California-based computing giant Apple is opening its fourth Manhattan store on Saturday November 14 at 10 a.m. The new store will be located in the Upper West Side, at 1981 Broadway at 67th Street.

Located on the street level, it will also have a lower level with the “largest area ever created by Apple for personal training and technical support.” That includes a 45-foot Genius Bar.

According to Reuters, this new store is the first of many planned for the coming months. The company plans to open 40 to 50 stores next year, of which about 50% will be outside the United States, including new stores in London, Paris and two in the metropolitan coastal Chinese city of Shanghai.

Click here for the complete Reuters report.

Two branches of the Church of Scientology’s operations and a few of its French leaders have been fined according to BBC News. A case against the organization came to French court after two women filed complaints. One woman alleges she was sold expensive life-improvement courses, vitamins and other products after taking a personality test. Another said her Scientologist boss fired her after she refused to undergo testing and sign up for courses. The organization denies that any manipulation took place.

A Paris judge ordered the Church’s Celebrity Center and a bookshop to pay a 600,000-euro fine.  The group’s head in France, Alain Rosenberg, received a two-year suspended jail sentence and was fined 30,000 euros. Three other leading members of the group were also fined.

France considers the Church of Scientology a sect, not a religion. Prosecutors requested that French operations of the group be banned and fined more heavily, but a loophole prevented a ban. Tommy Davis, spokesman for the Church of Scientology International, said the court had acted “in total violation of the European Convention on Human Rights and French constitutional guarantees on freedom.”

Click here for the complete report from the BBC

The Dirt:
Long a second tier city, Atlanta is growing and is now home to a great art scene and thanks to Starwood Hotels & Resorts, a Jean Georges Vongerichten restaurant housed in the new W Atlanta-Buckhead. W Hotels and developer Noble Investment Group enlisted the artistic advice and expertise of interior decorator Thom Filicia, the designer-turned-household-name thanks to Bravo’s Queer Eye for the Straight Guy. The rectangular shaped hotel has a modern exterior, with small glass façade that exposes the elevator, and a country club chic interior theme. The design elements bring many earth tones together and mix retro-inspired furniture pieces with country elements such as a white antler-inspired chandelier and seating with punchy prints.

The W Living Room blends contemporary designs and Filicia’s retro country club chic, through items such as nearly transparent tones and glass pieces, to bright fabrics such as animal print-inspired pillows and patterned screens. The hotel also has a gym with trainers available, private cabanas alongside the heated Infinity pool, and rooms and suites with flat screen televisions and iPod docking stations, thereby catering to the jetsetera generation, if they are willing to venture beyond New York, Los Angeles, Shanghai, Tokyo and London.

For dining and drinking, look to the in-house properties. French chef, restaurateur and author Jean Georges Vongerichten, whose restaurants include Spice Market and Mercer Kitchen, opened the first stateside Market restaurant, in this hotel, with an exotic menu inspired by flavors from Italy, France and Asia. Alongside the restaurant is a Whiskey Blue bar from celebrity and entrepreneur Randy Gerber. Whiskey Blue is a modern minimalist rooftop bar accessed by a glass elevator and an illuminated walkway, with tunes coming from the resident DJ.

Still amazed by W Hotels? There’s more. The brand that brought the chic boutique hotel to the masses plans to triple its footprint by 2011, with properties planned for Paris, Milan, Barcelona, London, Bali, Boston, Hoboken, Dubai (UAE), Santiago, Chile, and Doha, Qatar.

W Hotels Bonus:
W Hotels is planning a new group of spas and resorts called W Retreat & Spa, which will begin with locations in Bali, Koh Samui, Thailand, and Vieques Island, a beautiful peaceful island belonging to Puerto Rico. The fourth location planned, Verbier, Switzerland, will be W Hotels’ first ski resort.

Starwood Bonus:
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide and Spatality Holdings teamed up to enhance W Hotels sister brand, Sheraton, via a multi-year agreement that will see Nectar Spa and its affiliates bring the Nectar Spa brand to Sheraton properties worldwide, starting in 2009.

