Crave

Outside branding on laptops is relatively rare, with occasional appearances by World of Warcraft or MLB baseball teams turning up in paint jobs, but little in the way of overall product design. A rare exception can be found in the race-car-themed laptops put out by Asus (Lamborghini) and Acer (Ferrari).

These product lines were typically slightly jazzed-up versions of standard laptops, but with inflated price tags and occasionally, branded accessories such as mousepads and cases.

The new Ferrari One 200 from Acer follows this trend, taking a basic 11-inch Netbook shell and decking it out in official Ferrari red, with the automaker's iconic horse logo. The internal components have also gotten a bit of an upgrade, with a dual-core AMD processor and 4GB of RAM giving us a lot more horsepower than a typical Atom-powered Netbook.

Of course, all this comes at a price, and at $599, we'd be tempted to just jump into a thin 13-inch Intel ULV model, such as the 13-inch Toshiba T135. At the right price, we'd be tempted to make this 11-inch Netbook-plus our go-to travel system, but as is, it's a tough sell beyond Ferrari fans only.

On this week's Digital City, we discuss Google's rumored new phone; get to the bottom of the current iMac shipping delays, and go over the best games you can play on a Netbook (all after Dan had to get up at 5am to shoot a local news TV segment on his favorite holiday games).

Then, things take a turn for the weird with a solid gold PlayStation 3, rumored to be under Jay-Z's Xmas tree; and a surprising NYC find -- a Mario-themed pizza place that is calling out for a visit from the ghost of intellectual property lawyers past (see below).

Related links:
>>Is Google making a phone?
>>Top 20 Netbook games
>>Top 5 Holiday Game Picks (CW11 morning News)

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Spotted on Houston street in NYC.

(Credit: Dan Ackerman)

In our current roundup of retail-specific laptops, we've divided our 25-plus systems into four price categories, from sub-$700 budget models to high-end ones that cost more than $1,000.

In the "high-end" category, we looked at four off-the-shelf models that all retail for $999 and above. While there's certainly a lot to like about the $2,000 HP Envy 15 (it sported the highest screen resolution and a new Core i7 processor), we thought the best bang for your buck was to be found in the Sony Vaio FW560, which has a big 500GB hard drive and Blu-ray, all for $999.

If you're looking for something even less expensive, the Sony Vaio NW270 offers no-frills Blu-ray for $699.

Note: For a roundup of retail laptops in all price ranges, check here.

Check out details of each system below:... Read more

The limited-edition smartphone comes in a wine finish, and sports a custom leather strap and a branded Monocle "M" logo on the back.

(Credit: Monocle)

Research In Motion and $10-per-issue jet-set business editorial magazine Monocle have collaborated on a BlackBerry Bold 9700 that costs an astounding $1,500.

Well, it actually costs 950 British pounds, but that's just how bad the exchange rate is right now.

Read more of "RIM, Monocle collaborate on $1,500 BlackBerry Bold 9700" at ZDNet's The ToyBox.

(Credit: Aether & Hemera)

With the IKEA aesthetic taking over so many homes, you might be yearning for furniture that reflects your mood. Literally. The interactive Mood Chair by U.K. designers Aether & Hemera "changes color in response to the colors that its sensors perceive from the environment and the users."

Is it accurate? We're not sure. But we give the artists props for reminding us of mood rings from our adolescent years.

Aether & Hemera play with LED lights, fiber optics, projections, and UV lamps, creating installations that explore light and its power to trigger a sense of identity or set a mood. Although the partially translucent Mood Chair may never make it into living rooms, the design would sit well in a commercial setting.

(Via Technabob)

Mmmvelopes sell online and at stores including Albertsons, Pick 'n Save, Raley's, and Fry's.

(Credit: J&D's)

I honestly can't remember the last time I sent something using conventional mail, but it may have been more than three years ago. I hate licking stamps and envelopes and risking a paper cut in one of the worst places I can imagine. But after spotting these Mmmvelope bacon-flavored envelopes from "bacontrepreneurs" J&D's, I might start looking for reasons to send random stuff out. And for as little as three packs of 25 for $14.99, I can send a lot.

The No. 10 envelopes themselves are regular paper but the glue has a bacony essence ("it's not real bacon, mind you, so you won't have to start storing your envelopes in the refrigerator," the creators stress).

We already have bacon vodka, bacon salt, bacon alarm clocks, and a Web app that superimposes a digital piece of tasty, tasty bacon over everything you navigate. So why wouldn't we get bacon envelopes too? When they make bacon-flavored stamps I might start paying those bills I keep getting. Then maybe I can make food (bacon!) in my oven because they'll have turned the electricity back on. Bacon.

