Engadget reports that the latest “retro-games stuffed into a joystick you just connect to your TV” offering is a Commodore 64 joystick with 30 games. Thing is, I only remember playing text-based games like Zork on my C64.

The last Oldsmobile has rolled off the assembly plant line. The brand has been around since 1897 and was crafted into a mid-level brand, between the Cadillacs and Chevys, when GM purchased it in 1908. “Final Edition” versions of the last models were produced, with the last Alero’s hood and trunk undersides bearing the signatures of 4,500 plant workers.

eGullet.com has a nice interview with the director of Iron Chef America. Secret ingredients are mentioned, are are the choices of a few publications to reveal the secret ingredients prior to airing, although they had been asked not to. He also discusses the lack of a live audience, and someone for Alton to banter with (apparently, floor guy Kevin doesn’t count in that role — and I’d agree).

Instead of heading to the gym for a workout, grocery shoppers in London can head to Tesco to try out the new “Trim Trolley.” It’s a shopping cart with a heart rate sensor on the handle and a device on the wheels that can increase resistance to burn more calories. It does not, however, monitor the calories you may actually be placing inside the cart.

Note to self: title of article “Quarter of British Kids have Mobiles” does not mean that 25% of the kids in Britain are running around playing with little Alexander Calder sculptures.

The streets of Boston were not laid out by cows. You can put that urban legend to rest. The poorly planned streets were just poorly planned, the result of residents living where they wanted to. Cows did graze on Boston Common way back when, but don’t blame them for the roads. Or the Big Dig budget overruns. (via Follow Me Here)

After many months of getting to know Steinway grand piano No. K0862 in the N.Y. Times columns covering its creation, we now have to get accustomed to two new monikers as it was given two new names: No. 565700 (its serial number, for the 565,700th Steinway built) and CD-60, which identifies it as a part of Steinway’s “concert fleet.” Old No. K0862’s second name places it in the set of pianos loaned out by the company for various events and programs. Thus, when it was sent to the showroom in Manhattan, it went into the basement. This is quite a basement — it could name-drop for hours. Bernstein, Horowitz, Van Cliburn, Rachmaninoff, Glenn Gould, Billy Joel. The basement is where the celebrity pianists go to pick out a Steinway for their recording sessions, concerts, TV shows. And even though CD-60 had been adjusted and readjusted at the factory, the resident technician went through the same drill of going over the hammers and strings, and perhaps not for the final time as a pianist may request further adjustments. 15 pianists gave their opinion of CD-60, most felt it needed time to break-in and “bloom.” But its first gig is lined up. Steinway sent seven grand pianos to the Irving S. Gilmore International Keyboard Festival. So CD-60, formerly No. K0862, is in Kalamazoo, Michigan right now, perhaps getting played by a new talent who will one day walk into the showroom basement and pick out an old friend for a command performance. (N.Y. Times archive of the entire series)

I assumed everyone in Japan lined up at noodle shops for a steaming bowl of lunch, but apparently the elite did not used to patronize food joints of the working class. But certain ramen shops have now become the producers of sought after delicacies. And a contest to find Japan’s best ramen cook gave added exposure to the simple meal of noodles. Upscale eateries opened which feature organic ingredients and fancy interiors. And the regular old noodle shops with their pitchers of water and stacks of chopsticks continue to draw in the crowds — elite or not.

Estée Lauder, the daughter of American immigrants, cooked up skin creams in a New York kitchen with her chemist uncle and went on to build an empire. She died on Saturday at age 97. Her sales techniques set the groundwork for the luxury cosmetics industry. Prescriptives, Clinique, Origins, and Aramis…they are all part of Estée Lauder. M.A.C., Bobbi Brown Essentials and Tommy Hilfiger fragrances are also under the Lauder umbrella. Estée Lauder’s drive, ambition, and salesmanship are legendary in the cosmetics industry. She reportedly studied department store entrances to track which side most women went to upon entering and positioned her cosmetic counters accordingly. She gave us the now ubiquitous “gift with purchase” that fills women’s bathrooms with cute little cosmetic bags stuffed with lipsticks and eyeshadows that don’t always match our coloring. The N.Y. Times called her “the last great independent titan of the cosmetics industry.” Her children and grandchildren now head the companies she created. (N.Y. Times obituary)

Although perspectives can be deceiving in photographs, I get a good idea of the size differences between the Queen Mary 2 and the Queen Elizabeth 2 from these two shots: docked at the piers Sunday and heading out together on Sunday night. They were sent off with a fireworks display, which you can see in this photo where the venerable QE2 gets to look the bigger of the two. Bon voyage!