It used to be that having a mobile phone was a fairly expensive treat but oh how things have changed. In a strange twist it now seems that owning a landline has become the true luxury.

A recent Nielsen survey found that not only have 17% of homes already gone landline-less but that number is predicted to jump to a full 1/5 of the population (20%) by the end of the year.

So what's causing this trend? Finances, for most. It's a cold hard fact that for most people cell phones are cheaper to own and operate than landlines, all factors considered, and in today's ever-tightening economy luxuries like home phone service are getting cut out. Who would have thought, expensive and fancy as cell phones are getting these days, that the real status symbol would become the clunky home phone?

Via psfk

Gresso has come out with their latest in a line of ridiculously ornate flash drives. The Gresso Enigma gives you 192 GB of memory because it holds three flash cards of 64 GB each. The drives are made of 200-year-old African
Blackwood and according to the press release "plenty of fancy diamonds embraced in 18K yellow or white gold." There are two lines, the star-shaped Constellation and the triangular Labyrinth. Each comes with a rubber strap so it can be worn as a pendant. Each style is a limited edition of 99 and they sell for 5,000 euros each.

Wine connoisseurs come in all shapes and sizes, from the old-fashioned purists to the cutting edge trend setters, and this product would definitely be for the latter. The Skybar Wine Preservation & Optimization System is designed to do it all. It chills up to 3 bottles of wine at once (all in separate compartments with individual temperature controls), dispenses the wine smoothly and without disturbing the natural sediment, preserves open bottles of wine for up to 10 days with vacuum technology, and displays the bottles attractively with LED lighting.

I don't know which type of wine drinker I am (old fashioned or trendy) because although I think this wine system is great I also think I would miss pouring the wine from the bottle. $999

Via acquire

Armani and Samsung have released their latest joint effort cell phone. The Samsung Armani 2 Night Effect gets its name from the wraparound LED light on the phone. The candybar-style phone has a 3.2 megapixel camera, FM radio, 120MB of memory that is expandable with microSD, and Bluetooth. It will be sold in Europe in November with sales in Southeast Asia and the Middle East to follow. It will sell for around 300 euros. Tech pundits don't seem to be loving this one, finding the Armani logo on the back a bit garish and the overall look to be a bit clunky.

Does your phone need a little extra storage? These days people aren't exchanging their phones quite as rapidly and so they are trying to get the most out of them. Today I'm giving away one of SanDisk's Wake Up Your Phone packages. Their line of flash memory devices called the SanDisk Mobile Ultra are designed to offer easy transferring of large media files between your PC and your phone. The SanDisk Mobile Ultra microSDHC 4GB memory card comes with a pocket-sized, USB 2.0 compatible SanDisk MobileMate Micro card reader to make connecting easy. The device is compatible with almost all microSD supported mobile phones.

To win, enter a comment below about what you store on your phone. Music? Videos? Pictures? What's in yours?

To enter, all you need to do is leave a comment below before 5:00PM Eastern, Friday, September 26, 2008. We'll randomly choose one winner amongst the eligible entries.

Some other important details:

* To enter, leave a confirmed comment below answering the question above.
* The comment must be left and confirmed before Friday, September 26, 2008 at 5:00PM Eastern Time.
* You may only enter once.
* One winner will be selected in a random drawing.
* One winner will receive the 4GB SanDisk Mobile Ultra SDHC card and reader valued at $39.99.
* Open to legal residents of the 50 United States, the District of Columbia and Canada (excluding Quebec) who are 18 and older.

See complete contest rules here.

This contest has closed. Thank you for your participation.

Baller Toys is a new website designed to bring you the very best in glamorous home entertainment--and we're not talking TVs and stereos!

Above is the Climatech 1001 Climate Controlled Cabinet Humidor. At $4,695.00, it is the least expensive of the four humidors available from Baller Toys.

Some exclusive items from the luxury website include:

• Mars Made and MartinBauer custom billiards tables ($35,000-$100,000)
  

• Teckell crystal foosball tables ($7,500-$10,000, other designer foosball tables up to $27,000)
  

• The International Dance Party, one-of-a-kind party machine ($67,000)

• VirtualGT Racing Simulators ($18,995+)

Keep an eye on Baller Toys for great things now and in the future. We love their motto: "Nothing is too extravagant."

Heckler Design calls it "The Last Desk You'll Ever Own."

This minimalist desk, the OneLessDesk, is simple, chic, and clearly designed with Mac in mind.

It looks so beautiful, but could you really run your life with no hard copies of anything? Maybe it should be called OneLessDesk-OneMoreNearbyFileCabinet.

It comes in white or silver, and when you nestle the lower part in? It's about one foot deep. Just a foot! That's probably less space than your side table!

And, there's more that you don't see. The top shelf there is hollow, so there's a place for any usb and wifi ports you may need. Very smart design, Heckler. We approve.

