Around The Home
Philips LCD and plasma screens win blind comparison test
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June 9, 2005 There isn't a big screen manufacturer on the planet without a team of fast-talking, jargon-wielding product managers and technical experts who are all incredibly good at convincing you their brand is the most technologically advanced in existence. Which made it a refreshing change when Philips invited us to a blind comparison test – over 400 retailers and journalists were invited to go along and see its 42-inch Plasma and 32-inch LCD televisions placed alongside several other comparable brands and models in a ‘masked’ study. We were there – we participated – from a blind survey of 400 industry people 74% ranked Philips Plasma first, and over 60% ranked the Philips LCD first based on overall picture quality. The products tested were 42 inch plasma screens from Philips, Panasonic, Pioneer and LG and the 32 inch LCD screens from Philips, Panasonic, JVC, Samsung and Sharp. Read More
More “Groundbreaking” Hard Disc Drives
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June 9, 2005 A travelling Martian could be excused for confusing the digital storage and construction industries as it seems not a month goes by without a number of significant “groundbreaking firsts” in both camps. Whatever problems humanity will face in the future, massive digital storage in a very small form factor will not be one of them. In an industry characterised by extreme competitiveness and a level of excellence that can be quantified, each new product range seems to hold a number of “groundbreaking firsts.” Seagate’s new range of disc drives was released yesterday and the product plans outlined point to a future where every one of our main possessions has its own specifically-designed disc drive. What began as home PC storage capacity has been supplemented by digital storage in PDAs, MP3 players, game consoles, digital cameras and personal video recorders (PVR) and will soon be added to in our automobiles and mobile phones. Yesterday’s Seagate announcement included a number of “groundbreaking storage firsts” designed to enable a range of consumer electronics and traditional applications, including the first 2.5-inch hard drive using perpendicular recording, the first hard drive with Full Disc Encryption, the first 8GB 1-inch hard drive for handhelds capacities and a ruggedised hard drive designed specifically for automotive applications. Read More
Free Spirit Spheres go into production
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June 6, 2005 Following an enormous surge of interest resultant from our story a few months back, Free Spirit Spheres has commenced limited production of the 3.2 metre fibreglass sphere tree houses and now has sphere shells (US$6,300+) and kits (US$35,000+) available for the DIY market. Orders are now also being taken for the wooden shells and component kits (US$35,000+), and fully-finished made-to-order wooden Free Spirit Spheres. (US$120,000+). Shells can also be rented for the night (if you’re in Canada), and licensing talks are underway with manufacturers in Sweden, UK, France, Argentina and Costa Rica. Read More
Another good hide-the-telly idea
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June 5, 2005 Innovative ways to cut the clutter in the living room are booming, at least according to Gizmag’s statistics. Each time we run something like Reversica’s big screen concealment solution, or Sonance ‘s invisible' loudspeaker technology or even Onkyo’s combined speakers and television stand
they get lots of traffic and lots of referrals (via the “send this article to a friend’ facility at the bottom of each page), which we presume is Partner A telling Partner B that they have found a way of elegantly combining technology into the living environment without the clutter. Might we be so bold as to suggest to all those manufacturers of megascreens that people don’t want to look at them ALL the time. Anyway, here’s another one, and this English Buffet Base won’t stand out in a room full of antiques. Read More
Sharp to produce World's largest LCD television at 65 inches
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June 5, 2005 Sharp has announced it will begin selling a 65’ LCD television in Japan in August, and in so doing will claim the title of the world’s largest “production” LCD television. The announcement is a major coup for Sharp in the public relations cut-and-thrust with its fellow television manufacturers Matsushita (aka Panasonic), Samsung and LG and pushes the Japanese company into screen real estate territory previously inhabited only by plasma screens. Further embarrassment will caused by the pricing and specifications of the Sharp 65 incher which will sell for 1.68 million yen and have a screen resolution of 1920 x 1,080 pixels both considerably better than equivalent plasma screens in the Japanese domestic market. Read More
Color Kinetics patents relate to future uses of intelligent solid-state lighting
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May 26, 2005 Solid-state lighting pioneer Color Kinetics has been granted two new U.S. patents relating to LED-based illumination systems designed to generate colour-changing LED-based light sources to convey information about temperature changes within a device. The concept of intelligent lighting offers some interesting capabilities - the temperature of the stove top could be conveyed through the colour of light emitted by a multicolour LED-based source, for example. Read More
World's First Robotic Floor Washer: iRobot Scooba
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May 24, 2005 The company that brought the world’s first practical, affordable and viable Robotic Floorvac to market is set to show a next-generation model that simultaneously vacuums, scrubs and dries hard floors. The new iRobot Scooba Robotic Floor Washer will be shown in a "sneak preview" today at The Wall Street Journal's "D: All Things Digital" conference in California. Scooba, a next-generation robot, is designed to vacuum, scrub and dry hard floors automatically. The new robot builds on technology advances from the company's iRobot Roomba Robotic Floorvac. The Roomba and Scooba will be seen in centuries to come as the very first robotic assistants to reach the home - some experts predict the home robotics market will rival the automotive industry in size within 20 years. Read More
Four door convertible fridge
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May 11, 2005 Samsung has unveiled a four-door convertible refrigerator with four zones, each with adjustable temperature settings to allow customised food storage. The four zones each have independent temperature control and can hence be configured to specific needs as needs change, offering unprecedented flexibility for food storage. For example, consumers can convert refrigerator space to freezer space to prepare for holiday entertaining, then they can increase their refrigerator capacity to store the leftovers when the party is over. Read More
Mouse Pad Caller ID Speaker Phone
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May 9, 2005 Yes, the convergent world is creating some strange devices and although this seems like a weird combo, when you think about it, it is an appropriate and space-saving combination that tucks a speaker phone inside your mouse pad at the same time as conveniently storing incoming names and numbers.
