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So maybe you think living in a building inspired by a certain ubiquitous digital audio player--or, let's be real, ANY sort of gadget--sounds silly. We don't blame you.

But check out the new pics of the iPad anyway--they're actually kind of fantastic.

The budget for the 23-story Dubai apartment/office building, announced last week, is $800 million (or 3 billion Dirhams), and developers plan to open the iPad's doors in 2009.

And, yes, that is a "docking station" the building will be resting on at an alarmingly accurate 6-degree angle.

Now that plasma TVs have reached the point of no return, we've been wondering what furniture makers would do to replace the cumbersome faux armoire that had become a fixture in so many living rooms in a somewhat vain attempt to conceal the tube. It's probably too early for a definitive standard to take hold, but we're starting to see a sandwich-board design gaining popularity for TV stands.

The latest company to take this approach is Alivar, an Italian (of course) designer of contemporary furnishings that has come out with a sandwich stand made of aluminum in … Read more

One of the best-selling gadgets this holiday season is, in many ways, something a lot closer to the Iron Age than the Digital Age.

Black & Decker's battery-powered adjustable wrench was a quick sellout at Home Depot's 2,127 stores, according to Advertising Age. The item became so popular that it even saw a bit of price gouging on eBay, running up to $58 on some auctions from the $18 price listed on Lowe's online stores, which also ran out of the product. Not exactly PS3 prices, but not bad for a wrench either.

The product's … Read more

UPDATE: For a complete hands-on evaluation and new pricing information on the George, check out the CNET review.

Macworld isn't until next week, but the cavalcade of new iPod accessory announcements is already getting started. Meet George: he's a high-end iPod speaker system with a built-in AM/FM clock radio, and he's the debut product from Massachusetts-based Chestnut Hill Sound. But what sets George (or is it "the George?") apart from the litany of similar products is its wireless remote. More than just a standard clicker, the George remote has a free-spinning knob and a … Read more

As fellow Craver Erica Ogg noted while wearing another of her many hats recently, domestic appliances are getting hipper than ever. And one of the more popular household items to get a makeover is the lowly vacuum cleaner. (No, we're not talking about the Wiimote-controlled Roomba.)

Industrial designer Karim Rashid has applied his considerable talents to transform the "Dirt Devil," of all things, into a cone-shaped functional sculpture, according to Popgadget. The tarted-up cordless appliance, which comes in six colors, has a vertical design to save space as well. If nothing else, it proves that a vacuum … Read more

Whenever we'd stuck around long enough to see a movie's credits in the past, we always wondered what a "gaffer" was. Finally, thanks to research for Crave (and Wikipedia), we know now that the term refers to the lighting guru on the set.

The "Gaffer's Bounce Lamp," according to Hammacher Schlemmer, was designed by gaffer extraordinaire Edward Cohen, whose works include Spider-Man 2 and A Beautiful Mind. It apparently owes its name to the process of bouncing a 20-watt floodlight onto a "flexible, sanded polycarbonate reflector that directs a soft, diffuse light.&… Read more

Already bored with playing The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess on your new Wii? You might try using using the console's already legendary remote to control a household robot.

One person who did just that is a young man named Chris Hughes, who hacked the Roomba vacuum cleaner so that he could make the rugbot do his bidding. And he's posted the modified source code online so that you can do the same.

Hughes, who bears a strong resemblance to Matt Damon, offers a quick intro to the Wii-Roomba hack in a YouTube video that can be found … Read more

We've been begging for someone to come up with a wireless home entertainment system for some time, and we're amazed to report that our wishes may actually be fulfilled in our lifetime (maybe). Recently we heard of wireless speakers from Avega and ZON Audio, and now Tech Shout says Neosonik plans to launch what it claims will be "the world's very first fully digital wireless home theater system" next month.

The company makes some pretty bold claims, so we'll be anxious to see if the reality lives up to the hype. Neosonik says signals … Read more

Home telephones are like TV sets of the '70s and '80s--except for the cordless breakthrough, technology has seen scant change compared with other consumer products. VTech wants to change that with its new "infoPhone" (not to be confused with the iPhone, thank you very much).

The landline handset is designed to handle many functions that most people reserve for the computer. As Gadgetell says, "The new ip8300 infoPhone uses the Internet to access information directly on the cordless handset's color LCD screen, including news headlines, weather reports, horoscopes, local directory searches and more"--all according … Read more