SmartbuyWednesday, August 25, 2010

G A D G E T S | A U T O | L U X U R Y www.blsmartbuy.com

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Exclusive driveVolkswagen VentoPage 8

Tablet gets twistyLenovo IdeaPad S10-3t reviewed

Page 4

2 August 25, 2010Smartbuy

WHAT’S HOT this week

Catch the latest flick on this tellyas you lie in your bathtub for arelaxed Sunday soak. The MirrorTV combines conventionalmirror surfaces with asophisticated display system thatcan be installed anywhere youwant - recessed into the wall,hung as a picture, or evenintegrated into the furniture. Anew LCD Active Matrix iselegantly mounted behind amirror surface to dramaticallydisplay anything from TV andSatellite channels to PCpresentations and video games.The Mirror TV elegantly blendsinto your décor with no visiblecables or annoying TV boxes.With the Magic Mirrortechnology, the TV cancompletely ‘disappear’ whenturned off.Rs 1.5 lakh onwards

Dazzling displayAd Notam Mirror TV

If you’re looking for a notebook to replace your PC, the NX90 from Asus, with its whopping 18.4-inchscreen might just be your best bet. With a polished aluminium body and created in collaboration withBang & Olufsen, this is one laptop with both style and class. The speakers are placed outside the chassisand alongside the screen, giving you a surround sound experience. It also comes with a dual-touchpadwhich enables two-hand usability. Other premium features include a Blu-ray player, 1TG(500 GB x 2)of storage, six-cell battery and a built-in 2-meg webcam.Rs 1,31,999

With a Windows 6.5 Pro Edge OS,users can view and edit MS Word,Excel and PowerPointdocuments, as well as view PDFfiles and enjoy MicrosoftExchange Push email, right fromtheir phone. The phone comeswith a Touch 2.1 user interface,and allows for one finger zoom.The Opera browser, coupled with3G allows fast browsing. TheSamsung Widget gallery letsusers choose from up to 80widgets, letting you customiseyour home screen. For all yourmultimedia needs, the phonecomes with built-in DivX andXvid support, and is equippedwith a 3-meg camera and 3Dphoto album. Internal memory is250MB, expandable up to 32GB,and the phone comes with 10hours of talk-time.Rs 17,560

The ‘lite’ choiceSamsung Omnia Lite

Team SmartbuyEditorial

Anushya Mamtoraanushya@thehindu.co.in

Ketaki Bhojnagarwalaketaki@thehindu.co.in

Mahananda Bohidarmahananda@thehindu.co.in

S. Muralidharmuraliswami@thehindu.co.in

Design

Bryan Gaughanaqua@thehindu.co.in

Balakrishnandesignkbala@thehindu.co.in

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R. Diwakarramdiwakar@thehindu.co.in

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Cover photo: S. Muralidhar

Next is bigger Asus NX90

3 August 25, 2010Smartbuy

For all the HTC fans in India, the waitfor the HTC Desire is finally over withits launch in the country. Users canexpect an Android 2.1 OS along withthe HTC Sense experience, whichmakes using the phone a delight. Thephone features a 3.7-inch touch screen,with 480x800 WVGA resolution. The1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragonprocessor makes multi-tasking abreeze. The camera is 5-meg withautofocus and flash, and also featureswidescreen photo capture. Memory isexpandable via microSD card up to32GB. Other features include 3G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, access to SNS sites andFriend Stream.Rs 28,900

All you’ve everwantedHTC Desire

This new 14-meg digicam from Fujifilm comes with the powerful Fujinon 3x optical zoom lenses.The camera is equipped with a maximum sensitivity of ISO 3200 that helps capture subjects inmotion. The Digital Image Stabiliser reduces blurs caused from camera shake using high sensitivityand fast shutter speed. Also packed in, is a six-scene SR AUTO (Scene Recognition Auto) mode andFace Detection that can recognise up to 10 faces in one frame.Rs 7,799 onwards

