From the cult of mac:

Apple today opened the first of a series of stores planned for Paris. The first, located near the famous Louvre art museum, coincided with the release of the Musee du Louvre iPhone app showcasing among other exhibits, Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa.

The Paris store, first reported in 2008, includes a 7,700-square foot two-story layout with diamond-shaped windows.

Apple will quickly open a series of stores in France, including a location in Montpellier in the southern portion of the country. By the summer of 2010, the Cupertino, Calif. company hopes to open its third location in France, near the Garnier opera house.

Ron Johnson, an Apple retail senior vice president, said France could witness the fastest growth of the company’s chain of stores.

Following Sarkozy’s horribly embarrassing nepotistic naming of his 23 year-old son to the powerful political post inside EPAD, the reactions are numerous. Many college students are requesting to be adopted by Nicolas Sarkozy so they’ll have a better chance at “finding” a good job; people are outraged, defenders are insisting little Sarkozy got elected! Whatever. WHY do you think he was elected? A few words: HIS DAD’S URGING. Duh,people.

Anyway, this one’s my fave. It’s a hilarious spot advertising a fake iPhone app called, “L’application Jean Sarkozy pour L’iPhone.” You don’t need to speak French to understand what that’s all about.

From macgamesandmore:

With the 30,000 (give or take 10 to 20 thousand) iphone apps available at the Apple iTunes store, including free, paid and game apps, it can feel no less than overwhelming looking for quality apps. How do you find the needle in a hay stack? Millions of others like you and I browsing the app store feel this pain. The bad side to this is that there are too many poor applications and duplicates, triplicates and quadruplacates (if that’s a word). The good side to having a prodigious amount of apps is that within this sea of apps a significant number of them are really excellent. Yay. Of course, the problem of trying to locate those apps remains pretty elusive. This is why I’m only going to feature apps that stand out of the crowd.

Since apps haven’t really been on my radar, many of the great ones surely slipped by me but I serendipitously stumbled upon this ingenious Paris Metro iPhone App. Seriously, the developers of this one are Gods.

The Paris Metro iPhone App is a must-have app for residents of and tourists traveling in Paris. Forget the clunky paper maps and GPS with a battery life of about 3 minutes. You’ll only need your trusty iPhone 3G because this app takes full advantage of the augmented reality features.

Watch the youtube video of the demonstration (click on the image). It explains how it works. Note: It’s in French but the visual is self-explanatory.

The Paris Metro iPhone App is 99 cents at the iTunes store. Get it now.

Some people come to Paris to take photos of the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, Notre Dame and The Arc de Triomphe, but I come here to take photos of game references. I’m strange that way. I love this “Leave us alone!” from the game, Bubble Bobble. If you’re wondering (I know you are!), this one’s at the corner of rue du Temple and rue Rambuteau.

Space Invaders bonus seen in Paris, Canal Saint Martin yesterday. Game is not over.

If you happen to be wondering who are the famous French Twitterers or Tweeters or Twits…you get what I mean – just take a look at this subjective metro-ish map by Henri Michel. Click on the map to enlarge it.

There are few things more fun than wandering around toy stores in France to see what they have here that they don’t have in the U.S. In most cases, however, I find few original French games; I suppose it’s much easier to sell games that are translated rather than creating new ones, but that is okay, and even fun, too. Here’s the ever popular board game, “Operation.” Remember that one? I do. I love what the French called it: “Docteur Maboul.” Docteur Maboul means Doctor Crazy (and crazy doctor). It’s not funny but it cracks me up for some stupid reason.

From the telegraph:

“Anybody entering the word “Eu” in a search engine is likely to get a number of results, but most will be a reference to the past participle of the French verb avoir (to have), not to the pretty market town in Normandy.

The search also brings up pages related to the European Union.

Accordingly, the small town, which boasts a number of attractions, including an impressive château and gardens, is being bypassed.

Marie-Françoise Gaouyer, the local mayor, now has two options – to pay internet giants like Yahoo and Google thousands to put the town at the top of all “Eu” searches, or change the town’s name.

“The second option appears the most sensible,” said Mrs Gaouyer, adding: “As far as the internet is concerned, we have to bring ourselves up to date.” Mrs Gaouyer’s favoured option is Ville d’Eu (Town of Eu), with other possibilities including Eu-le-Château and Eu-en-Normandie.

The mayor, who believes tourism revenues are down by as much as a third because of the town’s current name, now wants all of the alternatives put to the local population of some 8000 in a referendum.

There is likely to be opposition from traditionalists in Eu, who point to a proud history which has seen visitors to the town include Joan of Arc and William the Conqueror.

If a name change is agreed, it will take some five years to become legal, following a Parliamentary Act and government approval.” [link]

From appletell:

“Apple is extending its European reach by confirming the opening of two retail stores in France. One of these we’ve known about for a while, and will be situated in Paris. The other is more of a surprise, as Apple has chosen Montepellier, found on the south coast, as its second store location according to ifoAppleStore.

It is expected that both of these stores will be open at some point over the summer. Whichever is the first one with its doors open will be the first Apple store in France.” [source]

A game! Find the famous landmark on the map and click on it to get as close to is as possible for the maximum amount of points. Do you know where the Pompidou Center is (aka Le Beaubourg)?

Play now

tags: france, french, landmarks, where on earth

Following the unexpected and disappointing news that beginning 2010 Apple will no longer exhibit at Macworld, which is THE premiere expo for all mac users who’ve been making a yearly pilgrimage to San Francisco since the 80s – show organizers for the Apple Expo Paris announced they’ve cancelled the 2009 event.

The latter news is less of a blow than the former but at least there are more and more Apple stores to get your fix for all things Apple. Of course, no more yearly rumors, gossip and speculation of new products and the end of anticipated keynotes from Steve Jobs, will forever change the lives of Mac geeks worldwide…

Related: Paris Apple Expo Good For Apples, Paris Apple Expo

tags: france, paris apple expo, apple, macworld, steve jobs

Make your everyday objects interactive, smart and communicative with Le Mir:ror. Simply affix RFID Ztamps to them and show them to Mir:ror. Mir:ror is now available in Europe for 45.00 €. Get it here.

tags: france, french, mirror, nabaztag

Remember Nabaztag, the communicating wifi bunny? The same French company, Violet, is getting ready to launch another very fun new gadget called, “le Mir:ror.”

With Nabaztag, they achieved what they sought out to achieve, which was to create “internet objects,” in this case, rabbits, that could let you know a variety of things with gestures, sounds and light patterns. They also enabled the rabbits to communicate with each other. Their next goal involves le mir:or, which connects everything else….

Related: Video of Le mir:ror, Violet, Nabaztag, the WiFi Bunny Opera

tags: france, le mir:or, french, nabaztag

From arstechnica:

“French iPhone carrier Orange is offering a killer deal on the iPhone 3G for le Noël, according to a sales flyer turned up by AppleInsider. With a contract, buyers can walk away with a new iPhone for just €99 for an 8GB model, and, according to MacBidouille, Orange is offering the 16GB model for just €129.