I had not seen one of these monstrous motorhomes before but Newell's new line of coaches are amazing! Talk about a posh pad on the road these enormous coaches have so many interior options and amenities its hard to keep up! But their recent partnership with Affinity brings a top-of-the-line flat top grill, the Evo 25E, to the Newell line offering a grilling experience on the road like no other. This grand island with grill inset slides out from the side of the coach allowing its passengers to grill on an electrically controlled cooktop (less mess and less danger) with various settings to suit your searing to slow-cooking needs. In case you don't like the feel of 'roughing it' with your grill, the island is complete with large counter space and optional audio system, LCD-flat screen tv and refridgerator. That makes for quite the roadtrip -- food, tv, music and enjoying the fresh air wherever your journey takes you.

When Vivienne Tam posed with Miss USA during New York Fashion Week she had an interesting accessory tucked under her arm. That peony-printed clutch that matched her dress was no purse, it was the new mini notebook from Hewlett Packard. HP collaborated with Tam on the fashion notebook which also appeared on the runway with Tam's clothing. The "digital clutch" has a 10-inch screen. No details on specs or pricing have been released yet but it is supposed be available in early 2009. Laptop Magazine has a great gallery of close-up shots of the new gadget.

The name might not be particularly sophisticated but the idea is a fun one: portable espresso whenever and wherever you want it. No need to rough it the next time you go camping! Well, not in the hot beverage department anyway.

The Handpresso works by using your own personal manpower to create the necessary pressure by pumping the handle, after which the machine produces one shot of espresso. And according to our sister site Slashfood's product review, the espresso isn't half bad.

For me part of the fun of camping is drinking something different, like coffee made in a steel pan over the fire, and laughing about how bad it is. But then I can't remember the last time I actually went camping so maybe there's something to bringing a little bit of home out with you to the wilds. $155

Via Shiny Shiny

As we saw a couple months ago, to celebrate Boucheron's 150th anniversary, the jeweler is partnering with other companies to create some amazing pieces. Two years ago Boucheron and luxury phone maker Vertu created extravagant bejeweled snake phones. The seven signature phones each contain 388 mechanical parts and each has a removable jeweled charm. Each has a gold case and a different design of pavé jewels. No word on the price yet but they are assumed to be into the six figures at least.

[via Chip Chick]

It's a toaster from Siemens and Porsche and it means serious toasting business. The TT911P2 2-Slice automatically adjusts itself to the thickness of the bread, has an LED display that counts down until the toast is ready, has 11 different degrees of browning, and it can remember which one was used last. The quartz heating element is one of the most efficient available, plus it has cool wall technology, variable browning, and of course a crumb tray. All that plus it's styled like something out of a space ship. £99

Via Switched On

Robots can clean your floor and entertain you, now they can also help you shop. Uniqlo's Soho store will debut Wakamaru, the first robot to be used in a retail store int the U.S. to greet customers, during the second week of September in their SoHo store. Fashion Week Daily reports that the bright yellow robot takes its name from a famous 12th century warrior and was designed by Toshiyuki Kita and developed by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. The friendly robot will recognize people, let customers know of special promotions, make eye contact and even lead store staff in motivational morning exercises.

Last month, Newsweek had an interesting piece on household robots, highlighting Wakamuru and Roomba. While the Roomba has been a huge seller, Wakamaru with its $15,000 price tag was not so successful. It was expected to be a popular household helper robot when it first rolled off the assembly line in 2005 but was not been a hot seller.The large robot was pulled off the market and units have been rented out for greeting gigs like the one at Uniqulo.

Remember that movie, Coming to America, with Eddie Murphy where he plays Prince Akeem who has royal bathers and servants waiting on him hand and foot? Well, the Kohler C3 Bidet Seat to me is the technology equivalent of someone there to clean your backside. A seat attachment that sports bidet technology complete with a remote is designed to cleanse your seat after you take care of business. It may even be considered somewhat 'green' since it reduces the need for toilet paper if not eliminating it altogether. For $950 you can purchase the seat, attach it, program it to suit your size/needs, and enjoy a temperature controlled bum-washing after nature has called.

I'm not generally a big fan of diamond-encrusted cell phones but I think the iPhone lends itself to the idea better than others because it's so sleek and has such a limited area where diamonds can be placed. Claiming to be the world's first real diamond-studded iPhone, the Apple iPhone 3G by Swiss jeweler Knalihs Athem is made with 475 brilliant cut diamonds totaling 3.75 carats. Only 50 iPhone 3G handsets will be created on a made-to-order basis, with the first 10 units being sold at the special price of $10,000. iPhones 11-50 will be priced "sharply upwards."

I'm not sure what that translates to exactly but it sounds like if you want one you better move fast.