Alton Brown has teamed up with Shun knives to create a special line of knives with an angled handle. They are made with a Damascus steel look that is made of layered steel, similar to a japanese sword. The angled handle makes chopping a bit easier for beginners as it makes sure the knuckes on the handle-hand don’t hit the cutting board.

An Apple press release made it official today about the availability of the iPhone on Rogers on July 11th. Now Rogers themselves have issued a press release with their handset pricing. However no data plan pricing has been announced.

$199 for the 8gb model (on 3 year contract)
$299 for the 16gb model (on a 3 year contract)

The new iPhone 3G is coming to Rogers on July 11th along with the rest of Apple’s launch partners. This was announced in the following press release by Apple.

As predicted, it’s coming with HSDPA fast mobile data service as well as GPS. Pricing was not announced.

Update: Gizmodo did a great article on what was not upgraded in the iPhone 3G. Here is their list:

• A 32GB model
• A better camera
• More RAM
• MMS
• A2DP Bluetooth for stereo streaming
• A camera on the front for videoconferencing
• Video capabilities
• Turn-by-turn navigation (will come with a 3rd party app, I’m sure)
• The ability to copy and paste

A lot of car consumers buy cars with technologies known for a brand name rather than knowing what or how it actually benefits them as an owner – VTEC and DOHC are some of the more well known engine technologies that are “marketed” rather than explained.

One of the newest engine technologies should be marketed a lot heavier than it is. It’s because it provides the impossible: providing more engine power but at the same time improving fuel economy. Direct Fuel Injection is a technology borrowed from Diesels and applied to normal gasoline engines. Bascially, Direct Fuel Injection uses special injectors to spray pressurized gasoline directly into the combustion chamber of the engine. DFI engines can tightly control this fuel spray in order to maximize the usage of the fuel – for better performance or economy, or both!

Direct Fuel Injection is branded differently by each car manufacturer. Audi/VW popularized thier “FSI” variant through their racing efforts at Le Mans and now have the most models of cars that use direct injection. Other North American cars that use this fantastic new technology are listed below (Europe has more models that use DFI):

Audi/VW Fuel Straight Injection (FSI)
Audi A3 2.0TFSI
Audi A4 2.0TFSI
Audi RS4 V8 FSI
Audi R8 V8 FSI
VW GLI
VW GTI
VW Passat 2.0T
VW Passat VR6
VW Touareg 2 V8 FSI R

BMW High Precision Injection (HPI)
BMW 135i
BMW 335i
BMW 535i
Mini Cooper S

Ford EcoBoost
Lincoln MKS

GM Spark Ignition Direct Injection
Solstice GXP
Saturn Sky Red Line
Cadillac CTS V6
Cadillac STS V6
Chevy HHR SS
Chevrolet Cobalt SS

Mazda Direct Injection Spark Ignition (DISI)
Mazdaspeed 3
Mazdaspeed 6
CX-7

Porsche Direct Fuel Injection
Cayenne
Carrera (Carrera S, 4, 4S, Targa 4 and Targa 4S)

Updated August 1, 2008

Top Gear is probably the most entertaining show on television. A selection of this episode takes the fantastic R8 vs. the hardcore Porsche GT3.

This Monday Apple is making an announcement at the 2008 Apple Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC). Many people are expecting Apple to launch the newest version of the iPhone at the conference – one that includes a 3G antenna that would bring broadband level speeds to a mobile device. 3G phones have been with us for a while, but none with a browser that is as powerful as the webkit-based Safari browser on the iPhone.

In Canada, Rogers has had 3G service available in the Greater Toronto Area for some time. My old phone, and HTC Cavalier, was capable of using the 3G access (specifically HSDPA) to get speeds of over 1 Mbit/s when using the browser. With the April 29 announcement by Ted Rogers that the iPhone was coming to Rogers this year, many believe that Rogers is going to be bringing in the 3G iPhone and announcing service plans for the phone.

Is this going to happen? We have to wait until Monday for Apple to announce the iPhone 3G and then see what Rogers does. Rogers is not known for competitive pricing on handsets or data service plans, so if you want a legit iPhone in Canada, be ready to pay a lot.

If you’re in the market for a 911, wait a few months. In September the new 2009 models will be arriving in dealers and they arrive with substantial changes – engines, transmissions and lighting among others. These 911′s come with the seemingly impossible bonus of more power and better fuel economy.

I noticed Tutti Matti when my brother invited the family out to dinner near his condo. The food at Tutti Matti was so authentically Italian that I was suprised to learn the chef was not. Their menu is Tuscan focused and everything is so fresh and wonderfully prepared that it is surprising how reasonably priced it is. Definitely one of the best restaurants in the neighborhood.

Tutti Matti
364 Adelaide St. W.
Toronto, Ontario
416-597-8839

The Mini is a great looking, quirky little car. As we switch to smaller and more fuel efficient cars, it will be cars like the Mini that will drive sales of the major car firms. In fact, Mini has posted the largest monthly increase in sales compared to last year for several months (Hummer led the largest decline).

However, today J.D. Power released their Initial Quality Study for 2008 and Mini ranked near the bottom. In fact, only Jeep ranked lower than Mini. This is pretty bad considering even Korean manufacturers Hyundai and Kia ranked much higher.

Hopefully BMW sorts things out at the Mini plants because I see them bringing the Mini with more engine options to North America very soon. In Europe they get more fuel efficient engines than we have here.

Télépopmusik is another French electronic music group. Their single, Breathe, has been used in a variety of media including movies, TV shows, and commercials.