Daniel Craig may well have called it quits on his 007 duties but his villainous rides will never die.

Tweaked Automotive have given keen punters of the famous spy franchise a chance to own a piece of cinema history with their very own version of the Land Rover Defender brought up to ‘SPECTRE EDITION’ spec. What that means is that the iconic lines of the Defender are given an ominous makeover straight out of the Bond film including 16″ beadlock wheels, crazy off-road flares, flood lights, a heavy duty winch and the mandatory predatory gun metal.

Being a custom fitted car, the Defender also receives a host of luxury appointments to ensure driving the kids to school will scare the hell out of other motorists whilst keeping your occupants comfortable in its air -conditioned plush interior and heated seats.

Those who have an existing 90 or 110 model can also bring it along to get the Tweaked Automotive SPECTRE EDITION treatment. There’s no price tag on the fit out but those game enough do get a special ‘SPECTRE EDITION’ plaque on the winch.

The post Live Your Bond Villain Dreams With The Land Rover Defender ‘SPECTRE EDITION’ appeared first on DMARGE Australia.

The following article has been sponsored by Vacheron Constantin

With a history spanning over 260 years, Vacheron Constantin is a luxury watchmaking house like no other.

The brand possesses a vast archive of horological history from which to draw inspiration from. 1977 was the year the brand released the 222, a watch featuring a stainless steel case and integrated bracelet with a sports oriented expression.

This would form the basis of Vacheron Constantin’s very first sports models, culminating in this year’s release of the Overseas collection. The 2016 Overseas carries over design elements from the original 222 as well as being a modern, elegant, everyday watch.

Detailing The Overseas Collection

The new Overseas collection is distinguished by the design of its case and bracelet, with the brand’s Maltese Cross featuring as a design motif on the bracelet and the bezel. The lines of the case taper towards the bracelet and it is amazing to see the amount of finishing that goes into these new cases for the Overseas collection.

A multitude of finishes can be seen including satin finishing and polishing. Furthermore, each link of the bracelet where the Maltese Cross motif is displayed is individually bevelled, showing off the level of hand finishing and the care lavished on the bracelet.

Most distinctive of this new collection is the new strap quick-change system. With the stainless steel models the watch comes with a stainless steel bracelet, a sporty rubber strap, and an elegant alligator leather strap. With the lift of a lever, the straps can be changed with no tools needed. A simple and satisfying click is all it takes for the strap to be fitted and secure.

A Signature Movement

The new models of the Overseas collection includes a basic Automatic model with time and date (Reference 4500V), an innovative World Time model which indicates all 37 different time zones including those that are offset by quarter or half hours (Reference 7700V) and, perhaps the most sporty of all, the Overseas Chronograph (Reference 5500V).

Housing the new Caliber 5200, the movement is a brand new automatic chronograph caliber for the brand that is incredibly refined and also bears the Hallmark of Geneva. The movement’s plates are decorated with Geneva Stripes and bevelled to highlight the shapes of the bridges.

To bring the movement into accordance with the Hallmark of Geneva, even components that are not visible from the caseback are finished excellently. These include straight graining on the flanks or the sides of the component and circular graining on the mainplates and dial-side of the movement.

The movement is finally topped off with an exquisite dial available in silver, brown or blue. The dial finishing is something to behold in itself, combining the best of decoration with wearer legibility. A sunburst finish radiates from the centre of the dial and a velvet-finished flange marks the border of the dial.

When it comes to detail, there’s really nothing the Overseas collection hasn’t compromised on. The chronograph counters are textured with snailing and the markers are applied and crafted out of 18k white gold just like the hands. To top it all off, the dial is finished off with a beautiful coat of lacquer, giving it not only its colour, but also its stunning translucent appearance.

On the wrist, the Vacheron Constantin Overseas Chronograph makes for a distinguished partner in crime. The overall look of the watch is definitively modern whilst faithfully retaining the design characteristics of the original 222.

The post Lost In Tokyo With The Vacheron Constantin Overseas appeared first on DMARGE Australia.

No matter how old you get, there’s at least one childhood dream you cling to: that one day, you will own a BMW that can transform into an alien robotic being.

Enter Letvision, a Turkish company that isn’t delivering aliens, but may indeed be delivering a real-life Transformer. Details are fuzzy on exactly what Letvision does. The website describes it as “a startup and R&D company” that is “the creator of innovative and new products.” From there it gets even more opaque:

“Letvision is aiming sensitive and infinite touch experience especially association and foundations who wants to differentiate from their competitors according to their requests.”

It’s a head-scratcher, but you know what they say about actions speaking louder than words, and the video above practically screams. Yes, that’s an actual BMW morphing into a Michael Bay-worthy machine.

