Pernod Ricard moved an inch further in knocking Diageo (DEO) as the world’s biggest spirits player after inking a neat deal to acquire the Swedish state-owned parent of Absolut vodka for $8.3 billion.

During ongoing auction, the French spirits company outbid various others premium vodka globally including U.S.-based Fortune Brands (FO), Absolut’s current distributor. This enables Pernod to climb from fourth to second position among global spirits sellers with its deal with Vin & Spirit. Pernod has been on a quest to top the $200 billion global booze industry. Pernod Ricard’s capacity will rise from 75 million cases to 91 million, and all courtesy for this belongs to Absolut and V&S’s Cruzan rum and Plymouth gin.

Via USAToday

This post stands today because my love “D” loves this number and my readers have no choice but to love us. Nothing Much!

The New York Times reports bring forth the new definition of rotating beds. Likewise any one of you, Broadway director Jack O’Brien was also doubtful about the right place for installing his bed at his new home in New Milford. After numerous positioning of the bed in his massive bedroom, the final call came from a hired a designer David Rockwell. It seems Rockwell has the right sense about what to install where?

He proposed to install the rotating bed right at the center of the room. On a single press of a button, the bed turns towards the fireplace while another press would turn its angle towards windows. For now I have picture of the room and am full of regret if NYT would have played the video of the functioning of the rotating bed. They say the bed is priced at $25,000 to $30,000.

News is a new law that is being practiced in Illinois expecting “deadbeat dads” to pay for their child support in order to buy new hunting or fishing permit. Lately, a $14,000 child support check was dropped to Rachel Miller as the father of her two sons cannot compromise at hunting white-tail deer, thereby making this neat deal sound as the most expensive hunting and fishing license ever.

Since its effect from last six months, the state has collected nearly $130,000 from across 90 parents. This program would really make turns besides the deadbeat dads really not liking the way law is moving. All I can say is this is a quite nice way to deal with such dads but am anxious what could be its next level?

Via Pantagraph

Today I was reading an extensive coverage of 25 million home theaters PC’s to be installed globally by 2013 carried by ehomeupgrade. On first go, we thought the figure is too less until we realized that they are only PC’s and not streaming products. These days there exist gamut of mini-PCs that are used chiefly for media streaming. With surge in advancement happening at CPUs front, devised to use less power and produce less heat, there is a possibility that PCs may dive in to the entertainment segment.

The principal problem for installing a PC in any entertainment center ort device is the noise produced by the integrated fan to cool the PC plus spinning hard drive. At the same time, the attached benefit is of having full-fledged PCs as a main media streamer is its functionality. If you count today then the majority of current generation of media streamers consists of low powered devices running a low mechanical Sigma chip.

Technically speaking, if this noise and power levels of entrenched PCs can be toned down to an evenhanded level then one can expect few more devices into his living room. One major drawback with almost very device is that they don’t have the raw horsepower.

Likewise, our most admired Mvix 760HD is still accessible on using an older Sigma chip and can’t do H.264 for instance. With the concept I have just talked, one can have much more excitement in coming years. One can say year 2008 is going to be the break point for these devices and by come 2010, these devices will be seen floating all over likewise DVD players.

Via NetworkingAudioVideo

There is no question about the non familiarity of BornRich amongst geeks, designers and uber-rich class. Now its time to familiarize yourself with the face behind it: Nandini Maheshwari, editor, Bornrich and CCO (chief content officer), blogger cum co-founder, Instablogs. Fortunately, today I have a lot of meat for you as you have a threesome from an India-based network Instablogs launched in October 2005. Nandini Maheshwari, Ankit Maheshwari, CTO and CEO, Instablogs along with their eight-month young baby girl Aanya Maheshwari.

As you go with the flow of excerpts, you will realize that this eight-month young kid is doing her homework silently by kicking her parents tight (Nandini mentioned waking up at 6 in morning after Aanya’s alarm bell bangs), thereby managing to extract her share of attention from her entrepreneur parents. Good Aanya!

Anaya’s entry into Maheshwari’s family is being seen as a lucky mascot. And it was proved days back when TechCrunch Duncan Riley uncovered the financials and projections of Instablogs. Something that got launched as a blogging network is gradually turning into a mainstream media with a difference. All your hows’ and whys’ can be answered through the exhaustive responses from the Instablogs leads. Now I will stay tight lipped and you go ahead penning down any queries.

Introduce yourself to my readers.
Folks, this is Nandini from BornRich. I am also the co-founder of Instablogs Network, one of the fastest growing social news site.

Take us to your typical day at work?
My little daughter, Aanya has a fantastic biological clock. Her alarm goes off exactly at 6:00am. The best or worse part is at that time she is full of energy and wants to play. So I get my daily dose of exercise in running after her. But I also sneak out few minutes in between to check my emails and read few of the blog posts in my reader.

