Here are the world’s 17 most expensive gadgets :

Triton 1000 Luxury Submersible - $1,690,000
The Triton 1000 is U.S. Submarines’ latest light weight, minimum volume 2-person configuration engineered specifically for deployment from megayachts. With an overall height of 1.8 meters and an overall length of only 3.0 meters the Triton will fit on many mid-level boat decks, and at 3.3 tons it can often be launched with existing davit systems.
In addition to its megayacht-friendly features, the Triton design provides for excellent visibility and high levels of comfort with luxury leather seating and full air conditioning for your rich and cultured tastes.
Although the Triton has been designed to be easy to pilot, with intuitive joystick controls and a computer based monitoring system, U.S. Submarine still provides piloting and maintenance training at no additional cost making this multi-million dollar purchase truly worth-it!

The Flying 19XRW Hoverwing Hovercraft - $5,200
The UH-19XRW Hoverwing from Universal Hovercraft is a unique hovercraft with wings that allow it to fly up to an altitude of six feet above the earth’s surface. This “ground-effect” enables you to clear obstacles and fly over rough water for a smooth and enjoyable ride. Operating in ground-effect does not require a pilot’s license, and the craft is normally registered as a boat in most areas.
With it’s wings removed, the Hoverwing is a sleek, high performance hovercraft, able to carry 4 to 6 passengers into brand new areas that can’t be reached with any other vehicle. The Hoverwing can be configured in many different ways to accommodate passengers or equipment needs.

Tecnologia Aeroespacial Mexicana’s Rocket-Belts - $250,000
These real-life working Rocket Belts are from Tecnologia Aeroespacial Mexicana. And with some impressive moolah, you could be soaring the skies in your very own, custom built Rocket Belt at more than 10 miles an hour. These James Bond looking devices aren’t new, they’re an old idea from the 1960s during which the US Military was looking for ways in which a man or woman could safely cross rivers and ravines quickly.
Once you’ve plonked down $250,000 for one of these “kerjiggers”, the company will provide you with a fully-tested, custom-made flying rocket belt, a special machine to make our own unlimited supply of rocket fuel, hands-on training in the process and the equipment, flight training of 10 flights in your own rocket belt, maintenance and setup training, and 24/7 expert support. Sounds like a good deal for the adventurous millionaire, and a sure fire way to make even more money by running your own Rocket Man shows!

The Hovering “Lounger” Lounge Chair by HoverIT - $13,366
This hovering wonder looks like it came straight off a scene of Star Trek but is instead part of HoverIT’s latest range of levitating furniture. This lounge chair uses four extremely powerful permanent magnets to levitate itself above the ground. As you can see, it is made of toughened acrylic that you can place cushions and other niceties to make your lounging experience even more comfortable. HoverIT also claims that the magnetic fields produced by this levitating lounge chair can also soothe headaches and ease muscle and joint pain. Caster wheels are built into the unit to allow you to move it to any desired location.

Luvaglio’s First Luxury Notebook - $1,000,000
UK-based bespoke luxury goods Game-Guide-Polo creator Luvaglio has created the first million dollar laptop. It incorporates a 17″ widescreen LED backlit screen, 128GB SSD and a slot loading Blue-Ray drive. A very rare coloured diamond piece of jewellery doubles up as the power button when placed into the laptop and also acts as security identification.
Luvaglio’s initial clients will be chosen for selection as they have already established trust with them. Clients will be able to design their own laptop by visiting Luvaglio’s showrooms at two or three well known upmarket stores, whereby their selection of materials, finishes and accessories will be available to view and a choice selected.

