One of the major attractions at the recent International Contemporary Furniture Fair was this beautiful media centre that was designed by Geneva Lab. These guys are the same folks who made a snazzy iPod sound system and now this new system is for those living large. Geneva Lab’s rep George Emerson was quoted saying that the company makes “furniture music,” whatever that is supposed to mean! Well, expected to hit stores in October or November, the $3,500 system features four midrange 5.5 inch speakers and two tweeters in the center cabinet, along with a 12 inch subwoofer on the left. The cabinet is made with MDF, hand painted with 11 coats of either black or white lacquer and features an iPod dock on the top left hand corner. The right hand side holds a cabinet to store A/V components. But then again, the prototype’s grills were very much still in prototype stage. Emerson assured people that the finished product would hold the same high quality grills found on the company’s iPod sound systems.

Next-generation large-screen display manufacturer Shinoda Plasma has unveiled a flexible, 1-millimeter thick, 125-inch film-type prototype display that can be used as a curved or wrap-around screen. The 3 x 1 meter plasma tube array (PTA) display (which actually consists of 3 seamlessly integrated 1 x 1 meter square sub-modules) offers a resolution of 960 x 360 and weighs 3.6 kilograms (8 lbs), or about 10 times less than a conventional plasma display. At a low-key unveiling on May 15, Shinoda Plasma announced plans to exhibit the device in June at the InfoComm 2008 conference in Las Vega

Samsung now has version 1.5 available to download on their Korean site as GenMP3 reports. What is special about this update is the addition of FLAC, which is a rather rarely supported lossless codec these days. In assuming the codebase is the same through the recent Samsung product line, it’s a safe bet that we will see this in the next Bluewave updates on the P2 and possibly even the T10.

On a side note, few days ago SanDisk added OGG to the Clip and I would soon expect to see FLAC added in the near future. So could this be a response from the manufactures due to a demand push from consumers? It’s nice to see more of them jumping on board the open source codecs.

French Luxury Brand Hermés and Eurocopter have created magic with their designer new copter, the L’helicoptre par Hermès. Italian designer Gabriele Pezzini was roped in to add the touch of class and transform the mundane interiors to something that would meet the approvals of Mr. Moneybags. The helicopter is based on the eurocpter EC135, the company’s best selling lightweight, twin-engined helicopter. Bothe the engineers of Eurocopter and craftsmen of Hermés toiled together and separately to deliver a stunning creation. Approximately 55 modifications were suggested but ultimately only 50 were commissioned. One of the major modifications was done to the helicopter’s landing gear. Pezzini designed a completely new form that improved the functionality of the step, while subtly matching the overall color scheme. The door handles and other exterior parts were replaced to co-ordinate with the color pallet. Signature Hermès ‘toile h’ canvas has been used to do up the interiors. The seats and banquettes are covered in calf’s leather. A look at the insides and you’re floored by its chic, sophisticated looks.

Asus P5Q motherboard has been released. The new motherboard adopts a Linux-based Express Gate technology which is a simplified operating system that allows you to load up only the required programs that are needed to access the Internet. Other features include an integrated EPU energy saving chip which is the VRM (voltage regulation module) that takes advantage of a 16-phase power design. There is no word on pricing or availability of the P5Q series motherboards.

Via Electronista