Useless USB gadgets are a dime a dozen but this might really take the cake. Capitalising on our daily use of MSN (or Windows Live Messenger as Microsoft keeps trying to tell us,) Union's i-Buddy believes that you aren't smart enough to understand an emoticon and so will instead interpret what the emoticon is by flashing its lights, flapping its wings and what not. From what I can gather, each i-Buddy syncs to only one friend so if you are really buying into this gadget, you'd need to buy multiple...

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Man, has it been hot. Gladly, the oppressive pre-typhoon oven-like heat has dispersed and given way to the regular summer kind, but it's still tough to leave the house in anything with sleeves these days. I'd live in wife beaters if I could, they're my ultimate summer staple: with jeans, high-waisted skirts, cut-offs, under strapless dresses... they seriously go with everything. What I'd give for a Hanes store out here. The key to getting away with them for dressier occasions, in my humble opinion,...

I’m of the camp where needles freak me out too much to try acupuncture. No matter how often my parents reassured me that it didn’t hurt, just the idea of sticking pins into my body a la voodoo doll style doesn’t appeal to me. And after grudgingly trying out acupuncture recently, I vowed never to try it again which is why I gave an involuntary shudder when this press release came into my inbox. If needles don’t make you squeamish however, then you should check out the new facial treatment at the...

If you’re anything like me, you will DIE when you read the rest of this post. The Lobby Lounge at the JW Marriott in Admiralty is hosting an Asian Street Food Tapas buffet from this Friday until the end of August, every Friday and Saturday evening from 8pm onwards. The Marriott tea and tapas buffets have always been a favourite; buffets should always be about small portions and wide varieties, in tandem. I was at the tea buffet a couple of weeks ago and we scarfed down so much food, I was regretting...

It still seems shiny and new, but the W hotel is already celebrating its first anniversary since soft-launching on August 8. (The reason it still seems new, perhaps, is that they only did their grand-opening party in January.) But who's going to quibble about dates when with the anniversary celebration comes a killer room deal for the weekend of August 7-11?For HK$888, stay a night in one of their Wonderful Rooms (capital "W" -- it's the name of the room, not my description of it), with eight great...

Vintage stores are relatively hard to find in Hong Kong and while my definition of vintage shopping comprises of going through my mom’s closet (her Chanel 2.55 from the late eights/early nineties is my ultimate find), not many are as lucky as me. Etsy has a plethora of vintage finds and I stumbled upon Are You Taking Me Out while looking for designers to feature. Now before you point your finger and say that this doesn’t fulfil the criteria of a “Made in HK” feature, note that the owner behind the...

What's this? A non-heeled Shoerotica? Yep. These furry slippers are awesomeness defined. When I was in high school, I owned the furry Steve Madden slippers that were everywhere, and I loved them to death, so much so that even when my dog peed on them (thinking, no doubt, despite their baby pink hue, that they were a female specimen of fluffiness on which he should mark his territory), I washed them in the machine and tried to salvage them. To no avail. Methinks it's time for a resurrection...GET...

Sometime in between my purchasing my last set of speakers for my computer (some 6-7 years ago) and today, a whole culture of cool-looking, sound-dispensing monsters have sprouted. Back then, I thought my two dinky black cupcake-sized contraptions, connected to a larger subwoofer, were pretty high tech. It even had a separate volume control device, PHWOAR, how cool was I. Now, I play music directly from my iPhone, so it seems high time I invest in some sort of device that's both sexy and sonically...

I think every kid has gone through a stage of stamp collecting though it may not last long. I used to love soaking stamps in water. It seemed rather magical that these stamps would disengage themselves from the envelope, float to the surface and dry without it being all sticky and gross (keep in mind that I was about four years old at that point.) While my love affair with stamp collecting has ended, I’m rather intrigued by these Vivienne Westwood's limited-edition stamp pendants. Each pendant is...

Urban Original footwear is bargain mecca for every cash-strapped fashionista. How many Sundays I've frittered away scrolling through the pages and pages of reasonably priced runway-inspired shoes, willing my shoe cabinet to mysteriously expand its capacity while I sleep at night so that I can put in an order of ten pairs at once (at around US$20-45 a pair, but roughly US$30-40 in shipping for the first pair, $12 each additional pair, a large order is only justifiable). Hey, if elves can make shoes...

KOTUR Summer Sale 30% discount on selected products + complimentary shipping on ALL orders Shop the SUMMER SALE h...

I came across this design while reading the Core77 Design Blog and I love how the fluidity of water is transformed into lighting. Wall mounted, The Light Drop features a faucet that should allow users to dim the intensity of the light. According to the designer, Rafael Morgan, the underlying concept behind this design is to "make people think about how we are dealing with our natural resources. In this particular case, water, which is the main source of energy for every living organism in thisfantastic...

Mr President is frumpy, and he don't care if you know it.http://nymag.com/daily/fashion/2009/07/barack_obama_on_his_mom_jeans.htmlSwinging: the newest trend? No, not THAT kind of swinging, you dirty little one. Swing-inspired jewellery.http://www.trenddelacreme.com/2009/07/which-way-do-you-swing.htmlA history of fashion scandals, and not of the Bjork-wears-a-swan-dress variety.http://pipeline.refinery29.com/news/drugs_murder_sexcapadeswe_trac.php Project Runway all-stars? Awwww yeah. Waiting for...

Get it at Net-a-por...

If you were born in the '80s like we were, you no doubt grew up with the likes of Thunder Cats, Rainbow Brite, My Little Pony and other such psychedelic, progressive toon friends. The '80s have been experiencing something of a revival lately -- beyond the acid-trip neons and padded shoulders showing up across the runways, Hollywood has embraced the era too with a whole slew of 80s relics getting the remake treatment, from Transformers to G.I. Joe and more.If blowing your budget on Balmain plus a...