WATCH: High tech mattress can detect cheating partners

Cheats between the sheets, beware—there’s a new detective in town.

Men and women have a new way of finding out if their partner is being unfaithful, as Spanish firm Durmet has come up with a high-tech mattress that can monitor “suspicious movement” in the bed.

The ‘Smarttress’, a normal looking-mattress, offers a one-of-a kind “Lover Detection System”  that uses 24 ultrasonic sensors to detect when it’s in motion and how many occupants are using it.

Citing reports from the Huffington Post, the slick invention generates a 3D map to show which areas of the mattress are receiving greater pressure and what movement is taking place.

It gets better, the deception-detecting device also measures frequency, intensity, time of use and speed—which then sends an alert via a smartphone app, informing the worried party that their bed is being used.

The 1-minute and 41-seconds promotional video shown , also gave a glimpse of the company’s hilarious tag-line “If your partner isn’t faithful, at least your mattress is.”

According to Durmet, the idea behind ‘Smarttress’ stems from studies showing that men and women in Spain are the most unfaithful bunch in Europe.

“We came up with an idea that could reassure men and women not only during the night, but also during the day when they leave their home to go to work,” said company spokesperson Jose Antonio Muíño.

“Smarttress isn’t the type of product you’d go shopping for at the weekend with your partner if you suspected them of cheating, so it will only be available on request,” he added.

The infidelity-exposing mattress comes in four different sizes and buyers can expect total confidentiality with every purchase.

Those who seek to catch their partner red handed, however, must be prepared to shell-out a hefty $1,350 (P62,565). Khristian Ibarrola, INQUIRER.net

source: technology.inquirer.net

Dad’s guide to dressing up

December is the season of celebrations and thanksgiving. There will be office parties, school parties, reunions, weddings, baptisms, anniversaries.

Many men will face the dilemma of how to dress up appropriately for these different occasions. If you wear the wrong attire, you may either be lucky and called a “standout,” or stick out like a sore thumb.

Most men need a guide to dressing up. There are a few style guides out there, like Gentleman’s Quarterly (popularly known as GQ) and a handful of other men’s magazines. But these mags are geared toward promoting known (often pricey) menswear labels and passing trends. Models, fashion designers and male dress horses make full use of the material in these publications.

But there is scarce material for regular guys to use as a standard of what to wear for different occasions.

First, understand that “dressing up” means just that—you dress up to a higher level. The dress code is written in an invitation as the attire that the party’s host wants you to wear. Plenty of work, planning and design are put into setting up the event which follows a specific motif. The dress code ensures that you will fit into the theme of the occasion. It shows that you belong there.

Historically, the purpose of having a dress code was to be able to set classes of people apart. The lower-class citizens could not afford to dress the same way the upper-class folks did. The way people dressed up was a visual clue as to what level they belonged to in society. It was also an effective way of spotting gatecrashers at a party.

The invited male guest shows good social manners by adhering to dressing up according to the dress code. It should be respected and followed by any man who is considerate of his host’s wishes.

The codes are flexible to a certain degree, but the male guest should stay within the range of what is acceptable.

Formal wear

1. Black tie—A tuxedo or a suit generally made of black wool with black satin lapels. It has matching trousers with a black satin stripe running down the exterior of the pants’ leg. Wear it with a black satin bow tie and black cummerbund. Sometimes a vest is worn with it. It is also still referred to as “dinner clothes” or “dinner jacket.”

2. Cummerbund —This is a wide, pleated sash that you wear around your waistband as part of formal wear. It is correctly worn with the pleats facing upward.

3. White tie—This is not the same suit as in a black tie, but composed of a black wool tailcoat and matching trousers, with a satin stripe running down the exterior of the pants’ leg. It is worn with a white bow tie made of satin, linen or cotton. A white vest which matches the tie is worn as well.

Luckily for Filipino men, our barong Tagalog may be acceptable for both black or white tie events.

Festive

1. Semiformal—Traditionally this event asks that you be in a dark suit or barong variants. Many folks mistake this to refer to business casual.

2. Festive informal—Normally this pertained to wearing a suit with a brightly colored (festive!) tie. Nowadays it means not too formal, but not casual.

3. Cocktail—A dark suit or dressy sports coat, or barong variants. It is a dress-up event.

4. Business attire—A suit with tie or barong Tagalog at the higher levels. In the Philippines, the long-sleeved polo shirt and tie with dark trousers or the short-sleeved polo Barong are accepted.

