Luxury

At long last, Boeing delivers the first next-gen 747

EVERETT, Wash.--Get ready, aviation fans. Seats aboard Boeing's new 747-8 Intercontinental are almost ready for you. And today, at an event here, Boeing finally handed over the keys to the first of the next-general planes to a commercial airline customer.

The new airplane, which Boeing first unveiled at a huge ceremony here a year ago, has been in testing since then. But today, Lufthansa became the first airline to officially own one of the aircraft, the first of 20 it has ordered, and of 130 total orders Boeing has received for it. … Read more

Spaceport America: Not just 'rich people in space'

When Spaceport America makes international news, it's often in conjunction with names like "Richard Branson," "Virgin Galactic," and "Ashton Kutcher." That celebrity shine is hard to ignore, but it's not the only thing happening at the spaceport.

Virgin Galactic has already sold 520 tickets for its suborbital space tourism flights, expected to start in late 2013. I'm standing in front of the epically named Virgin Galactic Gateway to Space. It's a massive building that blends into the New Mexico desert from one side and reflects Spaceport America's 10,000-foot runway from the other.

A uniquely New Mexico venture I'm a part owner of the spaceport that is sprouting up out of the Jornada del Muerto (remember the Trinity Site location). As a tax-paying New Mexican, some of my state dues have gone to the $209 million price tag for this facility's first two phases of construction.… Read more

Wadia 151PowerDAC: A new state of the art for desktop amplifiers?

I heard about the Wadia 151PowerDAC from my friends at Magnepan, who make some of my favorite flat-panel speakers. They loved the way the 151 brought their fourteen-inch tall Mini Maggie speakers to life. That's great news, because when I auditioned the Minis at the factory last year (before they tried the 151) the speakers were hooked up to a massive Threshold stereo power amp. The Threshold/Maggie system was, by a large margin, the best-sounding desktop system I ever heard. Using a monster amp like that wasn't a practical solution for most buyers, but now with the … Read more

James Bond/Batman boat is anything but a prop

A superyacht worthy of a James Bond supervillain -- or even of Batman's Bruce Wayne -- launched for the first time recently when the $15 million Adastra took a test drive on the Pearl River in Zhuhai, China.

Commissioned by Hong Kong shipping magnate Anto Marden, who owns and cruises to a pair of islands near Indonesia, the craft is based on the design of speedy Batboat-like "power trimaran" vessels such as the Earthrace and the Cable and Wireless Adventurer. But unlike those boats, the Adastra -- as you'll see -- was meant to be a luxury yacht, which, according to design firm John Shuttleworth, called for some new thinking.

… Read more

The Tao of loo: A toilet with its own Japanese garden

Fancy answering the call of nature au naturel but don't like getting too down and dirty? Japan recently saw the opening of a public toilet in a veritable Garden of Eden that designers say is the largest of its kind in the world.

Created by architect Sou Fujimoto, the single, glassed-in cubicle commands a view of cherry, plum, and peach trees in a rural part of Ichihara City, east of Tokyo.

It's located by Itabu Station along the scenic Kominato Railway, and you can hear the old-school trains clunking along as they pass.

Surrounded by a 6-foot wall, the elegant loo stands in a 240-square-yard garden that is being planted with rape blossom and clover.

Sorry guys, it's for ladies only. … Read more

Elgato Thunderbolt SSD review: The crazy price of the magic

Bus-powered portable drives, those that don't need a separate power adapter to work, are not new and have been in the market for years. But the Elgato Thunderbolt SSD is the first made specifically for Macs and for now can only work with Macs.

For this reason, like many thing Apple-made, it changes everything all over, again.

For one, it's by far the fastest bus-powered portable drive on the market, though not at all the fastest among Thunderbolt storage devices. Secondly, it's super-expensive at $700 for 240GB (or $450 for 120GB).

While souped-up pricing and performance of … Read more

TAG Heuer wraps a phone in carbon fiber

Using the phrase "unparalleled torsion and strength to weight ratio," terms usually reserved for cars and spacecraft, TAG Heuer gets into the smartphone business with the most likely very expensive Racer (not to be confused with Razr).

Today's release contains very little detail about the actual phone. Wrapped in an industrial-looking case made of carbon fiber and titanium, we are told it is Android-based, uses a 3D interface, and has a high-speed processor. … Read more

Muramasa VIII headphones heavy in weight, price

If you're a headphone fanatic who enjoys the finer things in life, the Muramasa VIII by Final Audio Design could be the ultimate luxury purchase.

The Japanese company may not be very well known, but it has already released some of the most expensive in-ear headphones around. At a cool $8,000, the Muramasa is one of the more costly pair of headphones we've seen. They're also the first over-the-ear cans by the company.

Final Audio Design previously made headlines with its Piano Forte X-VIII in-ear headphones, which were almost $2,700. The Muramasa VIII now take the top spot for the company's priciest headphones. … Read more

Killer Whale Submarine a killer personal submersible

Jules Verne had the market on imaginative submarines cornered for many long years. And then Hammacher Schlemmer came along and offered a $100,000 Killer Whale Submarine.

The Killer Whale Submarine can breach from the water, just like a real whale. It has pectoral fins with control levers and a 255-horsepower supercharged Rotax axial flow engine. I can't really explain what that is exactly, but it sounds super cool.

This aquatic beast is also pretty fast. Underwater, it can go 25 mph. On the surface, it can hydroplane at up to 50 mph. I think that's faster than my Prius can go on land.… Read more