sharper image

Kitchen appliances have grown to be incredibly versatile machines capable of easily making anything from soup to roasted nuts. Having the right tool for the job ensures that whatever you have a craving for, a kitchen appliance can handle it. Unfortunately, sometimes we just need to settle. Want waffles, but don't have a waffle maker? Pancakes might just have to do instead. Unless, of course, you have one appliance that can do both (and a whole bunch of other stuff, too).

The Sharper Image Super Grill ($99.99) is a multipurpose countertop kitchen appliance designed to be used from … Read more

The Literati, a Sharper-Image-branded color e-reader, was officially announced a few weeks ago, but I spotted one out in the wild last night at a tech event in New York.

Due to hit stores in October, the Wi-Fi-enabled Literati has a 7-inch LCD screen, an affordable $159 price tag that's expected to drop with special promotions during the holiday season, and it's being targeted squarely at the mass market with distribution in such stores as Bed Bath & Beyond, Best Buy, JC Penney, Kohl's, and Macy's. MerchSource, the company that's behind the product, says it … Read more

Gadget retailer The Sharper Image plans to close all of its remaining stores, its new owners announced Sunday.

The company expects to sell $50 million in inventory as it shutters 86 stores across the United States, joint owners The Hilco Organization and Gordon Brothers Group said in a statement.

The group, which purchased the gadget retailer's assets in a bankruptcy auction Thursday for $49 million, said it has developed a licensing strategy for wholesale, retail, direct-to-retail, e-commerce, and catalog businesses.

The Sharper Image filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in February, with plans to shut about half of its … Read more

Fresh air can be pretty bad for your coffee beans. Good beans come vacuum-packed to keep them from oxidizing and becoming bitter. But once you've opened that bag, you've pretty much doomed whatever beans you don't use immediately. If only you had some device in your kitchen that could store your remaining coffee beans in a vacuum. If only...

Sharper Image will sell you one. Called the Bean Vac, this canister can hold more than a pound of coffee beans and has a vacuum pump that sucks air out once you've closed the lid. The whole … Read more

The Sharper Image may have been the favorite of geeks in the '90s, but it's now a shadow of its former self.

After being delisted from Nasdaq, filing for bankruptcy, and announcing that it will close 96 of its 184 stores, the end is near for the specialty electronics retailer.

Or is it?

In an interesting development, The Sharper Image announced on Thursday that its chairman, Jerry W. Levin, is stepping down to pursue the possibility of acquiring the company's stock and assets.

Neither Levin nor The Sharper Image were ready to speculate about what his plans are, but it begs a question: "What is going on at The Sharper Image?" It's a company that has flown under the radar for quite some time, and most have written it off as a relic of the past, but I think there's more to it than that. If nothing else, the soap opera over at The Sharper Image is extremely interesting to watch.… Read more

Beamz, a forthcoming $600 "laser harp" that will be sold exclusively by Sharper Image, features one of the (unintentionally) funniest promotional videos ever. Gizmodo recently named it the worst product video of all time, and it's drawn a lot of ire over at the Create Digital Music blog, but I personally found it worth the view for a three-minute chuckle: the 70's-porn meets Weather Report intro, the faux-Halen "guitar solo," the quiet spa music played by a guy you'd never expect to be a massage therapist. (The inevitable spoof video is also pretty … Read more

It's hard to know where to begin in dismissing this telephonic atrocity. First, it's a prime example of the proliferating trend we refer to as luxury phones gone bad. As if that's not bad enough (and it is), this 24k "Signature Collection" handset from Alcatel is a special edition done for Sharper Image, which seems to be getting more tarnished all the time.

Making matters still worse, Luxurylaunches describes the specs as disappointing, with a "substandard 2-megapixel camera, flimsy keys, and small screen." Other than that, it's terrific. We were going to … Read more

It saddens me slightly that future generations won't be able to experience trips to The Sharper Image, the now defunct mall electronics store that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection back in late February.

Yesterday one of its relics made its way into my hands as a gag gift from a friend, and it's opened up my eyes to one of the many reasons the retailer wasn't doing so hot in today's gadgets market. The device in question? The Brew Master, a self-appointed expert to beers from around the world.

Nevermind that such information could be … Read more