The 24 Hours of Le Mans just ended. Peugeot took the overall win, placing 1st and 2nd, with an Audi R15 placing 3rd. A disappointment for an Audi fan like me, but the race was exciting:

• 11 minutes into the race, normally picture-perfect Team Audi already had a car go off the racetrack into the gravel
• a privateer Peugeot hit a factory Peugot in the pits, knocking them off the leading pace for the rest of the entire race
• an Aston Martin drive was disqualified for body checking someone else
• fastest lap time was set by Peugot – during night driving

Seeing a Ferrari Enzo is probably one of the rarest car sitings in Canada – there can’t be very many people that satisified Ferrari’s strict ownership requirements. In fact, exclusive existing Ferrari owners were invited to buy one – you couldn’t just walk into a dealership and buy one.

This speciman was found in Okanagan Falls in BC, burning to a crisp:

More pictures are at ADVrider.

During the WWDC announcement, Apple did not disclose any of the technical details about the internals of the new iPhone 3G S.

However, Engadget has found out some of the new specs due to a leak from one of Apple’s partners. The new information is below:

New information has come out from Apple Insider which reveals the CPU core and graphics core are the same as those of the Palm Pre, however packaged by different companies.

Here are highlights of the June 10 LCBO Release:

 Damien Laureau Le Bel Ouvrage Savennières 2005, Loire, France $54.00

Laureau’s 2005 Savennieres Le Bel Ouvrage offers a gorgeous aroma of diverse flowers, quince, pistachio and pralines. More powerful and less elegant and refined than the 2004, it nevertheless preserves bright citrus notes along with its voluminous peach and quince fruit and peach kernel and wet stone bitterness, finishing with superb brightness, density, grip, and over-arching floral perfume. Score – 91. (David Schildknecht, www.erobertparker.com, Aug. 2007)

Domaine De La Mordorée La Dame Rousse Rosé Tavel 2007, Rhône, France
$29.00

 Juicy and very focused, with mouthwatering cherry, watermelon and strawberry fruit backed by a rich but refreshing finish. Drink now. Score – 90. (James Molesworth, www.winespectator.com, Web Only, 2008)

Domaine Du Meix-Foulot Clos Du Château De Montaigu Mercurey 1er Cru 2005, Burgundy, France $35.00

Outstanding! A very mild touch of reduction detracts from the expressiveness of the otherwise pretty red berry fruit and subtle spice aromas that precede the rich, full and still tight big-bodied flavors that possess serious volume and plenty of underlying muscle, all wrapped in a textured and overtly structured finish that makes it quite clear that this is built to age. It will need at least a decade to be at its best and perhaps longer. A great Mercurey. Drink [until] 2015. Score – 92. (Allen Meadows, www.burghound.com, Oct.1, 2008)

Vignerons De Caractère L’Authentique Vacqueyras 2006, Rhône, France $29.00

Quite dark, with currant, coffee and fig notes at the core, surrounded by hints of mesquite and incense. The sleek, lengthy finish still has a touch of grip to shed. Best from 2009 through 2012. Score – 91. (James Molesworth, www.winespectator.com, Oct. 31, 2008)

Castello Di Meleto Rainero 2004, Tuscany, Italy $45.00

The estate’s 2004 Rainero is equal parts Sangiovese, Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon that spent 14 months in new French oak. Nothing in particular stands out here, this is just one of those rare wines of outstanding balance and harmony where everything is in the right place. Medium in body, the wine offers a core of dark fruit beautifully framed by finessed, ripe tannins and beautifully-integrated oak. It is another outstanding effort from Castello di Meleto. Anticipated maturity: 2010-2019. Score – 92. (Antonio Galloni, www.erobertparker.com, June 2008)

Altanza Seleccion Especial Reserva 2001, Rioja, Spain $59.00

The 2001 Altanza Reserva Seleccion Especial spent 18 months in new French oak. Dark ruby in color, it exhibits an enthralling bouquet of cedar, smoke, tobacco, leather, cherry, and black raspberry. This is followed by a medium to full-bodied, plush, elegant wine with layers of fruit, lots of grip, and a long finish. Although it can be enjoyed now, it will certainly provide pleasure through 2020. Score – 92. (Jay Miller, www.erobertparker.com, Feb. 2008)

Over at Roger Mooking’s Blog, I noticed that he’s now serving brunch at both of his restaurants, Kultura and Nyood. Just in time for the crush of weekenders enjoying the nice weather! I’ll have to check it out and report back.

