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This has got to be the "best" personal luxury submarine. It may be the only
2007-10-07 07:26:00
Introducing the Triton 1000 Personal Luxury Submarine from U.S. Submarines®. I first spotted it in the most recent issue of Ocean Drive where it was featured as another ultimate yacht toy for the ultra-wealthy. Then not a day or two later I saw it in the ?fantasy section? of the Neiman Marcus Christmas Book. Here?s what the catalog had to say about this new toy that has the potential to allow each and every one of us to unleash our inner Jacques Cousteau: ?The future? It’s right here, mateys. The folks at U.S. Submarines® whipped up our NM-Edition Gem Triton 1000 with all the sci-fi bells and whistles. ABS-certified, three-axis maneuverability. Dives to 1,000 feet. 360-degree views from your high-density acrylic bubble. Luxury leather seats with our logo. Joystick steering, with a gemstone set in the stick. Matching gemstone key chain. Air conditioning even. In this beauty, you’ll be outmaneuvering Captain Nemo in no time. Your under-the-sea dream machine comes...
More About: The O

A future "Best Of?" Definitely futuristic. Meet the BLADE XTZ Electric Mot
2007-10-01 05:50:00
A recent issue of ForbesLife featured another amazing toy not quite ready for primetime. But one that definitely gets you thinking. The Blade XTZ is an electric motorbike that equals or outperforms every gas-powered bike in its weight class (200-250cc). It’s about 25-50 lbs lighter, and offers more torque (250 pounds) than traditional dirt bikes. The top speed isn’t that impressive (at just over 40mph), but that’s plenty fast for motocross or trail riding. Manufactured by Electric Moto Corporation, This dirt bike breakthrough is very cool. It runs the trails so silently, it would seem to be be almost dangerous if there were other bikes out there. You can barely hear it coming. Check out this video of two BLADE XTZs running some trails together. As the article observes, “it’s a bit like watching TV with the sound off” and it’s true. Anyone used to the high-pitched engine whine of an offroad bike will definitely do a doubletake whe...
More About: Future , Meet , Futuristic

Hard to Categorize "Best Of": The World?s 1st High Speed Amphibian Quadbike
2007-09-28 08:07:00
I just received the latest issue of Onboard from Cavendish & White. Cavendish White is a luxury yacht specialist that specializes in yacht charters, yacht sales, and yacht management services. This issue contains a sections on things every yacht ought to have, and there are some incredibly cool products. One in particular caught my eye. The Gibbs Quadski is a high-speed all-terrain vehicle (ATV) that converts into a watercraft at the flick of a switch. It’s a modern version of the lumbering, but versatile WWII amphibious craft (D.U.K.W. or Ducks) I first experienced at the Wisconsin Dells as a child—only brought to life as a sleek combination ATV/WaveRunner. This extraordinary vehicle has a top speed up to 45mph on both land and water, using proprietary marine jet-propulsion and wheel-retraction systems. It can operate for two hours on the water and has a range of 370 miles or more on land. Unfortunately this amazing ride is at the prototype stage only, we w...
More About: World , Hard , The World , Speed , High

Solar Powered "Best Of" Store - Kohl's
2007-09-27 20:02:00
When I think “Best Of” Store s, names like Bergdorf Goodman, Tiffany & Co., Cartier come to mind. Kohl ’s? Not so much. They have good deals and carry some nice brands, but the overall shopping experience leaves room for improvement. But Kohl’s is doing something that deserves recognition. Kohl’s is adding solar electric systems to the rooftops of 63 stores in CA, when complete they will be generating 35-million kilowatt-hours (kWh) of renewable energy annually. It’s great to see a big box retailer step up and put together an initiative that will truly help the environment. All the best, Bill
More About: Solar

Make the Most of Your Time
2007-09-27 05:13:00
I came across the following picture today and thought it was great. There are people who would look at this and shake their heads, wondering why anybody would want a roof rack on a classic Porsche 911 Targa? Why wouldn’t you? The owner of this car obviously likes to kayak, and isn’t a Porsche made to drive? By using a car rack, he gets to kayak and enjoy the drive to and from his kayaking experience. Time is the one luxury that we will never be able save for, or buy more of. At 3LUXE we have a goal of helping you simply find the best. In doing the research for you, we are giving you the gift of more time. Take inspiration from the photo above and make the most of your time. All the best, Bill
More About: Make

AmazonMP3 Gives Us an Option
2007-09-26 05:48:00
In today’s consumer driven culture we have grown accustomed to, and expect options. Whether we’re choosing a product or deciding where buy it from, we want options. Many times the number of options available can be overwhelming and we need a simple solution (like 3LUXE). Other times we know exactly what we want to buy, but want options on where to buy. For many of us, myself included, iTunes has become the de facto option when it comes to purchasing music. One of the issues with iTunes; most of the purchased music can only be played in iTunes or on an iPod. If you have a zune, rio or one of the hundreds of other players available, you can’t take the music with you. Now thanks to Amazon there is an option. Amazon (AMZN) released AmazonMP3 in beta today. This new service offers songs for $.89 and there is no Digital Rights Management (DRM). No DRM means you can play the music you buy, on any player. The Amazon offering requires you to install Amazon’s MP...

