Top 10 Things You CAN'T Have For Christmas

Zothecula writes "It's getting a little late for a last minute Christmas shopping list, but not to worry, most of us outside the Forbes Top 100 couldn't afford any of these anyway! Still, it's fascinating to look at what's possible if the word 'budget' isn't in your vocabulary, so here's a look at what you won't be getting for Christmas (CT: Warning, gizmag features really intrusive advertising) this year – the most outrageous examples of high-end overkill from 2010."

Comments

Meh

[Anrego]

Fairly poor “top 10” list. Nothing on this list was particularly extreme, and not really “geek” oriented.

I guess the problem with this kind of list is that _everything_ has an extreme. Pick something you like, and some millionaire probably has an obscenely expensive version of it. This list was mostly the extreme versions of things I have no interest in.

Often with these extreme versions they’ve just taken something existing and covered it in gold/diamonds/rare metals/rare woods.. which isn’t all that interesting to me either. I remember there was some vodka (touted as the worlds most expensive) that was basically just garden variety high-end vodka with a column of diamonds down the center.

The only thing on this list that really held any interest for me was those speakers, but at that cost it’s totally not worth the novelty, and they probably look terrible close up (as this kind of stuff tends to look great at a very specific angle but look ridiculous from everywhere else).

Ah well, can’t spend it all on philanthropic interests.. I guess after a while you run out of shit to do with that much money.

Re:Meh

[Overzeetop]

Are you nuts? Those speakers probably sound just awful. May as well just slap a Bose badge on them.

Cool stuff, I suppose, though it's a fool that buys something electronic which has value added to it. A digital Leica with a (probably small) 18MP sensor will probably look no better than a panasonic P&S. Why would you spend so much money on a case when the internals are going to be out of date in 3 years. And titanium? Really? Can we just get over that fairly commonplace metal? Call me back when you make one from Be-Al alloy.

Re:Meh

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm pretty sure I won't be getting a hot wife for Christmas, especially from my current wife.

Re:Meh

[ocdscouter]

I'm pretty sure I won't be getting a hot wife for Christmas, especially from my current wife.

Well, she could, but you'd probably have to get her a hot husband in exchange.

Re:Meh

[timster]

While the titanium M9 is sort of dumb the sensor is "full-frame" (24mmx36mm) so it's going to be a whole lot better than a point-and-shoot. But no better than the regular M9 which is "only" $7000.

Re:Meh

[mlts]

The speakers looked good. However other goods such as the diamond inlaid TV set were pretty pointless.

With electronics, adding bling is pretty much the best people can do for selling ultra-expensive devices. Mainly because of the economy of scale market. If a boutique company made a cell phone that was slimmer than an iPhone, and only made 100 copies, the cost would be astronomical (tens to hundreds of millions of dollars), even factoring out the fact that the device would need a lot of QA testing. The only exception would be taking a motherboard from an existing device and putting it in a custom case, perhaps replacing some components (like the camera or screen) and making sure the OS can work with the modifications. Regression testing is important too.

Re:Meh

[Nadaka]

If you want your wife to swing that way, she should feel like she is the hottest one in the room. That way she she will feel more secure and hopefully have just as much fun as you do.

Re:Meh

[nospam007]

"The speakers looked good. However other goods such as the diamond inlaid TV set were pretty pointless."

They are all pointless. My one and only Christmas gift I'll get, I'm getting it every year:
Peace of mind.
Since a dozen years or so, I don't accept gifts and I don't give them so no shopping stress, no disappointments to see or feel for me.
It's heaven on earth.

Re:Meh

[Anonymous Coward]

Except that people think you are a jerk. Yeah you get what you want out of it and you haven't conformed to societal traditions, but other people like getting and giving gifts. If you feel it's gone too far, there are other ways to improve the issue that don't require robbing other people of their enjoyment of the traditions. An easy one is shop online or throughout the year and buy whenever you see something people might like. The money wasted on the gift, if you view it that way, isn't that big a deal in the end. It's just money and other things are more important.

Re:Meh

[nospam007]

It was never a tradition here, it was imprinted on us by US television, just like Halloween and other customs like it.
Here the tradition is to give gifts on St. Nikolaus day, on 6th of December and only to kids.

