Around The Home

If you love your home theater system - but despise all the cables and wires associated with it – a new product from Gefen might be of interest to you. The GefenTV Wireless for HD 60Ghz extender allows you to extend high-quality audio signals and high-definition video - at resolutions of up to 1080p - to a remote display which can be up to 30 feet away. No wires – no worries. Read More

We are watching television together less and less often. In the past, watching TV was a social activity that brought people together. The whole family watched the same program on the same TV set, and when people went to work the next day they could be fairly sure that most other people had also seen the same program. This is no longer the case. What once brought us together is now a source of fragmentation. Most families have several TVs, and they sit in different rooms and view different programs - if they watch TV at all. What's more, the channel offerings have become so large and varied that few programs qualify as shared topics in the lunchroom at work. Read More

SilverPAC has announced a new touchscreen programmable thermostat that not only controls your heating and air conditioning, but can communicate with smart home meters, outlets, and switches to help you manage your entire household energy use. The SilverSTAT 7 features 802.11 WiFi, plus ZigBee and Z-Wave wireless communications. The 7in. (17.8cm) display can show energy use on a per-appliance basis to help you analyze and adjust your home’s consumption and efficiency. Read More

While at least 48% of the US still camera market is now estimated to be digital, most people will have boxes and albums full of 'old style' printed photos for many years to come. One way of preserving and storing these pre-digital memories is to scan them and convert them into digital images. Hammacher Schlemmer, the company that has been offering unique gifts since 1848, has introduced a that lets you preserve and view photos 'as easily as feeding bills into a vending machine'. Read More

This is a very simple product which we suspect will have people across the world saying, “I’ve been waiting for one of those” – it’s a Lounge-Tek Lounge-Book laptop stand and it enables you to work on your laptop without needing to hold it, while sitting in an armchair, on the sofa, on a chaise-lounge or even in bed. Really simple, really practical, and available in a range of colours and materials from standard at EUR99 (US$142) through to Gold-plated at EUR240 (US$350) Read More

Wouldn't it be great to have a digital food machine sitting in your kitchen that could create any dish, real or imagined, from scratch at the touch of a button? Cornucopia: Digital Gastronomy is a concept design that uses the well-established principles of 3D printing - plus precisely timed and temperature-controlled mixing and cooking - to open the door to a virtually limitless realm of replicable, creative cuisine in shapes and combinations that are simply impossible using our current, centuries-old cooking techniques. It's a wonderful look into the future of cooking, from the creative food lover's perspective. Read More

Everywhere you look these days, someone is putting an iPod dock into something to try and convince you to play your favorite audio device through their product. SI Products has launched a few interesting variations on the dock theme at this year's CES trade show in Las Vegas including a voice-controlled alarm clock, a "Roman Clock" and a news and weather information center. Read More

Some may call it a sophisticated alarm clock, but the truth is that the Dash presented by Sony at CES 2010 is simply much more than that. A one-of-a-kind "personal Internet viewer," this device is designed to let you pull all sorts of information off the Internet from its 7-inch touch screen even when you don't have a PC at hand. Read More

A new product from Brother - which is on display at CES 2010 this week - could revolutionize crafting for the home sewer. The Entrepreneur offers all the features of a home embroidery machine but can also transfer designs and photos via a USB stick or computer. A large high-definition, color touch-screen lets you select, edit and move designs and it also offers a wide-angle visibility range so you can see your embroidery creation come to life. And with a speed of up to 1000 stitches per minute, this little beauty can create designs in a flash. Read More