Prost! Oktoberfest kicks off in Munich
2007-09-22 17:44:00
Times Square on New Years Eve, Mardi Gras in New Orleans and St. Patrick’s Day in Chicago are arguably “Best Of” celebrations here in the US. But when it comes to history, tradition and size, there are few celebrations in the world that compare to Oktober fest . What started 197 years ago, in 1810 as a celebration to commemorate the wedding of King Ludwig I to Princess Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen, has grown into a two week world-renowned celebration that will draw more than 6 million visitors this year. The Mayor of Munich tapped the first keg at noon today and promptly poured the first, of over 6 million mugs or krugs, of beer. If you’re not fortunate enough to be seated at one of the more than 100,000 beer tent seats in Munich, you can most likely enjoy festivities close to home. The festival has been replicated in cities, restaurants and bars around the world. I’ll be checking out St. Paul’s celebration in a few of weeks. If you enjoy...
More About: Kicks , Kick

Apple Gets A Cut of the Data Charges, Not Just the Activation Fee
2007-09-20 06:37:00
I recently spent a lot of quality time on the phone with AT&T Wireless’ Office of the President. They are a special customer service hit team that specializes in resolving customer problems at the highest level. And they do a fantastic job by the way. I’ve covered the why and what in other blog entries here and on my Barefoot Blog. Once you reach the Office of the President, they assign you a resolution specialist (my term) who works with you to understand what happened and then they basically become your advocate (for high $ amount disputes at least) and present your case to the person/committee who can actually approve your level of “claim.” And in working with the person assigned to my case at AT&T she mentioned that it would take longer than normal to get me an answer to the removal of abnormally high data charges (yes, due to international roaming, read the post)as it not only had to be blessed by AT&T Wireless but by someone at Appl...
More About: Apple , Data , Activation , The D , Char

Love is not in the air, but hate has left the room.
2007-09-14 17:21:00
I recently blogged about my frustration with a ginormous data bill from AT&T for my new iPhone. See below at “A box I could live with, the $3,000 iPhone bill I could live without.” Well, circumstances change, and AT&T has made an amazing recovery you can read about at thinkbarefoot.com.
More About: Love , Hate , Left , Room , Not I

Apple Screws Core Consumers.
2007-09-06 03:24:00
This blog entry was first posted at thinkbarefoot.com. I won’t change my tune. I still love my iPhone. But I think with a premature $200 reduction in the price of the iPhone, Apple has alienated their most loyal consumers, and demonstrated a complete lack of understanding as to why people were willing to trade-up in the first place. When people stretch and spend more than “they should have” for a luxury item, they find Reasons to Rationalize® their purchase. As for my $600 iPhone, my Reasons to Rationalize included the ability to finally have one stand alone device that allowed me to leave my macbook behind, the iPod functionality, the visual voicemail, etc. That was how I was able to rationalize spending $600 on a phone. As of today, I can no longer do that. Now I can rationalize $400 of the purchase to get those features, but Apple has put me in an indefensible position (in my mind) of having spent an extra $200 due to what can only be seen as a co...
More About: Core , Consumers , Crew

A box I could live with, the $3,000 iPhone bill I could live without.
2007-08-31 06:29:00
I love my iPhone. I hate AT&T. I just received my first full month bill from AT&T Wireless for my iPhone. It did not come in a box. I wish it had. Then I would have had something to throw up in when I saw the charge of $2,970.40. To be fair, I thought my bill might be a little bit higher than usual as it seems my iPhone never leaves my side and I?m on it far more often than I was ever on my old cell phone. But, holy shit. I felt like someone punched me in the gut when I opened the bill. Thank god the bill still had all of the detail. It showed that the majority of the charges were due to data costs while I was in Canada on vacation. Yes, my beloved iPhone didn?t take a vacation when I did. It worked 24/7 to fill AT&T?s coffers. While I was awake, and while I was asleep, it faithfully and dutifully reached out to synch with my email back in the states, racking up huge charge after huge charge. Now before you chalk me up as some idiot who should have know...
More About: Iphone , Live , Bill

At least one person thinks we have a cool business idea.
2007-08-30 07:44:00
We (3LUXE) were just featured (8/28/07) on another site highlighting new businesses. This one you can almost guess based on this blog entry’s title… yes, I’m talking about the aptly named coolbusinessideas.com. They gave us a nice write-up that has been picked up by several other blogs and it’s driving a nice uptick in traffic. As always, let us know what you think of the site, or any of the specific products, when you visit. We need your feedback to be successful. All the best, Doug
More About: Business , Cool , Idea , Person , Sine