Though it is unknown why Orange is offering such a sweet deal on the iPhone, O2 and T-mobile did offer steep discounts on previous-gen iPhones leading up to the launch of the 3G. Whatever the reason—higher than expected inventory, l’esprit du Noël—surely French customers are happy for the deal.” [source]

Related articles

tags: france, french, iphone, apple

From torentfreak:

“Edging ever closer to becoming law, France’s “three-strikes” proposals have received support in the French Senate which voted overwhelmingly in favor for these draconian measures to deal with piracy. Now, a new report suggests that online piracy has become something of a ‘national sport’ in France.

The online file-sharing debate is really heating up in France. Contrary to advice from the European Court of Justice, France is pressing ahead with its plan for a controversial “3 strikes” or “graduated response” framework to deal with alleged file-sharers. Now, supported by a Le Figaro headline, “Piracy Has Become a National Sport in France”, a new study from market research company TNS Sofres is set to add fuel to the fire.

According to the poll of 2,011 people over 15 years old, the French use a diverse range of digital media to store or play pirated content. Of those questioned, 34% said their media players contained pirated files, with 20% admitting they go as far as using external hard drives to store illicit content. The USB storage key was used by 8% of respondents to shift illegal content, with 7% admitting to using mutimedia-capable cellphones.

Although the piracy ‘problem’ seems to be massive in France, it is certainly not limited to that one country. Just over the English Channel from France lies the UK, where an estimated 6 million people engage in online piracy – roughly 10% of the population. Across the pond, in the United States, a 2007 study found that 18 percent of the total US online population downloaded at least 1 movie from the Internet, illegally.

The French survey shows that the ‘problem’ is not limited to the younger generation, as is often assumed – it affects the entire population. The report further suggests that the actual numbers might be much greater than reported, but with news of draconian measures to deal with online piracy making headlines regularly, just how many people are prepared to be honest about their piracy habits?” [source]

tags: france, french, piracy, internet

From billboard.biz:

“France’s second largest mobile operator SFR has announced the launch of a DRM-free all-you-can-eat download service from Nov. 19.

The catalog is limited to a few thousands hits exclusively from the Universal Music Group catalog. Subscribers will have unlimited access to only one of three genres (Rap/R&B, Pop/Rock, Clubbing/Electro) in AAC format on their mobile and in MP3 on their computer, without any restriction on transferring music to devices, according to SFR.

There are no plans to enable users to access the whole Universal catalog on the service. “[This offer] is a way for us to see how consumers react to DRM-free offers,” explains a spokeswoman at SFR. “We are not giving away Universal’s catalog.”

The offer is part of three SFR mobile subscription plans, which range from €22.90 ($29.16) to €56.90 ($72.47) per month. It is limited offer to 60,000 users overall.

SFR and Universal are launching this service in the context of the “Creation and Internet” law debates, which started on Oct. 29 at the French Senate.

The draft law is largely inspired by the conclusions of a commission led at the end of 2007, which proposed a three-strikes system that would cut off copyright infringers. There were also obligations for the industry, as the commission recommended that the industry remove DRM and interoperability barriers.

In Nov. 2007, SFR had launched an all-you-can-eat permanent music download service featuring DRM.” [source]

tags: france, french, sfr, unlimited+mp3+downloads

Monsieur le président must be a money magnet because the same publishers (Pascal Petiot Editions) of the famous Sarkozy Voodoo Doll is ready to release a book of games based on the presidential couple, and their history. In this book of games you’ll find puzzles and games filled with funny and playful references and anecdotes of Nicolas and Carla, etal. I bet you can’t wait to get your hands on this, can you? You’ll have to wait ’til next Monday. It’ll be available on November 6 for 8.5 euros.

[source]

tags: france, french, sarkozy voodoo doll, Pascal Petiot Editions, cahier de jeux de Nicolas et Carla, carla bruni

From engadgethd:

“Apparently all that’s necessary to get a lagging country to hop on the high-def bandwagon is to talk bad about ‘em, or at least that’s the case here with France. After we heard that the nation wasn’t exactly rushing out to adopt HD, in comes word that four major French channels will soon be available in high-definition on digital terrestrial TV (DTT). TF1 HD, France 2 HD, M6 HD and Arte HD will all begin broadcasting OTA in HD on October 30th, and while all of these are already available on other platforms, we can only imagine that beaming ‘em out gratis will greatly increase HD awareness. Any other nations want to follow suit? Oh, and France, way to be a role model out there.” [source]

tags: france, french, television, hd

And to think that we JUST got broadband last week. I’m not kidding. The 2nd to get WIMAX installed in our region – but it’s not actually available to the public yet. Anyway. Back to Alsace. They’ll be the first to switch off their analog tv but all of France is scheduled to do the same. I bet our region will be LAST. Better late than never, I suppose.

From: broadbandtvnews:

“The Alsace region of France will be the first to see analogue television switch-off in late 2009, according to Eric Besson, the country’s secretary of state for development of the digital economy. Before the complete switchover, there will be three small-scale changeovers.

These three pilot changeovers are scheduled to take place in Coulommiers at the end of this year, in Kaysersberg, Alsace, in the second quarter 2009 and in the region of Cherbourg. The pilots will affect approximately 100,000 people and are meant to monitor any problems in the process.

After Alsace, analogue broadcasting will stop in Lorraine, Champagne-Ardenne and Franche – Comté. Also, in 2010 changeover will take place in the west of France, specifically in the regions of Brittany, Pays de la Loire and Basse-Normandie.

The majority of the freed-up spectrum will be allocated to “the services of the future of the audiovisual world,” said Eric Besson, especially for DTT-HD and mobile TV.

The French government plans the creation of a total of 11 multiplexes, with a coverage of 95% of the population, and two networks dedicated to personal mobile services reaching a potential 70% of the population. There will be room for 66 DTT channels.

The plan also assigns the entire band Band III (174-233 MHz), which will be released in late 2010 to digital radio.

At the end of July, about 57.8% of households were equipped for the reception of digital TV, with at least one receiver and 29.9% of homes completely dependent on digital.” [source]

tags: france, french, digital tv

The people over at gizmodo find the new cable box, “le cube” a lot more “stylishly French” than I think it is… I don’t find it stylish nor particularly French, except for the fact that it’s in France. I WANT to like it, but it’s not working for me. Anyway. More about it below.

From gizmodo:

“French cable provide Canal+ teamed up with touted OLPC and Jawbone designer Yves Behar to produce “Le Cube,” their new, ultra-stylish HD cable box with DVR and video on demand functions. Looking like a Wii all dressed up for a formal event, Le Cube blends simple geometry with simple colors to create something that’s visually striking.

But looks aside, this thing puts all of its interactive electronics and LED display into the black square portion of the box, leaving the rest relatively unscathed. It even comes with a remote control that matches the black and white motif. Call me crazy, but I wouldn’t mind moving to France just to have this in my living room. Le Cube will be available for Canal+ subscribers around November 4.” [source]

tags: france, french, cable box, canal plus, olpc, jawbone, le cube, yves behar

Upon first glance, this seems to be a ridiculous attempt to grab attention, but that’s clearly not the case here.