Panasonic 103 inch PDP Widescreen - $70,000
The Panasonic 103″ PDP offers a 16-bit widescreen progressive display featuring full HD (1,920 x 1,080) resolution, a contrast ratio of 5,000:1, and 4,096 equivalent steps of colour gradation. The 2 Mega Pixel resolution is comparable in size to four 50″ Panasonic plasma displays.
New image-enhancing technologies reproduce crisp, film-like motion images at 1920 x 1080 pixels. The Real Black Creation color-enhancing feature produces high-contrast and rich, deep blacks. A Contrast Management system that optimizes the contrast for each individual portion of the image displayed and a high-precision Motion Pattern Noise Reduction circuit adjusts the image to optimize picture quality by detecting motion patterns that generate noise.

DI Vapor’s Cosmo TV Luxury Tub - $7,000
Di Vapor’s Cosmo B-DV003 TV bathtub sports a 17″ waterproof LCD and remote control with video input to connect a DVD player, TV, etc. It’s also has a touch sensitive control Panel, Timed Auto Shut-off function for Jets, 7 Hydro massage jets, 9 bubble jets, 6 back massage jets, Adjustable Water Jets, Underwater Light, Fully Programmable FM radio with Memory Function, a Hand shower, a Water Level Sensor, a Single Padded Head Rest and “breathe!” a RCD (Residual Current Device) for Safety. Phew!

Venturi Fetish Sports Electric Vehicle - $660,000
This mean looking machine is the Venturi Fétish. The world’s first production two-seater electric sports car that is produced by Venturi in Monaco. The car’s acceleration is comparable to a normal internal combustion engined sports car, producing approximately 250 horsepower, with a 0-100 km/h time of under 5 seconds. Its top speed is 160 km/h, which is respectable considering that it only has one gear.
One other particular attraction of the car is that due to the electric traction motor, the full 220 Nm torque is available at all motor speeds including from a dead stop. It has range of 250 km and uses lithium ion accumulators, offering a complete recharge in 1 hour or in 3 hours with a standard grid thanks to its onboard charger. As an added bonus, each Venturi Fetish comes with WiMax connectivity.

Sooloos Sound System - $12,000
The Sooloos Sound System actually consists of a range of storage, audio and control products. The picture above feature’s the Sooloos “Control:One” Touchscreen panel that lets you select songs to play on your Sooloos Sound System.
To store songs imported into Sooloos from your CDs or PC, you’ll have to purchase the “Twinstore”, a liquid cooled and ultra quiet 1 Terabyte mirrored RAID storage system. Playback of music is achieved via “sources” which are basically digital-analog converters that allow the system to interact with analog speaker systems such as your Infinite Wisdom Grande speaker set. Sources can be installed anywhere you need your music played.
The Sooloos System can also be controlled via a PC, iPhone or even your web browser. You can order a system with all your music preloaded inside, and if you wish to purchase more CDs through Sooloos, they will send you your CDs plus a specially-encoded disc that allows your new music to be downloaded into your Sooloos system in a matter of minutes.

The Dry Water Massager - $29,500
This Dry Water Massager used to be a spa staple of five-star resorts. However, if you’ve got a lot of spare cash lying around things could be different now… The 28 nozzles inside the canopy emulate a shiatsu style massage throughout your body. An aroma diffuser also compliments the full service massage experience with essential oils to soothe and relax. And if all that wasn’t enough, the opening inside the face rest lets you view an integrated 7 inch LCD and DVD player as well as providing iPod connectivity which you can listen to via the included Bose headphones.

The Ferguson Hill Horn Speaker System w/ Subwoofer - $17,581
These horned shaped loudspeakers are produced by Fergusen Hill and operate from 150Hz - 20KHz, with no crossover. They reproduce music with a high level of clarity, detail and dynamics. The horn design makes them highly efficient, needing just 5 watts to go loud. This allows their use with relatively low powered amplifiers further increasing the level of clarity obtainable.
Recommended amplifier power is 3 to 50 watts. They are ideally suited to low power valve amps, and also work well with high quality transistor amps. Fergusen Hill provides demonstrations with your choice of amp.

