Neil Patrick Harris lends voice to Disney ride

by Leigh Caldwell on

Disney California Adventure theme park has introduced a new ride recording for California Screamin’, featuring the voice of actor Neil Patrick Harris.

The official Disney Parks Blog says NPH’s new recordings are meant to emulate a classic carnival sideshow barker.

California Screamin’ is in the Paradise Pier section of Disney California Adventure. That part of the park has a classic boardwalk amusement park feel.

California Screamin’ is the longest and fastest ride at Disneyland Resort in California, with a 120-foot drop and top speeds of 58 miles per hour. The roller coaster is steel, though it is painted and styled to look like a classic wooden ride.

NPH’s love of Disney is well-documented. He has been a narrator during EPCOT’s holiday Candlelight Processional show in past years, and last month, he hosted an event celebrating Disney animatronics at the Disneyland Hotel.

He professes his love for theme parks in his Twitter profile, and he hinted on Twitter about his California Screamin’ involvement over the weekend.

Marriott to convert London’s historic Berners Hotel into Edition

by Melanie Nayer on

Following on the heels of a successful launch of its first Edition hotel in Hawaii, Marriott International announced it would turn the historic Berners Hotel in London into The London Edition.

The 175-year-old Berners has been closed since 2006, and now Marriott plans to take it over for London travelers. The boutique Edition brand was conceived by iconic hotel designer Ian Schrager in partnership with Marriott, and Shrager brings his eye for detail to the London hotel scene with the opening of the London Edition.

“I am thrilled to be returning to London for an incredibly special and historical building like Berners Hotel,” Schrager says in an alert on HotelsMag.com. “I am excited and passionate about creating an authentic and original experience for this special Edition hotel in this gateway city.”

Opening dates for the London Edition haven’t been set yet, but Marriott’s next Edition hotel will is scheduled to open in Istanbul early next year.

Photo of the Day (11.9.10)

by Stephen Greenwood on

If you live in New York City, it would have been hard not to notice a certain spectacle taking place over the weekend.

On Sunday, November 7th, a record 45,344 runners turned out to compete in New York’s 41st annual marathon; the largest and most widely spectated marathon in the world. An average of two million people line the streets every year to cheer on runners from around the world in the 26.2 mile journey through all five boroughs of the city. Even Chilean miner Edison Peña accepted a special invitation to compete in the race, finishing in 5 hours and 40 minutes; a course time that’s perfectly acceptable after spending 69 days underground.

Today’s Photo of the Day is a frame from the 2006 NYC Marathon, taken by Flickr user (and PotD regular) Clay Williams on the streets of Brooklyn. I think this image is a great illustration of the intersection of culture that inevitably occurs when thousands of people from around the world run through the streets of one of most diverse cities in the world.

Have you run or cheered someone on at a major marathon? Did you make it to New York’s this year? Share your stories and photos to prove it! Leave a comment below or submit to our Flickr Pool and it could be our next Photo of the Day.

Wi-Fi calling app means T-Mobile Android phones are best choice for travel

by Scott Carmichael on

Starting with their new G2 and myTouch 4G handsets, T-Mobile is bringing Wi-Fi calling to Android phones. Wi-Fi calling allows you to access the T-Mobile network using Wi-Fi instead of a cellular connection. Once connected to Wi-Fi, you can make and receive calls without any noticeable difference.

Now, using the Internet to make phone calls is by no means anything special – Skype has been doing this for years – what makes this new feature so handy is that you don’t need to configure anything, you don’t need an account and calls are made using your own phone number.

Once you turn the app on, it instantly searches for Wi-Fi, and you can make and receive calls. The technology is called UMA, and it was first introduced on T-Mobile Blackberry devices back in 2007. It took some time for the service to reach Android devices, but the wait was well worth it.

The advantages of Wi-Fi calling are especially convenient for travelers – instead of spending upwards of $2/minute for a call, you simply find a Wi-Fi hotspot, and you’ll be able to call back home using nothing more than the minutes from your regular calling plan.

I’ve tested the new app extensively on the G2 and the myTouch 4G, and it works absolutely flawlessly. One feature missing from the Android flavor of UMA is the ability to do a “seamless handoff” between cellular and Wi-Fi. This means your phone call will drop as soon as you are out of range of the Wi-Fi hotspot.

Despite this minor issue, if you are regularly abroad and in need of a cheap and reliable way to make phone calls, the new handsets with the T-Mobile Wi-Fi calling app are definitely worth checking out. For more on the new Wi-Fi calling app, mozy on over to the T-Mobile support pages.

Daily Pampering: new San Francisco restaurant debuts $390 truffle dinner

by Laurel Miller on

It’s truffle season again. In the Perigord, grizzled Frenchmen scour the forests using specially-trained female pigs or dogs to sniff out the rare black fungi growing from the roots of various tree species. In Piedmont, Italy, a similar hunt is under way for the even more esteemed white truffle. According to The Daily Beast, these little buggers can fetch an average of $3,500 a pound in a good economy (in ’09, the price for white truffles dropped to $1,800 to $2,500 a pound), making them one of the most expensive ingredients on earth.

In celebration of all this fungal goodness, Alexander’s Steakhouse in San Francisco is offering a nine-course truffle dinner for $390, through early 2011. Inside Scoop SF also tells us that for another $110, the restaurant will pair the wines for you. The Japanese-inflected meat temple opened last month in the buzzing SoMa neighborhood, but the sister location in the Silicon Valley is offering the same special.

Why are people willing to spend so much cash on a glorified foraged mushroom that smells like male pig pheromones? Gourmands will tell you the essence of the homely truffle elevates everything from scrambled eggs to pasta to euphoric levels. And truffles are supposedly an aphrodisiac (the scent of swine sex hormones, and all). Fortunately, a little of the pungent fungi goes a long way, and Alexander’s uses a total of 15 grams (roughly half-an-ounce) of black and white truffles on its special menu.

Dishes include elegant offerings like bonito sashimi with salsify, garlic chips, celery, curry foam, and black truffle; binchotan-roasted bone marrow, black garlic panko, citrus jam, and white truffle, and Japanese a5 Kagoshima ribeye cap [in plain English: expensive cut of top-grade imported Wagyu beef] with parsnip puree, butternut squash, chestnuts, and white truffle. Are you feeling randy yet, baby?

Want more? Get your daily dose pampering right here.

[Photo credit: Flickr user cyclingshepherd]