Seeing is Believing
2007-08-29 21:15:00
Today?s ?Best Of the Day? is a pair of sunglasses, the Oakley Flak Jacket. It?s rare that I blog about a Best Of the Day ? they?re all great products, best described by the reviews on 3LUXE. But when I saw the Flak Jacket, it reminded me of when I first knew that Oakley would be a “Best Of” in sunglasses. Last January, I had the chance to visit Oakley?s Rolling O Lab at the FBR Open in Scottsdale. After seeing a series of comparison tests performed on Oakley glasses and their competition, I was convinced Oakley was a ?Best Of.? I always recognized Oakley made a durable lens, but didn?t understand how tough they were until I saw a pair of Oakley sunglasses withstand the highest impact ANSI tests and competitive lenses shattered. Understanding that most of us aren?t in need of the type of physical protection that Oakley sunglasses provide, what really sold me was the optics. Until seeing tests in the O Lab, I had no idea how much sunglasses can distort our vision foc...

Smart Phones?
2007-08-10 14:52:00
Last week I was at Doug’s cottage on Georgian Bay in Ontario with little access to the outside world. The exception, my BlackBerry. Of the 6 adults on the island, 3 of us (the guys) could regularly be seen with Smart Phones . An iPhone, a BlackBerry Pearl and an old school 7280. One night after a few beers and some wine of wine, we decided to have a friendly competition (we’re guys) to see whose smart phone was better. It became clear that none of us would concede we had an inferior phone. We each had favorite features that suited us well. The iPhone, as advertised, has an amazing google maps feature that blew the crackberries away. On the BlackBerries 2 great software packages stood out: viigo an awesome RSS reader that keeps you connected no matter where you go. It saves you the time of surffing on your mobile by pushing content directly to the BlackBerry. Another great app for the BlackBerry, 411. Plug in your address or zip and quickly locates restaurants, movies, ...
More About: Smart Phones

KillerStartups
2007-06-22 19:33:00
Yesterday 3LUXE was featured on KillerStartups.com a site that features and lets you vote on, you guessed it, new startups. I’m happy to say that we’ve rapidly moved into their top 10, ahead of some great sites like StumbleUpon. Thanks to all of you who have voted. If you haven’t had a chance, please take a moment to vote. Our goal, to hit #1! All the best, Bill

It's Official
2007-06-13 18:48:00
With yesterday?s Press Release announcing the launch of 3LUXE, it?s official, we?re live. A ton of work has gone into 3LUXE over the last year and I wanted to take a moment and say thanks to all who have contributed to 3LUXE . First I would like to thank Doug. 3LUXE was his idea and without the initial idea and his continuous effort to drive 3LUXE forward, we would not have the innovative site we have today. Just down the hall from Doug at Barefoot there are several people who have helped bring 3LUXE to life. Andrea and Jodi thanks for the incredible design and layout, Steve thanks for your help with the tone and great reviews? good luck with your Presidential aspirations. Susan ? thanks for the help with PR. Sean, Tom and Josh thanks for all of the advice. After the concept was refined and the architecture of the site defined, we moved forward with building the site with Ruby on Rails. Thanks go out to Bruno and especially Chris for putting some long and hard hours into...
More About: Official

Father's Day... Week
2007-06-11 04:46:00
As you all know, or should, next Sunday, June 17th is Fath er’s Day. As a son and dad, I wanted to reflect (make my list) on Father’s day and also put 3LUXE to the test. With nearly 300 categories and more added each day, I decided to use 3LUXE for my Father’s day gift list. Starting tomorrow and going through Father’s day, the Best Of The Day’s this week, are my Father’s day list. I’ll give you a preview of the categories, to help provide you ideas for any last minute gifts. My final picks will be featured in Best Of The Day. Monday – Necktie. I know traditionally it’s a lame gift. But every guy, no matter what he says, likes to get dressed up every once in a while, and the research team found some awesome picks here. Tuesday – Multipurpose Tool. My Grandpa gave me my first pocket knife when I was 6, they have been a favorite “toy” of mine ever since. My Gerber Multi-Plier, is over 10 years old, it&...
More About: Week , S Day

Preparing for Launch
2007-05-29 23:27:00
As we prepare 3LUXE for a public launch, we want to try and get coverage from popular media sources like Technorati. As part of this process we’ve created a Technorati Profile which we will be building out over the next couple of days. If you have a blog or just have questions about 3LUXE, don’t hesitate email me at: bill@3luxe.com. All the best, Bill
More About: Launch , Prep

