So by now I'm sure all of you techies know that the new iPhone's release date was announced yesterday (accompanied by a hefty rise in Apple stock). iPhone 2.0 is slimmer and consists of a phone, mp3 player, camera, and internet, with the cheapest ringing in at $199 (meaning iPhone-spotting will increase 10fold in the coming months). Given the economy's flaccid state, the unveiling of new (or slightly improved) luxury items seems sillier than usual, and I can't help but wonder how Apple has escaped the mass corporate taint of Walmart or Microsoft.

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If there's one thing I'm thankful for on a sticky, sweltering summer day like today, it's air conditioning--and as I sweat away the weekend watching movies in my muggy apartment with a fan on my lap, I became distinctly aware of this fact. My 15-minute walk up Fordham Rd. in the Bronx to the D train only adds to my appreciation for the cooling contraption. With Fordham Rd.'s mango vendors and blaring reggaeton, it already seems like a tropical island...but especially in this heat. More»

[Photo via Gothamist]

In case you didn't catch the news yesterday, Apple is now embroiled in a logo war with…New York City?? As the city adopts a new "going green" logo, a figure-8-like apple with a stem and leaf, Apple claims this is trademark infringement—since their logo is an apple with a bite out of it and a spiky leaf. Apple alleges that if NYC adopts the new logo, it will "seriously injure the reputation which [Apple] has established for its goods and services." Because, you know. There may be 10 people left on the planet that haven't seen an iPod and might get confused by too many apple pictures when they come to the city!

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Sometimes, New York can feel like such a big city. Other times (most times) it feels more like a small town. Either way, it is indisputable that the people that live and work in New York comprise a large community. Although the anonymity of our great city-town can be alienating, I find that I can often look to our community for (at the very least) the shallow comfort of similarly-situated souls. I like exchanging commiserating glances with strangers during rush hour on the overcrowded Lexington Avenue line. I like becoming shopping buddies with fellow cost-conscious bargain hunters at sample sales. I love the street fairs and green markets and free concerts and dog parks and promenades.

Another thing I like: when people abandon newspapers on the subways and buses for others to read. More»

[Photo via Daily News]

If you’ve been reading the Daily News lately, you would know that all the speculation about love and happiness was futile, since it can be boiled down to the algebraic equation above. The article, “When she’s hot & he’s not there’s a better shot at happiness,” seems to clear up any confusion (while, by the way, leaving very little up to imagination). I was unable get my hands on an original copy of the study without actually going to a library, possibly going through some kind of inter-library loan process, etc. I’m just way too lazy busy for that (if you’re more interested/ambitious than I, the cite is something like this: “Beyond initial attraction: Physical attractiveness in newlywed marriage,” J. of Family Psych., 2008 Feb Vol 22(1) 135-143). Anyway, to sum up the Daily News coverage, it looks like researchers studied 82 newlyweds and found that individuals in marital unions in which there is a discrepancy in attractiveness between the husband and wife (where the wife is hotter relative to the husband), are generally more content and behave “more positively” towards each other. More»

Please, say it isn't so. The Wall Street Journal ran a story today about the evils of watching online video clips at work, the entirety of which can be found here. If you don't want to read the story, since The Journal can be a little dry and you have far more entertaining blogs to read, I'll extract and sum up the not-so-surprising information in the story: Watching videos online sucks away office productivity. A startling amount of employees are doing it. And most of all, it's those damn interns.

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Today is of course the day we pay our respects and honor Martin Luther King Jr., civil rights leader, champion of non-violent civil disobedience, brilliant orator, and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize. This got us to thinking about Dr. King's legacy and lasting effect on America, his remarkable "I have a Dream" speech, and our curiosity eventually led to us wondering how many roads are named after MLK? Roads are a great tangible way to keep someone's legacy alive. We are always riding on roads that are named after historical figures, such as the FDR Drive that runs along the east river, or the Henry Hudson that runs up the West Side of Manhattan.

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[Narcissus]

"I am not young enough to know everything." -Oscar Wilde

We've been dubbed the Facebook generation, self-absorbed with our computers, iPods, and Blackberries. We can't go a day, rather an hour, without checking our email, and many of us have our own personal blogs. So it's no surprise that we are often characterized as a Narcissistic generation, a much more self-absorbed, "look-at-me" generation than our parents.

