Around The Home
Sony PSX details revealed at CEATEC
Saturday October 11, 2003: Details of Sony's upcoming PSX - a revamped Playstation2 that incorporates a satellite TV tuner, broadband connectivity for online gaming and downloads and the ability to record DVDs and television - have been released at CEATEC Japan 2003. Read More
New device allows monitoring of home electricity usage
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Sunday September 7, 2003: A finalist in Yellowpages Business Ideas Grants 2003, Centameter is a new consumer product that displays the cost of electricity being used on a portable easy-to-read, portable LCD monitor inside the home.Sunday September 7, 2003 A finalist in Yellowpages Business Ideas Grants 2003, CENT-A-METER is a new consumer product that displays the cost of electricity being used on a portable easy-to-read, portable LCD monitor inside the home. Developed primarily as an education tool for promoting energy consumption and greenhouse gas reduction, it was discovered along the way that the device had a very useful secondary effect - the capacity to save up to 25% on the electricity bill. Read More
Screenplay 4800 Home Theatre
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Thursday September 25, 2003: Advances in home projection over the past decade have seen cinema-quality systems that until recently could only be found in the most exclusive home-theatres move within reach of the average image junkie. The Infocus ScreenPlay 4800 can project images with a diagonal screen size of up to 12 feet... Read More
The Home Ethernet Network you didn't know you already had
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The NeverWire 14 Ethernet Port allows the creation of unlimited network extensions to your broadband connection without the hassle of installing additional cable. The device utilises the electrical system to enable your broadband access to be transferred to anywhere in the house where there is a standard power-outlet. Read More
Young Australian Designers
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Thursday August 28, 2003: An alternative to the humble beanbag and a sleek ice-cream scoop with a functional heated base topped this year's Sydney Morning Herald Young Designer of the Year Awards. Answering the award brief to "Chill Out in White", 21-year-old University of NSW Industrial Design student Lan Nguyen-Hoan was the top winner for her entry Knot Cushion... Read More
Lounge room of the future at ACMI
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Saturday August 30, 2003: Dubbed "Pods", the Screen Lounges at the Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI) provide a personalised, interactive "lounge room of the future" for individuals or small audiences. Short films, games, television, interactive works and access to the extensive ACMI collection is available... Read More
Black&Decker Bullseye
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Thursday September 4, 2003: The multi-purpose Black & Decker Bullseye is an effective electronic stud finder that also replaces conventional levels, string and a great deal of frustration with its laser level function. The hands-free laser level design enables the device to be left hanging on the wall at an anchor point while you align your shelving brackets, picture frames or tiles... Read More
Simple solution brings order to cord chaos
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Saturday August 16, 2003: Have you ever accidentally unplugged the computer when attempting to find a spare inlet for your mobile phone charger or printer? Kable Flags offer a solution to these headaches caused by the untidy sprawl of electrical cords and powerboards that lurk beneath many home and office workstations... Read More
Mega PC promises home entertainment convergence
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Tuesday July 8, 2003: The term personal computer may become obsolete over the next few years as devices like the MEGA PC break down the barriers between "computing" and "entertainment". This multimedia PC unveiled earlier this year at CeBIT 2003 in Germany functions as a hi-fi stereo, DVD and video, MP3 and personal computing centre. Read More
Philips HomeLab creates Mirror TV
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HomeLab - Philips' Home Electronics R & D Incubator where home technology prototypes are tested under the most realistic conditions possible - has generated its first commercialised product: Mirror TV. Designed for non-traditional viewing spaces where it can be installed flush to a wall, the Mirror TV is a 17, 23 or 30-inch LCD display integrated into a unique polarised mirror that transfers almost 100 percent of the light through the reflective surface, meaning you no longer need to miss the weather report while your brushing your teeth.Situated in Eindhoven, The Netherlands, Philips HomeLab is a kind of R & D Big Brother house. Read More
Philips release smart display for the wireless home
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Saturday July 12, 2003: Philips DesXcape 150DM Smart Display is designed to bring easy access to the Internet, computing applications and entertainment in every room of a wireless networked home. The light-weight LCD screen can operate as a remote access point to a wireless network or a full-featured LCD monitor when housed in its base station. Read More
Home networking control from the kitchen
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Friday August 1, 2003: The iCEBOX FlipScreen is an LCD touch screen interface designed specifically for use in the kitchen as part of a networked home. A washable, wireless keyboard and remote are included in the package that provides television and DVD viewing, CD Player, Internet access, FM Radio and video monitoring of the home. Read More
Star-fleet approved interior design
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What began as an exercise in self-healing has become a full-time occupation and publicity juggernaut for British designer Tony Alleyne. After a run of "bad luck" in 1994 when his marriage broke down, a despondent Alleyne turned to his long-time obsession with Star Trek for solace... Read More
New Audio Benchmark: 2500W speakers from Bang & Olufsen
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If your initial impression on seeing the Beolab 5 loudspeaker is that the martians have landed, you could be forgiven - it looks as unconventional as a speaker can look. But listen for a moment to the remarkable sound which emanates from these futuristic devices... Read More
Digital Music throughout the home
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The NC-500 is a compact stereo unit that provides access to your digital music collection through either standard wired or Ethernet local area networks (LAN), so that MP3 and WMA files can be accessed and played from anywhere in the house. Read More
Printeriors - digital images on any surface
