensive yet express the same lush virtues of the best Pinot Noir grapes. Drouhin draws from its partner vineyards with very low yields in order to “reveal every nuance of the terroir,” as well as deep colour and lilac-like bouquet.

Using 20 per cent new oak, Drouhin’s bottling spends 14 to 18 months in the barrel, blended after extensive tastings of each one. I might well let the wine age a year or more, but at this point, on a summer’s night, it could not have been a better expression of great but affordable Pinot Noir.

Drouhin is also a fine representative of French vineyards’ 21st-century attention to biological and biodynamic cultivation - designed to limit the amount of chemicals by using organic compost and allowing natural predators to control spiders.

Under Chief Executive Officer Philippe Drouhin, the 131-year-old company, with 73 hectares (182.5 acres) in Burgundy, switched to bottles that are 10 per cent lighter, thereby reducing their carbon footprint.

Those are applaudable commitments, especially since global warming is making it increasingly difficult to grow the finicky Pinot Noir grape.

Right now, wines like these, in this price category, set the bar for a novice wine drinker by which to judge fine Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. And for those of us converted long ago, we are reminded of what it was we loved about them in the first place.

(The author writes on wine for Muse, the arts and leisure section of Bloomberg News. The opinions expressed are his own.)

WATCH collection

Pretty preppy

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