luxury

Luxury retailer Neiman Marcus sells this wacky $50,000 tent that hangs in a tree. No joke. I thought the only thing you hung in a tree when you were camping was the "bear bag" of food so that Yogi and Boo-boo couldn't get into your pic-a-nic basket.

Apparently not. The "Treetent," designed by Dutch designer Dre Wapenaar, looks kind of like something out of Sleeper, and did I mention it hangs in a tree and costs $50,000? It also comes with a 9-foot-diameter wooden floor (um, OK) and a "groovy round mattress&… Read more

It's hard to know what to make of Gresso these days. In the last year the purveyor of luxury gadgets has introduced some stunning products, whether they be mobile phones or MP3 players made of exotic materials.

But then it came out with some decidedly pedestrian-looking USB pendants that paled by comparison to its earlier offerings. And now we hear that the company is planning to distribute the flash-drive jewelry with Jennifer Lopez's latest album, titled "Brave."

That may not be the wisest choice for its debut, as Luxist notes, given the slump in J. Lo'… Read more

Here's one for the wedding registry: a gold-and-diamond-studded pot that carries a price tag just north of $200,000. The 11-inch saucepan from cookware manufacturer Fissler features almost 2.2 pounds of solid gold in its lid and side handles and logo. But what's gold without diamonds? The saucepan features 200 of them, in various sizes. It also comes packaged in a jewelry box made of root wood and accompanied by the appropriate quality certificate.

The costly cookware is not exactly being mass-produced: Each saucepan is handmade to order in Germany and available only to "the exclusive … Read more

Two weeks before CTIA, Motorola jumped the gun and unleashed a gallery of new cell phones. While most of the models were basic handsets for developing markets, the Motorola U9 and the Motorola Razr2 V8 Luxury Edition stood out from the crowd. Luckily, Motorola gave us the chance to see the handsets up close at a CTIA press event.

The Moto U9 inherits its curvaceous design from the Motorola Pebl U6. It has the same rounded edges and smooth body, though instead of a rubbery skin, it sports a glossy finish that reflects the light. It fits neatly in the … Read more

Finally, a media cabinet for the world's most expensive TV. Flatlift has created a suite of media furniture that includes 50 carats of "diamond dust" sprinkled throughout its finish.

The high-gloss cabinets include automated drawers designed to accommodate everything from media components to liquor. The dust supposedly flashes when illuminated, an effect matched only by the LED stripes that can "change colors according to your mood," according to BornRich.

And of course, as its name would imply, Flatlift has built in a motorized life the TV itself in the back of the central piece of … Read more

In this day of $49,590 hearing aids and $150,000 gear shift knobs, we're not quite sure how Bissol's 4GB flash drive qualifies as "luxury," but that's how it's being marketed. Sure, its brass finish is nice enough to look at, but it's not exactly a Dupont.

Still, Engadget says it's made with Old World care like a Swiss watch, so somebody is bound to appreciate it. And at least it's being up front about not being gold

Goldmund, a Swiss-based company, announced the availability of its media room "that exceeds the quality and performance of the nation's top commercial movie theaters and director's screening rooms." They call it "perfection in an imperfect world." Goldmund competes in the ultra-luxury stratosphere of the audiophile universe.

The Goldmund Media Room has up to 128 channels of audio, individual amplifiers for each speaker, and uses proprietary technology to overcome challenging room acoustics. Using their high tech room modeling software, Goldmund's team of professionals determine the number of speakers, and designs all the signal processing … Read more

For every yin there's a yang. Or something like that. All we know is that, just moments after gushing over the latest luxury MacBooks, we came across a design of another kind--and it's not a good thing. What's most disappointing about this "Adam&Eve" collection of fashion USB drives is that it comes from Gresso, a Russian company that we've followed for the last year because of its unique high-end designs in mobile phones and MP3 players.

Sadly, its USB "jewelry" doesn't compare to those beautiful items, even though the … Read more

OK, so maybe there aren't as many precious stones as you'd like, but at least you get some spare change left over. After such models as the "Diamond" ($88,000) and "Signature Cobra" ($310,000), Vertu's "Ascent Ti" is cheap at about $6,628.

The handset by Nokia's luxury unit features premium materials including a Titanium chassis, cowhide leather back, scratch-resistant sapphire crystal face and polished ceramic. Available in stores starting this month, it also comes in you choice of black, red or brown. (Crave gave an early peek at … Read more