Power-Assisted Suitcase - $1,365
British luxury bag-maker LiveLuggage has given the suitcase a makeover with its unique power-assisted suitcase – a suitcase that does the work for you. It draws it power from an internal rechargeable battery that you will need to plug into the wall to juice up before a big trip.
But once on the go, its creators claim it should be good for about two hours of usage, or a full 1.75 miles. And if that terrain includes downhills, the suitcase will not only shut down its motors to conserve energy, it will recharge it with the same type of regenerative braking system found in hybrid cars.
Unfortunately, they have yet to invent a Power-SUIT for those absolutely lazy people…now that would be something.

Teraflop SuperComputer for the Rich and Famous - $27,220
HighImpactPC provides extreme computer solutions for your home or office. They have a PS3 Supercomputer cluster, theoretically capable of 1 Teraflop of performance power for $27,200. They also have extreme gaming computers if you do not need as much power. A system with 8GB of RAM, 2x 1GB Nvidia GeForce Graphics cards, 1.5 Terabytes of storage with a dual 25″ monitor setup for $7,580.
They build custom computers for the rich and famous.

Icon A5 Personal Aircraft - $139,000
The graceful dragonfly pictured above is an ICON A5, a two-seat sport airplane aimed at the masses. Designed for ease of piloting, the lightweight personal aircraft is amphibious with retractable landing gear for flying off land and water alike. The A5 features a carbon fiber airframe, a 100-hp/120-mph Rotax 912 ULS engine (that runs on both auto and aviation gas), and folding wings that allow it to be stored at home and towed on the highway with a trailer.
The A5 comes with a plethora of safety features. Included are a propeller guard, wing angle of attack indicator, and a huge, built-in parachute that helps the entire plane come down a little easier in an emergency. It will be available by 2010 at a cost of $139,000. So just keep rolling your money around for a little longer.

Solo Solar Table - $14,000
This hightech table top is the SOLo Lounge Table created by iF. It combines the functionality of an eco-friendly solar panel with minimalist modern design that befits the tag of the ideal lounge table.
Using Bluetooth technology, SOLo collects distributes and exhibits information on the tabletop LCD display as well as between computers and on the internet via a wireless connection.
This Green Appliance also lets you charge your PMPs and laptops via three USB ports as the silicon cells embedded in its glass surface of the table collect and convert solar energy into 17+ kilowatts of clean, green electricity. In the evening, the internal LED lights of the table provide an intimate glow that makes this lounge table a truly high end furnishing.

The Infinite Wisdom Grande Speaker System - $70,000
The Infinite Wisdom Grande is unlike any other system ever produced, it was conceived for environments too large for other systems, including multi-level rooms in the largest homes and palaces, great halls and ballrooms. (Did Saddam Hussein have a few of these?)
It achieves high sound pressure levels in excess of 120 dB in an effortless manner with unequaled refinement. At levels below 110 dB, each transducer is operating at a fraction of their potential and, consequently, within their lowest distortion range. This contributes to the extraordinary detail, clarity, absence of dynamic compression, natural timbre reproduction.
This absolutely awesome system offers a unique solution for those discerning music lovers with large-scale environments unsuitable for lesser systems.

Terra Wind Amphibious RV - $850,000
This custom built RV is decked out with more luxuries internally than most people have in their homes. Apart from allowing you to take your life’s possessions wherever you travel, this Amphibious RV lets you avoid traffic and even the cops by allowing you to take a more aquatic route. We expect that rich James-Bond types will buy this truly unique behemoth of a vehicle. (Gun turrets, radar and missile launchers not included)

What at first might seem like a remarkably bad idea is actually a well-planned assault. In southern Africa, traditional python hunters display their technique for capturing and killing the enormous reptiles. African rock pythons (python sabae) are among some of the largest snakes in the world, reaching over 6 m in length. While their relatives the Burmese pythons are known for their docility, African pythons are much more vicious, as this hunter finds out first-hand.