While those seeking a life changing epiphany take pilgrimages to Lourdes, Santiago de Compostela, Mecca, and beyond, Hadrian Rabouin, an 18 year old Breton (guy from Bretagne), has something else in mind and decided that what he needed, was to walk a 1200 kilometer (745 miles) circuit in France with his cow named Camomile, a one and half year old Charolais heifer.

With organic farmers for parents, Hadrien grew up deeply engrained in toxic-free nature, and amidst the mindset of respecting his environment. The goal of his long walk is to discover and catalog plants that have been long forgotten. He plans to learn and live off the land whenever possible, and to meet whomever falls in his path for four months, walking approximately 20 kilometers per day, which is dependent on how Camomile feels, of course. He hopes this experience will give him a better perspective on where his life is going.

He didn’t want to bring any money but his mother insisted he at least bring a credit card and phone home now and again. His parents are comforted a little that he has a companion, albeit a cow for a companion. Reluctantly, he brought a credit card as well as 20 euros, which he apparently hasn’t needed because people along the way so far have given him money and food. He began his so-called pilgrimage on August 1 so he should be about half way through his circuit right about now and finishing in December.

Who knows, maybe this is the start of a new travel trend…

Kidding.

Watch a video of the story

tags: france, french, french guy traveling with a cow, pilgrimage, breton, charolais, cow

From macworld:

“Network operator Orange will rate the environmental impact of the fixed-line and mobile phones it sells, it said Friday.

In France mobile phones—and most other electrical and electronic goods—are already subject to a special tax called “eco-participation,” intended to fund recycling of the products at the end of their lives. Although the current eco-tax on mobile phones differs from that for, say, photocopiers, it’s the same for all models of phone, and at just €0.01 (US$.01), is nowhere near enough to influence customers to choose more environmentally friendly products.”

tags: france, french, orange, iphone, environmental impact of cell phones

From gizmodo:

“One of the croissant-snarfing editors at Gizmodo France passed along this article that alleges the Mac Pro gives off toxic vapors. Translating from the language of lose to the language of guns, soccer moms and hot dogs results in a bit of discombobulation, but the gist is that a CNRS lab researcher got a Mac Pro, and after his eyes and respiratory tract were repeatedly agitated by a “stench,” decided to break down the noxious vapor coming off the Mac Pro. They found “seven volatile organic contaminants.” Though the worst they do inhaled is cause skin, eye and respiratory irritation—ingested is another story—benzene is the most troublesome, since inhaling it eight hours a day over could affect one’s bone marrow. Apple’s response?

The researcher says that after first alerting Apple to the issue, “I got the same answer each time, our skate launcher warning: ‘Our engineers are working on the problem.’” (I’m assuming “skate launcher” is a Google Translate cock-up. Giz France editor says “Skate Launcher warning = the guy from the CNRS lab who tried to warn Apple.”) Since publishing the report, Apple has promised “to resolve the problem in eight days.”

I wouldn’t chuck your Mac Pro out the window yet, but if you’re particularly digging that new car smell, I’d probably cut back on huffing it, until this is sorted out.”

tags: france, mac pro, apple, toxic computers

Tired of shlepping your guide books around Paris? If you have an iPhone, you might want look into Frommer’s Paris Guide, which fits nicely on your favorite mobile phone from Apple. This is basically the hard copy guide book, but in a digital and more convenient format.

While we’re on the subject of i-things, Apple is rumored to be announcing new iPods next Tuesday, September 9, so keep an eye out for that. By the way, iPod Touches are basically iPhones without the phone (but with internet), so most (if not all) iPhone apps should be able to work on these.

Frommer’s Paris iPhone App (You must have iTunes installed on your Mac or PC to view this)

tags: france, paris travel, travel guides, frommers, iphone apps

Here’s a new, ultra-handy, free dashboard widget for Mac users who speak and write French. It’s a French dictionary that is much easier to use than the tangible leaf through (with your actual hands!) version, as well as even an online dictionary. Install and off you go. Just hit F12 to access your dashboard and your dictionary will be waiting for you. Download it here. If you use it often, please consider donating to the developer.

tags: france, french, widget, dictionary, dictionnaire, dashboard, mac

From electronista:

“French cellphone carrier Orange has admitted to imposing artificial limits on its 3G broadband network, reports say. The confession comes after complaints from a number of iPhone 3G owners, who in testing their download capacity discovered that they were limited to a maximum of 400Kbps, as compared to the 1.8Mbps possible on T-Mobile’s German network.

Most 3G networks are limited to a peak speed of 3.2Mbps, although some may support 7.2Mbps. Some upset Orange subscribers have been able to get their speeds raised by technicians, who have altered individual accounts to push speeds as high as 3Mbps. Customers have further alleged that the cap may be a violation of Orange’s service agreements, and a petition for proper 3G access has been formed online.

An Orange representative contacted by FranceInfo has stated that the cap is actually pegged at 384Kbps, and applies not just to iPhones but all devices on its 3G network. The limit was aimed at “preserving the stability of the network,” according to the representative, but Orange has since decided it will raise download speeds slightly; by September 15th, the cap should be 1Mbps.”

tags: france, iphone, 3g, 3g network speed, orange is evil

I haven’t given up on my attempts to support indie game and software developers, particularly those in France, so I’m featuring a small, time waster of the day called, “Hog Pop,” just released by Jean-Philippe Sarda, the same guy who brought you that fun yet infuriating Parallel Parking game.

With Hog Pop, your mission is to pop a required number of bubbles, but I haven’t seen any hogs yet.

Pop now!

More games:

How well do you know your world?
Cities Game
How Well Do You Know the World Map?
Ouverture Facile
Jeu chiant
L’expresso empoisonné
Run n Roll
Recyle
The Museum
Parallel Parking Game
Ladybugs
Boulangerie the Game
Solitaire

tags: france, games, hog pop, independent game developers, french, Jean-Philippe Sarda

A couple of days ago Apple yanked one of the listed iPhone apps from the iTunes store. The app with a $1000 price tag (actually $999.99), brilliant in my opinion and funny to boot, displays an image of a glowing red ruby that would always remind you (and others when you show it to them) that you are rich enough to afford it. That’s all it does. I’m serious.

The kooky thing is: EIGHT people bought it! Really. So the German developer, Armin Heinrich worked for approximately one hour to churn out this app and voila, he made over 5,000 bucks. ($8,000 minus Apple’s commission) And according to the LAtimes, the buyers were 6 Americans, 1 German and 1 French person. (or someone living in France). Did they think they were getting an actual ruby? Or do you think they just wanted it and could kick around a thousand bucks just like that? Did they show it to other people? Are they proud of it?

tags: france, i am rich, iphone applications, ruby, insane

By now, you’ve probably heard about a correlation between cell phone use and cancer. But geez, you can’t listen to those things because you absolutely love your cell phone. Who doesn’t? You were so freakin’ relieved to find out that those popcorn popping celphones were a hoax. Don’t lie. This love you have for your cute electronic companion has conveniently ousted from your head any negative publicity your mobile beloved has received. You really want to ignore them! Here’s you, “cell phones are dangerous??? NAH….. Don’t be silly! Cancer? Pfff. That is ridiculous. I use mine all the time and I’m fine!”

Do you say that because you don’t WANT it to be true? You can want all you like but just because you don’t want it to be true doesn’t mean it isn’t true.

