Top-notch AV fiddlers Bang & Olufsen have unveilied a new brand recently called B&O Play.  The new brand is not going to be a poor man’s B&O (sorry!), instead a range of products which integrate with consumer electronics and take design inspiration from art, fashion and furniture.

So this, the first offering from B&O Play, not surprisingly looks a bit like a toaster.  It’s not though, it’s a high-end portable wireless speaker system.  Running Apple’s proprietary Airplay standard this one is only for the iPhone/iPad users of the world, but surely that’s everybody by now.

Inside that shiny exterior is a 120 watt amplifier, 2 tweeters and one 4 inch subwoofer.  It also has a built-in power supply and rechargeable batteries for music on the go.  Looks lovely and I’m sure it will sound fantastic because it’s by B&O – but that fact will probably also mean I can’t afford one.

For more info, visit beoplay.com.

This is Qlocktwo, part clock, part art – a digital timepiece that tells you the time in words using LEDs and an acrylic matrix of words.

The designers, Biegert  & Funk, have decided that you probably don’t often need to know the time exactly, with the clock displaying the time described in 5 minute intervals.  Others clearly agree as the Qlocktwo has received more than a handful of design awards.

You can choose from a range of colours, or a stainless steel finish – and now there’s a smaller desk clock version available too.  Still, as ever design goodness don’t come cheap – €885 to you…

Available from Biegert & Funk

]]> http://www.mantrends.co.uk/2012/01/qlocktwo-clock/feed/ 0 http://www.mantrends.co.uk/2012/01/1tb-swiss-army-knife/ http://www.mantrends.co.uk/2012/01/1tb-swiss-army-knife/#comments Wed, 11 Jan 2012 17:52:50 +0000 admin http://www.mantrends.co.uk/?p=501

This week at the CES conference in Las Vegas, Victorinox unveiled a new range of their iconic Swiss Army knives featuring a new tool – a flip-out flash drive.

Available in capacities up to a HUGE 1 terabyte, this beast also boasts some fairly serious technology.  A specially-designed connector allows you to use the flash drive in both USB and eSATA ports, and it supports both hardware and software encryption using AES 256-bit.  It also has an OLED display right on the flash drive for labelling contents, and sensibly the drive comes off the knife to make it airport-security-friendly.

How much does all this cost?  Around  a cool $3,000 (£2,000 ish) for the 1TB version.  But on the plus side you can also use it to get stones out of a horse’s hoof…

If you’re stuck for Christmas present ideas for the man who has everything, or if you’re just super cautious about the possibility of a visit from the undead hordes, this could well be for you.

Meet the Gerber Apocalypse Kit – probably the ultimate protection against zombie attack available to buy.  The kit comprises of seven deadly implements, including knives, machetes and axes, and comes in it’s own roll-up canvas case.

Available at $349 US direct from Gerber (around £225 – but don’t blame us if customs come round for a word…)

Nokia’s latest attempt to take on the iPhone is now available to pre-order.  The Lumia 800 (shipping in November) is a strikingly designed smartphone running Windows Phone OS 7.

Boasting a 1.4GHz processor, 512MB of RAM and 16GB storage (on board, no expansion possible) and available in black, cyan or pink, the Lumia 800 appears to be all about design – there really isn’t anything else on the market that looks quite the same.

But whether that will be enough to lure the iPhone aficionados away is something we’ll have to wait and see.

For more info, see the Nokia website.

]]> http://www.mantrends.co.uk/2011/10/nokia-lumia-800/feed/ 0 http://www.mantrends.co.uk/2011/10/lighter-cufflinks/ http://www.mantrends.co.uk/2011/10/lighter-cufflinks/#comments Sat, 22 Oct 2011 15:13:25 +0000 admin http://www.mantrends.co.uk/?p=490

Both a very cool gadget and a serious fire hazard, these cufflinks are fully operational miniature petrol lighters.

Very cool indeed, although the manufacturers do say that you have to remove the cufflinks from “any clothing” before using them, and I think that’s the downfall.  Not only would it be a royal hassle to light a cigarette, you’re also clearly going to think you know better and end up running around a dinner party shouting “Help!  Help!  I’m on fire!”.

Still, they’re gorgeous even if you don’t use them, and available for $80 from the Cool Material shop.

If you’re looking for inspiration for this year’s Movember or simply fancy yourself as a follicle aficionado then this could be the book you’ve been waiting for.

120 pages of portraits of straight-up hairy-faced trend-setters is just what your coffee table has been waiting for.

£8.99 from Amazon

You can’t get more British than the Jensen Interceptor from the late 1960s.  And now you can start craving after a brand new one.  OK, so the company which owns the brand is now Swiss, but ignore that and look at the picture!

There’s very little available in terms of information about the 2014 car so far, except for the fact that the new Interceptor will be built on a lightweight aluminium chassis.  Other than that we’re pretty much in the dark, but if it looks anything like the pictures it will be worth waiting for!

See more images on the Jensen website.

In an apparent move to align the sportscar brand with good old fashioned boozing Porsche have added an ice cube tray to their extensive merchandise catalogue.

This blue silicone badboy costs a round tenner and features moulds of the 911, Cayenne, Cayman and Panamera.  Not that you’ll be able to distinguish between them once they’ve been cooling your schnapps for a while.

But why not?  Perhaps it will stop a few rock stars driving their 911s into swimming pools.

If you must, it’s available here…

Hopefully this is all licensed and not just someone ripping the designs off, but either way there are some cool items available.

Check them out at Obey Clothing.