Automatic

Even that most basic of kitchen appliances, the humble teakettle, is getting a high-tech makeover in the form of Breville’s One-Touch Tea Maker. The fully programmable unit takes the guesswork out of brewing that perfect cuppa by providing the right water temperatures and brewing times to suit different tea varieties. The device even does the “jiggling” for you thanks to a fully automated tea basket that moves up and down to gently agitate the leaves to precisely infuse your tea.  Read More

If you’ve ever worked on a major film project, you’ll know just how complex all phases of the production can be - scripts and schedules get faxed and/or emailed back and forth, a bazillion phone calls and messages are made and left, and then whenever anything goes wrong (which is usually about once every 15 minutes) everything needs to be rejigged, and everyone needs to be notified of the changes. If only there were some way of posting that information where all the cast and crew could see it, people could make changes to it, and then everyone would be made aware of those changes. Gee, anything come to mind? Yes, it’s a new application for our friend, The Internet. scenechronize is its name, and it promises to save filmmakers a ton of confusion, frustration, time, money and paper.  Read More

If I had to choose a job in a restaurant kitchen, then the saucier or sauce chef would be my last choice. Considered inferior to the sous-chef and head-chef, the saucier is responsible for preparing all the accompanying sauces for meals…making sure they aren’t lumpy, they don’t stick to the pan or worse, burn. I’ve seen enough TV celebrity chefs abusing their kitchen staff to know this is one job I would refuse. However, if I had the Autonomous Saucier at hand - all would be fine. This clever kitchen device automatically stirs your sauce whilst you get on with other food preparation. Pure genius…  Read More

The team at the Center for Automotive Research at Stanford (CARS) are aiming to send a specially-equipped robotic Audi at break-neck speed up the tight bends that lead to Pikes Peak without a driver … something that hasn’t been done before.  Read More

The adage “less is more” rings true when discussing energy usage - as energy costs rise, using less saves you more money each year. And studies have shown that householders who know how much energy they use on a daily basis tend to use significantly less. A new device called the Wattbox - a smart control unit for central heating and hot water heaters that learns householders' energy habits and provide immediate feedback on consumption - could deliver home energy savings of up to 20 percent without compromising comfort say UK researchers. A great feature of the Wattbox is that it is retrofittable, meaning it’s suitable for all houses, not just new ones.  Read More

Panasonic has revealed a new addition to its LUMIX family of cameras, the DMC-ZR3 slim compact digital. The successor to the ZR1, optical zoom has been boosted to eight times, the addition of AVCHD Lite video should extend recording time, the pixel count now stands at 14 megapixels and it supports the new SDXC card format.  Read More

ASUS subsidiary AGAiT Technology is the latest to have a bash at realizing the dream of robots performing domestic tasks with the EC01 E-Cleaner robotic vacuum cleaner. As well as offering similar cleaning functionality to that of its rivals, the EC01 also benefits from a sanitizing UV lamp which disinfects as the unit vacuums.  Read More

Ahhh, social network status updates. How would we know what breathtakingly exciting (or mind-numbingly boring) activities our friends and family are up to from one moment to the next without them? And if you sometimes find it’s a chore just reading these missives, spare a thought for those people writing them. But soon, by combining networking and messaging platforms with emerging ambient intelligence systems that use sensors and smart objects to create awareness of users’ whereabouts and activities, such status updates and other social information could be generated automatically.  Read More

Toshiba has chosen IFA 2009 to confirm that this month Europeans will be able to get their hands on two new full 1080p HD televisions in its Regza range, a 46in and a 55in. As well as being LED backlit for the first time, these new SV models also sport a sensor that monitors ambient light and constantly readjusts image settings so that the viewer automatically gets the best possible picture.  Read More