Philippe Matthews Show Guru Advice, Author Reviews, Tech Reviews, Entertainment News

In the early 20th century, Japanese fountain pen maker Namiki was faced with a dilemma; merchants proudly displayed the company’s pens in shop windows, but they also complained that the pens’ vibrant colors were spoiled by constant exposure to sunlight. To address the issue, the company turned to the traditional ...

From January 27 through January 29, the Ritz-Carlton Golf Resort in Naples, Fla., will host 550 wine enthusiasts for three days of meals and wine tastings at the 2012 Naples Winter Wine Festival. Tickets for the festival, which supports underprivileged children, are $8,500 per couple or $20,000 for two couples, ...

The Black Diamond Ranch private golf community in Lecanto, Fla., located about halfway between the Tampa and Orlando airports, is offering two getaways for golf lovers. The Pure Golf Getaway (from about $400 per person) and the Couples Golf Getaway (about $700 per couple) include two nights’ accommodations in one ...

When Pouenat Ferronnier was awarded the Enterprise of Living Heritage designation by the French government in 2009, it was the culminating honor for the iron smithery that was established in 1880. The firm’s exceptional furnishings—conjured up by such important international modern designers as Tristan Auer, India Mahdavi, and Thomas Boog, ...

Toast or tsk? The unlimited alcohol packages currently offered on the Britain-based Independence of the Seas won't be available during the ship's new seasonal deployment in Florida.

Lana Marks, known for luxurious alligator handbags and accessories, is finally giving the green light to a new collection of men’s exotic-skin leather goods, which was introduced at the designer’s new shop in Shanghai, China, for fall. “This new men’s collection has been in the works since we opened ...

Lamborghini devotees have lamented that in the Italian automaker’s undeniably dazzling lineup of recent years, rear-wheel drive seemed to have gone the way of the carburetor.

For those who wish to do more than just savor Italian food and wines, Milan’s Hotel Principe di Savoia has introduced cooking and wine-pairing classes, available through 2012. Students get a hands-on lesson in the classic Milanese cuisine of executive chef Fabrizio Cadei, followed by dinner at the hotel’s Acanto ...

The family-owned Destiler

It took the Sozzi family nearly a century to open an American outpost for their exceptionally crafted Italian furniture, Promemoria, which is finally available Stateside through a New York showroom. The Sozzi family of Lake Como built carriages for Italian nobility in the 19th century, then moved on to make ...

The Metropolitan London’s new spa, the Como Shambhala Urban Escape, delivers a multitude of indulgent and therapeutic options—from traditional Eastern remedies to cutting-edge treatments. It has six treatment rooms and a gym, and it offers a menu of more than 20 spa services, with additional beauty care, fitness classes, and ...

VTL (Vacuum Tube Logic), one of America’s most highly respected specialists in tube amplification, recently released its new flagship amplifier, the Siegfried Series II Reference monoblock. Outputting 750 watts of power into a 5-ohm load-in tetrode, and 375 watts in triode, each monoblock uses either 12 KT88 or 6550 power ...

The seven most popular cruise ships of 2011 include the newest, flashiest offerings from Carnival, Royal Caribbean and Norwegian Cruise Lines and more.

There’s no denying that even straight off the showroom floor, the new-for-2012 Mercedes-Benz CLS—the automaker’s supremely stylish “four-door coupe”—is a prodigious performer. The 402 hp CLS550 will sprint to 60 mph in a spirited 5.1 seconds, and the beastly CLS63 AMG, with its 518 hp twin-turbo V-8, will make the ...

Most travelers who view the animals in Africa and Antarctica capture the sights in photographs, but Hamish Mackie goes further.