G-phone, Valentine Sites, Pedal Power and the Whiskey Safari
igh Places
If you’re one of those whisky snobs who think blends are inferior to single malts, Taj Hotels’ Whiskey Safari 
begs to differ. They have chosen seven of the world’s best whiskies, all made in Scotland, and created three different “flights” (or whisky combinations) to whet your pallet. One flight mixes blended whiskies Ballantine’s 17-year-old, Chivas Regal 18-year-old, and Whyte & Mackay 22-year-old.
We suggest you try the Highland Fling Flight, where you can sample whiskies from the snow-capped place called “the spiritual home” of whisky. If you want to sample single whiskies, get ready for a strange flavour pairing designed to bring out the taste. Like an Oban 14-year-old Highland Single Malt, rich and fruity, alongside dark chocolate; or the oak and malt tastes of Cardhu 12-year-old Speyside Single Malt paired with honey.
If you can, check out the Whiskey Safari at Taj Mahal and Palace’s newly reopened Harbour Bar, India’s first registered bar, which has just restocked on liquors the bar sold at opening in 1933.
Individual whiskies: Rs. 500-700. Flights: Rs. 1,000-1,700. The Whiskey Safari runs until March at all Taj Luxury Properties.
- by Elizabeth Flock
The G-phone
Google has dropped the bomb! After what seems like an eternity, the Internet goliath has launched its first physical creation. 
Made by HTC in Taiwan, the Nexus One is an Android mobile phone that follows the general trend of high-end blowers these days: A 3.7-inch, 800x480 pixel touch-sensitive screen; 5-meg camera with autofocus and LED flash; Wi-Fi; and Bluetooth with A2DP. You probably get the gist.
The Android 2.1 operating system is a first though. Laced with 3G and HSDPA, expect a hiccup-free Google experience.
The Details
Speed Demon
The Google phone is equipped with Qualcomm’s latest 1 GHz Snapdragon processor that’s capable of decoding 720p video
Screen Test
The AMOLED screen promises to be scintillatingly rich with a contrast ratio of 100,000:1. Expect life-like colours
The Rest
Other goodies like a digital compass, capacitive touchscreen, accelero and assisted- GPS are present too.
For more details, see google.com/phone
- by Courtesy T3
Music R Us?
We hear that Reliance Timeout is soon going to experiment with a new product offering in the music arena. Apparently, they are in talks with music companies and content ag
gregators to set the stage for the launch of digital music in their stores.
The way it will work is that the rights owners will make the music available via content aggregators, who, in turn, will stream it to the Timeout store. Customers who are browsing in the store can choose to buy single tracks, or create their own compilations, and have them copied to a portable music player or mobile phone, or burnt on a CD at a small extra cost.
The sweetener? The music will be available at around Rs. 8 to Rs. 10 per song.
Now that certainly sounds competitive in comparison with an iTunes’s 99 cents, but it’s rather steep compared to the Rs. 99 a month that will get you unlimited downloads from Hungama.com (from a library of 200,000+ songs), or the Rs. 50 compilation of 150 MP3 tracks from Sony BMG that a Forbes India staffer picked up in Bangalore.
But all of them can’t compete with the vast sea of bootleg music floating around, which comes at an unbeatable price: Free.
It will certainly be interesting to see whether Reliance Timeout can succeed where so many have failed and actually get people to pay for music.
We, and the world, will be watching.
- by Nilofer D’Souza
Single Page View
