Coolest Hotels in the World

Ariau Amazon Towers

The Ariau Amazon Towers hotel lets you sleep in a tree house. Eight towers make up this hotel that offers over 300 rooms. If you really want to get into the spirit, book the Tarzan suit which is large enough for a big family. You’ll be thirty feet up in the air and can travel between the towers through their wooden walkways.

Prices, starting at $300 one night for each person for a regular room and going all the way up to$3000 for the Tarzan Suite.

For more information, visit the website:http://www.ariautowers.com

The Ice Hotel

Every winter in Jukkasjarvi, Sweden kind of hotel called the Ice Hotel is built. Each year, world-famous artists are invited to design and produce works of art from the ice, many of which can be found in the rooms. You’ll have your choice between hot or cold rooms, but you will be well advised to stay at least one night in a cold room for a true experience

Prices: starting at $318 one night for each person for either a cold room or a warm one.

For more information, visit the website:http://www.icehotel.com

Propeller Island

Propeller Island City Lodge is a very special hotel that was designed by a German list. Each room provides you with the probability of living in a work of art. Every single piece of furniture in the thirty rooms of the hotel has been hand-made and each room is completely different. You’ll be able to choose a room based on your own personal tastes.

Prices: starting at just $91 a night, and an additional person for only 20 extra dollars.

For more information , visit the website: http://www.propeller island.com

For information about other cool hotels in the world，visit the website: http://www.bahamabeachclub.com

For those who are tired doing the laundry, Samsung has found an answer: a washing machine that can tell you when your laundry is done via a smartphone app (application).

Strange though it may seem — “my wife already does that” was a common response among attendees viewing the device when it was introduced at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) this week — Samsung is just one of many appliance makers racing to install (安装) a large number of internet-connected features in machines in an effort to make them “smart”.

Last year, it was a refrigerator that tweeted. This year, it’s Wi-Fi-enabled laundry machines and fridges that can tell you when your groceries are going bad.

The washers and dryers, available starting in the spring, connect to any smartphone through a downloadable application. The phone can then be used as a remote control, so the machines can be turned on and off while their owners are at work or on the bus.

Samsung says it’s not just something new — the app connection actually has some practical uses.

“If you started to dry clothes in the morning and forgot to take them out, you can go to your phone and restart your dryer for the time when come home, so your clothes are refreshed and ready to go,” said spokesperson Amy Schmidt.

The company also says that with electricity rate(电价) varying depending on the time of day, more control over when the machines are used can help save money.

Perhaps, but what they will probably really accomplish is what all good technologies do —enable laziness. Rather than getting up to check on whether the laundry is done, users will instead monitor it on their phones while watching TV.

Astronauts on shorter shuttle missions (使命) often work very long days. Tasks are scheduled (安排) so tightly that break times are often used to finish the day’s work. This type of schedule is far too demanding for long missions on the International Space Station (ISS). ISS crewmembers usually live in space for at least a quarter of a year. They work five days on and two days off to mimic the normal way they do things on Earth as much as possible. Weekends give the crew valuable time to rest and do a few hours of housework. They can communicate with family and friends by email, internet phone and through private video conferences.

While astronauts cannot go to a baseball game or a movie in orbit, there are many familiar activities that they can still enjoy. Before a mission, the family and friends of each ISS crewmember put together a collection of family photos, messages, videos and reading material for the astronauts to look at when they will be floating 370 kilometers above the Earth.   During their mission, the crew also receives care packages with CDs, books, magazines, photos and letters. And as from early 2010, the internet became available on the ISS , giving astronauts the chance to do some “web surfing (冲浪)” in their personal time. Besides relaxing with these more common entertainments, astronauts can simply enjoy the experience of living in space.

Many astronauts say that one of the most relaxing things to do in space is to look out the window and stare at the universe and the Earth’s vast land mass and oceans.

I had difficulty in finding work when I was in my twenties. Finally, Seagulls Reuse in Leeds took me on as a volunteer. It's an environmental social enterprise that rescues 400 tonnes of paint from landfill (垃圾填埋池) annually and repurposes it to offer a bespoke (定制的) paint-mixing service. I carved out my own role, mixing paint, working with other volunteers and assisting customers, before being hired as a decorator and full-time member of staff. It wasn't until then, in my late 20s, that I realised I'm colour-blind.

Mixing paint is nothing like the colour wheel you learn at school; blue and green doesn't just make green. You don't even mix different greens to make green paint. It's more technical and complex than that, and there are so many subtle (微妙的) variations.

Dulux and other big companies let machines do all the work, but our process is nothing like that. We can also only use the colours we have in the warehouse that day, so we sometimes have to get creative. They have scientists, but we have our intuition (直觉), years of experience and an essential human touch and eye.

I'm 38 now, and have been at Seagulls for 11 years. I've learned that I struggle most with colours. I see green in dark browns and creams and some reds I see as pink. So, along with the knowledge I've now memorised, I use different skills with customers. I get them involved by explaining how I'm creating their paint and encourage feedback (反馈). That way, we're both helping each other get the perfect result. I write down things I do wrong, so I don't repeat them.

If I tell customers I'm colour-blind, they're always shocked and say they'd never have guessed. I do have a visual problem, but I'm not angry about it and wouldn't change it even if I could. It's made me push myself harder.