Whitney Museum of American Art is not so well-known art gem near the Guggenheim. The museum collections allows you to create a comprehensive view on modern and contemporary American art.

The best time to visit the museum is on Friday nights, as you can pay what you like to. Saving money is not the only perk, but usually the place is quite packed and the feeling is very relaxed. You can enjoy the art and mingle with the people.

www.whitney.org, 945 Madison Avenue at 75th Street, New York, NY

At the end of the nineties, I and a few friends were actively spending some quality time in a student club in Helsinki University of Technology. As usually, the club was pennyless, but our visions were big. I came up with a slogan No Windows, No Problems that went well with the geekish image of the club, and we designed a T-shirt and sold them with minor profit.

Of course, I got my T-shirt, but unfortunately the printing went bad quite fast. A few weeks ago I spotted one of the shirts on a page of City magazine and started to ponder on creating the T-shirts again.

The design was really simplistic but still striking. I didn’t find any digital copies as my hard disks have died during round the world trip back in 1998 — can you imagine, two 4 GB SCSI disks stop working after been on for 33 days?

I couldn’t scan the image from my T-shirt as it was partly vanished, so I had to create a new design:

The new design is still striking, but it’s better composed and maybe better controlled. It also shows the passion better than the previous black and white logo.

As we nowadays have Internet with a lot of possibilities, I yesterday opened a shop in CafePress to get the shirts printed and delivered to whom they may concern.

Check out the site at www.cafepress.com/nowindows and consider showing that you care about having proper operating system.

Apple Store is the coolest place to buy Macs, accessories and software in the big apple. The shop is very airy and filled with exciting Apple gadgets. Expect to find all the latest stuff there.

The first floor hosts most of the gadgets and on the second room you find Genius Bar, where you can ask for help to solve any technical issues you may have. There are also free seminars on the second floor.

You can also access Internet for free from the laptops on the showroom. Otherwise attentive staff does not bother you while you are reading emails or surfing the web.

If you don’t have an iPod already, consider buying one. The shop has the same price level as most of the Apple retailers, so the exclusive design brings no extra harms.

www.apple.com/retail/soho/, 103 Prince Street, New York, NY, +1 212 226-3126

SEA Thai Bistro is a well designed Thai restaurant in Williamsburg. The place has been able to combine good food, good service and trendy interiors with inexpensive prices. I was especially delighted to see Eero Aarnio’s bubble chairs on the lounge. Way to go!

The restaurant provides the basic Thai fare with some international flavour. The menu is not extensive, but even more picky people can find something on the list.

The food comes quickly, as usually in Thai restaurants. The taste is good and the portions are sized right; no need to eat until you burst.

Thai curries are always a good choice. Just remember to select proper hotness…

SEA Thai Bistro, 114 North 6th Street (in Williamsburg district), New York, NY, + 1 718 384-8850

Yesterday I and Sanna visited Helsinki city centre and moved in the city as tourists. It was a refreshing experience, especially as the weather was nice. Instead of following the normal paths, we took a little bit different routes and took fresh look of the city, the buildings and the shops.

I had our Canon compact camera with me, and when we visited a shop or a cafe, I took a picture of it to me added later to the reviews section. We probably looked like tourists, too…

After having wandered from shop to shop, we visited in old market hall to eat some sushi — we rarely eat anything poshy in Helsinki, as the prices are steep. The experience was nice, felt like being a little bit out of sync from the norm. Too bad that the sushi didn’t taste much of anything.

After lunch, we continued shopping without any specific targets or goals until it was time take a bus home. I suggest you to try it out; try to look your city from eyes of a tourist, a stranger. You’ll find much beauty that you haven’t seen before.

W hotel at Times Square is a hip hotel indeed; staff is wearing all black, the lobby is ultra-trendy with cubic styling and well-designed lightning, the corridors and the elevators follow the colour schemes well, and the rooms are airy and cleanly executed. It was like being in Finland, everything worked and looked fabulous…

You either love or hate the place, you cannot be in between.

I loved it. The bed was big and comfortable, the view was magnificent and the design was just adorable. Others would probably hated the odd shower, toilet with glass (though opaque) walls, black corridors and dimly lit elevators.

The staff could have done better in service, we missed our morning paper on two mornings. On the other hand, the bed was made twice a day and you got candies every time. Such small perks of life…

The hotel is very chic and still everything works okay. The views from the upper floors are magnificent. The glass tabletop may be a little disturbing as you see the Broadway traffic jams next to your laptop.

www.whotels.com, 1567 Broadway at 47th Street, New York, NY, +1 212 930 7400

Second Home on Second Avenue is a boutique b&b (without breakfast, though) style apartment hotel. The rooms are airy in good condition. Having hardwood floors in NYC hotel is an unrivalled luxury for people coming from the Nordic countries. The beds are excellent and there is not much noise from the streets to disturb sleeping.

The place is located near the Union Square, so it is quite accessible with the public transportation.

Some rooms have shared bathrooms in the corridor, so try to reserve early to get own bathroom.

The owner of the place, Carlos, is a nice guy and ready to go lengths for serving the quests.

www.secondhome.citysearch.com, 221 Second Avenue, New York, NY, +1 212 677 3161, secondh@aol.com

Update Feb 1st: I’ve bought all these, and now I’m bit clueless.

The previous techie wishlist was posted on September, approximately two months ago. Things have changed, as technology has leaped forward.

The biggest change is the introduction of iPod Photo. Especially the 60 gigabytes model would fit all my music, images and a lot of files needed on the go.

• Apple PowerBook 12.1" — I’ve been pondering on starting to use Mac for a long time. Several friends have switched, and they’re not coming back.
• Apple iPod Photo 60 GB — I need a combined portable hard drive and MP3 player. Apple has most probably done things right, as they are currently selling more than 50% of MP3 players worldwide. The photos are nice extra.
• NetGear WGT624 Super G Wireless Router — My new laptop is equipped with 802.11g wireless network with 54Mbps bandwidth and my current wireless hub can serve only 11Mbps (802.11b). So I need to upgrade.

I was pondering on buying the new iPod from Singapore — a nice Christmas present — but they are more expensive there than in the States. Too bad, had to wait a trip to US.