Around The Home

We've seen several innovations in the design of the humble electric kettle recently that save time and energy – here's another one. The "Eco Switch" kettle has two settings – one for normal boiling water and a second which heats water to 85-degrees Celsius (185F) for things like soup. This means you get your warm water quicker, save energy, and you don't have to wait for it to cool down before you can drink it. Read More

Now here's something we've never seen before – a rechargeable lightglobe. Chinese company Magic Bulb has patented a new type of device which incorporates a battery and LED lightblobe to produce a lightglobe which uses only 4 watts but produces the equivalent light of a traditional 50W globe. If the power fails, the globe will keep running for around three hours or it can be screwed out of its socket and the handle extended to turn it into a bright torch. Read More

With its retro good looks and smooth lines, the SmarSofa from Gorenje wouldn’t look out of place on an Austin Powers movie set. On display at IFA 2010, the SmarSofa is not just a convertible lounge. It includes a fully integrated fridge which contains remote-controlled, rotating cooling platters. At the touch of a button the platters containing ready-to-eat dishes can be lifted and lowered to the desired height. How’s that for groovy? Read More

Carbon Fiber is unquestionably a wonder substance, being used to construct the world’s fastest and most expensive race cars and bikes, not to mention a host of other items where light weight, strength and stiffness are more important than cost. So when we first saw the pics of the Dyson D26 Carbon Fibre vacuum, we figured it was a lightweight vacuum cleaner – no, the wonder substance is actually used for its anti-static qualities and is used in the fibres on the brushbar and is claimed to be a significant improvement in picking up fine dust particles and allergens. Read More

The jury has wielded the axe on the 25 semi-finalists in the Electrolux Design Lab competition, leaving just eight finalists from the original 1,300 entries to battle it out for the prize of a six-month paid internship at an Electrolux global design center and 5,000 Euros (approx. US$6,350). The 2010 brief asked industrial design students to consider how people will prepare and store food, wash clothes, and do dishes in the homes of 2050, when 74 percent of the global population are predicted to live in an urban environment. Let’s take a look at the lucky eight entries vying for the title. Read More

Low-voltage halogen downlights are among the most commonly used globes in the world. Despite the low voltage moniker they aren’t very energy efficient, generally producing around the same amount of greenhouse gas as a 60-watt incandescent globe. While there are plenty of environmentally friendly alternatives to incandescent globes, finding a greener alternative for recessed lighting offers less options. Sharp is providing another, however, with its thin design LED ceiling lights. Read More

Throwing the washer or dryer in the car when something goes wrong isn’t really an option, meaning you’ll have to call out a repair person to make a potentially expensive house call. Some manufacturers are installing network capabilities in such devices to allow problems to be diagnosed remotely, but most people don’t have a network connection located in the laundry. LG has come up with a way to troubleshoot washer and dryer issues remotely by getting the devices to chat with a technician over the phone in a language R2-D2 would understand. Read More

Perhaps you haven’t given this problem a lot of thought, but it is a problem nonetheless... most spray bottles can’t be used upside down, or even at much of angle once they’re half-empty. Not only that, but there’s always that last little bit of liquid in the bottom that gets wasted. That's because most of them have rigid-tubed sprayers that just have a single hole at the bottom, so they only suck up liquid from the bottom middle of the bottle. Well, British inventor Michael Pritchard has come up with something he calls the ANYWAY Spray, a tube that allows you to hold your spray bottles any way you darn well please, and keep spraying until they’re as dry as Keith Richards’ bourbon glass. Read More

Computers have already conquered the study and the lounge room and have been making steady inroads in their assault on the kitchen with devices such as Internet capable fridges and digital recipe readers. As soon as the iPad was released, more than a few people were pondering its potential as a kitchen computer to provide the functionality of these devices and more. Heck, a few creative types even mounted iPads into their cupboard doors. For those of you who like the idea of a kitchen iPad but perhaps aren't that handy with a jigsaw, you might try the FridgePad. Read More