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The Best Cell Phones

Craig — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 10:00:00 +0000

You think this piece would start with the iPhone, but lets face it. It’s overdone. Everyone’s talking about it and yes it’s cool, but there’s still phones out there that are even crazier.

Check these phones out (but be warned the price tags rival some peoples cars and even houses).

The LG KE850 Prada cell phone by LG is astounding. It was the first touch screen phone on the market, is as sleek as the iPhone, but packs the punch of the Prada name. It’ll set you back $800, but your friends will go green right away.

The next eye catcher is the Serene by Samsung. I have no idea how you’re supposed to use it, but it was released in November and is reputed to be one of the slickest operating phones out there. You can pick it up for $1,275. Oh don’t worry the prices get worse.

Check out the last two phones below.

The next two phones are from Vertu. If you haven’t heard of them, you don’t make enough money to buy one. They come with a “lifestyle” button that will instantly connect you with a conceirge anywhere in the world, 24 hours a day. You need a pizza, no problem. You like Italian pizza, they’ll book you a private plane to Italy. Seriously. The first phone has diamonds, sapphires and rubies and retails for $71,000. The second is the signature cobra. It boasts a pear-cut diamond, one round white diamone, two emerald eyes and over 400 rubies. Only 8 are being made so if you can justify spending $310,000 on a cell phone you’d better call quick.

Lenovo Thinkpad Reserve Edition – Gadget of the Week

Dan — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 10:41:03 +0000

Everybody knows that computers and cows go together like milk and cookies, so Lenovo went ahead and put together this piece of art: the Thinkpad Reserve Edition. Made for the executive on the go this model sports a 12.1″ screen, and an external antenna for the on-board wireless WAN adapter that will hook you up with the interweb wherever you have cell service. Impressively, and unlike other ultra-portables, the latest in Lenovo’s X61 lineup has the latest in Intel’s Core 2 Duo mobile processor family, 2GB of RAM, and enough juice to keep you running the entire overseas flight to Paris. Only being produced in limited quantities and wrapped in hand-stitched leather, this premium notebook carries a premium price at around $5000. More pics inside.

Weekly Gadget Feature: WinePod

Craig — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 10:00:41 +0000

I love wine, but I never thought of making it until I saw the WinePod. It’s designed for small lot artisan winemaking. The state of the art pod integrates fermentation, pressing and ageing in one elegant unit. Temperature control is handled with thermoelectric heating and cooling to ensure the perfect ageing. And the company will even source the grapes for you – it doesn’t get much easier than that.

Oh and the software will beam all of the info to your PC where you can watch your progress as an amateur winemaker. After winning a design award in 2006 the pod sold out and they’re now taking names for the 2007 waiting list. For $3,500 you can hopefully take one home and start impressing all your friends.

Weekly Gadget Feature: Logitech Pure-Fi Dream

Dan — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 10:32:08 +0000

For the second time in three weeks Logitech has made it into our Gadget of the Week feature, so they must be doing something right. This time around we’re showcasing the Pure-Fi DreamPremium Bedroom Music System for iPod, an alarm clock slash speaker system. It’s got an external display that let’s you see what’s playing from in your groggiest of states and it charges your iPod as well so you can dash out the door (late as usual) with your fully charged nano or video iPod. There’s also a wireless remote so you can set it up in your living room and entertain your friends. As with pretty well anything made for the iPod it doesn’t look to bad either so you won’t want to hide it away in your bedroom.

Canon EOS 40D – Gadget of the Week

Dan — Fri, 24 Aug 2007 10:06:03 +0000

Canon’s DIGIC III processor previously found only in the high-end EOS 1D Mark III has finally trickled down to the enthusiast market in the form of the newly released Canon EOS 40D 10.1MP Digital SLR Camera,along with a new 10.1 megapixel CMOS sensor. The hot new DSLR also includes the lens-cleaning function found in the entry-level Canon Digital Rebel XTi, a huge 3-inch LCD monitor and maybe best of all the Live View Function which has been missing from many DSLRs in the past. Live View allows you to view the photo in the LCD before snapping the pic rather than after, something that I’m sure will attract many of those who are used to point-and-shoot cameras. I’m curious to see what lenses it will kit with, if at all… the 28-135mm shown below looks like an awesome kit lens.

