Category: lifestyle

Surface Family Available in Microsoft’s HK Online Store

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2017/Microsoft-Surface-Press-Conference-June-2017/i-nR8phZv

It’s been 18 months since the last real Microsoft Surface launch, a lifetime in computing terms. So what’s new? Pretty much everything, the Surface family now features four product lines: Surface Studio; Surface Book; Surface Pro and Surface Laptop all of which include a touchscreen and pen input.

Microsoft’s Hong Kong General Manager Horace Chow was upbeat and confident about the new Surface range of products with several digs at ipads and macbooks during his presentation. Will the new Surface machines attract Mac users – it will be interesting to see.

The rather lovely looking Surface Studio is a beautiful high resolution 28 inch touchscreen on a massive hinge which can stand vertically, lie completely flat or anywhere inbetween. Prices start from $24,888

The Surface Book is Microsoft’s top end laptop released in 2015 and updated last year, version 2 was expected to be released this month but has been delayed. It features a detachable 13.5 inch screen, separate graphics processor and ‘proper’ keyboard. Prices start from $11,588

The Surface Pro is a powerful laptop with a 12.3 inch touchscreen, back stand and an Alcantara fabric keyboard. The press release claims 14 hours of battery, life more than enough for a full day’s work. Prices start from $6,988

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The thin light Surface Laptop has a 13.5inch gorilla glass touchscreen and an Alcantara fabric keyboard and comes in four colours: platinum, graphite gold, cobalt blue and burgundy. Sadly the colour options are only available in a specific configuration. Prices start from $7,888.

Confusingly all four lines are sold with different versions of Windows, although it appears you can upgrade to Windows Pro free of charge until the end of 2017.

What to buy? There are now so many different chip sets, generations and numbers that it’s easy to become confused as to what to buy. Unlike a decade ago where the difference between generations of  Intel chips was massive, the differences in use for most everyday tasks will be barely noticeable. So unless your doing heavy number crunching or video encoding then choose the one that feels good to use with as much storage and ram as you can afford at www.microsoftstore.com.hk.

16 June 2017: Edited to reflect that the different colour Surface laptops are available in Hong Kong.

HK Spirits & Pairing Festival 2017

Later this month on the rooftop of The Park Lane Hotel as well as a gorgeous view of Victoria Harbour you’ll be able to sample over 100 spirits and pair them with a range of cigars. The first HK Spirits & Pairing Festival offers whiskey and whisky as well as gin, rum and a range of cocktails.

Whisky with or without an ‘e’, countries with an ‘e’ in their name tend to use an e for their whiskey, is a generic term for a spirit distilled from a mash of fermented grains. There are a multitude of different whiskies including bourbon, rye, Tennessee, Scotch, Irish, Japanese, Canadian… distilled across the globe each very different from the other. And yet while wine tastings are ten-a-penny, there are few broad range spirits tastings. So if you fancy a dram or two…

HK Spirits & Pairing Festival 2017
Date: 12pm, 24 June, 2017
Venue: The Park Lane Hotel, Rooftop
Tickets: $680, $300

Art Central VIP Preview @ Central Harbourfront – 20 March, 2017

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2017/Art-Central-Central-Harbourfront-20-March-2017/i-QQcXHmB

The sun emerged, after weeks in hiding, to shine on the start of Art Week and turn Art Central’s two massive tents into impromptu saunas. That didn’t deter the opening day crowds who flocked to see what was on show.

Again there’s a little of something for everyone but the trend still seems to be for massive works that look fine in a big tent, but would be out of place in our space saving flats. Last years paint a massive picture cut it up and give away the pieces has in true HK style been replaced with a massive painting where you can buy a small square…

Art Central runs until the 25 March, click on any photo for the full gallery.

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Taste of Hong Kong @ Central Harbourfront – 16 March, 2017

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Four days of delicious food on the Central Harbourfront, Taste 2017 is a vast improvement on 2016. The restaurants are more prepared, have a better understanding of the event, have prepped more portions (3-500 portions per regular dish/session seemed the average) so it’s unlikely they’ll run out… Purchasing food is quicker and easier. There’s more seating – if a lack of bins.

It’s expensive, dining at these 16 restaurants is anyway, but the food dishes we tasted were good. The portion sizes of some dishes are a little small for the price, the paper plates environmentally friendly but not the best given the quality of the food. And there’s lots of samples from the various shops and market to try.

While all 16 featured outlets are worth taking a look at, Richard Ekkebus Culinary Director at Amber has done something more than a little special – and raised the bar for all participants for next year – he’s set up a special seated dining area and each session the producers and suppliers of the ingredients of each of his dishes are introducing and talking about what you are eating. Fascinating!
Click on any photo for the full gallery of images.

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Aperitivo at Attire House – 14 March, 2017

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One of the joys of living in Hong Kong is that she’s always full of surprises. Take for example 8 Wyndham Street as boring an office block as you can find – but on the top floor (29/F) is the recently opened Attire House, a men’s boutique complete with Barber’s Shop and wet shave, and Bar de Lune a very relaxed Japanese whisky and cocktail bar. Bar de Luxe is a joint venture between the owners of Attire and Tokyo’s famous mixologist Hidetsugu Ueno.

To introduce the brands Cesare Attolini and E Marinella Attire House hosted an aperitivo with cocktails and Tartuflanghe truffle chips.
Click on any photo for the full gallery of images.

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Hong Kong And The Commonwealth

Although Hong Kong ceased to be a member of the Commonwealth in 1997, it still has strong links through its business, legal and sports community.

The modern Commonwealth is a free association of 52 independent nations with historical links and shared values of democracy, rule-of-law, tolerance and diversity. With a population of 2.3 billion (nearly a third of humanity, with the majority under 25) it represents a very strong soft-power network or ‘Platform for the Future’. It is also characterized by the use of the English language. In the light of Brexit the Commonwealth may be ripe for a renaissance

Hong Kong has an active branch of the Royal Commonwealth Society (RCS) which provides a network for citizens of Commonwealth countries (especially Australia, Canada, India, New Zealand and South Africa) and their Consuls-General to come together at speaker lunches, cocktails, exhibitions and concerts. There is also an annual Essay Competition and Charity Ball.

The RCS (HK Branch) is particularly keen to attract more young people as members and has therefore introduced more informal, fun events.

This year, Commonwealth Day falls on 13 March and there will be a reception in the Garden Lounge of the Hong Kong Club with British Consul-General, Andrew Heyn, reading the Queen’s Commonwealth Message at 7.30pm. Anyone in Hong Kong is welcome join the RCS. Annual subscription is $500 and $250 for those under 35. See www.rcshk.com