Today’s young people — schooled in the church of self-esteem, vying for spots on reality television, promoting themselves on YouTube — are more narcissistic than their predecessors. [NY Times]

Today's youth are marrying later, prolonging their "me-time", a time where they are clinging onto their adolescence in hopes of holding off adulthood and all of the responsibilities that it entails. But we are left wondering if this is really as dramatic as people are making it out to be. Mr. Arnett, the author of “Emerging Adulthood: The Winding Road From the Late Teens through the Twenties” argues that this is "not a permanent generational characteristic", but rather just a "temporary condition of being self focused"

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[Lincoln Tunnel]

Last spring, when word got out that Mayor Bloomberg was contemplating plans for bridge and tunnel toll hikes, Jerseyites cried bloody murder, while us Manhattanites rejoiced at the prospect of a reduced number Guidos and B+T. Now, New Jersey Governor Jim Corzine is proposing to massively hike tolls on NJ's main roadways, making it increasingly expensive to venture out into the armpit of America. More»

[Alex Goldberg at Peasant. Photo from NY Mag]

Ruff! Stanley here...so I wasn't going to post on this kid, but decided to anyway, so that world can see what giving unguarded freedom to a child will create (a monster).  In this week's New York Magazine, on newsstands today, there was an entire article devoted to Alex Goldberg...the "Mayor of Nolita", as his older sister calls him, that thinks he's hot shit.  This fatso has had "free reign" over the streets of nolita since before he can remember, establishing himself amongst shop owners, models, night club owners, rappers, actors, and athletes alike.  He's held jobs at Supreme on Lafayette, NikeID, and helped out at Peasant, DiPalo's, and Papabubble.  He's also only 14.  Many think he's like a man trapped in a child's body, but I'm not fooled.  I think he's just a shitty kid that doesn't want to listen to a single adult and that has idiot parents that like that their 14 year old can get them into Nobu.  This is one of the most pathetic profiles written by New York Magazine, so pathetic that you won't be able to stop reading it.

Alex goes to the James Taylor concert in the Hamptons this summer and is disinterested in who that even is, and would rather talk to an NBA player than Paul McCartney.  He makes fun of Dune, claiming that Bungalow 8 is much better anyway, and smokes fake fags on Lafayette.  Who the fuck does this kid think he is? First of all, me and my DAWGS have been running around Nolita much longer than this kid, who's claim-to-fame came after sneaking out to hang with wanna-be celebs at a party at the Delano in Miami last year.   His parents claim that they worry about him losing his childhood, yet they are so lenient with him that they fail to ground him for sneaking out.  No, instead they let him party with his newly made freinds (more than triple his age) for the rest of the vacation.  He calls them by their names (Rich and Robin) and frequently tells them to fuck off.  Sweet. Sounds like a gem to me.  If this child makes one dime off of my city or this magazine write up, I may have to take a bite out of his be-hind.  Until the day comes, I will be anticipating his "growing up"....because god knows this city is a tough bitch and chubby 14 year olds may be interesting to see hustling around town now, but in a couple years he will be a has-been with a coke addiction, a balding head, and 40 more pounds on his frame. Ruff!

This is the only way we can describe the hordes of people lining up outside of stores hours and hours before their openings to make sure they would get a piece of the "Black Friday" specials. And if you thought New Yorkers were different than the average American super idiots think again. We saw LINES of people forming at stores such as Best Buy in the city on Thanksgiving Day! We don't know whether to be completely ashamed of sharing a gene pool with people that chose to stand on street corners for days in order to save a couple hundred bucks on a flat screen, or be thankful that we have such groups to help pick up our dollar's worth, if at least for a couple weeks. This year, Black Friday sales beat forecasts, up 8.3% from last year.

We still just don't get what is going on in the brain's of these poor souls. What could they possibly be saving that could ever justify putting themselves through this madness? We have nothing to tell our friends from other countries when they ask us about the strange behaviors American's participate in on Black Friday. We have no answer for them except that it can't be THAT much of a surprise in a country that has held a reputation for making some less than thought-out-ahead-of-time decisions (hello, Bush re-election!) All we can offer is that everyone goes off their rockers now and then....you may need to use this as a comfort to move past the fact that YOU or a LOVED ONE actually participated in such mayhem....

P.S. Do you think people that participate in Black Friday Madness feel the slightest bit stupid? How about the days after when they realize that almost everything they waited in line for is the same price as when they bought it?