But although the snakes are armed with razor-sharp teeth and muscular coils that can squeeze the breath out of a full-grown antelope, they are no match for the most dangerous weapon in the natural world: human ingenuity.

The technique is simple, and yet terrifying. The hunter ties a piece of hide onto his forearm and armed only with a small torch to light up the dark he dives headfirst into the python lair. He encounters a large snake guarding a clutch of eggs. At this point, a sensible person would get out as quickly as possible but this hunter has other plans.

He waves his shielded forearm about to distract the snake from biting his face. The python lunges, grabs his hand and begins to swallow. With his free hand, the hunter then chokes the snake and his partner pulls him back out of the hole, which seems like his favorite part, and I don’t blame him.
Though not endangered, restrictions have been placed on python exportation around the world as their skin is used frequently in the leather industry. Despite their aggressive behavior, attacks on humans are rare (but they still make lousy pets compared to Burmese pythons). Smaller, younger pythons eat mainly rodents and are tolerated in farming communities because they help reduce the pest population. However, as they get older and larger, they begin attacking livestock and sometimes children. This is when the snakes become unwanted, and provides the major source of conflict with humans.
They are found all over central and southern Africa, mostly in grassland and savannah habitats. Where these particular snake hunters are from is unclear but they seem to have quite a bit of experience dealing with large snakes. If I had to wrestle enormous pythons like these often enough to become good at it, I would probably just move away..far away.

Argentine teenager Pamela Villarruel poses with her seven children outside her parents’ home in the town of Leones in Cordoba Province, northern Argentina, May 11, 2008. Pamela, 17, bore all seven children in just three pregnancies, having her first boy in 2005 when she was 14 and the other six girls in two deliveries of triplets in the following two years.

Pamela and her children currently sleep in the living room of her mother Magdalena who supports them all by house cleaning. The father of Pamela’s first son abandoned them, the father of the first set of triplets was forced out of the house by the family for beating her, and Pamela refuses to identify the father of the more recent triplets.

Magdalena requested to have her daughter’s fallopian tubes tied to avoid any further pregnancies, but was denied as Argentine law prohibits the procedure to be done on minors.

Source - [www.shift.jp.org]

Shift magazine from Japan has been trying to offer artists many platforms to showcase their works online. The Shift calendar competition held from 2003 successively pushes the boundaries between online and off line using a “calendar” as its medium. Entries are invited from all over the world and 12 selected works are distributed throughout the world in the format of a physical calendar. For the 6th competition for the year 2009, they have received 1,572 entries from 42 countries. 12 carefully selected works will decorate each month of the Shift calendar, which will be on sale from October 20th and will appear in shops and galleries around the world.

The Mercedes-Benz Museum is an automotive museum housed in Stuttgart, Germany. Stuttgart is home to the Mercedes-Benz brand and the international headquarters of Daimler AG. The building, which stands directly outside the main gate of the Daimler factory in Stuttgart-Untertürkheim, was designed by UN Studio. It is based on a unique cloverleaf concept using three overlapping circles with the centre removed to form a triangular atrium. The museum was completed and opened in 2006.

The building’s height and “double helix” interior were designed to maximise space, providing 16,500 square metres of exhibition space on a footprint of just 4,800 square metres. The museum contains more than 160 vehicles, some dating back to the very earliest days of the motor engine. More than 120 years of innovative automobile history is displayed here on three floors. One can see the first automobiles in the world by Karl Benz and Gottlieb Daimler, of course the first Mercedes and a further 80 milestones which make up the myth of Mercedes. Detailed information is offered at the entrance with an audio guide system which one can receive free of charge in 5 languages.

Among other things, one can see important racing cars like the “Blitzen Benz” with which Bob Burman set a sensational world record with 228 km/h in 1911 at Daytona Beach. One will find limousines and sports cars from the twenties and thirties. Prestige and performance, luxury and comfort characterize the vehicles from this period. Examples are the emperor’s car and the compressor sports car with the 500 K special roadster as a highlight. Also observe the 260 D, the first serial diesel car in the world and the 170 V, the most sold Mercedes Benz before the war.