This new product is part of Sakar's new Executive Men's Collection, known as Maximo Concepts. The device features dual system caller ID, supporting FSK/DTMF (frequency shift keying/dual-tone multi-frequency) communications.
It’s not so much this product that we like, but the concept of utilising the mousepad and its by necessity arm’s-reach convenience for more than just a mouse pad surface – let’s face it, if you have a mousepad in front of you, the chances are there’s a computer not far away, so the inbuilt calculator and alarm clock inside the mousepad are a trifle redundant. Read More
New vacuum elevator installs in a few hours at a budget price
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One of the major problems with installing an elevator in a home is the amount of space required, not to mention the costly infrastructure and maintenance issues and the immense problems and cost associated with any retrofitting. Now a new type of elevator developed in Argentina looks set to revolutionise the residential lift market, making elevators affordable to everyone.
The self-supporting vacuum elevator is constructed of aluminium and polycarbonate and takes just a few hours to install. Unlike previous elevators, the new lift is completely self-supporting, extremely light, has a footprint of just one square metr e and requires no excavating pit or hoistway, it can be fitted to almost any two or three storey building at a fraction of the cost of a normal elevator. Read More
Dyson Reinvents The Wheel
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April 29, 2005 First James Dyson changed the way the vacuum works -- now he's changing the way we vacuum. Dyson's DC15 vacuum with "The Ball" technology is Dyson's most significant advancement since his creation of a vacuum cleaner that doesn't lose suction. The Ball has taken three years to develop and has 182 patents. The Ball is Dyson's solution to the stiff, inefficiency of the back- and-forth movement that makes vacuuming a chore. Because there hasn't been any major change in the layout of vacuums in the last 100 years, we have simply put up with this frustration. Changing direction with traditional upright vacuum cleaners involves several push-pull maneuvers or requires walking around to direct the machine. You crash into chairs, bash into boxes and scuff the base boards. It can be tiring, frustrating and often, due to the lack of control, you miss whole areas of your home. Read More
The Shower-Shower: an automatic shower cleaning system
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April 29, 2005 The Shower-Shower from Intelligent Consumer Products is an automatic shower cleaning system that eliminates the need for manual cleaning and exposure to the chemicals required to clean your shower. An appliance of comfort, the Shower-Shower is a luxury product designed for a low-maintenance lifestyle for those who don’t have a regular cleaner or the time or inclination to do it themselves. It's also, according the manufacturers, “a great asset for seniors or anyone who has trouble squeezing the trigger on a shower cleaner spray bottle dozens of times to clean their shower.” Read More
Research shows broadband Internet access alters lifestyle
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April 21, 2005--Yahoo and Mediaedge:cia have revealed the findings of an in-depth broadband research study that examined the impact of high speed Internet access on people's daily lives. The Yahoo/Mediaedge:cia study found that consumers are increasingly growing closer to multiple media, and are turning to the Web for deeper content, entertainment and communication capabilities without forsaking other media. Broadband users view twice as many pages per month as their dial-up counterparts. The Internet is intersecting with all aspects of people's lives in dramatically new ways. The study showed that over half of broadband users say they are using online and offline media simultaneously, turning to the Internet to supplement other traditional media such as radio, newspapers and television. Broadband capabilities -- speed plus "always on" -- sparked this new "media meshing" trend, by allowing users to easily supplement one medium with another. Read More
The Acropolis Concentric Kitchen by Pininfarina