5. Business casual—Sports coat with the option of wearing a tie. Polo barong is safe. Men in business polo shirts usually take off their neckties.

6. Casual chic—A sports coat, jacket or sweater paired with slacks or jeans. Layering seems to be the key.

7. Casual—The most relaxed dress code. You can wear slacks, jeans or shorts with any top you want, depending on your host’s directions.

Clothing options a man can invest in

1. Barong Tagalog— Sometimes referred to as barong Pilipino. This traditional Filipino outfit is an embroidered formal shirt. It is lightweight and worn untucked over an undershirt. It has long sleeves and is made of either pineapple, banana or abaca fibers. Every Filipino should have a good quality barong in his wardrobe. It is very versatile for any dressy event, from the very formal down to business attire. Choose a classic design, and it can be used for decades.

2. Dark suit— If you go to many events, you need to have your own dark suit. It should be cut in a timeless style, in a color like black, navy blue or gray to ensure long use. A dress shirt, along with a coordinated tie, are worn with it. Like the barong, it is safe attire for many events including weddings, birthdays, anniversaries, business meetings, cocktails, funerals.

3. Barong variants:

Gusot-mayaman and linen barong —These are not made of delicate fabrics. They are less formal than the standard barong Tagalog.

Polo barong—A short-sleeved version of the barong, often made of linen, ramie or cotton. This is the least formal version of the Barong and is often used as men’s office wear.

Shirt-jack barong—These are cut in shirt-jack style, usually made of polyester-cotton, linen-cotton and gusot-mayaman fabrics.

All three barong variants are safe to use for different occasions. You get a look that is above casual and at the same time not too dressy. You could pull off wearing them to almost any event. (Just beware that you may be dressed like security personnel.)

The dress code does not refer to style. It defines the rules of what to wear for different events. When a man understands these rules, he will feel confident wearing the right clothes for the right occasion.

source: lifestyle.inquirer.net

Women urged: Fight for your man’s prostate

MANILA, Philippines—Women fighting for the early detection of prostate cancer?

Since men are deemed too stubborn to have themselves checked, women have been targeted to lead the fight against the third cause of death among Filipino men.

Spearheaded by Janssen Phils. and Healthway Medical Clinics, the campaign “Fight for your Man” reaches out to women to get the men in their lives who are at least 40 years old and have a family history of prostate cancer to have themselves screened for the disease.

Sonia Roco, whose husband Sen. Raul Roco died from complications of prostate cancer on Aug. 5, 2005, said she was working on an advocacy campaign for awareness of the disease because that was what her husband had wanted to do.


“More lives could be saved by early detection if the men would cooperate. They hate going to hospitals to see a doctor,” she said.

The late senator, who was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 1996, kept his condition a secret. He went into remission following treatment.

His wife attributed the recurrence of the cancer to the stress of running for president in 1998 and 2004.

“By 2004, he was beginning to feel pain all over. He was in the mountains in Mindanao in the middle of the campaign when he said the pain was getting to be unbearable. We came back and fought till the end,” she said.

Dr. Josephine Tolentino, an oncologist who heads the prostate screening campaign, said that while prostate cancer remained the most commonly diagnosed cancer among men, poverty and poor health service delivery contributed to a low level of consciousness about it.

“So we promote awareness to get them to do a regular screening. But in our culture, men are afraid of going to doctors because they don’t want to know they are sick. So we talk to the wife, sister, daughter, granddaughter. We ask them to intervene,” Tolentino said.

Urologist Dr. Jaime Songco said the risk of developing prostate cancer increased with age.

He said the initial symptoms, which do not show up in the early stage, are a weak and reduced urine flow, urinating more often, especially at night, and difficulty passing urine.

As the prostate cancer advances, the symptoms would include lower urinary tract problems, blood in the urine and painful urination. In the advanced stage, the patient begins to feel bone pain.

“We have to create a foundation, an advocacy group to support educating the men because right now, there’s no [advocacy group among] men,” Songco said.

“So if you have men in your lives, have them screened because in the early stages it’s really curable,” he said.

The tests used to diagnose prostate cancer include urine tests, ultrasound and the prostate specific antigen (PSA) test.

source: lifestyle.inquirer.net

Star of Tod’s collection is Sella purse

Tod’s is one of the most successful leather goods brands because it never veers far away from its roots, and thus does not alienate its core customers. The coming Fall-Winter season is no different; it is a collection that is a nod to “the quality and craftsmanship of Made in Italy.”