No one WANTED cigarettes to be the leading cause of death, cancer, heart disease and lung disease (among other things), did they? Many cigarettes smokers said, “they smoked all the time and they were fine!”

No one wanted to believe that the building material called asbestos would kill them. No one wanted to think that anything was wrong with their PVC window frames? Check your hospitals, do they have any PVC? Answer: No. “But the PVC pipes and windows were so cheap,” people say…

Hospitals also don’t allow cell phone use, or wifi for that matter. Do people wonder WHY? I wish they did.

The warnings have been around for a long time but it has been in French news more and more this year. I mean, you can’t let your peeps keep doing harmful things to their bodies, can you France?

French Health Minister Roselyne Bachelot-Narquin also went on France 2 TV and rehashed the well-worn theory connecting cell phone use with cancer.

In the U.S. neurosurgeons can’t admit that cell phones are dangerous and cause brain cancer, but they WILL admit that they NEVER put a cell phone up to their heads. Ever! What do BRAIN SURGEONS know, anyway!??!

Hang on. Aside from being rant-errific, I do have some useful information that might prompt you to reduce the amount of risk to which you subject yourself.

Both Europe and the U.S. have defined safety limits for exposure to radio frequency (RF) energy produced by mobile devices. The SAR (Specific Absorption Rate) or DAS (débit d’absorption spécifique) in France is a measure or index of the rate at which RF energy is absorbed by the body when exposed to radio-frequency electromagnetic field.

In the United States the FCC requires that phones sold have a SAR level at or below 1.6 watts per kilogram (W/kg) taken over a volume of 1 gram of tissue.

In the European Union, the SAR limit is 2 W/kg, averaged over ten grams of tissue. For whole body exposure there is a limit of 0.08 Watt/kg averaged over the whole body.

What you can do: Find out the index of your mobile phone then act accordingly. If it’s too high, get a different phone that is safer. Here’s a chart with a list of phones and their SARs.

As an example, the new 3G iPhone’s SAR (or indice DAS in French) is 1.388 W/kg. The first generation iPhone was 0.974 W/Kg. Other examples: Motorola Razr2 v9 is 0.52. The Samsung SLM is 0.48. As low as some of the phone’s indices are, neurosurgeons STILL won’t put them up to their heads!

What you can do: Like neurosurgeons, DON’T put the cellphone up to your head. Use speaker phone mode. Note: Bluetooth devices and unshielded wired-earphones amplify the signal. In other words, they radiate more, NOT less.

What you can do: Remember that the industries will ALWAYS deny the existence of any dangers. Not only that, they are responsible for those “counter” studies that come out after researchers warn about the dangers of a product. Scientific studies have been suppressed by the cell phone industry and the government to protect their profits. Do not buy that game.

What you can do: Reduce your cell phone use to a bare minimum. Keep conversations short.

What you can do: Don’t let kids use the phone at all if possible. If they must, not for more than a minute at a time. Ideally, they should never use them or use them only for emergency situations.

What you can do: Turn your cell phone off when it isn’t needed and especially when you are driving your car. When driving with your cell phone on, the waves ricochet inside the car because cars are metallic, creating a Faraday Cage.

What you can do: When possible, keep the cell phone as far away from your body as much as possible.

Links: SAR, Get Little Kids Away from the iPhone and iPod Touch, Cell Phone Dangers Revealed, Patents Prove Cell Phone Dangers from Wired, Hidden Dangers of Cell Phone Radiation, Chemical and Cell Phones, Harmful Effects of Cell Phones, Hazards of the Wireless Age, Reduce Risks, Mobile Phones more dangerous than smoking

france, How to Reduce Your Cell Phone Risks, cell phones and cancer, SAR, Indice DAS

The new iPhone 3Gs were sold out within hours of its availability here in France the other day. Oh well. You waited too long, and didn’t get one? Maybe you can get one of these new, plastic disposable Bic cel phones instead. They’re really ugly, they radiate a lot of un-heathy microwaves and they’re very hazardous to the environment because they end up piling up in the landfills eventually leaching BPAs, dioxins and other carcinogens into the land, air and water. I bet you really want one now.

Bic (yes, the same people who brought you all those hideous plastic florescent lighters and pens that leaked into your backpack and pockets) has teamed up with Orange – to launch the sale of these wonderful mobile phones on August 7. The phone will cost €49 (about $80).

tags: france iphone disposable celphones global warming horrible inventions bic

Tonight, the City of Santa Monica in California will launch an interactive light installation / art festival called, “Glow” and the pier and beach will literally glow all night long. Think of it as an all night psychedelic light party with media art, performances, music and sculpture installations. I couldn’t help writing about my old socal stomping grounds.

This is the first ever event of its kind for the U.S., but the idea isn’t new. They’ve borrowed the idea from the annual Paris Nuit Blanche (White Night), which is the night Paris stays awake till wee hours of the morning, and millions of people attend this artistic block party of sorts. (By the way, this year the Paris Nuit Blanche takes place on October 4 and 5, 2008.)

Glow takes place tonight 7pm until Sunday 7am.

Here’s a description from the site:

“Glow will fill the hours between dusk to dawn with compelling, enchanting and effervescent sights and sounds situated in spaces and times that expand possibilities for where, how and when the public experiences contemporary art.
With the historic Santa Monica Pier and adjacent world-famous Santa Monica Beach as their space, artists were commissioned to create unique and inviting works of art that welcome the public to be both audience and actor for twelve celebratory hours. Inspired by the wildly successful Nuit Blanche in Paris, Glow takes its spirit from the fabled grunion that live in local waters and come ashore several times a year to spawn in the sand creating a momentary sensation of iridescence.”

Glow
July 19, 2008
7pm to 7am
Free to the public
WHERE:
The “GLOW” Zone, Santa Monica, CA (Ocean Avenue between Colorado and Santa Monica Blvd), Carousel and Ferris Wheel at Santa Monica Pier, Ferris Wheel at Pacific Park, Palisades Park (at entrance to Pier on Ocean Avenue), Muscle Beach, in front of Loews Hotel at Appian Way.
Website: Glow (for current up-to-the-minute calendars, parking information, maps and schedules)

tags: santa monica travel glow nuit blanche

The new iPhone 3G will be available for purchase in Orange stores across France beginning July 11. It’s thinner, faster, has a built-in GPS, among other features – and of course is probably a lot more expensive in France than in the U.S. (I can’t seem to find pricing, though.)

More information Apple (English), Apple (French)

tags: france iphone 3g apple

Kewl. An Apple Store near the Louvre!

From MacworldUK:

“Apple plans to open its first retail store in France just near to the world-famous Louvre art gallery in Paris.

A report from leading French newspaper, La Tribune, explains Apple’s application for the store – to be situated under the pyramid in front of the Louvre’s grand entrance – has been approved.

Apple will build a two-story, 715 square metre store in space previously occupied by two shops.

On this, IFO AppleStore explains the store, “will host nine million visitors a year, of which at least 40 per cent are tourists.”

An Apple spokesperson said: “We are thrilled that our opening project of an Apple Store in the Carrousel du Louvre has been approved.”