Now kids come trick and treating _and_ the original 2 times a year, Candlemas and Easterday, where the kids are making noise on the streets to call for mass, because the week before eastern, the Church bells are silent.

Re:Meh

[DMUTPeregrine]

The speakers were also only $8000. Not that expensive, and not outside affordable. Plenty of people give their kids a (used) car for their birthday when that kid can get a driver's license. These speakers are in the same price range. I've seen ads in audio magazines for speakers at $375,000. And speaker cables at $40,000 for a 6 foot pair.

Re:Meh

[demonlapin]

for a camera with a limited shelf life

I've always wondered why DSLRs weren't designed to use a sensor cartridge. You buy a body, you buy a sensor, and you can swap out the sensor every few years.

Re:Meh

[radish]

The body IS the sensor cartridge. Other than that it's basically a screen, CPU, shutter, battery and lens mount. You probably want to upgrade the screen and CPU every once in a while anyway, and the shutter will wear out over time.

The real money in a camera system (and the most important from a quality POV) is in the lens. You keep the lenses, you switch out the body (sensor).

Re:Meh

[Martin Blank]

The celebration of Christmas was not originally about Christianity. It was absorbed into the Christian faith in part as a means of converting those that celebrated the solstice. Jesus was not born in the winter, but sometime when the shepherds were still in the fields with their flocks (Luke 2:8, "And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night"), which is spring through autumn.

The sentiment of feasting and celebrating family around the time of the solstice is much older than Christmas.

ZipBuds girl

[wcrowe]

I don't know about the article in question, but the ZipBuds girl has reminded me that I need to check the air in my tires.

Intrusive Adverising

[drooling-dog]

Warning, gizmag features really intrusive advertising

Well, let's not link to it, then.

Here's a top 3

[BenoitRen]

1. A kid
2. Sex
3. A girlfriend

Re:Here's a top 3

[apoc.famine]

That sort of list will get you arrested if anyone finds out...

Re:advertising?

[TheRaven64]

Yup, I do. If a site is funded by adverts, then it's bad manners to take their content and not the ads. If the ads are irritating or intrusive then I simply blacklist the site and never return.

Re:So...

[geekoid]

Yes, but it's coming from amazon and will be shipped in several boxes. Some assembly required.

The idea of studding something in diamonds to...

[Delusion_]

...make it the "most expensive" object in its class is more of an art stunt than a technology stunt, and a fairly unimaginative one at that. The $2.3million television is $2.3 million because it has $2.3 million worth of diamonds on it - the actual price of the television without the diamonds doesn't even change the rounding.

At what point in time is this more about the diamonds than the fact that they may or may not be attached to a gadget?

Answer: The initial concept.

It's kind of like the "most expensive pizza" being so because it's covered in luxury foods like rare caviar and then topped off with gold flakes. It's more art project than food.

i know i know!

[dominious]

A girlfriend!

ducks

Re:i know i know!

[Quirkz]

My wife would certainly object to that one!

Re:Bleh.

[ColdWetDog]

Looser.

Re:advertising?

[TheRaven64]

Funny and troll? Interesting choices there mods - I'm completely serious, so why don't you comment and justify your moderation choices. Sites that show ads and provide content for free are typically only able to do so because of the money that they receive from adverts. If you block the ads, then this becomes less likely to be profitable in the long term and these sites will cease to exist. If the inconvenience of seeing the ads is less than the value of the site, then I am happy to see the ads. If it isn't, then I am happy to go without the content. Apparently not having an entitlement mentality is either funny or a troll.

In unrelated news, this is probably the first time that commodore64_love and I have ever agreed on anything.

Re:As the old saying goes...

[AlamedaStone]

Only the rich can afford poor quality

Thank god they got to keep those juicy tax breaks. Think of all the rotating wooden house builders and the hard-working people in the jet balcony industry. And the children.

God bless us, everyone.

Re:So...

[Nadaka]

Sounds delicious!

