Around The Home

03:47 August 21, 2007 PDT

August 21, 2007 Ladders are one of the earliest examples of technology for the common man and have been in use for tens of thousands of years, perhaps even predating the wheel. Ever improving materials technology has enabled the ladder to take on many new shapes in the last half century but the Cimaladder is the first of a new breed. The single piece carbon fibre composite ladder is extremely strong and weighs just a kilogram making it easily transportable. At EUR 3200 it’s in no danger of revolutionizing the ladder marketplace but it sure is a looker. Read More

"The Rave” massage and music chair

By Emily Clark

17:11 August 16, 2007 PDT

August 17, 2007 New technology isn't all about mobile phones and processing speed - along the way its also given us some elaborate ways in which to recline in style while relaxing, working, or doing both at the same time. This new addition to the comfy chair genre from Tranquil Ease combines four different types of massage that can be synchronized with music to deliver optimum relaxation. Read More

IKEA housing development steams ahead in UK

By Emily Clark

05:59 August 15, 2007 PDT

From left to right Rod MacGillivray, Managing Director of Avebury, Alan Prole, Managing Di...

August 15, 2007 Work has now begun on the first BoKlok "flat-pack housing" development at St James Village in Gateshead, UK. Previewed in Gizmag in May this year, the project aimed at delivering fast, affordable, energy efficient and stylish housing has just moved into its construction phase. Read More

Solar reflective film boosts home heating efficiency

05:57 August 13, 2007 PDT

August 13, 2007 A rural family home built recently in Massachusetts has used, among other eco-friendly technologies and systems, insulating glass units that will significantly cut the amount of energy used in the home. The Heat Mirror insulating glass unit from Southwall Technologies is a solar reflective film applied to a window’s interior that prevents the loss of radiant heat through the window at least three times more efficiently than double-pane glass. Read More

PalmPeeler tackles last frontier of kitchen chores

22:28 August 11, 2007 PDT

PalmPeeler tackles last frontier of kitchen chores

August 11, 2007 Peeling vegetables has to rate right up there with taking out the garbage and cleaning the latrine as one of the least popular household duties and given the vagaries in the way vegetables grow, a cost-effective machine that does it automatically is probably still a few decades away. In the meantime there’s the PalmPeeler - a gold medal winning device at the Business Week IDEA 2007 awards that promises to reduce global misery by just a few percentage points. Read More

Zarafina Tea Maker Suite: A consistent cup every time

16:58 August 9, 2007 PDT

August 10, 2007 Those of us that drink tea can be quite particular about it, in fact sometimes getting someone to make a cup on our behalf can be something of a gamble. The Zarafina Tea Maker Suite is designed to keep the tea making process consistent so you can have tea the way you like it every time. Read More

The Sorapot Teapot - everyday item, stunning design

14:59 August 6, 2007 PDT

August 7, 2007 Through the years, Alcoa aluminum has been used in everything from airplanes to food packaging to Ferraris, but recently the metal was again cast into one of the first items it had originally been used for over 100 years ago – a teapot. New York-based industrial designer Joey Roth’s unique Sorapot design chose to use Alcoa aluminum for the Sorapot because of its advantages over other materials. Aluminum's light weight and better flow rate provided Roth with the freedom to design exactly the shapes he had in mind, plus the ability of the metal to transfer heat without allowing the water to get too hot for delicate tea leaves is also an advantage. Read More

SolCool’s solar powered air con: fight global warming while keeping cool

By Kyle Sherer

17:12 August 4, 2007 PDT

August 5, 2007 Any renewable energy product that can compete with traditional systems is worth applauding and SolCool’s solar powered, Millennia 4.0 HVAC (Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning) air conditioner falls squarely into this category. The two-ton air conditioning system uses 75 percent less energy compared with equivalent high efficiency conventional systems according to the manufacturers and with a 6 to 18 hour battery bank capability, the Millennia can run 24/7 whilst relying very little on renewable energy to deliver near zero emission climate control. Read More

Americas most wanted: the self-cleaning garbage can

17:10 August 4, 2007 PDT

Wanted: self-cleaning stove tops and garbage cans

August 5, 2007 Inventors and entrepreneurs take note; a new study in the United States has revealed that Americans are craving new technology that would enable them to relinquish more of their household chores. This seem a little obvious, but the catch is finding someone to invent the laundry folding dryer or the self-cleaning garbage can to meet the growing demands on the wish list of time-poor consumers. Read More