The prototype is called Letrons and appears to be operated via a remote control. Letvision says the idea came about during a brainstorming session for “a unique and futuristic project.” We say, “Nailed it.”

The first model, Antimon, took 8 months to complete. A team of 12 engineers and 4 supporting technicians worked on the project, which was developed and constructed in Turkey. It’s an actual car, although it can’t be driven on the street, and walking functionality hasn’t been added to its post-transformation alter ego. It’s capable of moving its arms, hands, and fingers in robot form, along with its head and neck. It can also generate fog, lighting, and sound effects to set the mood.

As for what you really want to know… these incredible mechano-beasts allegedly are for sale, though there’s no mention of a price anywhere on the website. It’s hard to imagine there’s much of a market for such a unique creation, but there’s gotta be a billionaire somewhere who’s run out of new toys to buy.

The post Fingers Crossed This Insane Real-Life Transformer Is Not A Hoax appeared first on DMARGE Australia.

Forget what Blue Oyster Cult said. This is a reaper you can fear. The Paqui Carolina Reaper potato chips – made from the hottest pepper on the planet – are so unbearably spicy that they only come one per package. Naturally, the internet is obsessed.Paqui’s hellish chip announces its evil intentions up front. It comes in a red, coffin-shaped box. The scythe-wielding figure of death is depicted on the front along with the warning “Inside: one deadly chip.” On the reverse is a challenge: “Do you dare to go to hell and back?”Open the foreboding box and you’ll find a lone, standard-size chip and more chilling words. “Think you can handle the heat?” “There’s no turning back once you enter Homemade Hell.” “The reaper is waiting. Any last words?”As welcome mats go, this one leaves something to be desired. And yet, despite the obvious impending misery, Carolina Reaper peppers are in the midst of meme-ification, with countless brave/delusional souls taking the #CarolinaReaperChallenge and sharing their gut-destroying experiences on social media. Paqui’s Carolina Reaper chip couldn’t come at a better time.The company is encouraging fans to try the fiendish chips and post their reactions with the hashtags #OneChipChallenge and #sweeps (or by tagging @PaquiTortillas). Those who do score free bags of the brand’s more conventionally flavored snacks, along with the chance to win a year’s supply of chips and a GoPro Hero4 Silver.Jeff Day, Paqui’s Brand Manager, told Mashable about the origins of Satan’s own chip. “We’re always looking to push the limits to find fun ways for our fans and consumers to engage with us,” he said. “When we decided that we wanted to make the world’s hottest chip, we first said, well, we need to find the world’s hottest pepper.”“Push the limits?” Yes. “Fun?” Debatable.“The reason that we’re selling this as one chip is because quite honestly, that’s all that you need. That’s all that anyone needs,” he continued. “It’s the hottest chip you’ll ever have, I can guarantee you that. After you eat that one chip, trust me, you’re not looking to dig back into the bag and have a second one.”We’re all for a little spice, which can have useful health benefits, but this? Our tongues might be taking a pass.

The post One Chip Challenge: The World’s Spiciest Potato Chip appeared first on DMARGE Australia.

Cast your mind back – way back – to the dark days before Gmail. Remember your Yahoo account? Now would be a good time to change that password.

Rumours of a monumental Yahoo hack have been confirmed by the company. The account information of at least 500 million users was stolen by hackers in 2014, including names, email addresses, passwords, telephone numbers, and answers to some security questions. This is the biggest known intrusion of a single company’s computer network to date.

Wait, What Happened?

Yahoo chief information security officer Bob Lord confirmed on the company’s Tumblr blog that “a copy of certain user account information was stolen from the company’s network in late 2014 by what it believes is a state-sponsored actor. The account information may have included names, email addresses, telephone numbers, dates of birth, hashed passwords (the vast majority with bcrypt) and, in some cases, encrypted or unencrypted security questions and answers.”

This is not good news for the half a billion accounts affected, nor is it good for Yahoo, which is in the midst of trying to negotiate a deal to sell itself to Verizon for US$4.8 billion. Talk about damaged goods.

Yikes. How Bad Is It?

Bad, but there’s a small bit of brightness amidst the dark, for both Yahoo and the 500 million accounts that have been breached. “The ongoing investigation suggests that stolen information did not include unprotected passwords, payment card data, or bank account information,” says the Yahoo blog. “Payment card data and bank account information are not stored in the system that the investigation has found to be affected.”

The company is working with law enforcement and has taken steps to minimise damage. All potentially affected users are being notified by email. Yahoo has also invalidated unencrypted security questions and answers so they cannot be used to access an account.

