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SPEAKERS
Megaphonograph
In the world of speakers, it's so unhip to be square. The FH 001 borrows the megaphone's design to pump up home audio. Sound waves traveling from the tiny base to the large oval opening expand evenly along the hyperbolic edge. That means its Lowther DX3 driver needs only a 3-watt amp to produce booming full-range sound - standard speakers need at least 30. Plus, the two 5.4-foot blasters cast from 8-mm slabs of transparent acrylic look way cooler than plain old black boxes.
FH 001: $11,000, www.fergusonhill.co.uk
TELEVISION
Watch Yourself
Don't want to be caught watching the boob tube? Philips' Mirror TV hides a 17-, 23-, or 30-inch LCD behind a near-transparent looking glass. Check out an episode of Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, then turn off the TV to size yourself up in the mirror. The built-in tuner lets you surf the basic networks, or you can wire into your cable box or DVD player. A tip: Don't mix horror flicks and shaving unless you want to see real gore.
Mirror TV: $2,500-5,500, www.philipsusa.com
TOY
Fast-Lane Drifter
Nascar wouldn't be Nascar without the thrill of skids and crashes - and neither would remote-control racing. As you weave the Tornado through traffic, hold down a shoulder button on the controller to flip its wheels flat (parallel to the road). Your speedster drifts on its hubs, almost hovercraft-style, using the rubbers as bumpers to save its shell if it hits anything. Release the button to pop the car back onto all fours and make a speedy getaway.
Tornado Fighter R/C Car: $65, www.meisida.com. For purchases within the US: www.firebox.com
SNOWBOARD
Heli Cool
Fly by skiers on a board that's built for busting huge air. The T6 sheds half a pound by ditching standard wood for an aluminum honeycomb core - a composition more commonly found in helicopter blades. Burton engineers, with input from half-pipe god Terje Haakonsen, spared no technology here: The sintered-indium base resists heat and friction, and a layer of fiberglass boosts response. Think you've got skills? Use the T6 to try gravity-defying tricks from the McTwist to the Haakon flip.
T6: $600, www.burton.com
PC
Tiny Book
A computer this petite could come only from Japan. Sony's Vaio U101 crams the insides of a notebook - 600-MHz processor, 256 Mbytes of RAM, 30 gigs of memory, and a backlit 7.1-inch screen - into a paperback-sized package. Its compact keyboard isn't very practical, but once you experience the integrated Wi-Fi and more than five hours of battery life, you'll easily forget your fingers are cramping. And you thought PCs couldn't get any smaller!
Vaio U101: $1,899, www.vaio.sony.co.jp. For purchases within the US: www.icube.us
PLAY
Planet Moby
Scratch-n-Sketch
What's On Your iPod?
You Chill, You Score
The Michael Crichton School of Science
The Big Tease
Life After Star Wars
Atlas of the Mind
Artists in Wonderland
Spray-On Silk Stockings
Happiness Is … a Highrise Museum
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