Taiwan-based company Hannspree believes it has an LCD TV out there with your name on it. No quibble there from this reporter, since once you set eyes on its stable of themed goggle boxes, you're liable to want to rush out and get one. Hannspree apparently hired four design teams to knock heads and come out with a line of LCD TVs that would appeal to whimsy. The collection currently ranges from Cinderella carriages to Granny Smith Apples, to even French Fries and--a hot favorite--a sheep TV.
Click to see samples: 1 | 2 | 3 | more images at its Taiwan site
Price: US$449 to US$1,399 Availability: San Francisco, Beverly Hills Device: LCD TVs with mojo Basic specs: N.A.
Thanks to Apple, white has never been quite the same color since. Now it's de rigueur to offer at least one ceramic-white item in a vendor's stable of goods, Sony notwithstanding. Our fav maker of cool gaming consoles has dished out a whitewashed version of its slim PlayStation 2 which, despite the fact that it's likely to suffer wear-and-tear less graciously than its black sibling, will be on every PlayStation gamer's "want to have" list. Me, 2.
It must be wearisome being king of the hill. With the competition eating dust, our favorite Korean chaebol has dug into its Doraemon pouch and whipped out another world first--a 40-inch OLED TV. Until recently, Organic Light Emitting Electronic Diode was a manufacturing challenge and good as only itsy displays found mostly on MP3 players and phones. With Samsung's breakthrough expected to lead to super-skinny TVs just 3cm thick and far less costly, there's nothing more satisfying then knowing your snooty neighbor's 40-inch plasma is going to be so yesterday.
Price: N.A. Availability: Due 2006
Device:: OLED TV Basic specs: HD display, 1,280 x 800 resolution, amorphous silicon backplane that enables fast video response times with low-power consumption, maximum screen brightness of 600 nits, black-and-white contrast ratio of 5,000:1, color gamut of 80 percent