“An increasingly connected world has come with increasingly sophisticated threats. Industry, government and users are constantly in the crosshairs of adversaries,” writes Lord. “Through strategic proactive detection initiatives and active response to unauthorized access of accounts, Yahoo will continue to strive to stay ahead of these ever-evolving online threats and to keep our users and our platforms secure.

Ok, So What’s Next?

The first step is obvious: change your password, security questions, and answers immediately, whether or not you’ve received an email from Yahoo. Be sure to change them for any other accounts on which you used the same or similar information used for your Yahoo account (but remember, you really shouldn’t be reusing passwords).

Review your accounts for signs of suspicious activity and be wary of “unsolicited communications that ask for your personal information or refer you to a web page asking for personal information.” Avoid clicking on links or downloading attachments from suspicious emails.

The post Everything You Need To Know About The Yahoo Hack appeared first on DMARGE Australia.

With property prices out of control, many of us choose (i.e. are forced) to rent. Unfortunately, renting comes with a number of setbacks that can restrict creativity and individualisation.

With a little clever thinking and some of the following tips, you can personalise your rental property to feel cozy without risking an angry landlord or lost bond.

Temporary Storage

Older rental properties tend to forgo built-in closets and other custom cabinetry, so you’ll have to get creative with storage like bookcases, chests of drawers and shelving. Old suitcases and trunks offer a stylish way to store blankets and pillows or gaming devices and DVDs. Plus they can double as a coffee table.

Overhaul Outdated Hardware

Take a look inside most rental kitchens and bathrooms and you’ll be underwhelmed with the handles and knobs used. Luckily, this is a simple thing to change and takes little more than a trip to Bunnings and a couple of hours with the screwdriver to complete. Remove old handles or doorknobs (keep them together in a box or bag so you can re-install them when moving out) and install fixtures that match your personal style and furniture.

Ditch The Ugly Blinds & Curtains

Remove those ugly, old, stained or daggy curtains that came with your rental property and banish them to a garbage bag, store them in a dark corner and replace them post-haste! New blinds, venetians and curtains can be expensive, but remember you can take them with you to your next abode, so the investment is worthwhile when considering the overall look of your home.

Rug Up

Rugs are a renters’ best friend. Capable or hiding hideous carpet or protecting floorboards (and your bond), rugs instantly transform the look, feel and texture of a room. Choose a design that appeals to you and matches your décor.

Art Attack

Brings rental walls to life by mounting art and photos. You could hammer nails into the wall (just remember you’ll have to fill them in come moving time) or stick with removable sticky hooks for ease of removal. Less is more, so don’t overdo it and consider one statement piece hung in the living room, or one piece per room.

Lighting & Fixtures

Are your rental light fixtures too ugly to look at? Lightbulbs too dim or too bight? The solution is simple: change them. Opt for energy saving bulbs to lower electricity costs and replace old fixtures with ones that suit your style.

Again, be sure to store the old fixtures somewhere safe so they can be reinstalled before you move out.   Interesting floor and table lamps can also add a splash of character to a dreary rental property while eliminating harsh overhead lighting for a warmer, more homely, atmosphere.

Create A Green Oasis

Get your green thumb at the ready and add life and colour to a rental home with indoor plants (and outdoor ones if you have a balcony or backyard). Vertical gardens are becoming increasingly popular and are fairly simple to construct while adding maximum impact. If that seems like too much hard work, stick with simple succulents and potted plants.

Tip: if you are unsure about the validity of your temporary renovations check with the landlord. By doing so you’ll avoid headaches down the track and ensure a harmonious relationship – nobody wants an angry landlord!                 

Mirror Image

Mirrors are essential for all renters, but particularly for those renting small spaces. Strategically placed mirrors add space and dimension to a room and it is recommended to have at least one positioned opposite a window for amplification of light. Full-length mirrors leaning up against a wall or starburst options are some of our favourites because they instantly inject style and sophistication into a room.

Wallpaper

Wallpaper might sound like a pain in the a*#, but it’s easier than you think thanks to the introduction of temporary wallpaper. Incredibly easy to remove, temporary wallpaper will give you the opportunity to add pattern and colour to blank walls without leaving behind any permanent damage.

Soft Furnishings

A temporary home doesn’t need to be filled with temporary furnishings, so decorate your home with furniture you love and don’t be shy with blankets, throw rugs and cushions. Experiment with colour and texture because these small and inexpensive additions are phenomenal at giving a bland room character and charm.

The post Clever & Creative Ways To Spruce Your Rented Home appeared first on DMARGE Australia.

