luxury

Since the new-media press has been gushing about e-newsletter start-ups for the past few hours, here's another tidbit: UrbanDaddy, a daily missive about luxury culture for the young and hedonistic, is set to announce its Miami regional edition, adding to New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, and a "Jetset" travel edition. (For the record, that's "daddy" as in "mack daddy," as this e-newsletter clearly has zilch to do with parenting.)

UrbanDaddy, which has about 315,000 subscribers and says it's doubling that year-over-year, is particularly notable for two quirky … Read more

Have around $20,000 and nothing to spend it on? If you love music, why not drop it on the self-proclaimed "Dom Perignon of floor-standing speakers," also known as Klipsch's Palladium speaker series? Designed with help from BMW Group DesignworksUSA, the speakers are high-end in price and sound quality, according to the company.

The flagship system of the series is the P39-F, which has 9-inch woofers for bass. Like many Klipsch products, the Palladium speakers use "horn-loaded" technology for the high and mid-frequency drivers, instead of a conventional cone driver.The result, the company says, … Read more

In the past, we've seen laptops named after high-end sports car manufacturers, such as Ferrari and Lamborghini, but what about the luxury car enthusiast? Well, the wait is now over: Ego has announced the Bentley laptop. In keeping with the tradition of the hallowed British brand, the laptop features a hand-stitched leather lid cover and a curved metal case painted the same colors as the car. When closed, the laptop can be carried by its handle, which is also reminiscent of the door handle of the automobile.

Otherwise, you're getting a pretty standard laptop, featuring Windows Vista 64-bit … Read more

The easiest way to describe Spire, a new community site that made its debut Monday, is as a more grown-up, cultured Yelp: the latter offers expert advice on the best dive bars in Brooklyn, whereas the former focuses on four-star restaurants and hotels across the river in Manhattan. Calling itself a "social resource," it's devoted to advice and recommendations on topics like luxury vacations and dining, high-end shopping, and spa getaways.

When you're signing up for Spire, you're asked to fill out a profile. The lowest option for the "age" field is "… Read more

It turns out that designer Christopher Tak Cheung Yue may have been onto to something after all with the seven-sided "Suave" phone he proposed for luxury handset maker Vertu. The angular creation looked pretty weird, even for a concept, but Vertu's latest offering actually seems to take some small steps in that direction.

While not nearly as drastic, the new "Ascent Ti" line does feature some unusual contours and textured surfaces to improve the grip, according to Sybarites--a key reason for Yue's geometric design as well. Because it's Vertu, of course, the "… Read more

What could possibly be better than a million-dollar RV outfitted with state-of-art technology? One that goes in the water, of course.

As insane as it may seem, the Terra Wind Amphibious RV" has all the proper accoutrements for a luxury vehicle of its class, including an 6-foot swim deck, an 8-jet whirlpool, marble floors, wood paneling, leather furnishings, and a fully equipped home theater system featuring a 42-inch plasma TV, according to Uncrate. In the cockpit you'll find the instruments needed for the aquatic half of its persona to operate the submerged motors, rudder controls, bilge pumps, rudder … Read more

You'd think the parent company of $1,500 Louis Vuitton handbags would be able to tolerate a few fakes on eBay. Not so.

And a French court agreed on Monday, ordering the online auction giant to pay $61 million (38.6 million euros) to luxury goods powerhouse LVMH, according to Reuters. LVMH, along with other luxury-brand groups like Tiffany & Co. and Hermes, has claimed that eBay isn't strict enough about policing the sale of counterfeit goods on its site.

eBay promptly appealed the court decision, saying that LVMH was simply trying to crack down on competition; eBay … Read more

When you think about "bling" on MySpace, you probably think about glitter text on profiles, or maybe Swarovski-studded Sidekicks, not Cartier jewelry. But that hasn't stopped the legendary luxury brand from launching a promotional campaign on News Corp.'s social network.

Starting Thursday, Cartier began featuring branded pages for its "Love by Cartier" product line for MySpace's English, French, Italian, Spanish, and Japanese sites. They'll be online for a year, and will feature new music from 12 artists, including Phoenix, Grand National, and Lou Reed.

Considering MySpace got its start as a hub … Read more

Orbino is single-handedly trying to prove that there are better ways to design a MacBook Air case than the much-copied inter-office envelope look. Only a few months ago the Italian designer came out with its "Arista" series of bags for Apple's runway-model-thin laptop, and now it's introducing yet another case.

The "Aria" seeks to complement its beauty with brawn, made from both premium leather and "sculpted anodized aluminum frame." (There's apparently something about aircraft-grade aluminum that goes hand in hand with luxury products.)

It's a form-fitting case that hugs the … Read more