Maybe it would be best for both Jón Bjarnason and the whole country if he were to move to Grímsey, an uninhabited island in the West Fjords.
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The new Dreamliner, Boeing 787, landed at Keflavík International Airport yesterday morning for test flights in side wind. According to the airport’s information officer Fridthór Eydal, the airplane will be in Iceland for test flights for about a week.
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Click on the picture to watch an audio slideshow of a hike to Hraunsvatn lake in Öxnadalur valley in north Iceland, which lies at a height of 490 meters, interlocked between two steep mountains and a small glacier with a view of the majestic Hraundrangar peaks.
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Fjallabyggd (“Mountain Settlement”) is a skier’s dream. Its slopes are perfect for slaloming and there are also tracks for telemark skiing. Winter sporting enthusiasts can also go ice skating or rent snowmobiles. In summer, Fjallabyggd turns into a paradise for hikers. Read this special promotion about one of Iceland’s best hidden gems.
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Hjalti Jakobsson launched the computer program Peel earlier this month. The purpose is to locate new mp3 files online and introduce them to users.
“During the last two or three years mp3 blogs have become a cultural phenomenon. People write about music, post songs or link to songs on band websites,” Jakobsson told Fréttabladid.
“What I did with my program is to summarize all this so it’s accessible in one place,” Jakobsson explained. He is studying computer science at Reykjavík University and describes himself as a computer and music nerd in one.
“It had begun to annoy me how much time I spent surfing from one mp3 blog to another to stay updated. In the program [Peel], you subscribe to the blogs and then the program follows novelties and finds the songs,” Jakobsson said.
“The program lets you know, almost like an email service, whether there are any new songs that you haven’t listened to yet. Then you press play and listen to the songs, just like in other music programs,” he added.
By pressing one button Peel users can also read about the songs or upload them into other music programs like iTunes. Peel is only available for Macintosh users at the moment, but Jakobsson is working on a version for PCs as well.
When asked about the origins of the program’s name, Jakobsson explained: “Peel means unveiling something and so discovering something new. And it’s a reference to the famous radio presenter John Peel. This is sort of in his honor.”
Users can download the program for free from www.getpeel.com to try it out. “There are still a few flaws in it, but the final version will be ready in one or two months. Then I will sell it for about ISK 1,000 [EUR 11, USD 15],” Jakobsson said.
Peel has been well-received. "The program has twice been featured in Wired and the mp3 bloggers have responded positively," Jakobsson said.
The second issue of the print edition of Iceland Review 2010 has just been published. Entitled “Under the Volcano” the magazine dedicates 20 pages, words and pictures, to the volcanic eruption in Eyjafjallajökull glacier which made headlines all over the word. New subscribers will receive the book 2010 Eruptions as a gift and all subscribers are part of a draw to win a trip to Iceland. Click here to subscribe to the magazine.
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Dadi Gudbjörnsson's art with its smiley faces, Aladdin's lamps, gleaming hearts, blue mountains and psychedelic flora of unearthly origin reminds me of the cheesy R.E.M. song “Shiny Happy People”. The sugar-sweet naivety fails to amuse me but I must admit it infects my mood with delirious joy.
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Former President of Iceland Vigdís Finnbogadóttir turned 80 on 15 April this year and Mayor Hanna Birna Kristjánsdóttir—in making her an Honorary Citizen of Reykjavík to mark the occasion—observed that Finnbogadóttir’s life was interwoven with that of Reykjavík. In June 1980 Finnbogadóttir made history when she became the world’s first democratically elected female head of state.
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Today, August 30, and tomorrow is your last chance to visit the exhibition “Eau De Parfum” by Andrea Maack at the Spark Design Space in Reykjavík. In the exhibition space, Maack introduces three perfumes that are the result of her collaboration with French perfumery apf aromes & parfums.
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