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Wednesday, September 8, 2010
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L U X U R Y
Tablets to give headaches... ...to laptops and PCs? Page 4
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Toyota Corolla Altis Diesel driven Page 8
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WHAT’S HOT this week
3D unleashed
Team Smartbuy
NEC NP216G
Editorial Anushya Mamtora anushya@thehindu.co.in
Ketaki Bhojnagarwala ketaki@thehindu.co.in
Mahananda Bohidar mahananda@thehindu.co.in
S. Muralidhar muraliswami@thehindu.co.in
This 3D-enabled projector from NEC is a portable, lightweight DLP allowing users to experience high-quality 3D visuals. The projector supports a resolution of up to 1024x 768 XGA and features an impressive 2500 ANSI lumens output for high contrast images. With the help of Brilliant Colour technology, the projector produces rich colours and bright pictures to enrich the 3D experience. With 7-watt inbuilt stereo speakers, the average lamp life of the projector is 5,000 hours.
Rs 58,000
Design Bryan Gaughan aqua@thehindu.co.in
Balakrishnan designkbala@thehindu.co.in
Advertising Contact R. Diwakar ramdiwakar@thehindu.co.in
Web Advertising Contact N. Amarnath amarnath@thehindu.co.in
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Cover photo: T3 India
‘X’tasy Sony Ericsson Xperia X8 The latest addition to the Xperia line is the X8. It sports a 3-inch HVGA screen and four customisable shortcuts on each corner of the phone. Apart from access to the Android Market, the Sony Ericsson X8 also features the proprietary Timescape application that lets you integrate your contacts and their virtual presence on social networks and gives you all the updates at a glance.
To be announced
Portable home theatre Lenovo IdeaPad Y Series The new range of notebooks from Lenovo is available in 14 and 15-inch sizes. They are powered by an Intel Core i3 or i5 processors. Features include One Key Theatre for a superior cinematic experience, JBL Speakers and Dolby Headphone technology as well as a multi-touch touchpad. These notebooks will also include Lenovo’s Veriface face recognition technology and One-key rescue system.
Rs 46,235 onwards
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Aural symphony Creative GigaWorks T3 Series The T3 series of speakers from Creative is a 2.1 speaker system that provides precision sound in a compact casing. Its minimalist and clutter-free design makes it the perfect accessory to your desktop or home theatre system. It includes a wired remote that has a low friction precision volume dial, and doubles up as a power/standby switch. AUX-in and headphones-out ports mean you can connect it to your music player or headphones. It has Low Standby Power technology giving it a green edge over other speakers in the market.
Rs 16,699
Storing memories Philips SPF5010 The Philips SPF5010 is a 10.4-inch digital photoframe with touch controls on the border, and features a 4:3 aspect ratio for optimal distortion-free display. The frame slot accepts USBs or memory cards. It adds new glow to old memories with RadiantColor technology. Thanks to its simple intuitive operation, it is energy efficient too as it saves power via auto dimming by detecting ambient lighting.
Rs 11,990
Juicy byte Apple’s music players Apple’s most awaited announcement since the iPad has seen a new generation of Mp3 players in the form of the revamped iTouch, Nano and Shuffle. The iTouch features Retina Display, A4 chip, FaceTime Video Calling, HD Video Recording and Game Centre. The new Nano is half the size and weight of the previous model, and features multi-touch, a built-in clip, Genius Mixes, FM Radio with Live Pause and up to 24 hours music playback on a single charge. The Shuffle comes in a square design with bigger clickable ring buttons, VoiceOver technology and over 15 hours of playback on one charge. Let the music play!
iTouch: Rs 15,400 onwards Nano: Rs 10,700 onwards Shuffle: Rs 3,200
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TABLET computing
Is your laptop going to run out of gas?