Re:Meh - Now with even more useless extreme

[cyberfunkr]

More extreme things we can't afford:

1) Diamond-tipped pizza cutter with baby elephant ivory handle
2) Stadium seat cushion made from puma hide and filled with narwhal blubber
3) Beer cozy built from the insulation of the original NASA space suits
4) Sofa throw blanket woven from the used toupees of William Shatner
5) A 1:3 scale replica of the "Stay-Puff" Marshmallow Man crafted from albino bat guano

The List

[southpolesammy]

1. Seabreacher X -- submersible shaped like a great white shark, from Innespace, $93,500
2. "Mercedes-Benz Style" helicopter -- cost not indicated
3. The Kid's Walker exoskeleton -- made by Sakakibara-Kikai, 5.25 feet tall, for kids (???), $21,000
4. The most exclusive motorcycle on the planet -- NCR M16 MotoGP streetfighter, based on Ducati's Desmosedici RR, $176,880
5. LEICA M9 'Titanium' digital camera -- $29,000
6. Top of the line television -- Panasonic PrestigeHD SUPREME Rose Edition, 152" 3D plasma w/ diamond encrusted bezel, $2,293,580
7. Domespace rotating wooden house -- cost not indicated
8. A balcony for your private jet -- Design Q, $16-18M (comes with a free plane!)
9. See-thru speakers -- Greensound Serac and Floe series speakers, $8000
10. A quiet getaway ... in a "flying" submarine -- Necker Nymph, rent for $88,000 per week

Re:Really, who buys this crap?

[symbolic]

It's all part of the scumbag chain of finance. The people on Wall St. who take home obscene salaries and bonuses for completely F*CKING UP our economy need to spend their money on something, so why not this junk? It's about as superficial as their understanding of integrity and humility, which makes it a perfect match.

Re:So...

[gstoddart]

Instead of pony, package contained bobcat. Would not buy again.

I got a cougar. Would definitely buy again. :-P

Re:advertising?

[KublaiKhan]

There is a middle ground--not blocking ads on sites that don't have annoying intrusive advertisements.

That way, you punish the intrusive advertisement funded sites for their poor choice. Over time, they may learn their lesson.

I'm more than happy to allow ads that, for instance, don't cover up vast parts of the UI, aren't animated, don't play sounds, and don't suck my bandwidth with useless crap I have no desire for.

Text-based is nice, too. That way, I can actually get to the content, instead of having to wait 20 minutes for the browser to finish rendering fecking advertisements.

My list:

[mcgrew]

1. Meg
2. The Millineum Falcon
3. an SR-71
4. Fort Knox
5. RIAA labels (so I can disolve them)
6. MPAA studios (ditto)
7. The Microsoft Corporation (so I could make it suck less)
8. HTML tags that work in slashdot (like an <ol> tag that would go to 10
9. Darl McBride's head on a platter
10. Marvin's brain

Re:My list:

[bzipitidoo]

Some things I want ought to be so easy we shouldn't have to think about them, but apparently politics and business prejudice make it difficult or impossible. Here's a brief list:

• Ogg Vorbis in a mechless car radio. (Of course it must support USB or SD.) Also FLAC would be good to have. And can we have that in a mechless portable stereo (aka boom box)? And at a reasonable price, say, under $100, possibly $150? Just getting a MP3 player that can play Vorbis was difficult. The first one I got was this Samsung Yepp, and the US version could not play Vorbis. Had to flash it with a European ROM, which involved tricking their DRM. Now I make sure Rockbox works on the device before I bite. Not happy about having a Rockboxed MP3 player dangling from a cable plugged into the car radio's audio input.
• Those calendars with all the great photos? Can I have that in a digital format, without DRM? No. They'd rather stick their heads in the sand and miss out on sales, they're so scared of piracy.
• A car that gets 50 mpg plus and isn't a hybrid. In America. I hear Europe has a bunch of those.
• Metric tools. Yes, there are many, but there is more variety in SAE tools, and they're cheaper. For instance, it is surprisingly hard to find a metal meter stick. No prob to get a yard stick. Wooden meter sticks are available, but so far, I have not seen a metal meter stick at a retail outlet. Guess online is the only option.
• Libre anything. Not just software, but things like toy building blocks like Legos, design plans for houses, car parts, chairs, etc. And data! Governments are sitting on heaps of statistics. And no more publishing the research but not the data.