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Magnes Sisters handbags

Disclosure: I'm highly biased on the subject on multiple levels...

The Magnes Sisters are three sisters (surprise..) who design wonderful handbags. They are among the nicest entrepreneurs I've ever met + they are passionate about creating a wonderfully designed and crafted product. Their bags are in the moderate price range - $150 - 350 - but offer probably the best value you can find for a nice handbag. 

If you're not part of the handbag-ing 1/2 of the population - believe me - a Magnes Sisters handbag is a *perfect* gift for a special occasion.

I'm far from being a fashion expert (especially on woman's accessories..), but here are a few comments I picked up from this site:

• "Love these girls and love these bags - they are amazing, well made and very cool!" - Sari from Brooklyn, February 13, 2007.
• "These handbags are terrific, every detail is figured out, they are worth every penny." - Anne from NY, NY, February 14, 2007.
• "I own a gorgeous red on red Magnes Sisters Bag and I have more people stopping me and asking me about it than you can ever imagine!!! It is roomy and classy -- a perfect bag." - Lisa from NJ, February 14, 2007.
• "Such classy bags, perfectly finished, and goes equally with a relaxed jeans look or a dress! Wait till you open one and see every detail inside... amazing:) Love them!" - Jennifer from NYC from US, February 14, 2007.

Go here to read more. If you own a Magnes handbag and have any feedback, please submit a comment below. Magnes Sister handbags are sold at Nordstrom's and hundreds of other stores (a full list is on their site).

If you're in the NY area tomorrow (Thursday, November 20th 2008), you can meet the sisters (and buy a bag!) at a special event they are doing before the holidays. Full details are below (click the invite for a full size version):

One reason why Hotmail sucks

I used to be a big Hotmail user. Now I use only Gmail. There are probably 100 reasons why Gmail is better, and probably a few in favor of Hotmail too.

But if I had to put my finger on a single reason why Hotmail sucks, it would have to be that damn leaderboard ad on the top of the page (screenshot below).

The traditional 3-pane layout in email apps causes the most precious asset to be the vertical axis. These vertical pixels have to accommodate both the list of emails, and the email itself (not to mention all the regular stuff like menus, logo, etc).

The leaderboard ad kills 90 vertical pixels. On my 1024x768 screen resolution, the vertical viewable browser area (after deducting browser menu bars, Google toolbar, tabs, windows start bar, etc) is 518 pixels. Which means that one stupid ad reduces my precious vertical real estate by nearly 20%. As soon as the Hotmail window loads, it's apparent how annoying this ad is.

I'll bet you that the designer of Hotmail (er - Windows Live) is using Gmail.