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Australian company Flash Photobition has developed a interior-design process that enables custom, high-quality digital imaging to be printed on an almost limitless array of surfaces from wallpaper, curtains and canvasses to glass, furniture and light-walls.Australian company Flash Photobition has developed a interior-design process that enables custom, high-quality digital imaging to be printed on an almost limitless array of surfaces from wallpaper, curtains and canvasses to glass, furniture and light-walls.Known as FLASH PRINTERIORS, the impressive display caught our attention at Comfia Designex during May, where the huge "bubble" design LightWall (pictured) overlooked a translucent "PhotoGlass" tabletop, digitally printed ottomans, lanterns and some stunning examples of digitally printed drapes, wallpaper and photo mesh that when placed in front of a window, allows natural to enter while displaying an opaque image. Read More
Australian design team unveils Robotic Kitchen
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Imagine having a pantry that would talk to the refrigerator and the oven to co-ordinate and prepare meals, all while you dished out the orders from a computer terminal in the office. That's the scenario proposed by the iK (integrated kitchen), a design concept that explores the possibilities of future domestic kitchens Read More
Watching TV in the kitchen window
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A bay window that's also a home entertainment centre, invisible insect screens, downloading recipes to the kitchen window or watching TV on the same "screen" while washing the dishes... Read More
Advanced oven cooks up to five times quicker
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Combining thermal, convection, and microwave energies, GE's range of Profile ovens promise a highly efficient, automated cooking process that's both versatile and significantly faster than ovens that use only one cooking method. Read More
Panoramic SkyHome
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The elevated skyhome system is a home of the future concept that provides all-season, scenic residential living, in a safe, solid and practical format. Read More
Put your feet up - on the PC
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The "Ottoman PC" is a unique example of multifunctional furniture design that incorporates a personal computer into a fully functional padded foot-rest that doubles as a coffee table. Read More
Flexible Cells to expand Solar Energy applications
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Building facades, roof tiles and car bonnets could soon incorporate colourful, pliable solar panels to supplement their conventional power sources. Read More
Innovative Pod offers cheap, durable living space alternative
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The Icosa shelter system utilises innovative design, commodity materials and fast, simple construction from pre-cut materials to create a cost-effective shelter solution for humanitarian and relief situations. Read More
Philips Unplugged
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This fully wired "polyfunctional" couch from Philips Design is a signpost for the future of human interaction with the everyday objects around them. Read More
Vision Art blends form with function
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A large wall mounted plasma screen can look somewhat redundant when you're not watching moving pictures so why not let it double as a static piece of artwork. Read More
Hi-Tension Stairway
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An environment of suspended "spaces", CloudNine is a new structural system based on tension (cables) instead of Compression (columns)... Read More
Philips HeartStart Home Defibrilllator
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Sudden cardiac arrest causes around 250,000 deaths each year in America. Statistics show that 70 percent of these happen in the home with someone else present. Given that a patient's chance of survival decreases by about 10 percent for each minute that passes after an arrest, the home defibrillator makes sense - especially for those in a high-risk category.
Home Control Interfaces leap in usability
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The biggest area of improvement in home automation at the 2002 CEDIA Show in Minneapolis was that of user interfaces... Read More
Modern Home Design
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A new apartment complex in the heart of Melbourne is promising a blend of heritage architecture, contemporary design and ultra-modern technology based living... Read More
Cliff Top (and bottom) Living
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Most of us harbour dreams of retiring in palatial comfort by the sea, but few take the concept as literally as Naval Architect Giancarlo Zema whose vision of coastal living involves taking up residence on a sheer cliff face.
The Neptus 60 Cliff Habitat is designed to create a cliff side living environment in harmony with nature both above and below the surface. The futuristic vertical structure consists of four main areas - central living space, observation deck, a dock for boats at water level and an underwater observation globe - connected by a glass elevator and spiral staircase.
And there's room to move. The 18m diameter living section offers 250 square meters of floor-space on two levels including a living room with terrace and three bedrooms, each with its own ensuite bathroom, looking onto the sea. Read More
Fish TV - Designer Wall Mounted Aquariums
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Real Australian Works's Moving Pictures range of designer wall aquariums provide the relaxing ambience of a fish tank in the home without taking up any valuable floorspace in your dining area or entranceway. The easy-to-clean kits include everything you need to get started (except for the water and the fish) including mounting brackets, pump, filter, gravel and plants. Finished in teak, aluminium or gold brushed finishes, the aquariums vary in size from 15 litres to the 50 litre Panoramic models and suit a variety of cold water fish up to 5cm in length. The aquariums are manufactured in China and can be purchased via Real Australian Works starting at US$18. Read More
Soap delivers morning caffeine fix
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One for the impatient coffee-holic, Shower Shock caffeinated soap delivers a morning caffeine fix as you shower. Read More
Mosquito Magnet clears an acre
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It's not just those infernal bites that drive adults, children and animals to the edge, it's the increasing risk of diseases like Ross River Fever transmitted via mosquitoes that makes any new approach to the problem worth investigating. The recently released Mosquito Magnet emits a plume of carbon dioxide, heat and moisture to mimic a large mammal and combines this with the attractant octenol to control female mosquitoes (the ones that bite), midges, black flies and sandflies over an area up to an acre in size. Read More
Meet Pavarocci
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Rockustics hi-fidelity outdoor speakers are a product of custom sound contractors, acoustic design engineers and fine artists working together to create both a harmonic and aesthetic statement. Read More
Oven that thinks it's a Refrigerator
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The Polara range of ovens from Whirlpool combines the two most incompatible kitchen appliances - it's an oven that acts like a fridge. Read More
