YikeBike is a statement about using smart technology to solve the problems of our increasingly congested, polluted, stressful cities. It is the first commercial expression of the mini-farthing concept, created up by a bunch of successful entrepreneurs, engineers and dreamers. We sat down to try and answer:
What is the simplest way to get from A to B with the aid of a machine?
What is the smallest wheel you can have to get a stable, safe, comfortable ride?
Can you make something small enough to be able to go with you anywhere in a city?
Wonder if we could make a unicycle dramatically easier to ride and fold?
We were intrigued by creating something that could dramatically change urban transport, enabling city dwellers a fast, safe and easy way to navigate their environment.
The result was the mini-farthing concept and its first expression, the YikeBike. It employs state-of-the-art technology, engineering and industrial design to create a new class of personal transport.
More on the history of the development of the concept can be found at www.minifarthing.com
Alison Sudol (born December 23, 1984), known professionally as A Fine Frenzy is an American alternative singer and songwriter and pianist. Her debut album, One Cell in the Sea, reached number one on the charts, putting her on the map around the world thanks to her sultry, romantic ballad ‘Almost Lover.’ After ‘One Cell in the Sea,’ Alison Sudol followed with the album ‘Bomb in a Birdcage,’ which hit Number One Top Pop Album, and hit the top of the digital charts. Wasting no time following up their acclaimed second album, A Fine Frenzy released a six-song EP ‘Oh Blue Christmas’ which like the bands other work, is a must for any music collection.
At the age of 24, Alison Sudol is a rare being, filled with a passionate soul, magnificent voice, stellar songwriting, and an incredibly sweet personality backed by a unique, worldly intelligence.
Her name is Ana Bacalhau and she is old enough to realize that life isn’t as easy as it seems. Merrily unmarried, in love and out of love, born in Lisbon, she inhabits a ground floor apartment somewhere in the suburbs of the capital. She writes her own songs by peeking through the curtains of her window, drawing inspiration from the old gramophone records that once belonged to her grandmother and by the bizarre and strange life of her neighbours. She lives with 2 cats and a gold fish…
Deolinda is a project from Lisbon inspired by fado and its traditional roots in order to create original songs based on portuguese traditional and popular music. It came to life in 2006, by the hands of 4 young musicians with diverse musical backgrounds and experiences (such as classical music, jazz, ethnical and traditional music), searching to recreate a sound rooted in popular music through the crossing of different musical languages and musical research serving as a base for the group’s original compositions.
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Carminho is one of the strongest names of the new generation of Fado. A name with a history and a legacy of another great fado singer, that is Teresa Siqueira.
Carminho started to hear fado very early. The mother was the owner of “Taverna do Embuçado”, one of the houses of Fado with the best reputation that Lisbon had.
Now, she gives life to everything what she have heard. She has assimilated emotions, styles, life and poetry. Has an unmistakable style, a serious and melodic voice that makes everything and everyone “hypnotised”, to breathe, feel and hear her singing.
Oeiras is on the coast between Lisbon and Cascais, it is 15 minutes on the train to each side. The landscape is full of lighthouses and coast fortresses overlooking the Atlantic Ocean.
The apartment is 15 minutes walk to the beach. It is a spacious fifth floor, charmingly decorated, with a spectacular terrace so as to enjoy the spectacular views over the ocean. Visitors may benefit from different leisure and sports facilities, such as the Maritime Walk (a seaside promenade) and the Poets Park (a vast green space). There is also an Oceanic Pool with a Marine with night bars and restaurants.
Frida Hyvönen (born 1977) is a Swedish singer-songwriter. She grew up in Robertsfors, a small place just outside Umeå in the north of Sweden (which is also the hometown of the band Sahara Hotnights), and currently lives in the capital of Sweden, Stockholm. Piano-based antecedents and contemporaries such as Carole King, Jerry Lee Lewis, Plush, and Antony and the Johnsons generally feel like appropriate touchstones for discussing the Swedish singer-songwriter’s recorded work. Lyrically, however, Hyvönen is in more open waters, as she forges her own stylistic path as a songwriter.
Matt Ward, known by his stage name M. Ward, is a singer-songwriter and guitarist who rose to prominence in the Portland, Oregon music scene. Ward says that “Amazing Grace” is probably his favorite song. His favorite piece of musical equipment is the TASCAM 4-Track Recorder, which he uses to start every song he writes.
Emma Lee-Moss (born 1984), known by her stage name of Emmy the Great, is a London based singer-songwriter. Moss was born in Hong Kong, and as a child she emigrated with her family to London. She has toured with Tilly and the Wall, Martha Wainwright, Jamie T amongst others and collaborated with several other artists, most notably Lightspeed Champion. She usually plays live with a band including Euan Hinshelwood of Younghusband, Tom Rogerson of Three Trapped Tigers, and Ric Hollingbery of Pengilly’s. First Love was produced by Moss, Hinshelwood, Rogerson and the Earlies.
Spotify is a new way to enjoy music. Simply download and install, before you know it you’ll be singing along to the genre, artist or song of your choice. With Spotify you are never far away from the song you want. There are no restrictions in terms of what you can listen to or when. Forget about the hassle of waiting for files to download and fill up your hard drive before you get round to organising them. Spotify is instant, fun and simple.
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While Asobi Seksu’s (colloquial Japanese for “playful sex”) creative core explored music at an early age (lead vocalist/keyboardist Yuki Chikudate got standing ovations at child prodigy recitals when she was just 8; guitarist/vocalist James Hanna bounced between sludgy hardcore and Mogwai-schooled post-rock in his teens), their potential ‘career’ wasn’t put into perspective until a stint at the Manhattan School of Music. And by put into perspective, we mean finding out what they didn’t want to do.
Torrini grew up in Kópavogur, where, at the age of 7, she joined a choir as a soprano, until she went to opera school at the age of 15. In 1994, she became well-known in Iceland after winning the song competition of junior colleges in Iceland, at the age of 17, singing “I Will Survive”. Her father is Italian and her mother Icelandic. She grew up with her parents in Iceland. Her father owns and operates a well-known Italian restaurant in Iceland, where she once worked as a waitress.
Autumn Fallin’ is a beautiful piece of work that tells with an acute eye for emotional detail the story of a love affair that navigates a bitter New York winter. This is heartache and heartbreak and renewed hope in melodic Technicolor.
Last weekend we drove to Nice to check this year’s Carnival parade. I guess everyone else in the world celebrates Mardi Gras on a… Tuesday, but here celebrations starts only by mid-February and ends on the last Sunday of the month. Although we have found it very poor when compared to our Brazilian-like festivities, nevertheless it´s a major Winter event attracting more than 1 million every year.
Under the theme “Le Roi des Ratapignatas, Raminagrobis et autres ramassis de Rats masqués” (king of bats, cats, rats and other legendary creatures), the Carnival processions displayed some twenty decorated floats, 300 “big heads” and a hundred troupes of entertainers.
Here’s some shots:
Some tourists chose to play Summer time, stretching on the rocky beach of the Promenade des Anglais.
