memolio?¢‚Äû¬¢ turns digital images into compact, durable photo albums.  Here’s how the online service works: You simply upload and arrange your images, edit, preview, then order. You can “flip” through your memolio?¢‚Äû¬¢ album online and see exactly what it will look like in “real life.” Each album houses 24 images on water and crinkle-resistant card stock sandwiched between personalized front and back covers. (Here’s the one that I made)

Professionally, you could use a memolio?¢‚Äû¬¢ album as a mini portfolio (easy to see how this would be of use to a photographer or make-up artist). You could construct a squeaky clean memolio?¢‚Äû¬¢ album for your grandmother to use as a “brag book” or to commemorate events (graduations, weddings, parties) or projects (school plays, remodeling your house from start to finish, etc).

A memolio?¢‚Äû¬¢ album, printed on card stock, 24 full color images, plus custom cover (see ours above) costs ?¢‚Äö¬¨15 (including shipping).

Because we love you as much as we do (especially you) we’re giving away five vouchers for FREE memolio?¢‚Äû¬¢ albums to five Dangerous Minds readers who impress us the most with their idea for what can be done with a memolio?¢‚Äû¬¢ album. To enter, tweet @richardmetzger with how you would use a memolio?¢‚Äû¬¢ album—be creative—and we’ll pick from entries received before midnight EST on December 14, 2009.

Here is a special DM discount code you can use when you purchase a memolio?¢‚Äû¬¢ album: Just add YpcQkEpga5 when you register for a 5% discount off your first order. You can also order memolio?¢‚Äû¬¢ vouchers directly from their store, add a personal message to your giftee and send a voucher directly to them.

 
The Equinox club, which the Dangerous Minds team visited in West Hollywood, is the most tech-saavy, advanced workout arena I’ve ever been to. Their machines are state-of-the-art, their staff is trained to the highest and most current scientific standards, and they even have a full suite of support technology, starting with their own iPhone app.

Simply put, Equinox is AWESOME. It’s like walking into a perfectly-oiled Megascience Machine designed to remake you into your ideal self. And they are offering Dangerous Minds readers a 3-day trial membership.

First off, Equinox looks more like a cruise ship than a traditional gym. The epic facilities include rows of frontline equipment and all of the amenities you would come to expect from a gym, but also so much more: Aromatherapy suites. Tanning areas. Steam rooms. Massage tables. Yoga. Everything you need to conduct your own personal leisure crusade. It’s the type of place you’d want to spend more time at than your own home or office, a gym paradise loaded down with so many features and perks that it might be harder to NOT exercise than to exercise. Gyms have traditionally been sweaty, grunty prisons. Equinox is more like stepping into your own personal comfort zone.

Their training process shows an incredible level of research and attention paid to the newest advances in sports and fitness technology?¢‚Ǩ‚ÄùEquinox’s 3-Cycle System and Active Metabolic Training System show that this is a new kind of gym, one focused on working out in the smartest and most advanced way possible. Fitness trainers at Equinox complete 150 hours of education at the Equinox Fitness Training Institute (EFTI), molding them into Fitness Ninjas equipped with the latest and greatest personal training science, the perfect complement to Equinox’s state-of-the-art equipment.

And, of course, there’s the highly impressive iPhone application?¢‚Ǩ‚ÄùMYEQ, which is like a personal training assistant. The application allows users to see what’s happening in the club, track their visits and progress, reserve equipment or spots in classes, and interface with the iPhone’s calendar to keep class scheduling current. You can even use the application to check in, by flashing your member code on the phone when you walk in. The app also plays Equinox-curated DJ sets, also, to keep you entertained while you work out. (Equinox is so committed to developing their workout support technology that they have their own Director of Internet Services.)

All in all, I was VERY impressed. As the kind of guy whose exercise routine consists of running away from gyms, Equinox really, really made me want to reconsider that policy. Beautiful facilities, beautiful people, beautiful views of the Los Angeles skyline. YES.

Click here to redeem your 3-day trial membership to Equinox. It’s not fitness. It’s life.