The Toronto Star ran a good article today on file sharing. It updated two long-standing myths out there about Canadians and file sharing:

• Myth 1: File sharing is legal. It’s not legal, but it’s not illegal either. However, there hasn’t been a successful lawsuit filed against someone that was file sharing in Canada. I’m not a lawyer, this is not legal advice.
• Myth 2: Canadian’s lead the world in file-sharing per capita. The Star found that this may have been true several years ago but failed to differentiate legal and illegal file sharing. New information found that we were 10th, down from 7th last year in infringement claims – arguably a better indicator of illegal file sharing.

Let’s get this out of the way first, it’s available on June 19th at Rogers. Unfortunately Rogers has not updated their website with any description and they did not lower the price of the old 3G to $99 like AT&T did.

Although the outside isn’t much different, inside there are many changes both in hardware and software. A better processor and memory are suspected, but not confirmed by Apple at the WWDC today. Instead they focused on showing off the new functionality of the iPhone and iPhone OS including:

• Faster applications (new CPU and memory?)
• Records video
• 3MP camera with autofocus, autoexposure and white balance control
• Voice Control (including voice dialing)
• Compass
• Cut, Copy & Paste
• MMS
• Search
• Tethering
• Voice Recorder
• Nike+

See the guided tour at the Apple website for a very lengthy tour of the new phone.

BMW hosted an event called BMW Comparison Drive. At the event, BMW allowed us to compare their 3 series (323i, 328i xDrive, 335i xDrive and 335d Diesel) against the all-wheel drive versions of the Audi A4, Lexus IS 250 and Mercedes-Benz C300. It was a  cloudy day, but the track was dry – it threatened to rain but never did.

The event started with a 30 minute presentation about BMW and the various technologies they use. Not much new information was conveyed but the information was very pro-BMW. However, they did a good job and all the information was based on facts. Since they were comparing all the all-wheel drive cars, it’s important to note that the BMW xDrive cars cannot be equipped with sport suspension. This is unlike cars like the Audi A4 which can be equipped with lowered sport suspension which improves it’s handling and dynamics.

The short track was designed to test dynamics and not powertrain performance. Noone needed to leave 2nd gear at any part of the circuit. The course had five sections, starting with a long sweeping turn with a decreasing radius near the end. Following was an emergency braking while turning exercise, an emergency lane change, and a slalom through the cones. The final leg was a full throttle then full braking exercise.

All the BMW’s felt very good in the course, but the 323i was underpowered. It would be a great commuter car but anyone after some serious performance should pass this car over. The 328i performed great, but it was hard to notice the AWD in this course. A wet traction section would show it off some more, especially since BMW bragged that it was the only system that could put 100% of the power to either front or rear axles.

Some of my observations:

• The BMW’s interior is too stark, although the quality of materials is top notch, sitting in the Audi and Mercedes felt a lot better. It was about on par with the Lexus.
• The Lexus IS250 AWD is too burdened with the automatic transmission and AWD drivetrain to be a fun car. A manual IS250 without AWD would be more fun.
• The Mercedes has a great sounding exhaust, and it was only the C300. The C350 must sound fantastic.
• ABS braking is life-saving technology. And every car performed both braking maneuvers flawlessly and some had less aggressive touring tires.

A few years ago, TV manufacturers hyped “Full HD” vs. normal HD televisions. The difference was instead of 720 vertical lines of resolution (720p) there was 1080 vertical lines (1080p). They even put “Full HD 1080p” stickers on the televisions to market them as being special.

The thing is, most people don’t sit close enough – or don’t buy a tv large enough – to notice the difference. It also doesn’t help that neither Rogers or Bell broadcasts any channels in 1080p (1080i is the highest, but that’s another show).

HD Guru has a chart on what the optimum viewing distance is for televisions. For my 46″ TV to notice 1080p details, it’s actually 72 inches, which is only six feet away. I sit 10 feet from the TV so maybe that’s a good excuse to buy a bigger TV.

Rasa Malaysia is a food blog that my Dad mentioned to me. It features great recipes from lots of different Asian cultures and LOTS of great food photography.

It features sections for Chinese, Malaysian, Thai, Japanese, Indian, Vietnamese, Indonesian, Filipino and Nyona cuisine. One absent member are Korean recipes but given the breadth that they cover it’s a forgiveable oversight. Especially since I’ve already discovered Maangchi.

Both the recipes and photography on the site are top notch. I definitely need to start working on my own cookbook!