Tablets looked like they would be a fringe segment, until the Apple iPad was launched and the world woke up to its potential. What started as a trickle will soon turn into a ood, as every gadget maker of repute launches its own tablet. KETAKI BHOJNAGARWALA forsees the coming tablet revolution and says the days of the laptop are numbered Photo: T3 India
Ketaki Bhojnagarwala
W
hen Steve Jobs launched the Apple iPad, it was almost as if he was unveiling the first computing tablet form mankind has ever seen. No wonder it had already sold three million units within 80 days of being launched. The truth, however, is that long before Jobs and the folks at Cupertino began working on the iPad, Bill Gates had already prophesised, “The tablet is a PC that is virtually without limits – and within five years I predict it will be the most popular form of PC in America.” Until a few years ago, desktop PCs were the only basic computing option at the common man’s disposal. With the advent of laptops, the demand for PCs fell and was followed by a surge in the sale of notebooks. A couple of years after that, ASUS took the leap with its Eee PC line of netbooks, small inexpensive laptops designed primarily for internet usage and basic computing. Netbooks brought in a divide between computer users – people who wanted computers with high-processing power for gaming and heavy-duty applications, and people who wanted computers for simple tasks. So far, the choice for mobile computing has been between notebooks and netbooks, but with the birth of tablets, a whole new category in computing has been created. Ultra-compact and ultra-portable – will tablets become the mobile computing device of the future?
What is a tablet? Most tablets in the market come in the form of a slate with primarily touch based input, with some versions having options for pen input. Tablets like the iPad come with built-in accelerometers – letting you switch between landscape and portrait mode. Some companies like HP and Lenovo have come out with what they’ve christened ‘convertibles’. A good example is the Lenovo IdeaPad S10-3t, which we reviewed last week.
Processors and chipsets Processors for the desktops of yore were sluggish and were developed to power relatively large machines. When laptops came into the market, processors had to evolve to pack in as much performance in a much smaller machine. With tablets, the evolution lead to even greater miniaturisation, and had to support many functions that were so far unseen in laptops. An example is the Intel 830MG chipset. It features screen rotation between landscape and portrait modes, hot docking, longer battery life, quick resume from standby and built-in Wi-Fi. At the Computex fair in Taipei, Intel announced its ‘Oak Trail’ and ‘Pine Trail’ Atom processors for netbooks and tablet PCs. The Atom processor is specifically designed to cut power consumption by 50 per cent while enabling HD video playback. Consumers can also choose from either 3G or 4G-enabled processors which will let them access the internet anywhere. Apple, on the other hand, has gone solo and designed a custom A4 chip (in the iPad, iPhone 4 and the new iPod Touch), which is a single-core processor which runs on 1GHz and extends battery life up to 10 hours. There has been talk of AMD’s Fusion chip for tablets, but the company has dispelled rumours and said that the dual-core processor will only be seen on netbooks and low-end laptops. While NVIDIA is mainly associated with gaming graph-
ics, the company has hopped on the tablets bandwagon and introduced the Tegra mobile web processor which will provide low power Flash 10.1 acceleration, 1080p video playback, 3D touch screen user interface support and longer battery life. Tegra will be a dual-core processor up to 1GHz. Qualcomm is due to ship a dual-core 1.5GHz Snapdragon chip which will power tablet PCs, and will support 1080p video playback, DDR2, DDR3 and HDMI interfaces. The Dell Streak already has a 1GHz Snapdragon processor, so we can hope to see a lot more outcome from Qualcomm’s planned launch. Many of the new breed of processors have been designed keeping in mind both netbooks and tablets, so in the future, the processing power of both these devices will stand on par, leaving consumers with only one choice – the kind of computing device they want.
The other side When it comes to processing power, tablets have more or less caught up with laptops. However, there are a few features that manufacturers still need to work on for the tablet revolution to really take off. A big downside would be not having enough storage on the tablet of your choice. Most tablets, including the Apple iPad and Dell Streak come with only limited memory space. The iPad comes in capacities of 16GB, 32GB and 64GB whereas the Dell Streak has memory expandable via microSD card slot to a maximum of 32GB. While this might suffice for a few games, documents and photos, it’s really not enough to replace your computer. Some tablets, including the iPad, do not feature a USB port, which means you can’t hook up your external hard drive to it to access your files or use it to increase storage. The lack of a physical keyboard is also hard felt, because the virtual keyboard might not be the most comfortable if you type for long hours. Apple has tried to make up for this by offering users a Bluetooth keyboard and a keyboard dock. However, with more and more tablet manufacturers jumping on the bandwagon (look at our line-up of upcoming tablets on page 6 & 7), we can expect to see a lot of additional features put into place. In the future, we will be seeing tablets that will be able to perform every function that a laptop can, with the added advantage of being more portable.