Links: Apple Computer Stores in France, Apple Store in Paris, Apple Gets Green Light, Tribune

tags: france travel apple store louvre apple louvre

From applegazette:

“Apple announced today that television programming is finally coming to iTunes France. Top French networks like TF1, France Télévisions, Arte, Mediatoon’s Dargaud TV and Dupuis TV and US shows from The Walt Disney Company and MTV Networks are all available in the iTunes Store in France now.

Apple, again, shows us that they are moving to the variable price model. Television shows are priced at €1.49, €1.99 and €2.49 per episode.”

From wired:

“So you’ve decided to leave the comfort of your nerd-friendly lair and head out to explore the larger world. Perhaps a conference in Bangkok beckons, or maybe a Linux gathering in Europe. Even a trip with the family to some deserted isle?

Whatever the case, no self respecting geek goes globetrotting without preparation, research and a serious stash of appropriate gadgets. To save you from having to scour the net, here’s Wired’s guide to mastering the art of high tech travel.

Inspector Gadget

Here’s the first question: what gear should you bring? Furthermore, how do you keep it powered up and safe from harm and/or theft?

For full details on what you need to make sure all your gadgets have plenty (and the right kind) of electricity, check out our Stay Plugged In While Traveling guide. Once you have your power adapters in order, it’s worth asking which devices you should bring and which ones you can get by without.

Laptops

The laptop is tempting, and in many cases a must-have, especially if your destination is a conference or meet-up. But if you’re just traveling for pleasure, a good internet cafe is all you need. Going “topless” also spares you the added weight and hassle of lugging a computer around.

If you do have to bring your beloved portable, PACK A CABLE LOCK. This gives quite a piece of mind if you want to leave your hotel room for a dinner without having to worry that your hardware is gonna be missing when you get back.

The availability of internet cafes abroad varies, but generally speaking, they are not hard to come by unless you get well off the beaten tourist path. Do some searching and see what those who have already been to where you are going have found.

Tip: Mac users take note, you will almost always find Windows PCs in internet cafes.

Tip: A number of internet cafes have started banning USB sticks, which ruins your ability to Carry Your Desktop Anywhere with Portable Apps. The practice isn’t widespread enough to preclude carrying a USB stick, but you may encounter a few spots where your thumb drive is frowned upon. On the plus side, more and more have Firefox installed.

Tip: Bring a USB stick that is…”

Read more

From slashdot:

“Google has begun to scan the streets of Paris as part of its Street View service, but the company may be hindered from publishing them unedited. The reason? French privacy laws. Google may be forced to blur faces or use low-resolution versions of the photographs. The Embassy of France in the U.S. has a page devoted to French privacy laws, that says the laws are needed to ‘avoid infringing the individual’s right to privacy and right to his or her picture (photograph or drawing), both of them rights of personality.”

From yahoo:

“The French government will “suspend” the use of new software for recording the personal habits and affiliations of its citizens in a police database, following an outcry by civil rights groups.

But Synergie-Officiers supported storage of information about the race and religion of suspects and victims. In France some violent crimes attract tougher sentences if motivated by racial or religious hatred, and the union warned that if campaign groups want such hate crimes pursued more vigorously, then police need a way to identify the relevant information about attackers and victims during investigations.”

Tags: france, big+brother, privacy+threatened, software, civil+liberties

Jumping on the e-reading bandwagon like Kindle (except without a keyboard), Orange and partners Le Monde, Le Parisien, Les Echos, L’Equipe and Télérama are joining together to offer a wireless, touch screen mobile e-newspaper reader that resembles a flat, black Etch a Sketch (sans knobs). They are still testing the product.

The Read&Go has a storage capacity of 1 Gb – more than 200 newspapers – and also contains a e-library of thirty or so books (literature, comic strips, children’s and practical publications, etc.) provided by Feedbooks, Médiatoon (Dargaud, Dupuis, Lombard et Kana) and Mango editions.

I’m still waiting for an e-reader for my Nintendo DS. I’d use that!

More info here (pdf)

[via]

Tags: france, orange, e-reader, kindle, newspapers, wifi, touchscreen

Lumiere Technology digitized the Mona Lisa and describes the process.

Watch the video

Tags: paris, france, mona+lisa, louvre, art, videos, digitzing

From electronista:

“France-based Carrefour Group will launch a movie download service, the world’s second biggest retailer announced at the PEVE Digital Entertainment conference in Paris on Friday. The service will allow customers to buy movies or rent movies and rent TV programs. The Group already operates supermarkets, grocery stores and convenience stores that carry DVDs in Europe, and wants to expand its focus on entertainment, bringing it closer to customers.
Carrefour’s international non-food chief, Christophe Geoffroy, said the shopping experience would be simple and fast, with downloads taking about 3 minutes, suggesting a possible streaming experience. He went on to say video-on-demand market in Europe isn’t great, but is expected to grow. Some analysts predict Europe’s movie download market will be worth over about 690 Euros (over $1 billion) by 2011.

Carrefour isn’t the only or the first major retailer to seize the opportunity, as earlier this week, British retailer and grocer Tesco opened its own music and video site, with a larger focus on MP3 album and singles sales.

The group would continue to sell DVD videos at its current stores throughout France, Spain, Belgium and Italy, of which it has a 13.3% market share. Pricing for its downloads, nor a launch date, have yet been announced.”

From macnn:

“Apple is in discussions with Orange about lowering the cost of the French iPhone, Les Echos reports. The newspaper cites an inside source, who claims that Apple is putting pressure on Orange to change to a subsidized pricing model, under which the public would have to pay less for the device. At present Orange is charging at least €399 ($635), making not only for an expensive product, but one of the most costly versions of the iPhone in Europe. Apple is said to be disappointed with sales of the iPhone in France, which recently crossed the 100,000 threshold, and in Europe in general. This is likely one of the reasons for price cuts elsewhere, which have seen the 8GB iPhone fall to £169 in the UK, and just €99 in Germany. Apple may also be hoping to clear out inventory in advance of a 3G iPhone release this summer. Orange is said to be willing to go along with Apple’s plan, but negotiating for a better revenue-sharing agreement in order to compensate for lower profits on each iPhone sold.”

Tags: france, apple, orange, iphone

From gizmodo:

“Ouch, that payback, it can be a bitch — Sony BMG, distributors of rootkit-installing CDs and litigious foe of P2P users worldwide, has just been busted in France for using pirated software on its servers. And it gets even worse: Windows admin tool developer PointDev says a Sony BMG was caught when an IT staffer actually called up for support and gave a pirated license number to the phone tech. That’s some pretty shady behavior for a company that’s rammed anti-piracy measures down its own customers’ throats — too bad it’s probably not going to feel the hit of the €300,000 ($475,000) lawsuit nearly as hard as the college students it routinely sues for $5,000.”

What do you get when you take my preferred computer platform, Macintosh – and mix it up with Vietnamese cuisine, a postcard perfect medieval French village and friendly service? Answer: My new favorite restaurant/Mac store in Sarlat!

I’m not kidding. This is a Mac Store AND a Vietnamese restaurant; yes, all in the same place. (Not an official Apple store, but a reseller.) What could be a better combination?