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April 21, 2005 Italian design is synonymous with names like Pininfarina, Giugaro, Ferrari, Alessi, Prada, Gucci, Ferragamo, Valentino, Versace and more recently, Snaidero. Snaidero began as a small carpentry shop 50 years ago and has grown into one of the icons of Italian innovation and design with several of its creations being exhibited in the Museum of Modern Art in New York – not bad for a company that only makes kitchens. Now these are clearly not ordinary kitchens, but kitchens of immense beauty and practicality such as the Acropolis. Designed by Pininfarina, the concentric kitchen combines visual appeal with the ultimate functionality- optimising every movement for minimum effort. The Acropolis has recently been revamped. Whereas the original design was a complete circle, the new version has shed its closed and strict round shape to now gently “unfurl.” The price has remained unchanged at US$157,000 Read More
Microsoft Living Room PC concept
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April 20, 2005 One & Co is a technology design consultancy of the first order, having designed many important products for companies such as Nike, Palm, Timex, Dell, Plantronics and Sony. The company recently released information on some work it has been doing with Microsoft in envisioning the Media Center PC that defines a new paradigm for computer hardware in the home. “The Microsoft Living Room PC concepts on our site are just that - concepts,” said One and Co’s Jonah Becker. “It was a project to visualise the media center PC as its own niche within the PC market, with unique functional and stylistic requirements. Microsoft uses such design references to encourage their hardware partners (Dell, HP, etc.) to innovate.” Read More
Reversica’s new plasma/LCD concealment hardware
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April 15, 2005 Not everybody wants to make an LCD/Plasma screen the central focus of a room and there are now a number of creative solutions to this aesthetic dilemma. Home entertainment furniture company Reversica has come up with a new twist on creating flexible living spaces with the introduction of the Gyre 6300 flat screen concealment hardware system. The design uses an unusual rotaxial motion to flip between a 50” flat screen TV and a bookcase – all in a slim 18" case. Read More
Battery Free Wireless Light Switches
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Sometimes we see an idea that is just so damned clever we know it is a winner. This is such an idea. Indeed, much more than just an idea, it is a fully implemented, ready-to-do-the-business, killer product. Battery-free, wireless light switches save time, reduce costs and enhance flexibility over traditional wired switches. They are applicable anywhere there’s electricity so the opportunity to save money is global. The manufacturers estimate cost savings over traditional wired switches at 80% and that’s probably being modest. Like we said ... a killer product!!! Read More
Global Weather Application for Microsoft Windows Mobile-Based Smartphones
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April 12, 2005 The weather report has long been one of the most critical information services for humankind. Most people check it every day to decide what they will wear, how they will manage their schedule and in some areas, how they will prepare in order to survive. Despite a comprehensive set of Government-run weather forecasting services around the globe, more and better-delivered weather information is now shaping as one of mobile’s killer applications. Get set for the complete hand-held weather information service via your mobile phone - instant live local weather, severe weather alerts, forecasts, radar, camera images and international weather conditions from 200 countries are all about to become available via Windows Mobile-based Smartphone mobile phones. Read More
A Special Bag Solves the Problem of Moving Bulky Mattresses
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April 11, 2005 For everyone who has ever wrestled a mattress from one room to another, from one residence to another or into temporary storage, there’s now a product that makes the job easy. We know it’s not super high tech, but one of our staff just moved house and when he saw it, he insisted that our readers should be made aware of the product because it’s just plain useful and permanently solves the problem. The Carry-Pro mattress storage bag features integrated, built-in handles that make carrying simple. It’s lightweight, re-usable, cost effective and does not require any additional straps or harnesses.