 
Equinox Fitness Clubs asked we four at Dangerous Minds to tour their facilities, write up our impressions and offer our readers a 3-day trial membership so they can check out an Equinox near them. Click here to sign up.

I agree with all of what Richard had to say in his post about Equinox. The main thing he mentions is that it was sparkling clean and this is quite true. That’s a big plus for me, too—but I have a few other observations to offer.

From a woman’s perspective, Equinox seems extremely luxurious. The spa looked especially good to me and the prices were better than reasonable. Everything smelled nice, the sauna was extra clean (that word again) and I loved the way everything looked. The yoga studio was very “zen” but at the same time ultra modern and chic. There was nice Italian modernist furniture in the waiting room/lobby area. The spa staff had ready answers to all of our questions, were friendly and very knowledgeable about all they offered there. I’m definitely going to check out the spa one day soon and pamper myself. I’d been looking for a good place to go in LA (without naming names, I had a horrific experience once in what is probably LA’s best known spa chain and so I’m pretty picky!) and I was quite impressed by the day spa at the Equinox club on Sunset Blvd, the club we visited.

Second woman-only observation: I would feel comfortable working out at an Equinox club. The male clientele seems to be on the “classier” side of the equation and I wouldn’t fear dumb guys hitting on me in such a high end gym. There is nothing worse than that and every woman knows what I am talking about.

I got the sense during our tour that the club was undergoing constant upgrading and improvements. Improvements to an already pretty fantastic gym, I should say. They had just gotten a fleet of brand new state-of-the-art Schwinn exercise bikes, and the men’s locker rooms were being redone from the floors up when we were there. I know I keep coming back to the same thing, how clean the club is, but if you think about it, gyms can get really grody, really fast and this place positively gleamed. It’s a big, huge part of enjoying your workout experience, are you with me ladies?

Finally, if you did want to hang out and talk to someone cute afterward, there’s an Elixir health cafe with all kinds of yummy drinks and things right on the premises. I can see myself coming here often after a workout. I’d take an Elixir over a Starbucks any day.

All in all, great experience. What more can I say beside this is the single nicest gym I’ve ever been in? If you’d like to check out an Equinox Fitness Club near you, click here for a 3-day trial membership and tell ‘em Dangerous Minds sent you.

 
You are reading an advertisement. Well, that’s not exactly true, you are reading what is known as “advertorial,” a paid for conflation of advertising and editorial. The four of us here at Dangerous Minds met last Sunday evening and toured the Equinox Fitness Club on Sunset Blvd in West Hollywood. Each of us will be writing about what we saw there and if you are curious, you can click here for a 3 day trial to the Equinox nearest you.

The Equinox club that we visited offers their members an ultra high end gym and spa experience. By far the best I’ve ever personally experienced, and I’m no stranger to gyms, or high end gyms at that (I was a member of what is probably Equinox’s main competitor for years, but there is absolutely no comparison). It was like being in a combination night club, luxury hotel, gym and beauty spa. Nice architecture, modern furniture, soft state of the art lighting, friendly helpful staff, a dramatic entrance, I think there was a live DJ—it’s a pretty glamorous place to work out, I must say.

The clientele, this being West Hollywood, tend to look like movie stars. Some of them, of course, are movie stars. No matter what your sexual orientation, there is some amazing eye candy working out here, but the vibe is respectful and the unspoken rule of all gyms (“Men do not hit on the women” I think sums it up) applies here at Equinox as well.

But these are somewhat superficial things that have nothing to do with how good of a workout you get. To be honest, the only thing I care about is the equipment. I want it to be new—this is really important to me, because they keep coming out with better and better machines all the time—and I want it to be CLEAN. Equinox comes up a winner in both categories. It’s as clean as a five star hotel and the machines are state of the art. They have a new fleet of Schwinn exercise bikes and they even have several Pilates Reformers for group classes, which takes the package completely over the top in my opinion.

Simply put, Equinox is the Rolls Royce of gyms. Click here to redeem your 3-day trial membership to Equinox.