Keep on snappin’ Fujifilm JV 150

These bright new headphones fromPhilips are waterproof and sweat-proof making them a good pick forsports and work-out enthusiasts.Weightless, secure, and with acomfortable fit, these headphones areperfect for outdoor use. SHQ3000 hascustomisable ear hooks whereas theSHQ4000 has an extremely flexibleneckband. Both the headphones areform-fitting and capable of staying putduring prolonged physical activity. Allyou have to do is wash it under a tap tokeep it clean. The headphones areavailable in rubberised black andbright orange design and come withthree pairs of anti-bacterial silicon earcaps.Rs 1,999 (SHQ3000)Rs 2,499 (SHQ4000)

Clip ‘em onPhilips SHQ series

4 August 25, 2010Smartbuy

TABLET review

Ketaki Bhojnagarwala

With companies like Fujitsu and HPintroducing new products in theconvertible PC category, Lenovo hasjoined the bandwagon and launched the

IdeaPad S10-3t. A convertible PC is essentially a laptopwith a LED touch screen which rotates 180 degrees, to fiton top of the keyboard and doubles up to function as aslate.

OverviewThe S10-3t has a really impressive ergonomic design. Itfeatures a screen that is 10.1-inches wide, and the lid is asmart black colour, with an attractive embossed geometricdesign, which can also be seen on the lower panel, justbelow the keyboard.

The power button is unconventionally located on the

top panel, near the screen, which means you can power oneven in slate mode. Underneath this is a lock button thatlocks all the other buttons. There are three buttons on theleft side of the screen, the first opens up the LenovoNaturalTouch software, the second changes the viewbetween portrait and landscape and the third is a mutebutton.

The keyboard, like in all netbooks, is small and cramped,and takes a while to get used to, after which it is easy totouch-type. However one feature Lenovo missed out onhere is the ergonomical chiclet-key design, which couldhave made typing a better experience, as well as helpedincrease the aesthetics of this already stunning tablet.

In terms of connectivity options, the tablet offers twoUSB 2.0 ports, a 6x1 card reader, a 3.5mm stereoheadphone and 3.5 mm microphone slots and a VGA port.

The IdeaPad S10-3t’s trackpad was too small for

comfort and made navigating troublesome. It was alsounresponsive at the best of times, especially when it cameto scrolling up and down. There is also the hard-felt lack ofphysical left and right mouse buttons, which left usersfeeling more cramped.

Weight was also an issue, at nearly three pounds, it isn’texactly light by netbook standards, nowhere close to someof the Vaio models we’ve seen.

DisplayThe touch interface was a delight to use with the S10-3t’scapacitive touch screen. It recognised gesturesresponsively and smoothly, requiring minimum effort.While we didn’t see a downside for the touch screen fromLenovo’s point of view, this is where the Windows 7 OScame to disappoint. The OS is basically Windows withtouch control – which just doesn’t do the trick. Controls

Flippin’ over Lenovo’s convertible tabletPhotos: R. Ravindran

5 August 25, 2010Smartbuy

are small and difficult to operate, which leads to a lot ofjabbing at the screen. At times you get fed up and just usethe trackpad. This is also where you see the limitations ofcapacitive touch – pointing at small controls with theedge of the finger or your nail just won’t open upprograms. Another downside is that in full slate mode, i.e. when thescreen is directly above the keyboard, Lenovo hasn’tmade provision for an onscreen keyboard. Which meansyou can’t browse the net or use any word documents inslate mode. All you can do is occasionally use the touchcontrols for the most basic functions, watch videos orindulge in a fun game of Solitaire.Lenovo has tried to compensate for Windows byincluding the app NaturalTouch. While this does makeusing the touch functions of the tablet a little easier, itstill fails to be a good enough reason to opt for aconvertible PC.

MediaThe stereo speakers are located towards the bottom ofthe top panel, below the screen. While this does meanthat you can direct sound depending on which way yourotate the screen, we were disappointed with the volume.Sound was barely audible in a crowded room,irrespective of whether we played a YouTube video or

music loaded on Windows Media Player. The soundquality was also bad – tinny at most times and whatseemed like a complete absence of bass. This means thatif you do want to watch a movie or listen to music, you’llhave to plug in a pair of headphones, after which thereproduction quality is fine.

Movies and videos played without stuttering and werequite crisp and clear. However we did feel that colourreproduction could have been better – saturation wasminimal and colours just weren’t vivid enough.