Tod’s has been masterfully reinventing its classic wheel. Apart from new iterations of its signature Gommini driving shoes—in polka dot suede, and zebra stripes and mottled calf pony for women this season—some of its Fall bags are reinterpretations of its classic styles, including the iconic D-bag.

The D-bag has five limited-edition couture styles, one of which is fully hand-embroidered with crystals. It weighs more than a supermodel.

Star

The star of Tod’s 2013 Fall-Winter collection, however, is the Sella purse, inspired by saddlemaking but interpreted in a minimalist, feminine, curved shape. It comes in three sizes: a full-size shopper in dark purple or brown calfskin; a small satchel in several colorways; and a stunning mini version with a detachable shoulder strap—in yellow, orange, hot pink, turquoise, nude and black.

The mini Sella also comes in zebra-striped and leopard-print calf pony. The bigger sizes have variants in crocodile and python.

The Italian company, one of the last brands to still craft all its products in Italy, incorporates an often-used signature element—the Gommini pebbles—on the dressier women’s footwear, on the heels of its calf pony booties and metallic pumps. Tod’s fans will also find saddle straps on its other booties and boots styles, done in either plain calf or calf pony.

Two loafers get the metallic treatment, with the vamp embossed with the Tod’s emblem.

At the recent presentation at Tod’s Greenbelt 4 in Makati City, the Stores Specialists Inc. (SSI) team highlighted Tod’s’ made-to-order men’s footwear business, offered only at the Italian flagship store in Milan. It’s a luxury space called Sartorial Touch, akin to an English men’s club, and includes a bar and a lounge. (SSI is Tod’s’ exclusive distributor here.)

The iPad presentation underscored each step of the handcrafted process, from the choice of leather to the painstaking hand-dyeing, all the way to the finished product.

Tod’s also offers made-to-order luggage, bags and small leather goods.

But if a trip to the Milan flagship isn’t an option, men can choose from the new season’s in-store collection that includes boots with elastic bands on the uppers, classic calf loafers, and suede or calf pony Gomminis, as well as sturdy-looking lace-ups with boot-lacing details reminiscent of trekking shoes.

source: lifestyle.inquirer.net

Scented underpants for men, a ‘Made in France’ special

PARIS — A company that specializes in “Made in France” underwear has raised nearly 19,000 euros ($25,000) from enthusiastic investors banking on its next titillating creation — sweet-smelling underpants for men.

The so-called “Indomitable” briefs will be manufactured by “Le Slip Francais,” a company set up in 2011 by 27-year-old Guillaume Gibault, who decided to bank on a trend for all things made in France to sell underwear.

“You want to change the world, you want to change things, start by changing your underpants!” the firm writes on crowdfunding website www.mymajorcompany.com, where it has already raised close to 19,000 euros.

 

 

The idea behind crowdfunding is that anyone on the Internet can contribute money to a project, in some cases in exchange for shares in a company or other rewards.

Gibault told AFP the briefs will be scented thanks to micro-capsules full of homemade perfume that will be incorporated into the cotton used to make the underpants in the Lille region of northern France.

As soon as the lucky owner of the briefs moves around, the capsules will release the perfume and the scent will last up to 30 washes, he says.

“It’s quite a masculine perfume, not very strong, based on musk and pears,” he said.

“Le Slip Francais” has become something of a success story in France, which is suffering badly from lack of competitiveness and a general perception of hostility towards business owners and entrepreneurs.

It employs five people in its Paris headquarters, and outsources the manufacture of the underwear to factories in different parts of France, including Lille and the southwestern Dordogne region.

The firm has so far sold some 20,000 of its red, white, blue and black briefs, and plans to develop its presence abroad, with Japanese people proving to be particularly enthusiastic clients.

Gibault says the company is already profitable, adding that the whole project shows “that we are capable of innovating in France.”


“Le Slip Francais” had originally intended to raise 10,000 euros for the scented briefs, but has surpassed that amount by far and could still get a lot more before a June 3 deadline it set on its crowdfunding page – http://www.mymajorcompany.com/projects/sentez-bon-du-slip#home


Supporters will get a range of rewards for their donations, ranging from a key ring to becoming the face — or body of — the new underpants when the firm’s advertising drive begins.

source: lifestyle.inquirer.net