The awesome collective power of Mac and Southeast Asian food beckoned us to give Ma Pomme Tao a try and now a mention because it was one of those awesome and unique finds when wandering around France. Actually, I probably wouldn’t have mentioned it if the food was bad, which it wasn’t. In fact, the food was exquisite.

Most of the restaurants in Sarlat cater to the tourist looking for regional specialties like cassoulet, confit de canard, foie gras and other heavy yet yummy dishes from the southwest, but the beauty of Ma Pomme Tao, is that if you are in Sarlat for more than a few days, once in a while you will need something different: say, a store that sells Macs and iPods, oh and meal-wise, something other than meat slowly cooked and drenched in goose fat. Ma Pomme Tao was the refreshing alternative and offers all that, even vegetarian dishes; what a concept! Seriously. Vegetarian dishes are hard to find here.

We couldn’t wrangle our entire party of 6 to the restaurant, so we had to order out. More points go to Ma Pomme Tao for having take out! Everything we ordered was really excellent even the xung-xa (jelly) desserts they offered us for free. (What we ate: Vegetarian nems, shrimp nems, bo-bun, beef lemon lemongrass salad, crispy noodles and vegetables, the luc-lac beef, 5 spice pork meatballs, beef sate skewers, shrimp wrapped around sugar cane.)

Highly recommended.

Ma Pomme Tao
37, avenue Thiers
24200 Sarlat-la-Canéda France
+33 5 53 59 71 88
*reservations are required*
email: tao-la-cantine@orange.fr (restaurant)
email: postmaster@ma-pomme-tao.com (store)

Related: hotels in sarlat

Oftentimes people will refer to their region’s department by a number, which totally perplexes me since I just have no idea what they’re talking about. I just don’t know them. Also there are numbers on license plates that indicate where the driver is from, so if you know which number represents their corresponding department, you’ll know where they’re from, for what that’s worth. (For now, at least. I heard they will be getting rid of these numbers on plates, so you won’t know where that driver is from.) With all of France’s regions, departments, numbers, etc., and there are a LOT to know (for a relatively small country), it might or might not help you to learn some of them. So if you’d like to get to know France more intimately, play this game. Here, you’ll get quizzed on French prefectures, regions and departments (by name, by number), and rivers. It’s hard! But, it can be helpful when reading the news about France and when someone, say at a party, tells you about 21. You can happily respond, “You’re from Cote d’Or? LOVE that department.” Or something to that effect.

Play a game or two at Geographix

According to paris addict, the very first Apple Store will be opening in the gallery of the carousel of the Louvre! This location currently houses the Virgin Mega Store, but I guess they’re outta there soon. Yay! Now you can easily find that new MacBook Air Apple just released. The ultra-thin MacBook you can fit into a manila folder.

An insanely ginormous THANK YOU to Martin, who heroically saved this blog from hell (aka a wacky evil bug in WordPress). You are the best, Martin!!

I’ve been doing the last minute shopping thing! I tried not to but, anyway. I thought I’d mention this GPS as a gift idea. We have an older model but LOVE this thing. We don’t get lost any more (and believe me, we’d get lost a LOT.)

Yay. You can use this nifty Tom Tom Go GPS in all the places you travel in the car (and walking around).

Get the traveler in your life a fun gadget, and they’ll never have to deal with unfolding maps (and having to refold those things!) again.

Tom Tom Go GPS

Some are calling Kindle an amazing reading device from Amazon, but others, like French Designer Philippe Starck, have some issues with its design. I hate to admit it (seeing that Philippe Starck designed this) but I don’t find this digital book reader a very pretty designed gadget either. Watch the video here.

More about Kindle

Why Travel to France is acting a little kooky and will continue to do a bit more of that today. I’m in the process of switching servers because I’m getting so much more traffic on the site than ever before. I’m not complaining. Thanks, visitors!

While I’m in geek mode, if you are looking for a great company that can host your server, I highly recommend Liquid Web. They are simply the best. Excellent and highly skilled customer service 24/7 – 365 days a year. That includes being open at 3am on Christmas! If you ever have any problems, they are on it right away. (Do you think you can find a French server company open on the weekends, let alone on Christmas? Answer: NO.)

Liquid Web
4210 S Creyts Road
Lansing, MI
48917-9526, U.S.A.

Here’s a video with our favorite aerial photographer giving a shout out to Google Earth. (He takes some funky farm animal photos too.)

Download it and you can view 500 photos from environmentalist and French photographer and Yann Arthus-Bertrand as a layer in Google Earth.

Video – The Earth from Above (Google Earth)

[via]

Don’t miss today’s special one-day shopping event, Friday, November 30th.* Go to the Apple Online Store for a special one-day-only holiday shopping event. You’ll find lots of iPod, iPhone, and Mac gift ideas.

Go Shopping

*Shopping event is available only at the Apple Online Store on Friday, November 30, 2007, from 12:01 a.m. to 11:59 p.m. GMT and at Apple Retail Stores. Check your local Apple Retail Store for special hours. Sale prices are available while supplies last.

From AFP:

“The Apple iPhone handset, incorporating mobile phone, multimedia access and music functions, was to go on sale in France with a promotional blitz late on Wednesday, following European launches in Britain and Germany.

Apple hopes that global sales from the initial launch in the United States in June to the end of next year will total 10 million units.

Orange, the mobile phone and Internet arm of France Telecom has obtained exclusive rights to sell the so-called “smartphone” in France. It said on Wednesday that the headline launch price would be 749 euros (1,112 dollars)* when the device first goes on sale late on Wednesday through 12 outlets before a full launch on Thursday.

Orange says that more than 50,000 people in France have already placed orders for the iPhone, which comes with a base cost of 649 euros plus a charge of 100 euros for access to other mobile phone networks.

Existing customers of Orange who do not want wider access will be able to buy the device for 549 euros ($815), or for 399 euros ($592) with a user subscription through Orange.

However, the phone is already on sale at lower prices via several French Internet sites despite the threat of legal action by Orange.

The iPhone was first launched in the United States on June 29, with three-month sales running at 1.4 million units.”

*NOTE: The original article in AFP states that 749 euros equals 505 dollars, but the real conversion is $1,112.

Fun game. You’ll be prompted to find and click on countries, world capitals, cities, famous landmarks – and it’ll tell you how far you were from the actual place. I think my good friend’s 3 year old is better at this game than I am. Oops. Well. I know where France is! And L.A. Sort of.

Play Now

Related: More games:

Cities Game
How Well Do You Know the World Map?
Ouverture Facile
Jeu chiant
L’expresso empoisonné
Run n Roll
Recyle
The Museum
Parallel Parking Game
Ladybugs
Boulangerie the Game
Solitaire

Paris-based developers (2or3things) has just launched a new service (in beta version) called Bloggino. It’s basically the equivalent of the American Tumblr, where you can “microblog” and publish your text, video, and photos via your mobile phone or by chat services like Yahoo, Jabber, ICQ, MSN, GTalk, etc.

Bloggino

From FT:

Internet users in France who download music and films without paying for them could find their web access shut down by a government body, under a ground-breaking industry agreement backed by President Nicolas Sarkozy.

he plan, which Mr Sarkozy is to endorse in a speech on Friday, will put France at the forefront of the battle against internet piracy with a three-strikes-and-you-are-out policy against repeat offenders.