The S10-3t comes with 220GB of storage, which issubstantial for all your files.

The webcam is located on the right-hand side of thescreen, which often cuts out your face, so you constantlyhave to position yourself in front of it.

PerformanceThe S10-3t scored quite high when it came toperformance. It is powered by the single-core Intel AtomN450 processor, seen on a lot of netbooks including theDell Inspiron Mini. Although it is known for its slightlysluggish performance, especially when it comes to multi-tasking, we found that the S10-3t performed quite well.We tried it using multiple browser windows, plugged inan external hard drive and played music, and it executedall these tasks smoothly and without much lag.

Although the Atom N450 processor is supposed toextend battery life, we didn’t see much evidence of thathere – it was poor – what you would expect from a 4-cellbattery. We got close to three hours with a couple ofhours of browsing and about an hour of video playback.You can choose to upgrade to an eight cell battery whichwould give you a couple of more hours of juice.

Using it on just video mode would give you just enough

NaturalTouch

Use this software for one touch access to all yourbasic computing needs. It has large icons of yourmost commonly used files – music, videos, ebooks,word documents, etc. At the bottom is a dock withall your popular applications, like Internetexplorer, Control Panel and My Documents, sort oflike the toolbar in Macs. This is also where you canaccess multi-touch functions and pinch to zoom.

Twist and turnThe screen can be rotated 180 degrees in eitherdirection when it is upright or laid down flat. Lenovo’sbuilt-in accelerometer was very sluggish, and moreoften than not we used the rotate button whichswitches it to portrait mode. However this can be usedonly when the tablet is in slate mode.

Send feedback to ketaki@thehindu.co.in

time to watch a movie and if you’re lucky, get in a wee bitof browsing time. Considering that netbooks and tabletsare meant to be portable, Lenovo could have improved onthe battery life – in this segment, the iPad’s 10 hours ofbattery power is the benchmark.

The Lenovo convertible tablet took about two minutesto start up. When we connected an USB drive or memorycard, it took a little longer than usual to read beforeshowing up on the icon tray.

Our verdictAll in all, the tablet functioned quite well as a netbook.Whether the swivelling touch screen can functionindependently as a slate looks doubtful – especially whenusing a Windows OS, and considering new entrants in themarket like the Dell Streak. Until then, we wouldrecommend the S10-3t if you’re looking for a netbook forbasic computing needs, along with the novelty of aconvertible touch screen.

Love: Smooth touch interface, sleek looksHate: Poor sound quality and battery lifeRs 30,740

SOUND bytes

The Samsung WEP570 comes with a portable chargerthat you pop into your car’s cigarette lighter. There’s alsoa micro USB port for attaching an MP3 player. Pairingwith your phone is simple and the volume controls andmulti-function button are within easy reach. Call qualityis fine indoors and noise reduction works well, but voicescould be more clearly defined. Still, with six-hours of talktime, easily topped up via the car charger, multi-pointsupport and weighing in at a comfortable 11g, theWEP570 is good value for money.Love – Cheap, easy to use, bundled car chargerHate – Cheap plastic build and flimsy hook, voice clarity could be better Rs 2,100Rating – 3/5

1 While cruisin’ downSamsung WEP570

With a faux-metal finish and blue, flashing on/off light,the LG HBM-570 looks slick, even if the cheap, plastic earhook is not too sturdy. Equipped with dual mics, LG’sdigital signal processing works well – you’ll have notrouble hearing or being heard against busy city traffic.Multi-point support is built-in and voice commandsinform you when you’re connected as well as providecaller ID info. With volume controls that are easilyaccessed, a manageable 11g weight and five-hours of talktime on offer, this is an ear-bound winner.Love – Voice commands, attractive designHate – Cheap plastic ear hook with no spare, dubious build qualityRs 2,800Rating – 4/5

2 Worth the buckLG HBM-570

The Icon uses the hilariously named NoiseAssassin 2.5tech to effectively block out noise both indoors and out,as long as the 45mm long, 8g body is positioned correctlyagainst your jaw. In lieu of volume controls, itautomatically adjusts to external noise; in loudenvironments you may have to adjust the volume on yourphone but generally it works. A button press tells youhow many hours of life are left – you’ll get a maximum of4.5-hours. It supports multi-point and US users canaccess directory assistance, but we can’t. Oh well. Love – Lightweight, voice commands, extremely clear call qualityHate – No volume controlRs 5,000Rating – 4/5

