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Hulger offers up pricey wooden Ziricote*PHONE
If you thought these newfangled Treos were pricey, well, you're probably correct, but they don't have nuthin' on the likes of the Black Diamond, Gresso, and Hulger's Ziricote*PHONE. Following the mantra that regardless of price, someone will buy it, the firm has given its retro-styled PIP*PHONE a wooden makeover, thrown in some preserving wax, and jacked the price sky high. Built from that oh-so-coveted Ziricote hardwood, this handset comes in its own collector's box (also made from wood, go figure), rocks built-in Bluetooth, and "can be linked to all mobile and VoIP devices." This "one of a kind" gizmo will be on display at the Digital Wellbeing Showroom and can be picked up soon for £2,000 ($3,923) directly from Hulger.[Via Slashgear]
LG planning eco-approved 52-inch wooden HD plasma
Environmentalists take heart, as LG Electronics is out doing some good in the world, and its forthcoming 52-inch HD plasma provides that widescreen beauty you adore with a sense of tree-luvin' satisfaction to boot. While we've seen gizmos encased in wood before (including Hannspree's own HDTV), this particular piece goes one step further by incorporating wood throughout the entire set. While rummaging through the secret lairs of LG in Seoul, CNET UK caught a glimpse of the mysterious set, and while they weren't allowed to film / photograph it, they rendered a look-alike and assured us that the "bezel was made of compressed wood (derived from renewable forests) and finished in white water-based paint." Of course, no piece of AV equipment would be complete without a hint of silver, so LG added an aluminum trim to go along with the "lead-free / low-lead internal components." While the company wouldn't lend any clues to its future release date nor pricing information, we were told that it would eventually be "commercially available," but similar components will probably be found in more peon-friendly models (like the LG LX70) before too long.[Via CNET]
Life-sized balsa wood toy plane fails to liftoff
For the average child, killing hours on end tossing an easily assembled balsa wood toy plane isn't an uncommon occurrence; for Mark Clews, however, those flat packed crafts weren't exhilarating enough. The 24-year old bloke spent six whole months building a "life-sized edition" to the same exact specifications as the kits he adored as a wee boy. The aircraft boasted a 20-foot wingspan, was 15-feet in length, and was constructed with a slightly tougher wood than balsa. However, his engineering (and physics) skills weren't nearly as sharp as those carpentry ones, as he expected "an enormous rubberband" wound countless times around the propeller to launch the plane into flight. Unsurprisingly, the craft jolted forward a meager five feet, and "even backwards" on another attempt, rendering his project a failure. In an presumed attempt to alert others of how not to get airborne, his impressive (albeit permanently grounded) creation will be on display at the Learn to Fly expo next month in London.[Via FARK]
Suissa Computers offers up custom wooden PCs
What better to match up with that legnatile wood notebook and elm mousepad than a stay-at-home desktop counterpart that wraps nature's best around the sweetest components available? Suissa Computers is targeting the anti-treehugger in us all by offering up a lineup of custom made PCs geared specifically for gaming, entertainment, or home office use. Sporting unconventional, artsy designs, these computers can be encased in a myriad of woods including maple, walnut, oak, goncalo alves, lacewood, leopardwood, paduak, mahogany, zebrawood or purpleheart. Hidden within is an AMD Athlon 64 X2 4800+ / 5000+ dual-core CPU, up to 4GB of DDR2 RAM, nVidia GeForce 7900 / 7950 graphics card, 600 watt power supply, liquid cooling system, and essentially any other option your mind can envision (and wallet can afford). Each model is only replicated 100 times, when it's then replaced by another freshly-chopped design, so if you see a flavor you dig (and have the $6,150+ to cover the cost of ownership), you should probably snap one up before it hits Suissa's endangered species list.[Via CNET]
Olympus woodcam premieres at Photokina
As much as we love shiny new toys, there's something to be said for the elegance of polished wood. At the Photokina exhibition in Germany, Olympus recently wowed everyone with a Japanese cypress encased camera. Olympus issued a press release with a great number of details about the wood, and included photos of how the wood was carved -- but unfortunately neglected to tell us what kind of hardware resides in this hardwood. We're betting that Olympus is holding off on releasing further info until it can develop a way to convert its pristine images into equally stunning Japanese woodblock prints.[Via FarEastGizmos]
