Luxury

Marrying space saving efficiency with a touch of 21st Century hospitality, Yotel hotels treat guests to a fully automated check-in service featuring Yobot, a theatrically lit robotic baggage drop-off machine that creates a mechanical performance for guests as it loads and stores their belongings. The robot porter is just the beginning of the novel hotel experience offered by Yotel, a capsule style hotel chain with locations in London, New York and Amsterdam.  Read More

We were intrigued by the Amphibious 1000's proposed floating suites and private underwater lounges, however The Conrad Maldives Rangali Island Resort hosts the real deal! Situated in the tropical gardens on Rangalifinolhu Island, access to the resort is only by seaplane and while it may sound like any other exclusive get away, the Conrad Rangali will have you dining with stingrays and on special occasions, sleeping with the sharks.  Read More

As envisioned by the Italian architectural firm Giancarlo Zema Design Group (GZDG), Amphibious 1000 is a US$500 million semi-submerged resort project planned for a protected marine area on the coast of Qatar. Reflecting its name, the resort is like a large aquatic creature stretching out into the sea. Divided into two sections of land and sea, the project includes residential buildings, offices, a central marine park, floating walkways and underwater marine galleries that all form a semi-circle around the central tower, which hosts a panoramic restaurant.  Read More

Some readers may remember the incredible-looking biodiesel-powered Earthrace trimaran. Originally designed to circumnavigate the world, it ended up being donated to the Sea Shepherd Society, and was promptly rammed and sunk by a Japanese whaling ship. Well, while we may no longer have it to gawk at, a one-off watercraft that could almost be considered its gigantic, luxurious sibling is currently being constructed in China. Behold, the Adastra.  Read More

The word "grand" just doesn't seem to cut it when describing this piano. Created by Polish designer Robert Majkut, the Whaletone's beautiful design evokes its sea-going namesake slowly emerging from the water and combines this with the technology of a high-end professional stage instrument in a way that's likely to appeal to both music and design connoisseurs.  Read More

With a mobile phone now an essential item in any ladies' handbag, it's surprising that most of the solar powered bags we've seen up until now have been either backpacks or messenger bags. That's fine for men who generally see bags as a purely functional piece of equipment designed to make it easier to carry things like beer, guns and pornography around. But from what I understand, it's much different for women, for whom the handbag is an extension of their personality and needs to be fashionable as well as practical - and the practicality is probably optional. Danish design studio DIFFUS has done its best to combine the two with its Solar Handbag.  Read More

A year on from the first unveiling of the EC145 Mercedes-Benz Style multi-purpose helicopter concept at last year's European Business Aviation Convention & Exhibition (EBACE) in Geneva, Eurocopter has shown the first finished aircraft at EBACE 2011. Inspired by Mercedes' high-end vehicles, the twin-engine Mercedes-Benz Style helicopter features a versatile interior enabled by a modular approach that allows the aircraft to be tailored to suit a range of travel needs.  Read More

Taking in the sights of a foreign land by car isn't a new approach to tourism, but this variation on the theme provides an extra injection of speed – supercar speed. The "Elite Car and Castle Tour" merges old world British castles with high adrenaline track days and luxury driving in 15 of the hottest cars in the world including the Aston Martin DB9 Volante and V12 Vantage, Audi R8, Bentley GT Convertible, Ferrari 430 F1 Spider and California, Jaguar XF, Porsche 997 Turbo PDK, Lamborghini Gallardo LP560-4 Spyder and Maserati Quattroporte.  Read More

British car maker Aston Martin is looking to leverage its luxury brand into the world of consumer electronics by teaming up with Canadian mobile phone manufacturer Mobiado to produce a line of high-end handsets to be launched in May of this year. Until then, the company has provided a tantalizing peek at possible future designs with the CPT002 Aston Martin Concept Phone that takes the 'slab of glass' design of many current smartphones to the next level. With a solid sapphire crystal capacitive touchscreen, the CPT002 is completely transparent.  Read More