3 Quality callingAliph Jawbone Icon

Bluetooth headsets, oft lambasted, havenonetheless become a necessity for many.These well-designed, discreet headsets havehigh-end features such as voice commands andsimultaneous multipoints for connectingbetween two calls, even as they add to yourcorporate style quotient…

Ear candy

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The EZX 60 is not as eye-catching as some of its rivalsand at 12g it’s a little heavy, but it’s also sturdy andcomfortable, with a reassuringly secure fit. You canaccept, reject or redial by pressing the well located multi-function button and the omni-directional mic helps toensure clear call quality at all times. You get a best-on-test 7.5-hours of talk time and support for multipoint.The charger is proprietary though, and there’s no USB forquick charging. We’d have liked voice commands too, butdespite that this is still a solid choice. Love – Comfy, secure fit and well-placed controls, lengthybattery lifeHate – No voice commands or spare budsRs 3,600Rating – 3/5

5 Talk on and on and on…Sennheiser EZX 60

This serves up crystal clear calls even against heavytraffic thanks to its AudioIQ technology anddual mics. Supporting multipoint, pairing is quick andsimple and with dedicated volume controls and a callon/off button at the base of the boom mic, it’s very userfriendly. You’re also given handy voice prompts when thesix-hour battery is running low. However, while thefeatures may impress, the Voyager Pro still makes youlook like an amateur astronaut. At 17.5g, we’d venture it’salso too heavy for prolonged wear.Love – Excellent noise cancellation, intuitive controls, features galoreHate – Looks awful, weighs a bit too much Rs 4,199Rating – 4/5

6 Silent as a breezePlantronics Voyager Pro

The innovative Jabra Stone comes in a protective shellthat doubles as a portable charger, boosting the terribletwo-hour battery life to a more palatable eight hours.Pairing is simple and there’s support for multipoint, withclear call quality indoors. Noise cancellation is lesseffective against heavy traffic though, and adjusting thevolume doesn’t always fix the problem. At 7g the Stone islight and discreet, but you can only wear it on the rightear. It has a habit of dropping Bluetooth signal too, notfair at this price.Love – Lightweight design, innovative chargerHate – Drops signal at times, fiddly controlsRs 9,500Rating – 2/5

4 Classy accessoryJabra Stone

at work T3 India

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8 August 25, 2010Smartbuy

AUTO focus

S. Muralidhar

Volkswagen introduced the Jetta nearly threedecades ago just to be able to capture the smallfamily sedan market in the US. Slapping on aboot to the rear of its already popular hatch –

the Golf, VW managed to create one of its most successfulcars in the North American market, selling nearly 7 millionof them worldwide.

Clearly, one of the most promising segments that anycar maker would want to be in is the compact sedan. It isgrowing fast and there are a lot of hatchback ownerswaiting in the wings to upgrade.

Conscious of the fact that it is a late entrant in the Indianmarket, VW is working double time to play catch up, evenas it is attempting to bring the most relevant cars to themarket here. After filling up the gaps with the Polo, theJetta, Passat, Beetle and Touareg, VW India will pluganother slot in its portfolio next month with the newVento.

Can this new premium, compact sedan be able to em-ulate the success that VW had with the Jetta? I took boththe diesel and the petrol variants of the Vento on testdrives and here are my first impressions.

First lookThough built on a hatch platform, the Vento is more thanthe sum of its parts. It does not look like a hatch that ismasquerading as a sedan and it doesn’t drive like oneeither. And unlike some of the other hatch-sedan combi-nations in the market, the Vento’s boot doesn’t look like ithas just been slapped on, without any thought aboutaesthetics.

The boot integration has been engineered extremelywell and quite frankly the Vento is pretty much all-new,despite the fact that it shares the Polo’s hatchback plat-

form. First, to improve legroom and cabin space, even asthe Vento’s overall length has been increased by about 434mm compared to the Polo, the wheelbase too has beenupped by 96mm. The Vento is also about 17mm wider andfeatures a bigger track that has enabled VW engineers toliberate more room for passengers inside the car.