(Via Uncrate)

Just barely making it under the line for the holiday season, Dell's eagerly awaited Adamo XPS laptop is now available to configure and pre-order on the Dell Web site. The estimated ship date given to prospective buyers -- December 22.

According to the online configurator, this system starts at $1,799 and despite the presence of a handful of accessory options, is essentially a fixed, non-customizable laptop.

The base specs include a 128GB Solid State Drive, Intel's 1.4GHz Core SU9400 CPU, 4GB of RAM, a 13.4-inch LED display, a 20Wh battery, and integrated Intel GS45 graphics.

Beyond the usual warranty and software options, you can choose to add an external Blu-ray drive for $199, a 500GB external hard drive for $175, or an extended 40Wh battery for $100.

We've previously gotten a chance to take the new Adamo for a test drive, and were impressed with its thin 10mm design and intrigued by its tilted keyboard, but concerned that it was overpriced and underpowered in a a very value-conscious market.

Read our hands-on impressions of the Dell Adamo XPS here.

Hands on with Dell's new Adamo XPS

It even looks good.

(Credit: Withings)

You take a scale. You give it Wi-Fi. And then you let it log in to your Twitter account to tell the world how much you weigh each morning. That's what this is: the Wi-Fi Body Scale.

At first it sounds silly, but the more I think about it the more I like the idea. If I'm trying to lose weight, this is a good way to force me to watch what I eat lest I embarrass myself in front of my Twitter followers. If it shows me blowing up like a whale instead of dropping pounds then I don't just know I'm doing something wrong, my peers do, too. Shame can be a powerful tool.

The $159 scale already records the user's body weight, lean and fat mass, and calculated body mass index (BMI) to a secure Web site accessible by the user. The Twitter integration, though, is a new feature. The Twitter feature is being called "peer motivation" by Withings, the scale's maker, and they're right. I'd call it "weight loss by fear as motivation," but I'm just some blogger.

After months of teaser shots and cameo appearances, Dell has officially announced pricing and other details for the revamped Dell Adamo XPS laptop. Without setting a specific date, Dell says it expects to "begin taking orders and shipping the Adamo XPS in time for the holidays." The ultrathin luxury laptop starts at $1,799.

We had a chance to take a quick test drive with an Adamo XPS earlier this week, as well as capture some hands-on footage on a Flip handheld video camera.

Our initial impressions of the Adamo remain largely the same after getting to handle it at greater length. The system is ridiculously thin, especially for a 13-inch laptop. Unlike the 11-inch Sony Vaio X, which weighs next to nothing, the Adamo feels slightly heavier than it looks, even with an solid-state hard drive. Dell says the Adamo starts at 3.2 pounds, which is nearly twice the weight of the Vaio X.

The Adamo opens in an unusual way, with the lid shut tight until you swipe a finger on a heat-sensitive strip centered on the front edge. Then the lid lifts up, tilting the screen back and lifting the keyboard on its unusual inset hinge.

At least on the nonfinal version we played with, the lid opening action wasn't as smooth as we would have liked. When using one hand to lift the lid, at about the halfway point the front of keyboard tray itself started to lift off the table, requiring us to hold it down with our other hand.

Dell's new Adamo XPS has an unusual inset hinge.

(Credit: Dan Ackerman/CNET)

When fully opened, the keyboard sits at maybe a 20-degree angle. It's an unusual setup, but one that provides a more ergonomic typing experience than the average flat laptop keyboard. We also liked the keyboard's metal keys and the reasonably large touchpad.

The system's components seem to be located behind the screen, as the ports (two USB, a headphone jack, power connection, and mini DisplayPort) are on the side edges of the lid. The screen itself is a 13.4-inch LED, with a 1,366x768 resolution. The Adamo's lid has a larger footprint than the lower half, and when closed, the keyboard essentially fits inside the inset lid.

With a 128GB solid-state drive and a 1.4GHz Intel ULV processor, we have high hopes for the system's battery life, which Dell claims is up to 2.5 hours with the default battery and a bit more than 5 hours with an optional extended battery (which we haven't seen in person yet.)

While the new Adamo has a much more radically unique design than the original MacBook-like Adamo, the high starting price means it's still likely to be relegated to coffee shop curio status, along with other luxury laptops such as Sony's Vaio X and HP's Envy 13. Not that there's anything wrong with that; high-end concept-car-like products like these invariably trickle their technology developments to mainstream systems down the road.

We're waiting for a final shipping version of the Adamo XPS to arrive, at which time we'll run it though our standard battery of benchmark tests.

Hands on with Dell's new Adamo XPS

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