England is out, Thailand is in. After two years on top, London has officially been replaced by Bangkok as the world’s top-ranked destination city according to the Mastercard Global Destinations Cities Index.

The annual report selects the most popular cities to visit by evaluating visitor volume and spend estimates for the calendar year. Bangkok earned top honours in the 2016 listing of 132 cities, with a projected 21.47 million international overnight visitors.

“It isn’t a flash in the pan. Bangkok is in a strong position to be the top destination city for a long time,” Yuwa Hedrick-Wong, Mastercard chief economist, told Reuters. “There’s the value for money, especially for visitors coming from high-income countries.”

London scored a solid second place with 19.88 million projected visitors, followed by Paris with just over 18 million. The biggest surprise in this year’s Index is Dubai’s jump to the top rank based on international visitor spending of US$31.3 billion – a number that far exceeds London, which again earned the silver medal with estimated spending of US$19.8 billion.

The Mastercard Global Destinations Cities Index also looks at destinations on the rise. The year’s fastest growing cities suggest that the Asia Pacific region, the Middle East, and Africa have become increasingly important to the global economic landscape. Osaka showed the strongest growth in international visitors over the last seven years, with Chengdu, Abu Dhabi, Colombo, and Tokyo rounding out the top five.

The post Revealed, The Most Popular Cities For Travellers In 2016 appeared first on DMARGE Australia.

Raw. Uncompromising. Sharp. Brutally fast. Oddly spacious. These are the words that come to mind when you get handed the keys to one of the year’s most anticipated performance cars.

Unlike our other test drives though, this one doesn’t wear an exotic European badge. What it does wear is the ‘RS’ moniker tacked to the back of an iconic blue oval. This a run of the mill Ford Focus hatchback on steroids.

Origins Of RS

Quick history lesson: Ford’s RS name was born from the world of rallying where the American manufacturer spent decades tearing up the gravel. By the late 70s, the ‘Rallye Sport’ name was pretty much set in stone with the Escort RS1800 cleaning up more than half a decade’s worth of competition and taking out a manufacturers’ title along the way.

Today, Ford’s ‘Rallye Sport’ name has evolved to be known simply as ‘RS’ – a code given only to the company’s most formidable performance cars.

Fast forward to 2016 and we now have the successor to 40 years worth of racing lineage in our hands.

We put the Focus RS to the test in three separate driving conditions around Sydney to see how the little blue beast would hold up.

Driver Focused

Let’s get the important stuff out of the way. The new Ford Focus RS is a purist’s car designed to push the hatchback’s chassis to its limits. In pursuit of speed and driver involvement, it also comes with a few compromises in the practicality department. Here’s what you need to know.

It only comes in a manual: For super fun driving purposes, the quick and precise six-speed box is great. The sixth  gear is fine for economical highway cruising whilst lower down the cogs you get all the power you’ll ever need (more on that later).

Lest we forget, there’s also a heavy clutch used to harness the car’s big power. I drive a manual car on the daily and I can say that driving the RS for a few days in Sydney’s start/stop traffic ensured I wouldn’t need to train leg day ever again.

Just the left leg anyway. The clutch is springy and if you forget to depress hard enough between shifts, you’ll stall it. I did. Twice.

You’ll only use half the driver modes: Ford built this car for fun both on and off the track. On public roads drivers will only really use two modes – Normal or Sport. In Normal mode the car is relatively sedate, with settings such as AWD, steering, dampers, exhaust, engine and electronic stability control all complying (just) to regular driving habits. Mash the pedal and the car moves well but not with the manic pace of the beast hiding within.

Toggle over to the Sport mode and what lies beneath the RS is unleashed in all of its fury. The aforementioned settings all switch into a more agile state except for the dampers and ESC. The steering is immediately sharper, the idle rpm sits higher and the exhaust note is louder. There’s even a welcome addition of rally-style pops and bangs on quick upshifts or backing off the throttle in lower gears. It had us giggling like a joyous little girl around town.

Toggling one over once more to Track Mode and everything goes into an aggressive Sport mode with dampers and ESC now joining the party. Accuracy and precision on the track is the name of the game and it’s only there that these limits can be effectively tested. No one’s stopping a driver from running Track mode on public roads, but there’s no point since you won’t be going fast enough and the stiffer ride setting will just shatter your back. Save this one for the track.

And then there’s the controversial Drift mode which the local police want banned in all local sales of the Focus RS. Drift mode tweaks the car’s AWD torque splitting system to send more power to the rear wheels whilst also softening the dampers and steering to make the car easier to hold slides. We didn’t attempt this one since it’s a track setting that will see its true potential on the track. Men have tried on public roads and failed.

