Technology, Books and Other Neat Stuff

We wanted to show friends a favourite Paso Robles winery; we pulled up Google Maps on the Media Center PC in the lounge and dragged the little man onto a dusty back road to cruise around. But how about doing that when we’re actually there?

I like that iPhone 2.2 has some aspects of augmented reality in the Google street view elements of the mapping tool. Drop a pin onto the map, and you'll find the same street view on your phone as in the browser. Of course, with GPS and an accelerometer there's the scope to actually overlay the street view images on the real world - now all we need is to get that implemented, and tied into a tagging application to actually overlay the world with Yelp or Zagat or, well, whatever...

Of course one could just augment reality with a nice zin...

Back in the 1950's the mayor of Chateauneuf-du-Pape banned flying saucers from landing in the village - and in its local vineyards, for fear of damaging the grapes. The winemakers at Boony Doon in the Santa Cruz mountains aren't so sure that UFOs are a problem for wineries, so they've called one of their best known wines Le Cigare Volante, and adopted a steampunk UFO as part of their brand image.

It wasn't a surprise to find a grounded UFO at the top of the car park last time we drove through the redwoods to taste the fruits of the grape...



A rather amusing piece of streampunk art...

The sap is rising, and the winemakers at the Lurgashall Winery are starting to tap their stand of silver birch for this year's batch of silver birch wine. We were there at the weekend with natalief, picking up some wine to take to saffronrose on our next US trip.

I took a walk into the muddy wood to take some photos of the tapping under way.



The wood was full of jars and cans, all slowly filling with the white, sweet sap as it rose from the roots, where it had been stored all winter.



It's good to see the old traditions and spring rituals still carry on...