Staircase Drawers: a brilliant storage idea

16:14 August 3, 2007 PDT

Staircase Drawers: a brilliant storage idea

August 3, 2007 Storage under staircases has been around for years. But as reported by Inhabitat this new system takes it one step further and leaves you wondering why you didn’t think of this first. A simple yet obvious idea from Unicraft Joinery in Australia has resulted in an innovative under-the-staircase drawer solution using each step as storage drawer. The space underneath each staircase step is used as a drawer which is a great way to utilize a generally overlooked space. Step up and open the drawer which can be used for many and varied purposes with the only problem being remembering which drawer held what. Read More

LLC’s Cool-or-Heat Pad – an electric blanket that’s useful all year round

By Kyle Sherer

23:18 August 2, 2007 PDT

LLC’s Cool-or-Heat Pad – an electric blanket that’s useful all year roun...

August 3, 2007 Electric blankets are a boon for those who want to avoid the winter cold but they quickly become redundant during the warmer months of the year. LLC has pounced on this gaping hole in functionality by producing an electric blanket that can switch between both ends of the temperature scale, helping slash air conditioning bills in the summer as well as heating bills in the winter. The quiet, slim Cool-or-Hear Pad can oscillate between a 70 and 96 degrees Fahrenheit (21 - 35.5 degrees Celsius) and is available now for US$200. Read More

Vornado room air circulator

19:45 August 2, 2007 PDT

August 3, 2007 From palm leaf waving ancient Egyptians to the punkah fans of the Middle East and the first appearance of the electric desk fan in the late nineteenth century, the quest to keep cool has undergone steady improvements over time. The Vornado room air circulator is continuing this tradition with a design tailored to operate more effectively than a normal fan by circulating air around the whole room for constant air movement, rather than just blowing air in one direction. Though not an entirely new concept, the latest design achieves a tight vortex airflow that is drawn back around the perimeter of the room and recirculated to provide constant airflow and a more even temperature throughout the entire area.

The AirTensity Grill acts as a flow-straightener and further assists in focusing the outward stream of air into a tight vortex airflow. This high velocity Vortex Beam of Air actually projects across the room pulling even more air into its beam. As the beam of air reaches the other side of the room, it is drawn back around the perimeter of the room and ultimately back to the circulator to be recharged again through this continuous cycle. Read More

Where else but Dubai: the Pentominium to be world’s tallest residential tower

06:17 July 31, 2007 PDT

Dubai's ultra-exclusive Pentominium is set to be the world's tallest residential building,...

July 31, 2007 The enormous and still skyrocketing wealth centralized in Dubai has seen some absolutely outrageous construction projects taking off. From the world’s tallest building and a ski slope in the desert to custom-built islands and rotating skyscrapers, the international commerce hub seems to have ingenious developers fighting each other over who can make the biggest show of material excess. The latest jewel in Dubai’s extravagant crown will be a 516-metre tall apartment building, more than twice as high as the previous biggest residential building and with no expense spared on pure luxury. Even its name, the Pentominium, drips with treacle-thick exclusivity. Some floors will be uniquely suspended in mid-air, giving the impression that you’re living in a floating penthouse in the sky, with residents having access to a fleet of luxury automobiles and yachts for transport and entertainment. The ancient Egyptians defined their era with the impossible pyramids of Giza – could the fantastical architecture of Dubai be the defining monument of our era? Read More

New Singer prints embroidery patterns straight from PC to fabric

Singer's Futura CE250 sewing and embroidery machine

July 26, 2007 The Singer company has a spectacular and storied history of firsts. Founded in 1851, the iconic company produced the world’s first portable sewing machine in 1921, and built and then demolished the world’s first and tallest skyscraper on the site of New York’s World Trade Center as its head office. Singer was one of America’s first truly globally marketed brands with an unprecedented advertising budget, and the company made the first computer-controlled sewing machine in 1978. Now, Singer has built on its impressive past by creating a sewing and embroidery machine that allows you to design a multi-coloured embroidery pattern on a PC, and “print” it directly to the fabric through a USB connection. The new Singer Futura machine is designed to make complex and beautiful embroidery a simple, quick and controllable task for any home craftsperson, and brings the old-world craft into a distinctly new-age technology. Read More