Who needs it? In the computers market, there are a broad range of users whose computing needs range from basic to specialised, hardcore needs. For people working on heavy-duty stuff, a more powerful processor is required, which means their machine of choice will probably be a desktop or a notebook. The same goes for gamers, who will also require an additional gaming graphics processor like those supplied
by NVIDIA. However, the number of internet users is increasing every year, and the age band widening – this means there are a lot of beginners – young users getting an early start and older users getting a late start. For many of them, a computer is required only for surfing, checking emails, watching movies and playing games. For such users, tablets are a viable option. They are easy to operate which means people can learn how to use them faster, and the touch screen provides a more natural user interface. Tablets will target two groups – consumers who already own laptops and can be potential tablet owners, and those who are new to mobile computing. There is still a large percentage of the population who have not experienced mobile computing. Tablets will serve not only to bring in a whole host of new users, but also help people get over their apprehensions of using a computer. When it comes to on-the-go use, most people need only basic computing options. Tablets like the Dell Streak are getting smaller, at just 5 inches across, it’s just a little bigger than your average smartphone. Which means it can fit into your pocket, and you can carry it with you without bothering about your bulky laptop. Granted that a tablet may not be able to function as your sole computing device, but more people are going to invest in one as an additional, always hands-on means of computing to complement today’s on-the-move lifestyle.
Storage Another change users will see in the future is the movement of storage from physical hard drives to personal clouds, which means the storage constraints of tablets might well be a thing of the past, allowing us to access our files at any place with an internet connection. We’re also going to see a movement into personal clouds with Google’s Chrome OS. The future is going to be all about mobile internet, with 3G and 4G networks coming into place and more Wi-Fi hotspots being set up. We’re going to be paying for more things online, and consulting the web before we even make simple decisions like which restaurant to head to for dinner. And tablets are going to take advantage of this internet boom. As the competition gets tougher, tablets are going to become cheaper, giving more people access to mobile computing. There is also going to be a lot more content generated for tablets – Apple, Android and Microsoft already have app stores. Websites like Facebook and YouTube also have app versions which are in some cases easier to use than the actual sites themselves.
What happens next What we’re going to see with tablets is a completely new user interface. Double clicks of the mouse button will be replaced by multi-touch and pinch and zoom, programs will become applications, Windows will have to compete with Android, and gaming will take on a more natural user interface. Essentially, computing will become a natural physical activity, an intrinsic part of our being. Carrying a tablet will become as commonplace as carrying a mobile phone, with a pretty line-up of tablets is ready to hit the stores. The stage for the tablet revolution has been set – the question really is, when will you choose to jump in? Send feedback to ketaki@thehindu.co.in
TABLETS galore
Back to basics HP
Slate
What was presented as an enticing teaser for tech enthusiasts during the CES at Las Vegas in January, the Slate might soon see the light of day after much speculation about whether HP has shelved the project. The Slate runs on an Intel Atom Z530 processor and has inbuilt graphics that allow it to playback 1080p high-def videos. While the current models were supposed to be working on Windows 7 platform, there are strong indications that HP might be looking at Palm’s WebOS to base the latest HP Slate on. The display of the current model is supposed to be an 8.9-inch capacitive screen with multitouch, a front-facing VGA cam and a 3-meg webcam at the back. The Slate also comes with a stylus to scribble on the slab with and interact with various programmes. "
8.9
"
11.6
Exit PC? ExoPC This 11.6-inch slate supports multi-touch gestures and apps and runs on Windows 7. The screen is capacitive And the virtual keyboard is what the company calls ‘stroboscopic’, which means you can see virtual depressions on the on-screen keys as you type. ExoPC has stereo speakers (1.5 W each) in its body and comes with a 1.3-meg webcam. The power button is placed on the back panel placed conveniently to switch it on or off with the fingers as you hold the unit. All other buttons are virtual ones stacked on either side of the screen, thanks to the ExoPC user interface layer. The ExoPC unveiled at the information tech exhibition, Computex 2010, was shown to have two USB 2.0 ports and an HDMI-out, which means you can use the ExoPC to watch high-def content on the big screen. This device will be available in 32GB and 64GB versions.