Then I start forming mental checklist and prepare a “To Do List” and decide what to do for the day (this keeps on changing throughout the morning). Reach office, chat with few guys, connect with few writers (online and offline) and answer my emails. Scan my reader again, pick out some cool stories. The day is followed with usual office stuff like meetings, presentations, etc.

Oh did I mention, I always take Aanya with me to the office. In between changing her nappies, I also manage to post few articles, and plan for bornrich articles with the team. Leave office by 8:00. Check stats, email and back-links again before saying goodnight which is around 12:30 am in the night.

Besides posting, what all activities do you participate in that adds to the success of Bornrich viz. digg, link exchange and others?

One advice I would like to give to the new bloggers is, invest in your readers. Always reply to their tips, emails, comments etc. Secondly, try to be friends with your fellow bloggers. Link a lot to their blogs and, always give credit to people.

Don`t try to manipulate social news sites like digg, reddit etc. Let you readers submit there. Instead, put your energy in finding interesting news.

Instablogs is a huge network, why you chose to write only on bornrich?
I have always been fascinated with luxury lifestyle and when I decided upon a luxury blog, it instantly hit me. So BornRich was born.

Favorite Posts from bornrich
Multimedia Bed (RUF Cinema)
Make wine at home with winepod
US SUBS new discovery 1000 submarine

What are your top 5 online reads or blogs besides bornrich?
Gizmodo, Trendir, YankoDesign, Appliancist, Luxist Your views on Traditional Journalism V/S Blogging.
I think the line between traditional media and new media is diminishing everyday. You will see more bloggers in future breaking news, fast checking facts, employing proof readers and doing the news coverage as professionally you expect a traditional guy to do. We have already seen in many instances where bloggers have outshine traditional media by not hours but days like Burma conflict, Tibet protests and during Iraq war.

I am certain that in coming days we are going to see traditional media and new media working together shoulder to shoulder, Instablogs is a step in that direction, where traditional and new media don’t compete but complement each other.

Here is a small set of business-side responses from the duo running Instablogs so beautifully regarding northward moving curve of Instablogs Network.

How true is techcrunch report on Instablogs negotiating a $3 million funding. When will it be on papers tentatively? Is this your initiative or an invitation from funding source?
Yes, we have been talking to few investors lately. But the figure Techcrunch quoted is not correct, even the Presentation they got hold of is an old one. We have participated in few startups events and got a lot of positive feedback from there. Most of talks have originated out of these events.

How reliable is the projections traced by techcrunch for Instablogs especially generating a revenue of $850,000 per month?
As I told you, it was an old presentation. Won’t be able to disclose any figures at the moment!

Growth plans for Instablogs, what all features/ value additions can your savvy readers look forward to?
Instablogs with its history of innovation and its desire to remain ahead of competition continues working on more features and tools. When most of the social news sites and main stream media sites were doing the same stuff of comments, dead-ending articles or aggregating content from other sites; Instablogs was re-inventing the presentation of the news in a totally new fashion never seen before on any news sites, making it the only place where news-junkie got satiated.

With the understanding that news is no longer a singular article and which has metamorphosed to perspectives; we at Instablogs has developed next generation tools and widgets which help readers to think through the news with a better understanding and more command over it, which they have demanded since the advent of civilization.
Instablogs’ focus is to build a news-ecosystem which can turn a passive reader into an active participant making every article in Instablogs a live discussion.

When did you realize that Instablogs is going to get so huge?
We still have long way to go. We have just started with the new version.

Give us an insight about the deal with AP. Isn’t the full-text content source questionable under copyrights norms? What is that %age increase in your traffic figures and monetary figures after tying up with AP? Which agency next?

We are syndicating AP content and paying them monthly fees. We are also in talks with other news agencies for similar content licensing. Copyright of the content remain with the agencies. We have seen a healthy growth in our readership in all.

What helps you generate monthly revenue of 25k in absence of ads on the face of your site? What is the revenue-generation model behind Instablogs?
We run ads on all of our sites. The ads were taken off for a while during beta testing the site. But now since new version is up, ads will up very soon.

Any plans to develop a sales team who can get you sufficient ads?
Yes, we are in talks with few guys who will help us to sell unsold inventory. We are also in talks with few ad networks as well.

Where do you see Instablogs after five years from now?
The prime news destination on the web. A playground for news junkies and your daily morning read.

How do you find Elitechoice?
I love not just writing but reading about luxury lifestyle and EliteChoice is a fabulous online resource for luxury life living. Besides, I love where you have taken EliteChoice, single-handedly.

