Lust of the Moment: Valentino Clutch

The culprit

Want. Need. Whatever. My sense of logic has been undermined by a strong urge to buy. Call it primal instinct. Anyway, this man clutch from Valentino's Fall-Winter 2012 menswear collection is probably my latest pick me up.

This, in my opinion, is a continuation of my affinity with Valentino (plus, it's a first that I feel the need for a clutch--hmmm....). At the moment, the man clutch retails for $1,795 at Valentino's website.

Ha! In my dreams.

Quick Vid of the Moment: Style Fixation

I need inspiration for dressing. Summer is probably my most challenging season because I always fall to my default jeans-and-tee look. Hey, can't blame anyone--it's freaking hot! And then I saw this video editorial from Preview magazine.

I'm loving the graphic elements and also the texture of the outfits. It's actually a part of the cheap and chic issue, which means most of the items featured will be affordable (all prices are in Philippine pesos). Of course, "affordable" is all relative. Enjoy the video and hopefully it will inspire you to stay awesome!

P.S.: The soundtrack is "Keep You" by French electronic artist Class Actress.

Song of the Moment: Smoke and Mirrors

Houdini by Foster the People - I think this is one of those really catchy songs that I've heard so far. To think otherwise means that I probably need to clean my ears. Plus, the video concept is just amazing. I'd want to have those black leotard crew to do my activities, like a ventriloquist would to a puppet. In this case, it's more smoke and mirrors giving the appearance of life to the dead Foster peeps. But wouldn't the carcasses start decaying? I guess that's something you can't fake.

Item of the Moment: Lytro Camera

A new YSL lipstick?

A camera that captures light from all angles? Sounds intriguing! How about a camera that does not have auto focus? Doesn't that sound a bit--for lack of a better word--primitive? Lytro is here to prove both of these are possible with its newest camera. Since it does not have autofocus, it doesn't need a shutter! So all those precious moments are captured in a snap (quite literally I might add!). The camera's special feature is its ability to allow users to focus and re-focus the subject(s) in the images as they see fit. This is made possible because of the camera's ability to absorb light from all angles. See it in action here.

The form factor of the Lytro resembles a big tube of lipstick; this incorporates an 8X optical zoom as well as a fixed aperture of f/2, which means it can work well in low lighting because the aperture is opened so darn wide. Still I'd recommend to use a tripod since there is no built-in flash.

More goodies: it has a very fancy 1.5 inch multitouch screen display, reminding me of how far displays have grown over the years (remember when 1.8 inch was considered big?), an 8 GB internal memory (there is 16 GB available too) to save your snaps, and an 11 "megarays" sensor. To be honest, I have no idea what megarays means, but that's what the product description provided.

For the design aficionados out there, I believe you'd appreciate the construction and shape of the Lytro. It's made out of an anodized aluminum case with a textured silicone rubber grip. The overall effect is very minimal and industrial and totally compact, in my opinion.

The Lytro is now available online. The base model (8 GB) comes in graphite and electric blue and retails for $399. The 16 GB version only comes in red, and retails for $499.

To learn more about the mechanics of the Lytro camera, watch this quick video, care of the folks from Engadget.

Quick Vid of the Moment: Life Without webOS

I am lamenting the loss of webOS. OK, loss is too harsh a word since, technically, the OS is still alive. Not mainstream like webOS die-hards would like it to be, but it's still alive within a niche audience (like me!).

I really believe that there is no other mobile operating system out there that can replicate the multitasking ability of webOS. Not even Apple's iOS can do it. Remember when Apple touted they also have "multitasking" available? Well, it's not even real multitasking like how you do it on a desktop computer.

Frustrations aside, there is hope for this floundering OS! HP just let it go open source, so my best bet is it's going to be the Linux of mobile devices. At the moment, however, the open source version of webOS cannot run on an existing device. The kernel it uses is in a more advanced stage, and there is no device that supports it currently.

But if there's anything that we learn from the tech industry, it's this: the future ain't too far off from today. So maybe in a year or so, some OEM bigwig would manufacture hardware that can boot webOS!

Witness the horrid webOS withdrawal in the vid. Oh the inhumanity!