Gesture recognition yields the virtual remote control

July 23, 2007 As we move towards the home entertainment systems of the future, we’ll no doubt be looking for more elaborate ways of interacting with these systems than the simple remote control. ‘Wave of the hand ‘ technology is a box that lets television viewers change channels, switch on the DVD player or simply switch off an irritating presenter or program with the wave of a hand. The controller’s built-in camera can recognise seven simple hand gestures and work with up to eight different gadgets around the home. The developers, Dr Premaratne and Quang Nguyen, believe the device could be on sale within three years. Read More

No-touch toilet tissue dispenser

July 10, 2007 Public restrooms are not always the most alluring locations in which to deal with nature’s calling and in an effort to make them more hygienic we’ve seen the progressive introduction of touch-free hand-dryers, sinks and soap dispensers, but one key element has been overlooked – toilet tissue. Now Kimberly-Clark Professional has found a way complete the hygienic no-touch restroom with the release of the JRT Electronic Coreless bath tissue dispenser, a system that automatically dispenses a pre-defined amount of toilet paper when users place their hands under the unit. Read More

Presso mechanical espresso coffee machine

July 4, 2007 Making a well-extracted espresso coffee should be a simple process and the Presso espresso machine is certainly elegant in its simplicity. Despite the many variables that go into a good brew such as water pressure, temperature and the grind of the beans, the ideal machine should be reliable and robust, with moving parts kept to a minimum. The Presso meets these criteria by using an entirely mechanical design based on leverage that by-passes the reliability problems often associated with the use of electric pumps in smaller consumer oriented espresso machines. Read More

Domestic rainwater tanks with style: LUMI, the functional water feature

Full Tank's LUMI rainwater storage system lights up at night

June 3, 2007 Long-term droughts in places like Australia have put water-saving solutions at the forefront of designers' minds - and while some manufacturers are keen to hide their domestic rainwater catchment tanks out of view, others are taking a very different approach. Melbourne's Full Tank has designed a household water tank that not only serves to cut domestic mains water usage by 20%, but also acts as an attractive and modern architectural design and lighting feature. The LUMI rainwater tank is a glowing sculpture in celebration of responsible water use. Read More

Mow-Aerator: simple solution enhances lawn-care

June 28, 2007 There’s more to maintaining a healthy lawn than just jumping on the ride-on mower now and then, but time-consuming and labor intensive tasks like aeration of the soil are often left undone. The solution is one we always like – do two things at once. The Mow-Aerator is a simple collection of brackets and one-and-a-half-inch spikes that attaches to a mower's tires and allows you to mow and aerate at the same time. The weight of the mower – whether ride-on or push - forces the spikes into the root zone to aerate the soil without the clods of dirt left behind by conventional aerators. Read More

Wake-up in your own time: aXbo sleep phase alarm clock

June 28, 2007 Waking at just the right moment can have a drastic effect on how well-rested a person feels, the trick is knowing exactly when that is. This is the principle behind the aXbo ‘sleep phase alarm clock’- a device that monitors phases of sleep and wakes the user at the optimum moment to maximize their feelings of well-being and vitality. Read More

Rainwater storage solution stays out of sight

June 27, 2007 In places like Australia where long-term drought has sparked a re-think of the way we use of our precious water resources, domestic rainwater tanks are undoubtedly of great benefit - but they’re also too large for many properties and, well… ugly. One solution is to disguise the tank, another is to keep it completely hidden from view as is the case with the Rain Reviva water storage system. Designed for easy installation underneath a house or decking, the bladder style tank incorporates a mains-pressure pump and pressure control unit to deliver water for household applications, plus a swing arm that allows automatic diversion into storm-water outflow points when the bladder becomes full. Read More

It's not much, but we call it home

June 14, 2007 It's just so hard to find the right home for your family of 6, 168 cars and 600 full-time personal staff. India's second-richest man, Mukesh Ambani, decided the only way was up. His 60-storey high vertical palace in Mumbai, to be completed in 2008, tells an epic tale of excess - and the locals aren't happy about this ostentatious display, some calling it the "dawn of a new age of vulgarity". Read More

Your office has a disaster plan, what about your home?