To make more room especially for back benchers (oftenthe owners here), the suspension struts at the rear havebeen placed further outside. This has also enabled VW tooffer a huge 480 litres of boot space in the Vento. VWengineers have however managed to retain the tight turn-ing radius of 4.97 metres for the Vento too.

DesignThe new Vento’s looks is classic Volkswagen simplicity.Collaborating with Chief Designer Walter de’Silva, VWengineers have designed one of the smoothest transitionsfrom a hatch to sedan. The bonnet still looks a bit stubbycompared to a natural born sedan, but the Vento’s got onegood-looking rear-side. Simple, elegant and still harkingback to the hatch’s style, the boot design for the Vento hasno unnecessary drama, though it is still distinctive.

Design changes to the front of the Vento are minimal. Infact, if you catch a glimpse of the Vento in your rear viewmirror, you might mistake it to be the Polo. Unless, ofcourse, you are able to pick out the finer differences likethe larger airdam, the slightly modified front bumper andthe chrome lipping to the airdam. The most dramaticangle to view the Vento is the side profile. The third-boxhas been seamlessly added on and the design lines mergewith a sense of proportion. Part of the reason is also theclever engineering for the C-pillar, which is thin, andalong with the rear quarter glass contributes to consid-erable visibility at the rear. VW engineers have liberallydipped into the Polo’s parts bin, bits of which can be seen

in the door grab handles, the door mirrors etc. The sideprofile is also highlighted by the prominent wheel archesthat cut deep into the body, but are filled out well by the15-inch wheels that are offered in the Vento’s Highlinetrim and adequately by the 14-inchers offered in the lowerTrendline trim variant.

InteriorThe Vento’s interior is very familiar and why not. Much ofthe layout and design of the dashboard and interior hasbeen carried forward from the Polo. There are some dif-ferentiators like the chrome surrounds for the airconvents, the door handles, the matt-silver insert in the steer-ing wheel spoke and the automatic climate control. Theinstrument cluster also features some changes, but un-fortunately one change that I personally missed seeingwas the seat fabric. The matt, cotton-rich fabric could havebeen replaced with a jacquard fabric that will be moreresistant to dust and grime.

The seats themselves are firm and good enough for longdrives. But, the bottom squabs could have been designed toprovide more thigh support. Depending on the trim level,other features include a leather-wrapped steering wheeland a centre-console mounted hand-rest. There are con-siderable storage options including cup and bottle holdersin the doors and the centre-console.

There is not much novelty in the Vento’s interiors, but Iloved some of the India-specific additions that VW engi-neers have thoughtfully developed, to provide for theaverage Vento owner who might well be employing theservices of a chauffeur.

The best of the list is the unique way in which rearpassengers can push forward the front passenger seat togenerate more legroom at the rear. A chunky plastic leverwithin reach of the rear passenger and at the base of the

Give Vent to your desirePhotos: S. Muralidhar

front passenger seat, allows the seat to be pushed forwardin one sweep.

This lever is independent of the one provided at thefront for moving the seat forward or back. The featurestargeted at pleasing the back benchers are the centre-console mounted independent aircon vent for the rear andthe flip open bottle-holder just below the vent.

PerformanceThe Vento is offered with two engine options – equal sized1.6-litre petrol and diesel powertrains. The two enginesalso generate an identical 105 PS of peak power. Butsimilarities end there.

The 1.6-litre petrol engine is offered with both a fivespeed manual transmission and a six-speed automaticgearbox. The automatic is what I got to experience and itwas pretty clear even early during the test drive that VWengineers had done the tuning of the powertrain with thecity driver in mind. The engine is refined and capable ofdelivering 153Nm of torque right from 3,800 rpm and peakpower was also available from the 5,250 rpm mark, but theauto gearbox was slow to shift and made the car feel

lethargic. Changing the auto into sport mode improved the drive

feel, offering a slight improvement in shift pattern. Forusers expecting a bit more engaging drive, the auto gear-box also offers a manual/ triptronic mode. My guess is thatthe manual gearbox option in the Vento petrol will bepeppier to drive.

