IphoneApp

There are quite a few wine apps out there for choosing a bottle but the Liberty School WINE DJ app is a unique program combining music and wine. The application builds a playlist of "Music to Match Your Spirits" based on mood, setting and which Liberty School wine is being consumed. The app is available for download free via Apple's app store and on Apple's iTunes.

After launching the app, users are prompted to choose a Liberty School wine (cabernet, chardonnay, etc.) and are shown a series of sliders to adjust variables that correspond with their situation to help determine the mood for the music. With music sourced from GrooveShark.com, the potential for unique playlists are extensive. The app comes with information on Liberty School wines including tasting notes and a map feature that shows the nearest retailers who carry the wine. The WINE DJ Liberty School iPhone app is compatible with several wines within the Hope Family Wines portfolio including Liberty School, Candor, and Treana. I tested this out a few weeks ago and it's pretty fun. The best part is that if you don't like what is playing you can always fiddle with the sliders and get more music.

Like this shoe? I hope you have an iPhone.

Mark Ronson collaborated with Gucci Creative Director Frida Giannini to design this exclusive beaut for the launch of the new Gucci iPhone App, as well as a new Gucci pop-up shop tour called GUCCI ICON-TEMPORARY.

If you haven't heard of pop-up shops, they're designer stores which exist for just a couple of weeks -- sort of like a trunk show, only it's way more involved, and there's way more money involved, as they open up a whole store. Big name designers have been opening these kinds of stores all over the world.

GUCCI ICON-TEMPORARY will open up to the public October 24 in NYC on Crosby Street and peddle sneakers for just two weeks. The store will then tour to Miami (December 1st), London (2010) and Tokyo (2010). If you're in the US, one model of the Gucci Ronson sneaker collection will be available only to iPhone and iTouch users who've downloaded the Gucci App (click here, it's free).

The Gucci App also features music playlists by Ronson and Giannini, as well as access to the Gucci Little Black Book, which has "best-of information for hotels, restaurants, bars and clubs in more than 20 major cities around the world. Also included in this section is a list of Giannini's own favorite spots around the world," and the Gucci Music Channel.

We love it when music and fashion collide.

"I spent many many years as an avid sneaker collector, so I wanted to make sure these Gucci shoes were truly special, both from an aesthetic point of view and a collectible one," says Ronson. "Frida and I also agreed it was important for there to be a unique musical element to the project, so I'm going to be collaborating with artists, making limited edition tracks for each store opening."

The Gucci Ronson sneakers will come with their own exclusive packaging and a 12" vinyl record with tracks selected by Mark Ronson himself. Visit the GUCCI ICON-TEMPORARY website for more information.

Okay, so it seems like Christie's is looking for any way it can to get into your wallet. Can you blame the auction house? Even with the occasional touch of good news, 2009 has generally been a dismal year, thanks to a global economic crisis that has brought the art market back down to Earth (hell, some would say six feet under it). Any business guru would tell you that when the market sucks, you need to find a new revenue stream. And, iPhone apps offer a brand new bandwagon to jump on, so why not?

This is a pretty wild development for a company that celebrated its tenth anniversary when the colonies declared independence (Christies was founded in 1766, if you couldn't figure it out). The iPhone will stand alongside the gavel, if all goes well, as the implement by which an auction is defined.

Christie's hopes that the bidding application will attract new money bidders to the auction house, ideally to pick up some of the lots that aren't moving and to possibly push prices up a bit. Think about it: if you're not into the auction scene, going to one of those things is a friggin' drag. Unless you move heaven and earth to get "approved," you're stuck in the back with the prolies – standing. That's no way to spend money! And, the dress code? If I hit it big, my first move would be to never wear a suit again. My jeans would lead to discrimination, so the iPhone app makes sense ... as long as there are wealthy versions of me out there (and I think there are).

Obviously committed to promoting how brilliant this idea is, Christie's draws a parallel to bids from its Christie's LIVE website, which accounted for 11 percent of the lots sold last year. There's no comment on what the website's been worth this year. But, let's be fair. The auction house is having trouble selling through any channel, so we can't blame innovation.