As vaguely pointless but nonetheless desirable knick-nacks go, the Hermés 8 Day Spiral Boule Clock has to rank pretty high up on the list. A 1kg ball of magnifying-effect optical crystal, white gold and a total of 231 parts, the Spiral Boule is wound by twisting the two halves, while a single button on the base switches it into time-setting mode.
Remember Earthrace, the awesome carbon-fibre and Kevlar trimaran that was designed to take on powerboat speed-trials for round-the-world sailing? In the few years since it debuted the $2.5m bio-diesel boat has been whipping around cracking world records; now it’s going into its next job, acting as a stealthed support vessel for the Sea Shepherd anti-whaling organisation.
If a new phone isn’t on your agenda, but you still fancy splashing some cash in Denmark’s direction, then Bang & Olufsen’s BeoVision 10 LCD display might satisfy. The 40-inch Full HD 200/240Hz TV uses LED backlighting for picture quality and reduced depth, meaning you can hang the set on a wall as if it were a particularly expensive picture.
Bang & Olufsen have been through a phase of unusually shaped landline phones – the banana-esque BeoCom 2 is a good example – but they’re returning to their slightly more sensible roots with the new BeoCom 5. The dual-line DECT phone works both as a twin landline handset and as a VoIP device, and magnetically docks either onto its charging plinth or onto a portable speakerphone (that also charges the handset).
Premium audio kit manufacturer Paradigm have obviously had enough of subwoofers being the breezeblock-shaped lump unloved in the corner, and have whipped out their SUB 1 and SUB 2 models. Each high-end hexagon slots neatly into the company’s Reference Signature line, and pack six high-excursion drivers – 8-inch in the SUB 1, 10-inch in the SUB 2 – together with more amplification than most people could realistically need.
Samsung and Giorgio Armani are no strangers, and the partnership is back again this year with a second touchscreen handset bearing the designer’s brand. The Samsung Giorgio Armani SPH-W8200 gets a 3.1-inch WVGA AMOLED touchscreen and a slide-out keypad, together with a 5-megapixel camera for snapping catwalk shots.
Sony Ericsson’s Pureness cellphone has been confirmed for the UK, but the company is not going for the usual pile-’em-high strategy. Instead, when the handset – which has a translucent-display – arrives in November, would-be buyers will need to trek to Selfridges and design museum shops; that’s because, according to SE spokesperson Cathy Davies, the Pureness is an “iconic niche product, not mass market.”
When you’re Mercedes Benz you have a pretty great history of iconic cars from which to pillage, and that’s just what the German marque have done with their new 2010 SLS AMG. Based on the original 300 SL Gullwing, the 2010 model keeps the top-hinged doors but fixes them to a carbon fiber body with an AMG-tuned V8 5.3 liter, 564 horsepower engine under the hood.
Full gallery of the 2010 Mercedes Benz SLS AMG after the cut
When you’ve tapped the hip-hop knowledge of Dr.Dre for your headphones, where do you go next? If you’re Monster, you sketch out an endorsement deal with interestingly-clothed Lady Gaga, who then designs you a set of in-ear headphones – the Heartbeats by Lady Gaga, no less – which look like tiny meat tenderisers.
It’s time to unpack the wedding china and start cutting the crusts off your sandwiches; as soon as whatever nearby minor royalty hears you’re boiling your water with a Bugatti kettle, they’ll be round like a shot. The handiwork of the same studio responsible for the indecently-fast Veyron supercar, the Vera Electric Kettle offers not only some eye-catching colors but a control-encrusted handle with LCD display.
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