Recent history has shown us that high fashion designers teaming with hardware companies won’t necessarily yield you a home run with consumers, but the trend continues nevertheless. With echoes of New York Fashion Week still reverberating, Hewlett Packard has unveiled a new laptop called the Digital Clutch Notebook designed by none other than Chinese fashion big shot Vivienne Tam.

Festooned with an oriental floral pattern, the intent of the collaboration was to create a notebook that looked more like a purse than a computer. Mission accomplished. But far from a purely superficial pass at notebook design, Tam also designed the computer’s overall packaging and included a special “enter” key on the keyboard featuring the Chinese character meaning “double happiness.” Although pricing has not been announced, the notebook your girlfriend or wife would kill for will be available next year here.

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If you can’t tell from the picture, these are knock-off Star Wars jimmy jackets, cleverly named Star Condoms. Apparently they were purchased somewhere in Asia.

Star Wars Condoms [theswca]

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From the 50 coats high gloss paint to the 5000 seat auditoriums they occupy, there’s nothing intimate or understated about a grand piano. A concerto on a keyboard or upright however will earn you little respect. At the recent Milan design week, designer Yves Plattard and Yamaha showcased a unique concept called “key between you” that aimed to create a more intimate environment for performances by bringing the musician and the audience together. (costers sold separately).

Designer: Yves Plattard

Not a lot of fashion pieces manage to catch our eyes here at Yanko Design. There are of course the few exceptions like the Geek Chic Keyboard Jeans, and the Kevlar Hoodie, but this piece by Sartoria Vico called “Sciarpone” makes a slightly more palatable fashion statement. This clever convertible sweater/scarf design made of 100% Merino wool is perfect for the ever changing moods of my girlfriend and unpredictable spring time weather here in Los Angeles.

The latest Crackberry to join the family was recently unveiled. Among the leaders in PDA phones, the code named 9000 was officially bestowed the some what cheesy name Bold. Nomenclature aside, the Blackberry Bold enjoys a well deserved upgrade as the first major BB release in two years. The aesthetics are relatively the same, keeping that distinct BB look stressing what most business users will confirm, usability. The development of a new software platform goes hand in hand with the obvious hardware improvements such as HSPDA, Wifi, 625MHz CPU, 1GB internal flash memory and expandable storage up to 16 GB. While unsure of how many people defected from Blackberry to the iPhone, for those looking to return to the goodness of a solid keyboard, a new king has emerged. [via]