Best of both screens
Toshiba Libretto W100 Launched in the US recently, this is the first Windows-based dual-screen tablet in the market. The Libretto W100 has 7-inch dual touch screens for reading e-books and browsing through photos. Either screen can double up as a virtual keyboard with haptic feedback (in some models) making it convenient to type as fast as you want to on this tablet. An interesting feature is also the split keyboard where the keys are divided within one screen yet close enough to both hands for typing with ease. The company’s released a limited edition of this tablet which it likes to term as an Ultra Mobile Concept PC, which makes one wonder what would be in store as the Libretto W100 is improved upon and upgraded.
7"
" 8.9
The lightweight avatar Archos
9
Extremely portable at just 800 grams and measuring about 17mm at its thickest, the Archos 9 stays true to the promise of portability. The right panel has an optical trackpoint as an alternate to using the resistive touch interface . Archos 9 has a 1.3-meg webcam, click buttons, Wi-Fi controller and a button to activate its virtual keyboard on the left bezel. The tablet has a widescreen aspect ratio and the processor (Intel Z series) allows you to watch HD videos on the tablet’s 8.9-inch LED backlit display. Archos also unveiled the Archos 10-1 internet tablet that runs on Android Froyo .
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The ‘Indie’genous one! Notion
Ink Adam
With focus on the word ‘Revolution’ (we all know what that reminds us of!), the newbies on the tablet block are raring to go with two versions of the Notion Ink Adam. The models are differentiated only on the basis of the display. While both are 10.1-inch TFT Liquid Crystal displays, one model will sport a WSVGA 1024 x 600 pixels resolution, and the other will be based on the new Non-Pixel Qi display. Both variants will have a capacitive touch panel and multi-touch enabled screens. Connectivity options include two USB 2.0 ports, a HDMI port, microSD and a SIM Card slot. The unit has a trackpad on the backside, a 3.2-meg auto-focus swivel camera and Assisted GPS capabilities.
1"
10. 5"
Dial-A-Tablet Dell
Streak
Aptly categorised in a new ‘Slate Smartphone’ genre, this much awaited device lies in a not-so-grey area between a tablet and a smartphone. Compact enough to fit into your denim pockets but big enough a slab for people to do double takes as you talk into the Streak on the roads, this device has been attracting a lot of attention since its June 2010 release in the UK. A 5-inch multi-touch, capacitive screen, with a WVGA screen and 800 x 480 resolution, the Streak is said to have a bright, brilliant screen, ideal for browsing through webpages and watching media. The body barely has any physical buttons except the three touch buttons on the right bezel. Streak has two cameras – one front-facing with a VGA resolution and a 5-megger at the back with a dual LED flash. One potential drawback with the OS on the Streak is that, as of now, it runs on an outdated Android version, Donut (Ver 1.6) although rumour mills are abuzz with an upgrade to Froyo soon.
The brightest star?