Spread the word starting June 1st -- sooner if you must!
2007-05-21 05:25:00
We’re another week farther along, and we’re working out the last few minor bugs on the site. I’m targeting June 1st for the beginning of our efforts to actively drive traffic to the site (note to self, confirm that’s Bill’s target as well). We’re also now reaching out to the companies, products and services selected as “Best Of”—officially notifying them of their recognition and letting them know that they can now post our 3LUXE “Best of” seal and a link back to their 3LUXE product page if they would like. Safe to say, we would like that. If you have any thoughts on what you might do differently to make this a better site for you, please let us know. Have a great week. All the best, Doug
More About: Word , Spread

Trifecta
2007-05-08 04:04:00
At 3LUXE we’re not only committed to make life easier for you by doing extensive research and publishing the 3 “Best Ofs” to 3LUXE, we want to make sure we are continuously featuring the best. When it comes to the best it doesn’t get better than the Kentucky Derby. The Derby is the first “Best Of” in horse racing’s, Triple Crown. The Kentucky Derby has always represented the best of tradition, this year was unique in that another great tradition became an integral part of the Derby. Jess Jackson, the founder of Kendall-Jackson Winery is the majority owner of Curlin, the American Thoroughbred who took third in this year’s Derby. Curlin had a strong finish at the Derby which speaks well to his chances at the Preakness Stakes. Jackson is a unique individual who has worked his way to the top of two great luxe traditions. In doing so, he has created a strong link between wine production and horse racing. For his pursuit of the best, we r...

Better, But Not the Best.
2007-05-02 05:53:00
I’m back home from the Amex Luxury Summit at The Breakers and as promised, I wanted to update you on the service response from The Breakers. First off they did not do anything to remedy our dissatisfaction until we complained. And we complained only after they had another service outage. I had ordered breakfast through room service to arrive at 7:30 am. It did not arrive until nearly 8:30. By that time, I was already in the Summit presentations that began at 8:15. For the breakfast snafu, they did proactively apologize and promised it would not happen again. The person who contacted our room left his number and so I decided to call him since it had already happened to me twice. While we played phone tag (no fault of their’s as it was due to my unavailability), he did promise to adjust the bill and see that we were not charged. I appreciated that very much and it was the one thing they could do to make me feel like they were doing the right thing. That being said, i...

The Best of the Best?
2007-04-28 01:20:00
I just arrived in Palm Beach for the American Express Publishing Luxury Summit. It kicks off Sunday night, so we’re a little early, but today is also our wedding anniversary, so my wife (Becca) and I are here early to take advantage of the great location ( The Breakers ) for the conference. The Breakers is one of those legendary luxurious resorts born at the turn of the century. It is consistently rated as one of the best resort destinations in the country. In fact I believe it was ranked number one by Travel & Leisure in 2005. At any rate I was anxious to see if it lived up to its billing and would be deserving of a 3LUXE “Best Of” rating. Unfortunately, my first impression has been marred a bit, and they are not looking good to make the list. Don’t get me wrong, the resort is beautiful, but I had arranged for a bottle of champagne and some tuxedo chocolate strawberries to be waiting in the room upon our arrival (yes, perhaps a bit of a cliche, but...
More About: The Best Of

The Best Comes To Those Who Wait
2007-04-25 15:34:00
At least I hope it does. The changes to the site over the last several weeks have seemed to take eons for very little visible change. We’re still not to a point where we feel comfortable beginning to drive traffic to the site—we still have one or two bugs that impact the experience a bit too much for us to feel comfortable that we will favorably impress and retain those initial visitors to 3LUXE. While I’m trying to be patient, as is Bill, we really need to start testing the site with real traffic and see what happens. On the plus side, the categories we’re reviewing continue to add up, with us reaching the half way point this week with reviews written and edited. Posting with the pictures uploaded is imminent. If you’re a new or returning visitor, we would love to hear your feedback. We know we have much to improve, but hearing your thoughts on how we can improve the site would be invaluable. All the best, Doug
More About: Wait

All The Best
2007-03-06 16:47:00
I just got off the phone with Bill and we?ve both agreed that we?re finally at a point where we can push 3LUXE live, and although the site is not perfect, at least do so without damage to our long-term fortunes. As you?ve probably already gathered, the site is still in Beta testing with many things to fine tune, and many more products and categories to add before we move to a full launch. All the disclaimers aside, we believe 3LUXE is now at a place where you can get a feel for what we?re trying to accomplish and the simplicity we?re trying to bring to the first step in the purchase process ? searching for exactly what product to buy, or at a minimum, narrow the field you?re going to do deeper research on. A recent article in BARRON’S highlighted an interesting study that while not the genesis for this site certainly validates its potential value. The article quoted Daniel Hamermesh, an economics professor at the University of Texas, Austin, who has just co-authored an ...