The proposed enforcement body would use information collected by internet service providers on their high volume users to detect illegal file-sharing. Persistent offenders would be cautioned but could see their internet accounts suspended or terminated if they ignored as few as two warnings.

The proposals have been drawn up by an independent review headed by Denis Olivennes, the chairman of Fnac, a French entertainment retailer.

The music and film industries, internet service providers and the government are all likely to sign up to the plan.

In exchange for the clampdown on illegal downloading, the music industry has agreed to…

Read the full article

From MacNN:

Unofficial reports have indicated what French iPhone customers can expect from the wireless plans that Orange will be offering in conjunction with the impending release. MacGeneration (1 | 2) that the data will be virtually unlimited – for services such as visual voicemail, emails and internet – but Orange says that it reserves the right to limit the data plan to 500MB per month. The company supposedly has upwards of 20,000 handsets available for the launch, which it will have the most stock through its stores on the Champs d’Elysées, in Lyon Cordeliers, and the Marseille Orange Center, with the number of handsets being between 500 and 1000 per shop, while the vast majority of its other stores having between four and 30. Pricing for plans will range between 50 and 120 Euros.

Orange will be reportedly allowing users to unlock their iPhone within the first six months of the contract for 100 Euros, with free unlocking thereafter. The carrier is working hard at optimizing its products and services for the upcoming launch, with the web portal having undergone some maintenance to comply with the iPhone. While Orange’s video service and Unik plans are not yet available for the device, the company should be refining them shortly after launch. reports (

The AppleCare for the iPhone will not be available right away, and any warranty replacements will be handled through Apple, rather than Orange. The Bluetooth headset, dual dock, AC adapter, and the iPhone stereo headset will be available…

Read the full article

Plantes, Fruits et Légumes d’hier et d’aujourd’hui / Past and Present Vegetables
Nov 9, 10, 11, 2007, 10am-6pm – Domaine de Saint-Jean de Beauregard
Domaine de Saint-Jean de Beauregard is well known for its 17th-century château as well as its gardens à la Française. November’s event celebrates plants, vegetables and fruit from past to present.

Entrance Fee: €11 (regular admission); €8 (reduced for large groups, members and students of horticulture groups/schools, large families); free for under 10 y.o.
Website: Domaine de Saint-Jean de Beauregard

Le Parc Australien / Australia Park
Until November 11, 2007, Carcassonne
A five-hectare area just outside of Carcassonne’s Medieval village will make you forget that you’re in France. At Le Parc Australien, you’ll step inside another world that will get you playing a didgeridoo like a pro, and speaking like they do Down Under.
Website: Le parc Australien

Boulogne-sur-Mer’s Herring Festival
November 17, 18, 2007, Boulogne-sur-Mer
Get your herring before they no longer exist! Boulogne-sur-Mer takes advantage of the arrival of Beaujolais Nouveau then mixes it with fish.

Ubuntu Release Party in Bordeaux
November 17, 2007, 10am – Bordeaux
Fun Geeks of France are getting together to celebrate the new releases of Ubuntu, Gutsy and Gibbon, Free Software. They’re be a demo of their free version of Guitar Hero called, “Frets on Fire.” Bring food to join in on the Potluck.
Website: Gutsy Party

[thanks for the tip, Angry B!]

Lyon Christmas Market
November 24, 2007, Place Carnot, Lyon
One of my newly favorite cities in France, Lyon, starts its holiday spirit early, so head on down for your dose of gastronomy, live music, arts and crafts.

Chicken Festival
November 24, 25, 2007, Clôtres Jacobins, Saint-Sever, free admission
Grab a most delicious roasted chicken in he medieval town of Saint-Sever. The town celebrates its huge population of chickens every year by eating them!
Website: Saint-Sever

Festival des 38e Rugissants / 38th Festival of the Roars
November 20 to December 1, 2007, Grenoble
Grenoble invites talented musicians and groups from all over the world, and features their fascinating nomadic music at venues all over the city.
Website: 38e Rugissants

Paris Banlieues Tango / Tango in the Suburbs
Until November 27, 2007, Le Satellit Café, Paris
It’s time for Tango, which mean Paris Banlieues Tango, a festival celebrated in the suburbs of Paris.

Remember how I said that everything except flower shops and cemeteries would be closed today, being Toussaint and all? I lied. There were all kinds of places open today, at least in the north. We went out to lunch in Calais, so some restaurants were open, then we went to Cité Europe, a fairly large shopping mall à l’Américaine, also in Calais; all stores were open! The cinema was open and the bowling alley was open, so off we went jouer au bowling (to go bowling). By the way, “bowling” in French is pronounced like BOO-ling, so I always imagine it’s some sort of kooky crazy bowling game with warped balls.

Out of a party of 5, 4 of us decided to play, and I didn’t expect to see any cultural differences in the game but things came up straight away:

1. The game goes by quicker – probably because people never stick with one ball; you simply grab any available ball at the rack, a veritable free for all. (You don’t have to wait for your ball to return!) Most of the racks were overflowing with balls at each lane, leaving none on the shelves.

2. It’s more difficult to bowl – I think this is because of #1 above: you don’t play with the same ball. That’s MY excuse, anyway, and I’m sticking to it.

3. Bowling Etiquette, WHAT Bowling Etiquette? This doesn’t seem to come into play in France. Bowlers next to you go onto the approach even if you’re already aiming and just about to take your shot (You know how you’d wait for the guy next to you to bowl first before you do? That’s what I’m talking about.) Bowlers use other bowlers bowling balls without asking permission (#1). That seems to works fine, however.

4. Lane Guards for Kids – I hadn’t gone bowling for a while so maybe these are everywhere now – but I previously hadn’t seen these lane guards for kids, so they don’t get any gutterballs. That’s ingenius. Now, if they only had those for us adults…

5. Patience – The whole arcade/bowling alley had a power failure so we couldn’t play for 10 to 15 minutes. We had to sit there in the dark. For some reason, I sort of assumed French people would get really riled and grumbly. But no! None of that! I would’ve thought they’d give everyone an extra game to play but they didn’t.

6. The YUCK Factor – Bowling shoes. Yes, that always grosses me out majorly because you have to wear those ugly, nasty shoes that 5 billion people have worn before you. That’s like in the U.S. too. Only. After we finished our game, I went to return the shoes and left them on the counter. The employee told me to just return them back into the shelf where I found them! Which means you’ve worn shoes that 5 billion people have worn before you AND the shoes were never sprayed… OMGOMG!

In between stuffing yourself on candy corn today, play this time waster game called Bashing Pumpkins!

Play now

It’s been TOO LONG since the last time I posted a game, soooooo here’s Chat Noir (Black Cat), a puzzler where you have to confine the cat by clicking on dots (they turn dark when they become barriers). Ok, it’s from Japan but the TITLE is French…

Play Chat Noir

Related: More games by French developers:

Ouverture Facile
Jeu chiant
L’expresso empoisonné
Run n Roll
Recyle
The Museum
Parallel Parking Game
Ladybugs
Boulangerie the Game
Solitaire

Although I didn’t see it in the news, apparently Paris-based AOL France just laid off more than half of their employees. That obviously made these newly unemployed people very, very, VERY happy – so much so that they made a video dedicated it to “any lost love.” AWWWWW. And it’s happy and it’s cute and it’s just all around feel good.