Samsung Galaxy TAB Unveiled at the IFA at Berlin recently, the sleek-looking 7-inch Samsung Galaxy TAB is the first tablet to feature the SWYPE technology for typing on its touch screen, a technology that enables you to type as fast as you’d want to without having to lift a finger, quite literally. The company’s promo video says it will support Augmented Reality apps, video calling (1.3-meg front-facing cam with 3-meg cam on the back) and full web browsing. One definite USP of this tablet would be the fact that it runs on the latest Android Froyo and is the world’s first DivX certified tablet. 7"
"
11.6
What’s in a name WeTab Formerly known as the ‘WePad’ (what prompted the name change isn’t difficult to guess), the Germany-based company runs its homonymous tablet on the Linux-based WeTab OS. With support for multi-tasking, the app store for the WeTab, called the WeTab Meta-Store integrates multiple stores that let you have access to Java, Linux, Adobe AIR and Android applications. The tablet runs on a 1.66 GHz Intel Atom N450 Pineview-M processor and has a battery life of up to six hours while you watch videos, read e-books and cruise through town with maps featured on the WeTab 3G model. Words by Mahananda Bohidar
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AUTO focus
Photos: S. Muralidhar
Corolla Altis now sips diesel S. Muralidhar he Indian obsession for diesel cars is quite understandable. The fuel is still about 25 per cent cheaper than petrol and diesel cars are inherently more fuel-efficient than their petrol-engined counterparts. Quite apart from costs, diesel cars are also more driveable. Thanks to the availability of a lot of low-end torque, a characteristic of most diesels, they are easier to drive in city conditions. Yes, there are issues that need to be tackled when choosing diesels, which similar-sized petrol engined cars don’t throw up. Issues like power delivery, refinement levels and, of course, emissions. But many of these are being addressed and bettered with every new generation of diesel engine technology. So, it is a telling statistic that across segments, often, it is the diesel-engine option that trumps over petrol as the preferred choice. That is if the diesel engine option exists.
T
The Altis goes diesel Toyota has had considerable success in India with its diesel-engined vehicles right from the days of the Qualis. The company has also been successful with the Corolla, despite the fact that the car was not offered with a diesel engine option. However, it has also suffered for want of a diesel in this premium family sedan, because there was always a latent demand for a diesel Corolla. Toyota recently plugged that gap in its portfolio by rolling out the new Corolla Altis Diesel. The new car is
nearly a clone of the existing petrol version in terms of its exterior design. The only changes that are visible are the new mesh design on the bonnet grille that has replaced the petrol version’s slatted look and the D-4D badge at the rear. Otherwise the two fuel versions are identical externally and premium features like the HID headlamps and LED turn indicators on the door mirrors have been carried forward. Similarly, the interior of the Corolla Altis Diesel is also a veritable carry forward from the petrol version. Except for some small feature changes, the rest of the passenger cabin has been retained as is. It continues to be one of the most simple, yet, pleasing interiors in the segment, though it lacks the bit of the oomph that the Civic has. Quality dashboard plastic and easy access to all the controls has been a Corolla trademark and it continues to be so in the new Altis Diesel too.
‘Gear’ing forward The only real change in the new model is in the engine and gearbox department. The Corolla Altis Diesel gets a new 1.4-litre common rail diesel engine and a six-speed manual transmission. The engine, which meets the Bharat Stage IV emission norms, is said to have been specially developed for the Indian market and is being debuted for the first time in any Asian country by Toyota. The EC-65 six-speed manual gearbox was possibly chosen to be teamed with this engine to offer two overdrive slots and might also help Toyota achieve lower average emissions levels.
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The engine sports the similar D-4D nomenclature as does the Innova. Slip into the Corolla Altis Diesel and crank the engine and the familiar, characteristic clatter of a diesel mill escapes out of the bonnet. But, that is only in the initial crank cycle, let the engine settle down and idle at a steady 800 rpm level and the rat-a-tat is negligible, making this one of the quietest diesels you’ll find in the segment. The 1,364cc engine is an in-line four-cylinder, eightvalve unit. Fuel injection is done directly via a highpressure common rail and it receives performance assistance with the addition of a variable nozzle turbocharger and an intercooler. This new engine is a compact unit and its weight differential with the petrol counterpart is less than 50 kgs. This engine pumps out a peak power of 88.4PS at 3,800 rpm, which is not too bad for a sedan that is just a shade over 1.5 tonnes when fully loaded. The most powerful diesel sedan in the size and price segment is the Chevrolet Cruze with a peak power of 150PS. In terms of sheer performance potential, the Corolla Altis Diesel does seem to shade in comparison, but it probably will be more practical under most driving conditions.
