Goliath Expedition

Goliath Expedition
Talk about a massive travel project. Well, it even has a name to match its scale: It's called the Goliath Expedition.
The Goliath Expedition is Karl Bushby's 36,000 mile gargantuan trek around the world. A monster, nay, Goliath effort to basically walk around the world. He began in the Chilean town of Punta Arenas, and started hoofing it through all of South America, Central and North America, then crossing from Alaska into Siberia using the frozen Arctic waters of the Chukchi Sea (north of the Bering Straits) as a land bridge (ah, land bridge...hasn't someone thought of that before???). He then heads across Europe through Siberia to Western Europe. Again, all on foot.

Pretty impressive. You can follow the whole exploit at Karl's site: the Goliath Expedition.

Google to bring GPS-based advertising to a vehicle near you

Google to bring GPS-based advertising to a vehicle near you
So targeted, it's freaky. Google, everybody's favorite search engine, and Google-owned dMarc Broadcasting, plan to use GPS to hook up Google AdWords customers with GPS-based in-car advertising. What does this mean, exactly? As Eric Schmidt, Google CEO described it, if he needs a pair of pants, not only will his radio remind him of that fact, but it will also instruct him to turn left at the strip mall 500 feet up ahead to visit the clothing store to buy new pants.

In addressing a luncheon of publishing execs, Schmidt wasn't clear on how exactly Google would accomplish this, but he did expect to be able to show the industry something in a year or two.

The Obelisk

The Obelisk
Part sculpture, part furniture, the Obelisk is an entire outdoor collection that stacks neatly up into one piece - unlike the vast majority of lawn furniture, which either must be left out or collected in an ungainly pile. Designed by Frank Ligthart, this modular stack appears to be a sculpture, hand woven from a synthetic fiber called Hularo. The stack deconstructs to reveal that it is comprised of four chairs and a coffee table. Available at JANUS et Cie, the Obelisk is $9,800.

Baby Brangelina's Domain

Baby Brangelina's Domain
Suddenly, keeping up with the Jones means more than it used to, especially when it comes to naming your kids. When I was born, for instance, my parents went with Anne because it was at the beginning of the name book. No longer can parents rely on such simple reasoning.

You've got Apple, Brooklyn, Paris, Hazel, and Dweezle. The explanation behind these weird celeb names is simple. All of the good domain names have been taken.

Take the spawn of Brangelina -- young Shiloh Nouvel Jolie-Pitt. Even before the little bundle of paparazzi-joy arrived, the happy parents had been busily laying claim to at least 17 domain names, each featuring a various configuration of the wee-Jolie-Pitt's already strange moniker.

Certainly, trends come and trends go. But until this trend flies south, you can just forget about the silver spoon from Tiffany's, and you can forget about the diamond encrusted pacifier from itsmybinky.com
If you want to keep up with the Jones, then the best gift you can buy that baby comes from GoDaddy.com.

Klimt Painting Sets Record

Klimt Painting Sets Record
Eclipsing the record set in 2004 by a Pablo Picasso painting, Gustav Klimt's Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I has sold for $135 million, the highest price ever paid for a painting. It was purchased by billionaire Ronald S. Lauder, the heir to the Estee Lauder fortune, and it will be displayed in his small, New York museum, the Neue Galerie. The painting was taken from the Bloch-Bauer's home in 1938 by Nazis and was sold by her niece, Maria Altmann, who has only had it since the beginning of this year, after looted artwork was returned to relatives of the original owners.

DirecTV Titanium

DirecTV Titanium
Our friends at HD Beat brought this brand new service from DirecTV to our attention. DirecTV Titanium gives you access to every single thing that DirecTV offers - including all their HD channels, sporting events, movies, pay-per-views and adult programs - for a flat fee. It is $7,500 per year and includes ten HD DVR receivers as well as 24 hour on-call concierge service.

The website doesn't say what the concierge service includes, but it's safe to say that it probably doesn't extend too far beyond troubleshooting, given that DirecTV isn't likely to start a chauffeuring service anytime soon.

Titanium will be released at the end of this month, June 28th, to "a select few" subscribers. Want to be one of them? Just fill out their online form and someone will contact you.