Logitech Harmony 1000 Universal Remote – Gadget of the Week

Dan — Fri, 17 Aug 2007 10:09:39 +0000

Now that you’ve got the plasma TV (or LCD) and the couch, you can grab a beer and chill out. But then you realize that your IQ is not nearly high enough to figure out how to get the TV to switch to your HD cable box, and your DVD remote is on the other side of the room, so you’re stuck gazing into a deep black abyss thanks to you’re TV’s awesome contrast ratio. What you need is the Logitech Harmony 1000 Advanced Universal Remote so you don’t have to move your lazy butt from it’s perch. With all the user-friendly capability of previous Harmony remotes in a 3.5″ touch-screen format this one looks like a winner.

Comparable remotes from other companies might run $1000, while this Harmony can be found for under $500 online. It will control up to 15 components which you can select from an online database of 175,000 devices, or program on your own.

Woodpecker Hotel – Weekly Hotel Feature

Craig — Wed, 15 Aug 2007 10:00:02 +0000

If you’ve ever wanted privacy then you should check out the Woodpecker Hotel in Vasteras, Sweden. The hotel is perched 50 feet up an Oak tree in a Swedish park and you can only get there by good old fashioned rope ladder. Complete with a bathroom, cooking facilities and an Ikea bed (what else do you expect in Sweden) it is probably the best equipped Tree house you’ll ever see.

You can expect to spend $250-350/night and as there is only one room I would book early. Oh and there’s limited room service so remember to bring a snack or two.

Optimus Maximus Keyboard – Gadget of the Week

Dan — Fri, 10 Aug 2007 10:05:00 +0000

Considered to be vaporware since it’s conception, the Art. Lebedev Studio Optimus Maximus Keyboard is the only keyboard for the rich and famous. Similar in function to the Optimus Mini Three, every key of the Optimus Maximus is a stand-alone 48×48 pixel OLED display which displays the functionality that key provides.

This would be great for gaming, Photoshop, AutoCAD, or just used as a program launcher for either Max of Windows. This is one expense you might want to let the company write off, though, with the price tag shining bright at $1490. That is, if you can get one… the release date was March 15, 2007 and they’re still accepting pre-orders. It’s a shame that this one will probably remain vaporware and never reach the market at an acceptable price, not allowing anyone to program in 104 ANY keys.

Hotel Artemide – Hotel of the Week

Dan — Wed, 08 Aug 2007 10:28:21 +0000

Located in the historical district of one of the Western World’s most famed cities, Hotel Artemide is one of Rome’s more beautiful boutique hotels. Lucky for traveler’s, the historical centre of Rome also serves as the cultural centre and social centre or the great city, putting you just a few minutes’ walk from, the Colosseum, Trevi fountain, and many quaint restaurants. Those who have yet to visit Rome are missing out on one of the worlds greatest pleasures, and those who have been are dying to go back. I suggest you be one of the latter.

In addition to being nearby all the sights in Rome, you are also situated just blocks from the train station on the famous Via Nazionale. Pricing on this four-star hotel starts at €130 for single occupancy or €150 for double.

Nice Touch: The complimentary mini-bar is refreshed daily.

Belkin Sport Armband for iPhone – Gadget of the Week

Dan — Fri, 03 Aug 2007 10:03:17 +0000

Belkin has always been on the leading edge for Apple peripherals and this weeks gadget showcases just that. If you’re lucky enough to have already picked up an iPhone, you can now hit the pavement with Belkin F8Z170-KG Sports Armband for iPhone. This armband is similar to Belkin’s other iPod armbands and allows you to keep your precious iPhone comfortably close at hand and well protected for peace of mind.