Test drive I start out and accelerate the Corolla Altis Diesel and find that power is not delivered in a hurry. There is a certain degree of ‘turbolag’ and there is an instant of delay as the charger spools up and the engine rpm level climbs. Once the rpm level crosses the 1,800 to 2,000 mark, the 1.4-litre
D-4D engine starts to come alive, slowly at first, and then it delivers ample power all the way up to about 4,000 rpm. The diesel engine is also adequately ‘torquey’ with a peak pulling power of 205Nm that is delivered all the way from as low as 1,800 rpm to about 2,800 rpm. The engine gets its performance boost from a variable nozzle turbocharger, which is designed to alter turbo assistance
essentially based on driver demands. After the initial sluggishness is dealt with a firmer stab on the throttle, torque availability improves and is delivered double quick. Basically, keep the engine on a boil in the 1,500 rpm to 2,500 rpm range and there is enough juice to extract and a linear surge in torque is on standby in every gear slot.
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Verdict Driving the Corolla Altis Diesel initially left me a bit disappointed. This is obviously not a performance diesel and apparently that is the message that Toyota wants to send to the car’s potential buyers too. There is no tearing performance to be had out of this diesel engine, but it will carry forward the Corolla pledge of being a refined, easy running and economical premium sedan. Though the suspension set up is the same as in the petrol version, Toyota engineers have tweaked the suspension a bit in the Corolla Altis Diesel to handle the marginal weight difference at the front. Some balancing would have also been needed due to the smaller, 50-litre fuel tank at the rear. There is no doubt that the new Corolla Altis Diesel will go on to fill a need gap. The statistics clearly show that sedan buyers increasingly prefer diesel over petrol. The share of diesels in the C-segment was 41 per cent till early last year, now it is close to 55 per cent. And the reason for this jump is the availability of new diesel-engined cars in the segment, which have just gone on to fulfill latent demand. A big chunk of these may be institutional buyers, but there are individual buyers too who will switch due to the pressure from the ever-increasing cost of running a petrol sedan. The Corolla’s design has always been conservative compared to competitors such as the Honda Civic. That equation didn’t change even after the Altis was launched. But what the Corolla has always done is to deliver on its promise of reliability, low running and maintenance costs, and value retention. Now, with the diesel engine, Toyota has just loaded the Corolla with arsenal that will help it take on the competition and win.
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MELANGE luxury redefined
Happy feet Mustard yellow, dark brown, red and forest green. The colour palette of Tod’s Autumn Winter collection for these classy pairs of men’s suede polacco boots with tonal laces and rubber soles is grabbing hearts…err.. feet! Check out its boutique at New Delhi and Mumbai. Price on request
The power of SIX And by that we mean, the sixth element in the periodic table – Carbon – that takes the shape of carbon fibre in Oakley C SIX pair of limited edition glasses. With ace design and technology and innovative features to its credit (that explains the small moolah on the tag), this one sure gets a high-six! Available at Collective, Ambience Mall, New Delhi. Rs 1,99,990
Lip addict Befitting potion
Flowery smells The pretty and fresh lil peony grabs the limelight in L’Occitane’s newest Paeonia range which includes a beauty milk, shower cream, soap and beauty powder, EDT roll-on and spray. Available at its stores in New Delhi. Rs 580 to Rs 2,795
Elixir! Azzaro’s latest brings in the scents of tonka bean, vanilla, benzoin, rockrose, bergamot, oak and some fruity and lemon notes into a black and amber gold container. This pour homme is spicy and seductive. Available at lifestyle stores. Rs 3,340 (100ml)
Holii Hai! It’s arm candy time again and Holii has some yummy ones to offer. From laptop bags to clutches, wallets to bags and belts too, the vibrant hues and paisley prints make sure you want to own at least one of them. Available at its exclusive store in Ambi Mall, New Delhi and select lifestyle stores. Rs 595 onwards