Hug and SenseChair Robotic Prototypes
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Developed by a team of Carnegie Mellon University interaction and product designers, the Hug and the SenseChair are robotic product prototypes designed to improve the quality of life for the world’s growing elderly population. The Hug, which looks like a 16-inch pillow, uses vibrations and heat, light and sound signals to mimic human interaction (such as a child's hug) and is designed to augment phone calls and ultimately help the elderly communicate more meaningfully with distant family members. The SenseChair is equipped to sense, monitor, stimulate, interact and communicate with the sitter. The products will go on show in New York this week. Read More
Telescoping Ladder
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Ladders are useful in a myriad of places though they are clumsy difficult items to store and carry. Accordingly, we think the Xtend & Climb telescoping ladder is a very simple, very good idea. It compacts and stores in a bag that is a very manageable 30 inches (76 cm) by 19 inches (48 cm) by 3 inches (7.5 cm) and 25 pounds (11.3 kg) then miraculously transforms to a stable 12.5 feet (3.8 metre) ladder with a duty rating of 225 pounds (100 kilograms). Accordingly, it’s a perfect ladder for the apartment, condo, motor home or shop. Read More
New Film Awards ‘calls’ for mobile phone users
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Media creation and distribution is evolving rapidly, with the “contrived reality” genre dominating traditional mass media and a new groundswell of home-grown media produced on personal digital devices and distributed by email and the World Wide Web quickly evolving. With the device-formerly-known-as-the-mobile-phone quickly evolving into a multimediavideo/image/sound recorder, Siemens has come up with a novel way of promoting its SX-1 mobile phone with inbuilt “camcorder” functionality by sponsoring a new award category for budding and established film makers at the St Kilda Film Festival. The video-equipped mobile phone is likely to become an important conduit for creativity in the future, and Siemens’ promotion of a new category for 90 second micro-movies shot with a Siemens SX1 mobile phone is a portent if things to come. Read More
Snap Alarm - the perfect invention?
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April 2, 2005 Smoke detectors are something you can do without if you have a death wish, sleep with one eye open like James Bond or have never had kids. That’s not to say that most people haven’t thought of doing without them on account of them being so ugly – they look like they belong in a prison cell, not part of the decor in one’s castle. On top of that, when you want to inspect or replace them, having them screwed into the ceiling is also a bummer. That’s why we love this idea. The Snap Alarm smoke detector simply clips to the chord of any light fitting. This means it can be retrofitted almost anywhere, in a few seconds, without the need for tools by someone with an IQ larger than their shoe size, and it sits in exactly the right place in a room for a smoke detector – high and central. Read More
'Invisible' Loudspeaker Technology
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April 1, 2005 Sonance, the company that originated high fidelity in-wall loudspeakers some 22 years ago, has acquired the IP of its major competitor Sound Advance Systems for “invisible” loud speaker technology. These technologies offer a range of unique and compelling loudspeaker features in that they are completely undetectable and provide a wide, virtually omnidirectional sound dispersion pattern and are ideal for applications requiring background and foreground music, voice paging, surround sound, and multi-room systems. Sound Advance speakers can be found in such exclusive locations as the Dolce & Gabana, Luis Vuitton, Prada, Armani and Chanel boutiques in cities such as Milan, Paris, New York, Beverly Hills, and St. Moritz, and have been the centerpiece of numerous CEDIA Electronic Lifestyle award winning residential installations. Read More
The Intelligent Rest Room
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March 30, 2005 Japanese companies Yamato House and TOTO have jointly created a system named the “intelligent rest room” which integrates into the bathroom monitors the health of family members. Going on sale next week (April 5), the idea is to monitor the major vital statistics (urine sugar levels, blood pressure, body fat percentages and weight) at the same time every day so it becomes a part of the daily routine. The day’s findings are then automatically uploaded through the intelligent home network to the family computer so history and trends can be seen, and so the diagnostic program that comes with it can advise on diet, exercise and so on. Read More
Solid Acoustics dodecahedron speakers
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March 30, 2005 If the aesthetic qualities of a speaker were more important than sound, the Japanese-made Solid Acoustics SIKKIM would be one of the most sought after speaker systems in the world. As it is, they sell for US$3150 a pair (including a sound equalizer, tabletop stand, and cables), so they’ll never set sales records but they are extraordinary to look at and unique in many ways. Each dodecahedron (12 sided) Sikkim speaker is created by casting aluminium and then mounting an extremely high quality 5cm speaker on each face. This enables the Sikkims to radiate sound through a full 360 degrees and produce “room-filling sound” that emanates from a single point. As each speaker within the 100w Sikkim has an opposing twin on the same axis, the units also have very low vibration, making them ideal for apartments with paper-thin walls and floors. Similarly, because the units radiate sound, they make good use of acoustically imperfect locations and give a much better result than traditional speaker systems. Read More