The Vento’s 1.6 litre diesel engine is an in-line, 4 cylin-der, DOHC, 16 valve unit that features common rail in-jection, a turbo charger and an inter-cooler.

This engine can put out a maximum power of 105PS @4,400 rpm and also generates a peak torque of 250Nm @1,500-2,500 rpm. The diesel variant is being made avail-able only with the 5-speed manual transmission.

This diesel engine is derived from the Race Polo unitand it packs in a lot of power. It is a bit on the noisy side,but inside the Vento’s cabin, NVH packaging ensures thatthe noise levels have been controlled very well. Themanual gearbox’s ratios are well-matched with the dieselunit and there is a lot of room in each slot for both slowtraffic and highway cruising.

The Vento’s driving dynamics is another positive point.

It feels planted and the feel of stability is very comfortingboth during straight line highway driving and during highspeed cornering. The steering does feel light and lacking infeedback, but that hasn’t taken away the fun of driving theVento. The light steering is probably also targeted at keep-ing city driving easy.

VerdictVW has set its sights clearly on capturing a big chunk ofthe market that is currently dominated by the Honda City.There are not many other competitors that will match theVento’s class and build quality.

The Vento will be available in two trim levels each forthe petrol and diesel engine versions. Starting at a price ofRs 6.99 lakh for the petrol and Rs 7.99 lakh for the diesel(both ex-showroom), VW has managed to bundle a lot ofvalue into the Vento.

By focusing on offering Indian user specific features andby respecting the pricing sensitivity of the market here,VW could not only have a winner in its hands, but will alsomanage to gain from the rub-off effect the Vento will haveon its other products – current and future.

11 August 25, 2010Smartbuy

MELANGE luxury redefined

Sizzling with a trendy blend of autumnal hues and smoky shades, The Body Shop givesthe ‘Smoke and Fire’ look for the coming season. Compacts, eyeliners, mascaras, eyeshadows, lip colours… pick ’em up from their outlets for that smouldering look.Rs 495 to Rs 1,095

Smokin’ hot!

The sweet smellingflower inspires this ultrafeminine Rose Exclusiflip gloss from BourjoisParis that not only hashues of the garden beautybut an equally enchantingcontainer to flaunt. Headto select lifestyle storesand gift a rose to yourlips.Rs 525

No lipservice, this

Toffee-coloured deerskin with brown jacquard lining, stainless steelfittings, zip closure, adjustable shoulder strap and leather handles, if wecould describe Montblanc’s soft leather range’s Single Gusset briefcasein one word – Classy! Available at Montblanc boutiques.Price on request

Classy, in brief

… nope, not your studded jacket, but your new pair of Wayfarers. Yes,you heard right. Ray Ban’s latest is the cheerful ‘Button Pins’ thatspreads a smile across the face that dons the colourful little pins andof course, the beholder’s too. Available at select eyewear outlets.Rs 6,290

Button it up…

Samsonite is out with its Savio collection of portfolio case, office case, briefcase, mobileoffice and rolling totes in fine leather with nickel plated hardware. Compartmentalisedideally for a quick business trip, the bags are available at all leading stores. Rs 6,500 onwards

Office, Office

Rain-dressing gets peppier with Tresmode’s newest wellies. Lightweightand embossed with little stars, this one in bright blue with yellow stars isfun to do the puddle splash with. Available at its stores in Mumbai.Rs 1,990

Wading fun

12 August 25, 2010Smartbuy

PREMIUM interiors

Of all the things that stimulate our senses, lightholds a special place. Light is life-giving; light, inits purest form, is the essence of knowledge,revealing the unknown in one single illumi-

nating instant. The most important criterion when making decisions

about finding a home, an office, or any space where youplan to spend large amounts of time, is light. Light ispriceless and cannot be defined in terms of money orsquare footage. The effect of light on architecture can beseen in cultures all over the world. In countries like theNordic ones that are closer to the Arctic, walls are builtwith a slope into the window so that light can be caughtand reflected throughout the room. In Japan, there isactually a law, known as Kitagawa Shasen that preventsbuildings from blocking out sunlight of neighbouringhomes. Globally, home designs have always been orien-tated towards welcoming light.

