Fetish

Fetish

Transistor
Net radio's great - but you can't listen to programs during your daily commute. Or can you? The Listen Up Player is a pager-sized device that can play .wav sound files gathered from your Web browser (via an external docking station). Use headphones, the unit's speaker, or the clever knob that broadcasts over the nearest FM radio. It won't read RealAudio files yet, but Audio Highway has licensed content from the likes of The Associated Press and Newsweek.
Listen Up Player: US$299. Audio Highway: (800) 775 4783, +1 (408) 255 5301, on the Web at www.audiohwy.com.

Wave
It's the ultimate equalizer. The Cello Audio Palette allows the home listener or studio engineer to rebalance sound - with controls that move in quarter-decibels at six frequencies (15 Hz, 120 Hz, 500 Hz, 2 KHz, 5 KHz, and 25 KHz). It works on any recording, compensating for room acoustics and other variables. The Palette, designed by bassist, engineer, and audiophile Mark Levinson (along with Dick Burwen and chief designer Tom Colangelo), can make a good system sound great.

Cello Audio Palette: from US$23,500. Cello Music & Film Systems Los Angeles: +1 (310) 273 2203.

Bugs
This treasure box looks unusual at first glance, but the story of its creation is as fascinating as the finished piece. Formed from the cast of an elephant beetle, the head, when pressed down, releases the wing cover of the box, revealing a hidden compartment for storing your trinkets. The bug's exoskeleton was re-engineered to perform this trick. And while the box is beautiful, knowing its origins highlights its macabre appeal.
Beetle treasure box: bronze, US$510; silver plate, $610; gold plate, $695. Nikolas Weinstein Studios: +1 (415) 587 5987

Fatties
While mountain bikes have mutated into hybrids, designed to perform better on the road, they look wimpy. What's the serious rider to do? The Rockline Cycle Buggy may be the answer. With a pair of ATV-like fatties, the Buggy looks geared for serious off-roading but is actually built to provide a soft, cushioned ride on paved surfaces. Its extreme looks are complemented with a light chro-moly steel frame. For those who can't stand riding the fence, the Cycle Buggy might look like a hybrid, but it certainly won't cruise like one.
Rockline Cycle Buggy: &YEN145,000 (US$1,350). Oshima: +81 (568) 31 6261.

Detach
One of the great things about a walkman is the sense of detachment it gives you. But you often can't escape the cold reality of the wires tethering your ears to the body of the machine. Sony's finally fixed this annoyance: the WM-WX1 sports a wireless connection, linking the main unit to the small, Mickey Mouse-looking dingus that holds the earphones. This mini-receiver simply clips onto your shirt collar, freeing you from worrying whether you're about to catch the headphone wires on an obstacle and rip new holes in your tender ears.
WM-WX1: &YEN27,000 (US$250). Sony: +81 (3) 5448 3311.

Tops
It doesn't do anything fancy - except fold. Origami's times table is in many ways the perfect table for these times. Its foldable design makes it easy to ship, a snap to set up, and simple to pack up and move. The tabletop includes a wire port for tucking away computer cables, and you can gracefully add the Keyster, a keyboard tray for the ergonomically inclined. Colors? Origami paraphrases Henry Ford: Whatever color you want, so long as it's black.
times table: US$299. Keyster: $99. Origami Inc.: +1 (206) 781 2659, on the Web at www.timestable.com.

Burled
As evidenced by the rash of contempo computers, users want something that blends into their homes better. The Executive from Asuko is an entirely different animal. Custom-built from high-quality woods, the Executive brings a special warmth and elegance to an otherwise cold technological object. Even the mouse is fashioned from dead tree parts. Complemented by a pair of 120-watt speakers, the Executive not only makes a statement, it makes a loud one.
Asuko Executive: &YEN880,000 to &YEN1,350,000 (US$8,150 to $12,500). Asuko: +81 (3) 3944 9466, www.asuko .isfnet.ad.jp/p2.html

Ample
Rogers has been making some of the world's finest loudspeakers for years, carrying the torch for quality British hi-fi. Although the company has finally decided to branch out and produce an amplifier, it hasn't lost its cool. No vanilla electronic circuitry for these folk; when Rogers makes an amp, it's good old-fashioned tubes only. Best of all, Rogers has wrapped its E20a and E40a in drop-dead audio-nerd black boxes - with canopies of silver grill that shyly reveal their gorgeous inner workings.
Rogers E20a: &POUND1,090 (US$1,660). E40a: &POUND1,900 (US$2,900). Rogers: +44 (181) 640 2172.

Puzzler
Once in a while, something comes along that challenges assumptions about how games can be built. Brain Warp is deceptive: at first you try twisting or pushing the knobs. But it is simply rotated - a weighted ball inside settles to the bottom knob, closes a circuit, and registers the knob on top as your selection. And the single selection button turns off automatically. What could be simpler? Well, add up to six games with up to six players, and things get difficult quickly.
Brain Warp: US$24.99. Tiger Electronics Inc.: +1 (847) 913 8100.

Focus
The Great Gatsby's Dr. T. J. Eckleburg may have made a bigger name for himself had he invented the Eye-Control Focus System, but he didn't - Canon did. With the ability to function in both vertical and horizontal modes, the EOS Elan IIe's eye-controlled focus won't leave you wandering a wasteland of blurred vision. Using infrared-emitting diodes, the camera "learns" the shooter's pupil-focusing points. Purists, worry not: the Elan's traditional SLR design can also revert to full manual and programmed image modes.
EOS Elan IIe: US $800. Canon USA: (800) 828 4040, on the Web at www.usa .canon.com.

Effuse
Computer interfaces have continually fallen short of expectations, but building superior input devices at home has been next to impossible. Until now. The I-Cube System communicates through MIDI, patching your PC to a variety of sensor inputs that respond to changes in light, temperature, touch, and proximity. I-Cube has been used by artists and can help involve more of your senses in your computing experience.

I-Cube Digitizer: US$595. Infusion Systems: +1 (604) 253 0747, on the Web at www.infusionsystems.com.

Wrest
The mouse is turning out to be a bane for heavy computer users. Easy to pick up, the mouse may be responsible for more RSI troubles than its partner, the keyboard. The Mouse "Surf" Board may help. It sits in your lap, providing a smooth surface for mousing and easing strain by keeping your wrist in a "body neutral" position. (But remember to give your legs a break as well.)
The Mouse "Surf" Board: US$15. Neutral Products Inc.: on the Web at www.neuergo.com/surfboard.

Thanks to Steve Silberman, John S. Couch, Harry Case, Wired Japan, and Wired UK.