Where:
A basic room for two at the Buckhead location might start around $250 a night, including taxes. For more information and pictures of the W Atlanta-Buckhead,or take make reservations visit W Atlanta-Buckhead website.

Baobab extracts from the African tree with the same name are found in many skincare products, from Kiehl’s Ultimate Man Collection, to makeup products at The Body Shop, to Shea Terra Organics’ long list of lines. Baobab comes from what many refer to as the Tree of Life, partially because of its ability to hold water. According to research from the U.S. government unit, the National Research Council, Africa has many fruits that aren’t being fully used that could help fight malnutrition and improve environmental stability, including: baobab, aizen,balanites, butterfruit, ebony, marula and tamarind. The research comes with oversight from the Panel On African Fruits & Vegetables, which features professionals in the U.S., Australia and Mexico. According to the study, baobab is safe to eat and use on the skin. It is packed with protein, vitamins and minerals, and the trunk of the tree can store water. Both the fruit and the leaves can be eaten. According to PhytoTrade Africa, it could also enter the edible wellness sector in spaces such as smoothies and pulpy fruit bars.

The Paris-based SheerinO’Kho brand offers one luxurious product with a baobab and jojoba base, complemented by moringa, Indian senna, and essential oils such as rose, Uptown/Downtown Summertime. All SheerinO’Kho products are free of parabens, artificial colors or fragrances. Packaged in a glass, Uptown/Downtown Summertime is a creamy, fast-absorbing solution that could be used a summer moisturizer or as a thick serum before a thin sunscreen or daily winter moisturizer. It has a faint smell from the essential oils that makes it perfectly feminine.

Another luxe product with baobob is from London-based facialist Sarah Chapman. After about three years or research and development, she launched her skincare collection, Skinesis. The collection includes an amazing, oil-based night treatment called Overnight Facial. The rich paraben-free blend features vitamins, peptides, omega oils and essential oils that help restore moisture and a natural glow. Between the two products, skin is restored to a natural glow, with one bonus: beautiful bottles that adorn one’s night table.

Where:
The SheerinO’Kho Uptown/Downtown Summertime is $108 and the Sarah Chapman Overnight Facial is $89. Both are available at the SPACE.NK website and the New York store in SoHo. For more information on the brands or to see other products, visit the Space.NK website..

Spotted: Audi, Details Magazine Party

Name: Roland

Age: 31

Hometown: Brooklyn, NY

Current ‘hood: Brooklyn, NY

First language: English

Job: Product/graphic designer

Ethnicity: Costa Rican

Religion: None

Favorite Nut: Almond

On your iPod now: T.I., Lil Wayne

Favorites movie: What Dreams May Come, The Wiz

Dream Job: Creative Director

Wishlist: A house in London, an apartment in Paris, a property by the beach, an unlimited bank account, a private plane, and friends and family to share it with.

What % Monogamous People Do You Think Cheat? 20%

WORLDHOTELS has teamed up with the Buddha-Bar brand to create luxury hotels aimed at trumping the standard five-star establishment. This new brand aims to offer all the demanded luxuries without the pretense.

The hotels are likely to draw the same fashion-conscious crowd that frequent the Buddha-Bar restaurants and bars, and lounge with their mixed CDs playing in the background. The Buddha-Bar Hotels will embody the same “mystical fusion flair” and ambience the other properties feature.

The design is a fusion of contemporary Asian interior design and French colonial influence, with red throughout. Amenities include the Buddha-Bar Restaurant, a fitness center, a hammam steam room and spa treatments, which are available from guest rooms.

Prague, Czech Republic, will be the first to open, in September 2008. Buddha-Bar Hotel Prague will be located in Old Town Square and will have 36 rooms and three suites. Following Prague, the group aims to open a location in the Central American nation of Panama before year’s end. Also in the works are locations in the Dominican Republic, Paris, France, Sahl Hasheesh, Egypt and at The World, the manmade islands in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

The hotel developments expand upon the concept created more than a decade ago by Raymond Visan, an entertainer whose goal was to create living areas with a restaurant and a bar, with a live DJ spinning beats influenced by World music.

Bonus:
At the end of the year, the group will announce three more locations.

Where:
Visit the Buddha Bar site for more information.