Lastly, you can ask me one-question now.
My question to you would be: What you had in mind when you started EliteChoice? Where do you see it going?
EliteChoice, as the name goes was started with a view point to cover every bit of information that can alarm elite class. Then be it products, news or expert’s reviews’. During my coverage, I could sense its bent towards more of products (of course luxurious) but managed to scale up to offering essential news about upcoming events. I completely agree with your emphasis on investing time in community and readers as this is what am exercising at Elitechoice. I am hopeful that it gets right kind of identification among the savvy bloggers and then it will reach itself where it should reach. The first one it has got by reaching to the platform of Zola Marquis: Cool geek of the week. Second onebringing worthy names onto my blog under Elite Blogger series.

Many thanks Nandini for feeding my readers with your direct responses and we wish luck to you and team for making their round!

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This bathe is austerely for those who not only have big-big hopes but also knows well their way to materialize on that. Heart full of passion and pockets full of wealth, they are all set to indulge in to the magic of the most expensive stuff. Last year, we told you about the limited edition and pricey edible water, Evian. Folks, that was for scoff down to satiate your thirst. Now, what I have here for you is 1000 liters of Evian natural spring water for you to dive into it. Unlike any other dive, it would be counted as the world’s most expensive bath. Team at Hotel Victor have lately announced that at $5,000 a pop and accessible completely in the $6,000 per night penthouse suite of the trendy Miami Beach hotspot Hotel Victor, the Evian offers the world’s most expensive bath for $11,000.

For your information, this package comprises of luxurious food plus personalized spa services. If you are all set to shell out $11, 0000 then Evian bath can offer you a 350-gallon, infinity-edge tub with a pool of water that will invigorate the skin and sanitize the senses. And counting more vibrancy and vigor, multihued Gerber Daisies float in the water via enlightening candles bring a rehabilitated sense of personality. By the time you take bathe get readies at ideal temperature; the Spa V team allures you with a delightful assortment of spa behavior. Hotel Victor chef, Vincent Muraco, augments the behavior with gastronomic formations such as smoked salmon lollipops, potted cru of Foie Gras and a signature hotel sweet platter, the Seven Sins of Chocolate.

Via LuxuryLaunches

In Japan, the heinous crime of victimizing children and clerks at work during late night is at its peak. And no one would ever compromise on one’s safety. Due to which a Japan-based company Nihon Uni has designed a T-shirt that can shield you from the danger of Knife slashes. The lattice pattern actually guards against rip attacks but if one dare to plunge a knife then the fabric cannot bear the attack.

The fiber used for this T-shirt is three times stronger than of a cotton material. The use of ultrahigh molecular weight polyethylene fiber completes well with an aramid fiber used in body armor. The frivolous T-shirt is washable via machines and assures protection against slashing attacks. The short-sleeved version of the T-shirt costs $190-522) while the long-sleeved comes at $220-590. It would be available in Japan from June.

Via FarEastGizmos

If your survival is dependent upon your nose, then I think you won’t compromise for it likewise Ilja Gort, 47, Dutch winemaker. I don’t know if you are aware that in wine making and tasty industry, nose reigns. This is the only reason why Ilja Gort, producer of Chateau de la Garde vineyard in the Bordeaux region of France inked a neat insurance deal for his nose at $8 million.

The covering body, Lloyd’s of London, is definitely habituated to lettering strategies for celebrities’ body parts i.e. America Ferrara’s smile ($10 million). Eyebrows are raised and one is forced to calculate factors that provoked him to go-ahead with this bizarre policy. Lately, when he came to know that a man had lost his sense of smell in a car accident, he couldn’t but rushed towards getting his nose insured as he couldn’t bear even the thought of undergoing the similar accident. FYI: Tasting wine is possible via nose and not mouth. The core of his business sustains on his capability to smell.

Policy disclaimer reads not practicing boxing classes, riding motorcycle and others. They say Gort isn’t the first wine tester having got such a coverage as Angela Mount got insured his senses of both taste and smell in 2003 by dropping a lavish sum of $20.1 million. This makes me wonder, does such a pricey deal counts ordinary cold and allergies under its terms?

Via AFP

It seems constant efforts and new ideas ventured at EliteChoice have managed to measure a geographical reach. Beginning 2008, I did a round-up of 125 Elite Blogs considering their inputs and revolutionary growth during 2007. And we are glad that the same has been identified by the concerned blogs and media sites all over. While the latest in question is Chicago Business News featuring a news-piece about the LuxeTour, a narrated tour of exclusive property listings part of the Luxury Portfolio fine property collection.

Their Blog, Blog.LuxuryPortfolio is a part of the 125 Elite Blogs round-up at EliteChoice. We wish luck to LuxuryPortfolio for adding one more ‘0’ (zero) to the present listing of 10,000 detailed properties.