I’m not surprised about their enthusiasm for unemployment. In France, unemployment benefits are excellent. Plus they are required to receive severance pay, and well, it’s nice to have time off during the upcoming holidays and chill for several months (or years for that matter) before looking for a new job (or not). In any case, getting laid off in France is a happy event – as is expressed here on this adorable swan song video called, “L’amour à la française,” which by the way was this year’s French entry for cult event, The Eurovision Song Contest performed by kooky fun band, Les Fatals Picards (They’re from Picardie).

A password-protected, high-resolution version is here: on Vimeo. The password is “aollover.”

[via]

945 Euros for the iPhone in France? WHAT a steal. This is listed on France’s Amazon.fr but there’s no description, really, and it’s not clear if this is the unlocked iPhone, though I suppose it’s got to be. That is sort of insane. Will French first adopters want to PAY that much?

See the Listing of Apple’s iPhone on Amazon.fr

[via]

Tags: iphone, france, expensive, unlocked

“…Orange will sell the iPhone in both locked and unlocked versions for the country, a company spokeswoman says. Béatrice Mandrine, elaborating on yesterday’s launch date announcement, explains that while a standard version will be tied to Orange and cost €399 ($560), shoppers will also be able to buy an unlocked iPhone for an as-yet unspecified premium. An official announcement of its cost is expected to be made in November, some time before the November 29th release; Mandrine has declined to say, meanwhile…”

Read full article

france iphone apple orange

From New World Notes:

“In 1793, a French journalist named Jean-Paul Marat was taking a cold bath to alleviate his skin disease when a woman allied with his political enemies managed to wheedle her way into the washroom, and knife him in the chest. As immortalized in the painting by Jacques-Louis David, the place and moment of his death seems essential, and arrested in time.

Until, that is, a guy named AM Radio (left) decided to convert it into an interactive experience. In recent months, AM has astounded Residents with builds of stunning depth and elegance, but so far it’s his recreation of David’s “Death of Marat” that’s impressed me most. Especially after he added a poseball animation in the tub, so anyone who sits on it instantly recreates Marat’s final sprawl. For awhile, though, AM Radio’s installation sat unused on a platform high in the sky, but Bettina Tizzy, the energetic founder of the SL art maven group Not Possible in Real Life found it a better home, in her public park of Chaykin Forest. Thus making it possible for any Resident to die like Marat. (Direct teleport at this link.) So that’s where I went to expire like my fellow journalist, deep in Bettina’s woods; feeling lonely, I called her and the…”

Continue reading: Die Like Marat: Turning David’s Masterpiece into an Interactive Experience

france die like marat second life interactive experience

“French government ministers faced embarrassment yesterday from their own children whose entries on Facebook, were aired to the public. French prime minister, François Fillon will be interested know that his son, Antoine, 22, is a member of several “high-brow” chat groups. One, entitled “I am too proud of my poo,” boasts 93 members who spend entire nights digressing about the “16 different types of turd.”

Antoine Fillon, an economics student whose mother Penny is Welsh, is also part of the “legless friendship circle,” which includes 650 fellow binge drinkers.

Financial weekly magazine Capital, released photos of Antoine’s Facebook page in this week’s edition, including one of…”

Read the full article

The good things about the Apple Expo, where we dropped by earlier today on our way home from the north, WERE the apples available from the Macgeneration booth. Thank you Macgeneration! [a note: Apple USED to provide real apples at the entrance of the expo for everyone, but no more. Steve Jobs, why are you so cheap? They're apples. They're cute and healthful and make people happy. AND they're in SEASON.]

Back to the expo. No places to sit down and people sat on the floors along the walls and in the stairwells. NO iPhones in sight! I also wanted to take a look at the new iPods but there was only ONE iPod Touch available (that I could see) in that whole expo and the crowds were ballooned around it, and I really didn’t feel like negotiating through all that body guarding, body density and…body odor.

Is this a rant? NOOOOOoooooooooo. I still feel it’s worth a look on Saturday (last day of the expo), because it’s so much fun to people watch. I think French geeks dress a little better than American ones. Also, I did notice that the new iMacs were about 100 euros cheaper than on the Apple online store in France. Lastly, there’s a booth called Goldway that has really good prices on all kinds of things. You can bargain like crazy, too, especially on the last day.

“AssistiveWare will demo its assisitive technology products in the ordiTICE booth ED007-008 of the Education Solutions Centre of the Apple Expo (Paris, 25 – 29 September).

On Wednesday, a 2 to 3 hours special session on Assistive Technologies for Mac OS X is scheduled in Apple Expo’s main conference room from 14:00 to 17:00. Organized by ceRHTic on behalf of Apple, the session will include presentations by Mr Biard (hospital Raymond Poincaré) on how to access a computer, by Mr Danigo (APF) on why and how to use a computer for communication, by Mr Ortie (AFM) on what a person with a disability can produce with a computer, by Mr Niemeijer (AssistiveWare) on Mac software solutions for people with disabilities.

During the other days, daily presentations on assistive technology will take place in the School Performance Area of the Education Solutions Center: Tuesday 14:00 – 14:45, Thursday 12:00 – 13:00, Friday 17:00 – 17:45, and Saturday 13:00 – 13:45. Please sign up for the latter presentations on the ordiTICE site.”

Orange has yet to announce the price structure for the service for iPhone but you’ll probably have to sign on with Orange (France Telecom) if you buy a new iPhone in France. Of course, there have been some hacks to unlock the service provider’s exclusivity…

A related reminder: The Apple Expo in Paris starts today.

[related: New Apple Products]

I guess they’re not SECRET, anymore.

“BROYE-LES-PESMES, France – A French space-surveillance radar has detected 20-30 satellites in low Earth orbit that do not figure in the U.S. Defense Department’s published catalogue, a discovery that French officials say they will use to pressure U.S. authorities to stop publishing the whereabouts of French reconnaissance and military communications satellites.

After 16 months of operations of their Graves radar system, which can locate satellites in orbits up to 1,000 kilometers in altitude and even higher in certain cases, the French Defense Ministry says it has gathered just about enough information to negotiate an agreement with the United States…” Read the full article at space.com

Today Apple France will be making a announcement to French and European journalists invited to their “special” press event. Is it possible that the iPhone will be made available in everyone’s favorite hexagon, finally? What will the price structure be, seeing that they just reduced iPhone’s price by $200 in the U.S.?? (You poor early adopters!)

Or will they be reiterating new products revealed just two days ago in the U.S., namely the new iPods (iPod Touch, Classic, Nano and Shuffle)? At the Apple Store France, it looks like they’re already available to order (and should be sent out by September 28th). The 8 gb iPod Touch is 309 euros ($420) and the 16 gb iPod Touch is 409 euros ($556). So as usual, they are much more expensive in France than in the U.S. (In the U.S. they’re $299 and $399 respectively.) No surprise there.