A welcoming touchOur oldest experiences with light relate to fire and candle-light. Humans are drawn to the warmth of a fireplace or alight in a window that represents homecoming. Lightbecomes inspirational, a signal of familiarity that all hu-mankind can appreciate. These earliest human experi-ences have always been with yellow light. Typically,homes were lit with tallow candles, which always pro-duced a yellow spectrum of light. Look for this type ofwarm lighting for a home. Regular incandescent bulbs ofdaylight colour renditions (D65 quality) give you the most

natural feeling at home; a warm, comforting and recog-nisable glow.

Most colours radiate under this kind of lighting, yetthere are a few that pose challenges. Certain shades ofmauve and brighter blues tend to look a little muddier.Pick fresher shades of these types of colours if your light-ing is predominantly yellow or intersperse white lightbulbs with yellow ones. Following these suggestions willmake your home a place people are drawn to.

Light as the cynosureAn integral point to remember when using light to create afocal point is focussing on what is most important to you.

When lighting a home, there’s an opportunity to create amood that is uniquely you. A typical way of using light as afocus is to highlight precious objects like paintings, ex-quisite cabinets, or that new bling vase you’ve just bought.The second, and more original way to focus light, is to zeroin on an area that is most important to you. Cull out a zoneof comfort and relaxation by placing a reading lamp by afavourite chair; or a quiet corner that is lit up by onlycandles because it’s where you share a relaxing drink witha close friend. If you’re a foodie who gathers everyonearound the table at meal times, hang a pendant lamp overyour dining table to bring the circle of family or friendseven closer together. Try to use focus lights to play upwhat you think is important, not what people think ‘shouldbe’ the focal point of a room.

The art of filteringIn extremely tropical countries, too much light tends to bea problem. To protect you from the inconvenient heat thatlight sometimes brings with it, there are some wonderfuldevices to help filter light. You can use voile, bambooblinds, and even manage to carve stone into tracery andjaalis, all in an attempt to control light. In modern urbanhomes, light from windows can be controlled by layeringwindow dressings. There are times when you want to shutout all light, which can be done by adding a layer of opaqueplastic outside the blinds. Use a pretty print or an in-teresting colour on the plastic to create some good cheeroutside while resting inside. In front of these functionallythick blinds, add some thin, sheer curtains to introduce a

Light we like it

layer of fun to the inside of your room as well. Experimentand you’ll soon find that the various ways of filtering lightcan be just as exciting as the different types of lighting.

Shadow playWhile most people tend to think of lighting a space asfocusing on a particular point in the room and controllingdirection, light can purposefully be used as a creativeelement. There’s always an opportunity to use lamps andlighting effects. Filter light through paper, stencils, pat-terned grills or even a plant placed in front of a floor lampto cast amazing silhouettes all around your room. Useshadows as often as light to create drama.

Playing with lightToday, lighting design is a very sensorial experience.Lighting design for the public sphere and in public archi-tecture is constantly changing. Even the tackiest toys flashblue, red and yellow. Light, for the first time, is flexible.Obviously, such a thing leaves massive room for experi-mentation in public spaces. But in the home, one has to usethis delightful new technology with a little more restraint.Still, it is completely possible for domestic spaces to haveillumination that changes colours. The back wall of abedroom or one in the den could have a series of replace-able lights such as the transition from pink to mauve oreven green to blue. Limit yourself to small shifts of colourrather than dramatic changes seen illuminating large pub-lic sculptures. If the transient colour is too intimidating, asimple lava lamp can have the same mesmerising effect.

Simple rules to followThere have been entire books written on the rules of tasklighting and general lighting. As a mother, I’m alwaysyelling at my children to ‘have good light’ when doing atask — whether it’s reading, sewing or doing artwork.Focus task lighting is needed in areas where you knowyou’ll be doing work that requires ‘good light’. Whenwatching television or any other type of screen, make sureyou have light washing the back wall to take away some ofthe strain on your eyes.

The science behindLights created through diverse scientific processes workbetter for different types of spaces. Candles and incan-descent bulbs give us light that we have been used to. Tubelights are flat and shadow-less, and have been the mostefficient for work environments. CFLs are fantastic fordisplay and retail environments.