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For women who love to glam up with a good ’ol gloss, Colourbar’s Liquid Addiction vouches for a shiny pout and silky lipstick feel with jojoba oil and Vitamin E loaded for creamy lips. Head to its flagship store at New Delhi or other retail outlets and pick from its range of 10 shades. Rs 495
COLOUR centric
Streaming Sunshine Cheery yellow is the way to go if you want to add an element of zest and change to your homes, says LATIKA KHOSLA
mellow. Combined with buttery hues of corn, vanilla, almond and yolk, one can almost taste the textural crunch in this mix! Yellow, as a deep ochre, takes on an artisanal persona. It is worthy and honest, a reflection of craftsmanship and quality. Combined with materials such as brick, freshly waxed woods and olive greens of plant and fern, the combination predictably enhances relaxation and a return to home and hearth. The colour is striking when used with masses of turquoise and true berry violet; being split complementariness, they call attention to themselves. Typically used in sumptuous fabrics and drapes, they give rooms a sense of grandeur and exotica. Together the colours are rich and full, brimming over with plenitude. Metallic gold accents and a vivid yellow can be contextualised across time in numerous ways with fine examples across ceramic-ware like Good Earth’s collection patterned with attention grabbing frangipani and peacock in exotic brights of turquoise, fuchsia, cobalt and viridian. Cleverly interlaced with a yellow and subdued with a softened gold; it neutralises its more ostentatious effect, giving it a more clean and contemporary look. Occasional furniture is a great way to add colour ac-
I
n the disarray of the year gone by, mixed bags of hopes and fears have been delivered to our doorsteps. To make our homes a haven of peace and joy from within, the use of colour plays an important role. A colour that is provocative and interrogative to question the here and now, to upturn established predictable good taste! Symbolic of celestial light and earthly fire, yellow, the elixir of life, is the colour apt for home interiors this season. The hue has always been associated with joy, radiance and intellect. Its mineral associations are with a metal most treasured by humans - gold; and its abstract qualities lead us to creative paths.
In a yellow spot In homes, yellow is glowing and welcoming. It immediately takes us into its reassuring embrace. Think of the most rustic adobe lit by tallow candles that have softened the white plaster walls; it remains a dream rustic cottage, comforting and snug. Move from there to images of the most opulent palaces, maybe seen only in photographs; a luxurious golden glow has all the undertones of yellow. The colour only improves with age; even eroded and weathered, it gathers a patina of the past that speaks of its ancestry. Traditional combinations of yellow have always been
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cents. Chests and boxes bring with them stories of journeys made and secrets stored. Crossing cultures, yellow in Indo-China accents wends its way to the eclectic collector’s home. These accent pieces can fit into ethnic homes easily, but are also a talking point in a modern interior. Textile traditions capture the traditional colours of a culture in the most continuous narrative. At Mother Earth, the appeal is pulled from the past into the present with the inclusion of rearrangements of familiar geometric arrays in the quilted textile. The placement of the pieces is exciting and the colour clash is so unusual, yellow with purple and green; it is mesmerising.
Spelling optimism A colour conundrum, yellow is often quoted in language as yellow livered and bellied signifying a coward with clearly no appetite for the rough stuff. Strangely, being optimistic inherently implies being courageous in the face of odds. Effervescent and bubbly, cheerful spaces call out to us. Be it kids’ play areas, dining rooms where the family gathers or gyms and high-activity areas. The colour energises spaces with a positive and carefree get-up-and-go attitude. There is a lightness of spirit combined with gentle informality. Ideal combinations with an optimistic yellow to keep sprits flying are crisp blues and citrus sorbet pastels. Blue and yellow return very often in cycles as favourite colours. The classic primaries of cobalt and yellow are always in trend and look smart and graphic. Orange-lime and lemon create that citrus punch that is zesty and youthful. In a new twist, we are seeing yellow in kitschy combinations and a hip, poly-Asian twist with hot pink, emerald green and cerulean blue.
