The New American Heritage dictionary defines the adjective "superlative" as: "Of the highest order, quality, or degree; superior to all others; 2. Excessive or exaggerated." The third entry should read "The BeoVision 4." The television from Bang & Olufsen presents these credentials: it spans 103 inches; the screen alone weighs 580 pounds, the floor-standing base adds another 600; when the BeoVision 4 isn't being viewed the screen lowers itself to the floor via dual gas shocks and actuators, hiding the center speaker; sixteen years of research have gone into it; oh, and it costs $112,000.

Luxist recently took a trip to Beverly Hills Aston Martin to get a good look at just how much TV you could get for the price of an Aston Martin V8 Vantage. The story is here.

French industrial designer Alexandre Fourn has come up with an amazing electronic Hermès agenda concept that could herald a new age of luxury goods. The Hermès Contre-Temps employs futuristic flexible OLED touchscreen and e-paper technology to expand from a pocket-sized device to a full-size diary when needed. It features all the bells and whistles of an iPhone including an electronic organizer, photo sharing, email, GPS, an RSS reader and more. It even has signature Hermès saddle-stitched orange leather inserts. Hermès should definitely hire this guy.

Here at Luxist we've covered a lot of blinged out mp3 players, but what we haven't covered is a lot of blinged out mp3 players for dogs.

I didn't even know you could get an mp3 player for your pooch, so getting one covered in gold and diamonds obviously never even crossed my mind until I saw this. The music is supposed coordinate with the dog's mood and enhance their health (seriously?), and of course the gold and diamonds are just supposed to help the dog (and you) feel fancy. Priced around $2000.

Waking up is hard to do, but it might be a little easier with Zyken's Nightcove alarm clock. It takes the powers of light, sound, and science and uses them to improve your sleep. All alarm clocks are designed to wake you up, but this one takes sleep-rhythms and naturally occurring light patterns to make it a more pleasant experience. The Nightcove has a darkening amber light at bedtime, followed by pulses of white and blue to wake you up the following morning. It also comes with an assortment of built-in sounds, or you can connect your mp3 player for customized audio. $2,500


Via Book of Joe

If I walked into someone's home and saw these babies hanging out in the corner I really don't know what I'd think, other than making a mental note not to stand too close in case somebody would accidentally hit the power switch on the stereo system. They're Ferguson Hill Horn Loudspeakers, and although their enormous horn shape and clear acrylic construction are definitely impressive from a visual standpoint, sound quality leaves something to be desired for some. I'd take the sites suggestion of getting a demonstration before you buy, especially considering the price tag is a whopping $19,916.

I doubt my Grandfather would be very keen on wearing this hearing aid even if somebody paid him, but of course there's always somebody out there willing (even if it's only the one person who designed it!). Made by Widex, this digital hearing aid is cast in 24k gold and encrusted with 220 diamonds. And I can't help but notice that Widex gave their logo on the bottom some extra attention, so any admirers will be sure to know where they can get one of their own. Get yours for only $42,590 and let the gawking begin.

I don't quite get it, but we seem to be seeing the smallest of the iPods, the Shuffle, getting decked out more than any of the others. Now don't get me wrong, the Shuffle is cute as a button and the bling looks good on it, I just can't understand why people would bother to decorate a gadget that costs less than $100 and is the "lowest" member of its own family.

But if you're going to do it then do it all out, right? How about $40,000 worth of 'all out?' Because that's how much this pretty little diamond and gold coated iPod will run you. And for that price no detail is overlooked -- there's even diamonds and gold on the earbuds.

There's always room for more bling in our lives, sometimes in the most unlikely of places. It's not that I haven't seen decked out USB drives before, but I guess I just figure if you're going to go there then do it right and go all out. The Phillips-Swarovski Active Crystal collection definitely goes there, squeezing as many Swarovski crystals as possible onto some very cute electronic gadgets. For USB drives there's the 1 GB "Heart Beat," a two-piece locket style, and the 1 GB "Lock-Out," and retractable padlock shaped one, both of which will sell for $179.

The collection also includes headphones and earbuds with large crystals embedded in each ear piece. Available in 4 different designs they will range in price from $79-$149. The entire line is scheduled to come out this August.

Now we're just getting ridiculous. Joining the "$1 million" club is these Grand Enigma speakers by Karma, and there's apparently only 1 pair in existence in a basement somewhere in Belgium. Seeing as how there's only the one set, it really doesn't matter what the features are (it's not like you could get your own), but I'm still really curious! Just what does a set of speakers have to do to be worth that much? They look huge, but other than that I'm skeptical (I don't see any diamond accents...) and it seems feature specifics are hard to come by.

And be sure to check out the rest of HigherFi.com's list of the world's most expensive speakers, with 2nd place going to Wisdom Audio's Infinite Grande at $600,000.

With electronics usually sporting black or silver color schemes, this gold SA-&S1 CD player from Marantz is setting itself apart with an appealing gold finish. It's not super shiny and it doesn't look like it's trying too hard, but is still gold, which is interesting. Put that with features like little to no sound-degrading vibrations, protection against electrical interference, and micro-precision metals making for an exceptionally clean data read-out, and it's a nice piece of electronics.

It's a good looking seemingly well-made CD player, but I don't know about paying $10,000 for it? Unless that's real gold used in the finish, then maybe...

"Bling" is right! Complete with artificial jewels running up and down the sides, with a shiny chain and skull, there's definitely some glitz happening here -- although I'll let you decide if it's the good kind or the bad. Surprisingly, though, this decked-out little media player has some nice features on the inside, including a bigger than expected memory, a built-in microphone, and an FM tuner with recording.

And for only $200 the magic can be yours, although it's certainly not for the shy or the insecure! (Or the refined, or the classical...)

LG has just released their U900 phone, which is reported to be the first DVB-H phone in the world. DVBH stands for Digital Video Broadcasting - Handheld, a slightly smaller version of same technology that works for digital TV. The phone and its digital imaging technology will first be available in Italy, where the carrier Hutchinson, the largest service carrier in Italy, has obtained the exclusive DVB rights to the 2006 World Cup. After the World Cup is complete and an Italian base has been established, the phone will be marketed globally.

The screen is 2.2-inches wide and users can watch for up to three hours on one battery charge. The phone also has a 1.3 mega-pixel VGA digital camera and 58 MB memory. Rumor has it that Samsung Electronics plans to introduce a DVB-H phone to the Italian market this month, as well.

[Image OhMyNews]

Out of wall space? Can't be bothered to call an electrician to hook up your new plasma screen TV? The Alu Media Wall eliminates both of those problems. It is a cast aluminum wall with a brushed silver finish that has all the wiring needed to hook up a plasma TV - and it can support TVs that are up to 47-inches and 185-lbs. The unit has two shelves that extend outward from the wall. The upper shelf, in the brushed aluminum, can double as a coffee table, but the lower glass shelf is best used for holding media equipment, like a TiVo, DVD player or stereo. Price: $1,258.20.

[Via noDRM.com]