It’s a bumpy ride: By most normal driving standards the Focus RS is a stiff ride even in its Normal driving mode. I didn’t mind it so much since I personally love to feel the road through the steering wheel and chassis, but for most used to driving luxury cars, the Focus RS is a bit hardcore.

Steering circle isn’t great: This isn’t necessarily a bad thing. It’s just a trade off for using a short rack to give drivers the most precise steering feel possible along with razor sharp response. In return, the car pays for it with a poor turning circle.

Insane amounts of grip: Mechanical grip is supplied through Ford’s AWD torque vectoring system which can send 100% of power to the front wheels when there’s no slipping. Once there’s steering input or slipping, the torque can be split with up to 70% of power going to the rear. In my wet drive through the mountains, the RS lapped it up like a walk in the park. No aqua planing, no unsettling over bumps and generally poised throughout all types of corners. It gave this driver confidence to push that little bit harder. The car is also equipped with Michelin Pilot Cup 2s which provided supreme levels of racing grip wrapped on 19-inch forged black alloys.

Power Hungry

The Focus RS ditches the standard grocery engine and borrows its heart directly from the bigger Ford Mustang. That means a 2.3-litre turbo four cylinder given an even higher state of tune to get it to 257kW of power and 470Nm of torque. These figures are of course indicative of the overboost mode which elevates power for up to 15 seconds. Official torque is only 440Nm whilst it does the 0-100km/h dash in 4.7 seconds.

The ferocity of the engine in Sport mode was so intoxicating that it had us filling up two times in a matter of just five days. The automatic start/stop engine feature helps but only just. This car was meant to be enjoyed and we did just that. If you must know, Ford reckons it does 7.7L/100km. Driven the way it’s intended to be, you can wave that single litre digit goodbye – with a fat smile on your face.

Interior

‘Made in Germany’ usually brings a sense of pride to any car interior. The German-made Focus RS must have missed that memo and opted for the American parts bin instead. The door handle plastic in our car had a minor gap which gave a squeaky noise every time I closed the door. There’s also a lot of dark plastic in the cabin and the oil/water/boost gauge looks a tad childish.

Yes, this is a Ford after all and the interior finish is one place where the car falls behind. And we love it for this very reason. Everything in the interior is there purely for function rather than to satisfy one’s aesthetic tastes.

The Recaro reclinable bucket seats lined with leather and Alcantara were a dream to sit in through traffic and long distance drives. The gauges, whilst slightly archaic in design, provided all the diagnostics we could ever need, and the hard cheap plastics around the dash? That was the least of our worries when driving the RS ragged and having the time of our life.

For a driver’s car a winner was the fact that the RS could fit five passengers with luggage and still be fun to drive. Elements of the standard Focus also remain intact with dual USB ports and cup holders tucked away beside the front and rear seats.

Ford’s SYNC2 entertainment system was a bit slow to find our phone but that was a non-issue since the engine noise is all you’ll ever want to hear.

Last Words

The RS is a special breed of machine which relies on the wits of direct driver input, a sublime six-speed manual transmission, grippy tyres, a spritely engine and a sophisticated AWD system.

It’s all about getting the job done the old school way.

Yes, the interior is bland and lacks luxury, but customers of this car aren’t paying for that. They’re paying for the unadulterated thrills behind the wheel provided by the car’s underpinnings. If you want the same sensation in a more refined package, go for the Mercedes AMG A45.

If you seek endless bouts of fun and don’t mind a harsher ride, then the RS is your car.

The post Angry Little Man: Behind The Wheel Of The Ford Focus RS appeared first on DMARGE Australia.

Social media perfectionists of the world rejoice. Instagram have finally added the much-needed draft option to their photo sharing app.

This means that when you’re half way through editing an epic selfie and you get distracted by a flying pig, you no longer need to pick up from scratch. Simply jump back into your drafts and the semi-edited image will be sitting in there saved and awaiting your final touches.

To use the new feature, select an image you want to Instagram as usual and go through the necessary filters. Hit the next button and add more details to it like location, caption and tags. Instead of hitting next, tap the black arrow going back instead.

The prompt box which used to warn you that going back will remove your edited image now has an extra ‘save draft’ option which users can select instead of discarding their hard work. Returning to the draft image later on is a simple case of opening Instagram and going into your media library where there’s a new ‘drafts’ category.

There’s a small catch though. Instagram will only save your draft photo if you’ve added a caption, a filter or tagged people in your image. So there you have it Insta freaks – your social media editing nightmares are no more.

The post Instagram Have Added The One Feature People Have Been Asking For appeared first on DMARGE Australia.