In small ways and big Yellow has been a favourite amongst the creative communities as it is the most compelling. Whether it is fine art, graphic design or advertising, the colour sits beautifully with cool neutrals and gets the message across. It is a shade that is very directional and singularly attentiongrabbing as it stands out against any background. Where interior design, today, is about occupying shells of a building and creating a transitory interior, this colour will bind the space together. The great thing about yellow is the proportions it can be used in – be it in product accents, nut bowls and vases or a lamp or in large portions like a bedspread and even one whole wall! The trick is to
keep yellow graphic and cerebral with charcoal black and white; or kinetic with strong greens and blue. At Freedom Tree, you find yellow that encapsulates a mood of graphic print design and appeals to masculine and feminine sensibilities. The forms on the vivid textile prints are liquid and organic, and the arrangements and scale of
design follow a simple formality. It is Pablo Picasso who said, “There are painters who transform the sun into a yellow spot, but there are others who, thanks to their art and intelligence, transform a yellow spot into the sun.” Better Interiors
TASTER’S choice
Sunny side up for Clos de los Siete
Photo: Bloomberg
John Mariani ordeaux vigneron Michel Rolland, consultant for more than 100 wineries in a dozen countries, is blamed by some for fostering the fashion for high-alcohol cult wines like those from California’s Harlan Estate and Staglin Family. Yet a recent tasting of Rolland’s seventh vintage of the Argentine wine Clos de los Siete shows he is able to make a 21st century-style red at the top of its class. And with the 2008 vintage, he does it for only $19 a bottle. Clos de los Siete is a blend of 56 per cent Malbec, 21 per cent Merlot, 11 per cent Syrah, 10 per cent Cabernet Sauvignon and 2 per cent Petit Verdot. It’s made in the Uco Valley south of Mendoza, Argentina’s top wine region, where Malbec is the principal finewine grape. Plenty of sun, high humidity and low rainfall coupled with sandy soil and clay provide ideal conditions for such varietals, and they come together in Clos de los Siete’s soft and velvety texture of the Merlot, intense fruit of the Syrah, mild tannins from the Cabernet, and ballast and spice of the late-ripening Petit Verdot. The blend may change in any vintage and the wines are neither fined nor filtered - processes used to remove solid residues. At 14.5 per cent alcohol, Clos de los Siete might bolster the characterisation of Rolland as an advocate of reds whose deliberately overripe fruit, high alcohol, and long aging in oak produce “fruit bombs” that win medals in competitions.
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Many critics, myself included, decry such wines as often being out of balance, headache-inducing and closer to Port than red wine.
‘Satan or Saviour’ A New York Times article on Rolland was titled ‘Satan or Savior: Setting the Grape Standard.’ In the 2004 documentary film ‘Mondovino,’ Rolland is shown advising clients to use a technique called micro-oxygenation that can help tame tannins and soften wines. “That movie is all crap!” Rolland bellowed in a phone interview. “In some European wineries micro-oxygenation is helpful, but you don’t need it in New World wines because there is so much sun to build up the sugars.” Rolland has six formidable partners in Argentina, including Rhone Valley vigneron Catherine Pere-Vigne and Benjamin de Rothschild, owner and chief executive officer of LCF Rothschild Group. With such resources he was able to switch traditional Argentine “parral” trellising and pruning methods to traditional systems used in Bordeaux. Drip irrigation keeps the vines “stressed,” to allow the bare minimum of water. Grapes are all handpicked, and the wines aged for 11 months, 70 per cent in new French oak, the rest in vat.
A winner? Of the property’s 850 hectares, 430 are currently planted. This year the output is a hefty 50,000 cases exported to 57 countries, with 30,000 going to the U.S. Rolland thinks
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1,00,000 cases is possible, noting “We will follow the market as to future production.” Rolland and his partners are aware they may have a big winner on their hands with Clos de los Siete, which means that consistency is key. “In many ways it is more difficult to make 50,000 cases than 10,000 because you have to take care of everything before blending,” he said. “With small production, a winemaker has the luxury of selecting from many parcels of grapes and wines; with big production, you have to get the best on a large scale right away. And with global export, the labels cannot have any variance or mistakes about what’s in the bottle.” Rolland chose Argentina because of its terroir, labour costs, and the open-mindedness of the New World. And he loves the sunshine, which builds up the sugars that convert into 14-plus per cent alcohol. “When you have that much sun, you don’t need or want to manipulate the wine to have more alcohol,” he said. “It’s the natural way of the fermentation.” Controversy may yet swirl around Rolland and his methods, but Clos de los Siete proves that he can make a serious red wine to rival cult wines 10 times the price. At least he can with 50,000 cases. When Clos de los Siete gets to 1,00,000 cases, things should get interesting. (The author writes on wine for Muse, the arts and leisure section of Bloomberg News. The opinions expressed are his own.)
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