As we discovered in our childhood, when convertinglight into fire, light has transformational energy. Remem-ber how granite got hotter and marble remained cooler?Light carries with it an astounding amount of energy andthe consumption of this energy is one of our biggest mod-ern environmental concerns. People all over are using CFLlights and designers are creating products that work withthe same.

There have been concerns raised, however, that whileCFL lights are energy-saving, they may be negatively im-pacting our living experience. A lighting designer at TheInternational Conference on Colour at Sydney, brought upthe experience of eating food under CFL lighting. Due tothe deep connection between sight and taste, the lightingmakes the food feel almost like cardboard in your mouth.While CFL lights help reduce our carbon footprint, theytake away the type of yellow light that humans have beenused to throughout our existence. As we further the tech-nology of lighting, we must learn to keep in mind thepsychological effects that light has, and make sure wedon’t negatively alter the human experience.

Latika Khosla (Better Interiors)

14 August 25, 2010Smartbuy

WRITING instruments

Lindsay Pollock

Bonhams will blow a raspberry at the Black-Berry era with an auction of deluxe foun-tain pens expected to fetch as much as$649,020.

The 410 lots in the New York sale include aDunhill-Namiki fountain pen laced with gold dustand mother-of-pearl and tagged to sell for as muchas $30,000.

There’s also a Montblanc ‘Magical Black Widow,’featuring a web-like white-gold overlay, a filigreespider with black diamonds on the clip and a targetprice of $24,000. It’s from an edition of 88, of whichthe first sold for $33,500 at Bonhams last year.

Pens are “a kind of jewellery for the successfulman,” says Martin Gammon, the auctioneer’s Direc-tor of Business Development who is overseeing thesale. A Bonhams pen sale in June raised $411,845.

“The pen market is stable, which is not bad, theeconomy being what it is,” says Ed Fingerman, Di-rector of Operations at Manhattan’s Fountain PenHospital, where pens have been repaired and soldsince 1946. Buyers include Bill Cosby and TomHanks.

Some aficionados buy and sell for profit. A sterlingsilver Montblanc pen inspired by Florentine art pa-tron Lorenzo de Medici retailed for about $1,200when it was produced, and now trades around$7,000-$9,000, Gammon says.

The Bonhams auction is drawn from a pair ofprivate collections. One seller, U.S. businessman Mi-chael A. Tucci, acquired pens for 20 years, neverusing them, according to Bonhams. The second col-lection hails from a California entrepreneur who hasdubbed his trove ‘Clavius’ yet declines to be identi-fied by name himself.

Mammoth, stingrayThe auction includes pens produced during the pasttwo decades - a field known as ‘modern limited edi-tions’ - by high-end makers including Cross, GraysonTighe, DuPont, Parker and Visconti. These editionsbegan as the supply of pens from the vintage era,loosely defined as pre-1980, began to dry up, accord-ing to Fingerman.

Materials can be weird, like mammoth ivory, mete-orite and stingray, and no theme is too glitzy, arcaneand corny. There are pens named after or inspired byMahatma Gandhi, Mickey Mouse and Moses and theTen Commandments. Others are decorated with ten-nis rackets, alligators and maps.

A Krone homage to the Apollo 11 lunar landingincludes a silvery mottled moonscape, a piece of foilfrom the mission and a letter from astronaut BuzzAldrin attesting to the foil’s authenticity. It’s expectedto sell for $1,000-$1,500.

Buyers include “captains-of-industry types whocome in through watch collecting,” Gammon says.There are also new collectors in Asia and the MiddleEast, as well as the usual old-guard buyers drawnfrom the ranks of doctors, lawyers and entrepreneurs.

‘Little works of art’Die-hard collectors might acquire two of a variety -one to use and another to store. A pen without theproper box and papers can lose as much as 50 per centof its value.

Besides investment appeal, pens are “little works ofart,” Fingerman says, reflecting the design sensibilityof a particular era. And in a world succumbing toe-mail, texting and Twitter, pens have a retro appeal,he adds, “harkening back to a more tranquil time.”

Bloomberg

Write bids for the right nibs

Photos: Bloomberg

15 August 25, 2010Smartbuy

WATCH collection

The famous Burberry checks getcarried over to this dainty steel bracelet

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Elegant checks

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