Flipping through The Manual: Jaunts through Japan, surf watches, summer shades

By Digital Trends Staff Published May 15, 2015

Burned out on apps, keys and screens? Improve your analog life this weekend! Digital Trends’ brother site The Manual exists to give men straight-up advice, from unspoken suit rules you need to know, to the latest in fashion, food, drink, travel, grooming and culture. Here are a few of our favorite stories to appear on The Manual lately.

Surfing in style with Aulta Watches

Surfing in style with Aulta Watches — Image used with permission by copyright holder

We chatted with the guys at Aulta Watches about why a well-made timepiece shouldn’t break the bank, and how important it is to balance work and lifestyle.

Read the full story on The Manual

Finding Buddha: Why Japan’s epic Kumano Kodo Pilgrimage should be on your bucket list

Finding Buddha: Why Japan's epic Kumano Kodo Pilgrimage should be on your bucket list — Image used with permission by copyright holder

Japan’s Kumano Kodo Pilgrimage is one of only two hikes in the world with a spot on UNESCO’s exclusive list of World Heritage Sites.

Read the full story on The Manual

Trekking: The Half Hatchet lets you cut wood with class

Trekking: The Half Hatchet lets you cut wood with class — Image used with permission by copyright holder

A hatchet should be essential for any modern woodsman. Thankfully, Treeline Outdoors’ classic offering is both timeless and versatile, providing you with a means to chop wood and hammer nails without having to dip into your savings account.

Read the full story on The Manual

3 of our favorite sunglasses for summer 2015

3 of our favorite sunglasses for summer 2015 — Image used with permission by copyright holder

If you’re having trouble finding your old, scratched shades at the back of the junk drawer, consider investing in a new pair of slick sunglasses for summer 2015. Here are 3 of our favorites.

Read the full story on The Manual

Bourbon bliss: Russell’s Reserve 1998

Bourbon bliss: Russell's Reserve 1998 — Image used with permission by copyright holder

This October, Russell’s Reserve is releasing their limited edition Russell’s Reserve 1998 bourbon. Master Distiller Eddie Russell gives an inside look at the brain power behind the bourbon.

Read the full story on The Manual

Summer beard tips with Eric Bandholz

Summer beard tips with Eric Bandholz — Image used with permission by copyright holder

Beard Brand’s Eric Bandholz offers up some summer beard tips to keep your beard looking and feeling its best this summer.

Read the full story on The Manual

Digital Trends Staff

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Mobile

Google just gave vision to AI, but it’s still not available for everyone

Gemini Live App on the Galaxy S25 Ultra broadcast to a TV showing the Gemini app with the camera feature open

Google has just officially announced the roll out of a powerful Gemini AI feature that means the intelligence can now see.

This started in March as Google began to show off Gemini Live, but it's now become more widely available.

Mobile

This modular Pebble and Apple Watch underdog just smashed funding goals

UNA Watch

Both the Pebble Watch and Apple Watch are due some fierce competition as a new modular brand, UNA, is gaining some serous backing and excitement.

The UNA Watch is the creation of a Scottish company that wants to give everyone modular control of smartwatch upgrades and repairs.

Cars

Tesla, Warner Bros. dodge some claims in ‘Blade Runner 2049’ lawsuit, copyright battle continues

Tesla Cybercab at night

Tesla and Warner Bros. scored a partial legal victory as a federal judge dismissed several claims in a lawsuit filed by Alcon Entertainment, a production company behind the 2017 sci-fi movie Blade Runner 2049, Reuters reports.
The lawsuit accused the two companies of using imagery from the film to promote Tesla’s autonomous Cybercab vehicle at an event hosted by Tesla CEO Elon Musk at Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) Studios in Hollywood in October of last year.
U.S. District Judge George Wu indicated he was inclined to dismiss Alcon’s allegations that Tesla and Warner Bros. violated trademark law, according to Reuters. Specifically, the judge said Musk only referenced the original Blade Runner movie at the event, and noted that Tesla and Alcon are not competitors.
"Tesla and Musk are looking to sell cars," Reuters quoted Wu as saying. "Plaintiff is plainly not in that line of business."
Wu also dismissed most of Alcon's claims against Warner Bros., the distributor of the Blade Runner franchise.
However, the judge allowed Alcon to continue its copyright infringement claims against Tesla for its alleged use of AI-generated images mimicking scenes from Blade Runner 2049 without permission.
Alcan says that just hours before the Cybercab event, it had turned down a request from Tesla and WBD to use “an icononic still image” from the movie.
In the lawsuit, Alcon explained its decision by saying that “any prudent brand considering any Tesla partnership has to take Musk’s massively amplified, highly politicized, capricious and arbitrary behavior, which sometimes veers into hate speech, into account.”
Alcon further said it did not want Blade Runner 2049 “to be affiliated with Musk, Tesla, or any Musk company, for all of these reasons.”
But according to Alcon, Tesla went ahead with feeding images from Blade Runner 2049 into an AI image generator to yield a still image that appeared on screen for 10 seconds during the Cybercab event. With the image featured in the background, Musk directly referenced Blade Runner.
Alcon also said that Musk’s reference to Blade Runner 2049 was not a coincidence as the movie features a “strikingly designed, artificially intelligent, fully autonomous car.”