Onkyo Combines OMF Speakers with Flat Screen Video Stand for Superior Sound Without Clutter
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March 4, 2005 Not everyone wants to hang their flat screen teevs on the wall. Indeed, one of the major problems is where to put the speaks, because they're not necessarily big and flat. Onkyo has come up with an elegant solution for some of us - the CB-SP1200 is a video display stand with integrated left, right, and centre channel speakers for high quality audio, and no added clutter. The gloss black stand is compatible with LCD or Plasma flat panel displays, and tabletop rear projection or conventional CRT models weighing up to 250 pounds. Read More
Iannello-designed Voodoo Knife set
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March 6, 2005. The theme was fortune, magic and lucky charms but with his project, Raffaele Iannello chose to probe the world of black magic with this knife set and distinctive holder. The striking result has gone through several iterations and is now to be produced in commercial form by Viceversa, so we guess Raffaele was lucky after all. The final Voodoo Knife set will be released in the near future at Viceversa. Read More
Miele creates a built-in Nespresso machine
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March 2, 2005: Nespresso and Miele, have announced the launch of a new built-In Miele/Nespresso coffee machine. Gizmag tested a Nespresso coffee machine 15 months ago and we were knocked out by the quality and range of the sealed Nespresso coffee cartridges. The Miele/Nespresso CVA 2000 machine also represents a new generation of kitchen appliances offering a sophisticated design and cutting edge espresso machine technology that integrates into modern kitchen environments. Read More
Bang & Olufsen Beovision 7 LCD TV
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March 1, 2005 danish design icon Bang & Olufsen has released its BeoVision 7 television, a 32” LCD widescreen TV with integrated DVD player, digital surround sound module and a three-way stereo loudspeaker system. The BeoVision 7 system also incorporates Bang & Olufsen’s VisionClear, a package of picture technologies designed to deliver the best possible picture in all situations. For example, if the curtains are opened, the BeoVision 7 automatically adjusts its picture to match the light conditions of the room. A special anti-reflection coating reduces the effect of incoming light, allowing the TV to be viewed even in broad daylight. Read More
Calatrava-Designed Residential Tower for New York
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February 26, 2005 Renowned Spanish architect and engineer Santiago Calatrava is normally associated with public places on a grand scale.
The Athens Olympic Sports Complex, the rebuilding of the World Trade Center Transport Hub, plus dozens of the most beautiful buildings in major cities around the world - airports, opera houses, bridges, train stations. Calatrava creates landmarks.
Now he has teamed with one of New York's leading construction companies to design a visually striking, 835-foot-tall residential tower to be developed on the East River waterfront, just blocks from the World Trade Center site. Read More
The SUCK LED Mirror - with RSS feed!
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February 28, 2005 We've already covered the Homelab Mirror TV, which helps get the kids to brush their teeth, the MYHeart mirror that displays your vital health statistics
and Accenture's Intelligent mirror that analyses your behavioural patterns and can show you what you'll look like in five years time. Now ultra-trendy design house SUCK UK has created a mirror with a scrolling LED message board inside. The SUCK Mirror can scroll information such as time and date, or leave messages for other household members, and you can do it wirelessly from your PC - so you can have it play your Gizmag RSS news feed in the morning while you're scrubbing your vizog, and trimming the nose hairs. COOOOL!!!!! Read More
The Free Spirit Sphere - inspiration for the relocatable home of the future
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Sphere house design is not new and nor is relocatable housing. We covered an ingenious design last year. The aptly-named Free Spirit Sphere offers easily relocatable housing that can sit in a cradle on the ground, or be hoisted 30 metres into the air in an old growth forest. Whatsmore, the sphere can be removed inside 24 hours leaving not a trace that it was ever there. Currently only produced in hand-crafted US$100,000 wooden versions, creator Tom Chudleigh plans to release a fibreglass version by mid-year that will sell for just US$25,000. Read More
Two-Day Log Home Building Class
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Fancy a home for constructed from 100% sweat equity? Want to fulfil that primal urge to construct your own home from scratch? The Log Home Builder's Association of North America
offers a two-day class on building log homes from scratch. The next class will be taught on February 23rd and 24th at the 7,000 square foot log home used in the filming the television show, 'Northern Exposure.' Many of the association's students have built their log home without a mortgage. One of the Association's students built a home (main pic) and sold it for US$160,000 profit immediately. He can build two such homes each year. Read More
The Magic of a treehouse
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UPDATED May 13, 2006 Treehouses have a magical quality that sparks the imagination of children and returns adults to long lost afternoons filled with secret adventures. However, few of the corrugated iron structures we cobbled together as kids could approach the impressive scale and fairytale qualities found in PearTree Treehouse designs. Individually tailored to each customer's requirements no matter their age, PearTree projects include two storey adult treehouses, home offices and even 30 seater conference suites. Extensive image library here. Read More
