gold

There's a simple yet invariable rule for retail products: Whenever a well-designed creation comes on the market, it will be followed by a horribly overdone version from a competitor who doesn't know when to stop. (Or sometimes from the same manufacturer as the original.)

Case in point: While we certainly don't approve of gilding as a rule, the recently featured 18k Shuffle actually caught our fancy. Then today, we almost reflexively poked an eye out upon viewing an unfortunate little guy that not only was made of gold but also "caked with loads of glittery diamonds,&… Read more

Nearly a year after its first sightings, the $130,000 "Yalos Diamond" TV may finally have some competition--at least in the Department of Gaudy (otherwise known as DOG).

Speaking of abbreviations, we didn't know that LG stood for "Luxury Gold," as it does in the case of this 24-carat monstrosity. True to its moniker, the home theater system includes a 71-inch LCD in full 1080p high definition, as well as receivers, media players and a 500-watt sound all trimmed and plated in real gold, according to Aving. It's truly obscene.

The price of the … Read more

As much as the grain is a staple of our diet, rice cookers aren't something you'll usually find on Crave. But readers of this space know well that we have a thing for all things gold, and this item definitely qualifies on that score (which doesn't necessarily mean it's a good thing). We also have a passion for weird names, so that makes it a two-fer.

Sanyo's new pressure cooker, which uses some serious copper heating technology, comes in "champagne gold" and apparently is prized enough to encase in glass. But the most … Read more

Pity the poor Shuffle. Even before all of Apple's music players took a back seat to the iPhone, the Shuffle had to endure the pomposity of its older sibling in 24k gold.

But the little guy is finally getting some revenge. According to BornRich, a German company called Xexoo has created a Shuffle cast in 18k gold for just $10,000, including 24-hour tech support. Before you rush out to take advantage of this bargain, be aware that the player is expecting--what else?--an upgrade. Instead of memory or other boring specs, though, the next version will have diamonds. … Read more

Samsung has been holding out on us. The company did say last month that it would be issuing limited-edition phones in honor of the Beijing Olympics, following the likes of Lenovo and its "Cloud of Promise" laptops. But they didn't tell us the handsets would be made of gold.

Crave has a special relationship with all things gold, as some readers may have gleaned, so this phone naturally caught our eye--and it's not so ugly that we had to poke it out. True, some might find the P318+ a bit garish in its 18-carat gold casing, … Read more

World of Warcraft publisher Blizzard Entertainment has filed suit in U.S. federal court against a popular gold-selling operation for spamming players with ads for virtual gold, according to the Warcry Network and other sources.

In its post, Warcry's Razorwire blog quoted a Blizzard employee as saying, "We felt that it was important to share with the community just how serious we are in our efforts to combat (in-game gold spamming). Blizzard has filed a federal lawsuit against the operators of Peons4hire, a popular gold-selling organization."

Blizzard spokesperson Shon Damron, in an e-mail, confirmed the lawsuit.

It'… Read more

Depending on how you feel about barbecues, this is either an unmitigated disaster or the best thing since the "George Foreman iGrill." We're torn.

On one hand, it's a monster 'cue with quartz ignition, a vaporizer grid, six burners--not including one to heat a wok--and a roasting hood with a viewing window (gasp). On the other, according to Gizmag, all parts of BeefEater's "Signature Series 6 Burner SL4000" are plated in 24-carat gold. All of them, that is, except for the grilling surfaces. (Thank goodness level heads prevailed, at least in this regard.)… Read more

Contrary to popular belief, Crave doesn't hate every attempt to adorn gadgets and their accessories. It's true that the fashion gremlins have been hard at work spreading their atrocious taste to headsets, for example, but every once in awhile they miss one--and the result is something as beautifully designed as Jabra's JX10 Bluetooth line.

Thankfully, the company exercised sufficient self-restraint with its luxury versions, which Luxurylaunches says come in 24k gold plate and stainless steel. Of course, once we learned that the headset was the work of a former Bang & Olufsen designer, it all made sense.… Read more

We've got to tip our hats to Hong Kong: It's not often that a city gets its very own special edition of a phone. For whatever reason, Motorola has dedicated a version of its Krzr K1 clamshell handset to the metropolis, in "champagne gold" no less.

It's not quite the $10,000 Peter Aloisson model, but we'll go out on a limb and speculate that it'll cost less. And this one come with other perks as well, Electronista says, such as "a coupon or a free gold nail-polish pack at Sa Sa … Read more