The “silver arrow” also wrote many glorious chapters of the Mercedes Benz racing history after the war. The Mercedes Benz 300 SL coupe with its wing doors became a legend. Based on the racing car from 1952, it was produced serially in 1954.

Let yourself be fascinated by the milestones of technology, future-oriented design and the unique history of motor vehicles.

When Ian Fleming’s novel Goldfinger was published in 1959, he provided James Bond with an Aston Martin for the first time. Prior to that, Bond had been driving Bentleys. In the book, he offered the following description: „Bond had been offered the Aston Martin or a Jaguar 3.4. He had taken the DB III. Either of the cars would have suited his cover – a well-to-do, rather adventurous young man with a taste for the good, the fast things of life. But the DB III had the advantage of an up-to-date triptyque: these included switches to alter the type and colour of Bond’s front and rear lights if he was following or being followed at night, reinforced steel bumpers, fore and aft, in case he needed to ram, a long-barreled Colt 45 in a trick compartment under the driver’s seat, a radio pick-up tuned to receive a radio station called the Homer, and plenty of concealed space that would fox most Customs men.” However Ken Adam, the production designer and John Stears, the special effects supervisor, were still not satisfied. In the autumn of 1963, they visited the Aston Martin works in Newport Pagnell, in order to discuss several modifications with a group of engineers. They chose what was then the fastest horse in the stall: a silver metallic Aston Martin DB 5 (silver birch would have been the factory standard). According to the script, Bond was to escape with the car and then defend himself with it. To make this possible, the following extras were installed in the vehicle with the license plate BMT 216 A:

Initially, the effects car, DP216/1 was the only car with the extras fitted by the film production company, DB5/1486/R was in effect just a standard road car. But such was the demand for the DB5 to appear around the world to publicise the films, the road car, DB5/1486/R and a further two cars that never appeared in the films, DB5/2008R and DB5/2017/R, had the 007 extras fitted by the Works. Below are the best pictures that I have found to illustrate the special features built into the cars. These have been taken from a 1965 brochure that Aston Martin produced to be given out when the cars were displayed to the public.

Both DB5’s also appeared in the 1965 James Bond film, Thunderball, with the addition of a Jet pack in the boot and rear firing water cannons. By 1968, DP216/1 still owned by AML was returned to the Works and all the film company fitted special effects were removed prior to sale as a normal road car. Shortly after DP216/1 was refitted with replica effects by a Kent coachbuilder before being sold to an American collector. DP216/1 went on to feature in the 1981 film ‘The Cannonball Run but was stolen in June 1997 from a hanger in Florida and I believe it’s whereabouts are unknown. It may never be seen again.

The other three Works modified DB5’s still exist but two are rarely seen in public. The Road car, DB5/1486/R is privately owned in the USA. DB5/2008/R was for many years on display in the Smoky Mountain Car Museum but was offered form sale by RM auctions in January 2006 where it achieved $2,090,000. And the last works replica, DB5/2017/R is part of the Dutch National Motor Museum, the Louwman Collection, in Raamadonksveer which I have photographed both in its home and at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance in August 2007.

After it became clear that Goldfinger would become a huge financial success, and a flood of requests came to put the DB 5 on display, the company built two replicas of the car for promotional purposes. These cars had some additional equipment details. One of them had a telephone that was installed in the door on the driver’s side. It also had a special reserve tank and a very luxurious interior trim with antelope leather. All three vehicles (and two others which had been used during the filming) were exhibited at numerous motor shows and charity events; they turned out to be the best publicity-makers that the luxury carmaker ever had.

Sources:
['The Most Famous Car in the World' by Dave Worrall]
[www.astonmartins.com]
[www.carenthusiast.com]