Showing posts with label technology. Show all posts
Showing posts with label technology. Show all posts
Thursday, May 10, 2018
Technology has changed the way we live our lives and will continue to change them in the future. With the arrival of high tech gadgets, it seems as 2018 will be the year of technology. The latest gadgets offer the convenience and simplicity to your home. When it comes to smart living, we think of the gadgets that make our homes smarter and comfortable to live.
Almost every week some new devices are launched to make our lives easier and convenient. Technology moves faster than what we can keep up nowadays. Let us see the gadgets which would make our homes much smarter in 2018.
Some smart home designers are already offering latest technology trends to their customers, but some home designers need to update their services to meet the current trends. If you are in Queensland, you can search for local home builders gold coast online to design your home with the latest technology.
Let’s introduce ourselves to the gadgets that would change the way we live in our homes in 2018:
Voice Assistants
Now you don’t need to operate the gadgets in your house manually. Voice assistants do it for you. Voice assistants like Google Home, Apple’s Siri and Amazon Alexa do it for you. Voice assistants allow you to control your home appliances and lights with your voice.
With voice assistants, you can control your lights, record your favorite TV shows and microwave. Samsung’s Bixby has recently joined the race of smart voice assistants and will operate all the Samsung devices in your home. Moreover, the companies making home appliances such as smart TVs, refrigerators, microwaves, etc. are making them compatible with the voice assistants.
Health Sensors
This year many health sensor devices will make their way to the homes of gadget lovers. With health sensors, you can easily measure your health parameters like respiratory rate, body temperature, heart-beat and blood oxygen levels.
For example, Oska Pulse helps you to measure your blood flow to the impacted parts of your body. The device is specially made to help the people suffering from chronic pain. Another example of health sensor is Sensio Air which lets you measure the dust particles in your rooms. This is beneficial for people with allergies.
Smart Security
Security is a primary concern of every home. There are a lot of security devices that can make your home a smart home. From motion sensors to security cameras and smart locks to video doorbells you can protect your home from burglars and robbers.
It’s now much easier to keep an eye on all the areas of your home from a single access point. Syncing devices of different brands is a hassle, so it is better to buy all the security of a single brand, as they can be synced easily with each other.
For example, Adobe has rolled out a security kit that consists of a motion sensor camera, door and window sensors and a remote key. You can easily connect them with other smart devices.
Smart furniture
In the future, we will see the smart furniture capable of transforming itself according to the user needs. The shelving units will convert themselves into a bed on your command and further into a sofa when you want to relax or watch TV.
For example, a simple looking book self can turn itself into a walk-in closet or bed with a command to a voice assistant or with the press of a button. The technology is yet in the pilot stage, but it shows what type of furniture would make your home smarter in the coming years.
Wireless charging
Wireless charging is not a new technology, but it has started gaining popularity since last year. The introduction of the Qi wireless chargers for the latest iPhone models, many tech companies have started introducing it in the markets. Many other companies like LG and Samsung have also launched the wireless charging devices.
Temperature management
With temperature management devices you can heat up your rooms on the way from work to home. This technology is ready to heat up your home this year. With the proliferation of geo-fencing functionality, that makes use of GPS or RFID to create a virtual geographic periphery allows you to change the temperature when you move from one room to another. For example, some devices like Honeywell Lyric T5 is equipped with this feature, but you can see more devices and more features of temperature management in future.
Connectivity
You already have multiple devices and home appliances which are used manually. But the recent development in technology will make the home appliances work and communicate within a range. For example, some devices communicate their technical problems to the technical support before you even know them. A microwave in your kitchen can begin preheating from an app from your living room. Your refrigerator can suggest you recipes based on the vegetables that are placed in it.
Final words
These were the smart appliances that are going to change the way we live in our sweet homes. The home appliance manufacturers are all set to launch their smart gadgets to make your lives more simple and convenient.
Technology Trends 2018 for Your Smart Home
Tuesday, November 19, 2013
Solar panels are great, we can't disagree with that - at least from an environmental and economical point of view! Photovoltaic (PV) panels have been luring in more and more customers, calling homeowners with the promised savings of £1,000+ tax-free energy savings. If you were to read into the environmental and energy-saving benefits of installing a few solar panels onto the rooftop of your home, it wouldn't take long to find at least some kind of enticing gain. We're all for solar panels - renewable energy is certainly the way forward and something we believe in.
However, have you ever heard anyone admire the majestic beauty of a solar panel? Wind turbines are probably one of the very few renewable energy producers that have a kind of aesthetic elegance about them but fitting one of those to the side of your two-bedroom South Kensington flat is not exactly an option. Solar panels, on the other hand, are not exactly the most aesthetically appealing addition to your period property. They're fine when fitted to a new building or onto a side of the roof not directly in street view. However, when they start to impose upon the main facade of the building they really become an imposition. We have seen them fitted to all sides of a roof and to the front facade of the building.
It's really a miracle Planning doesn't get involved in these cases. As designers, we often battle with the Planning Officers of the local councils where we work to better the visual appearance of a building - often when an application is rejected, it is on the grounds of needing to protect the original appearance of the building versus an aesthetic improvement (perhaps the design was too modern or deemed to detached from the original fabric of the building). In any case, I have never heard of an application being rejected on the grounds of an imposing solar panel.
It's not just designers who feel that the over use of solar panels is ruining our street views - residents have their complaints too. Where solar panels are being used in idyllic countryside streets or on a row of period properties, designers and residents alike are speaking out about this 'visual cancer'. A council that approves an eyesore of a solar panel but rejects a refurbishment of a building's facade on the grounds that it is not in keeping with the existing street view is highly hypocritical and these policies should be reviewed urgently.
Furthermore, it is not just the visual impact that concerns us. Solar panels are being fitted on houses that are quite literally falling apart. Old, solid brick constructions with cracking all down the front of the rendering, one hundred year old wooden window frames with leaky single glazed window panes and roof structures urgently in need of insulation... and a row of solar panels on top. Not exactly a winning formula to reach those required U-Values. There is no point in this fickle attempt at environmental betterment at a high initial cost when the fabric of the existing building has not yet been addressed - it's much wiser to spend on a 'fabric-first' approach.
Solar panels are absolutely fantastic energy-saving creations which environmentally are far superior to the current fossil-fuel-based sources of energy and we love them. However, what concerns us is the blatant over-marketing of their energy-saving qualities to unsuspecting customers who have not been explained fully where the real benefit lie. Our advice on the topic is to only invest in this technology if the fabric of your building is of a high standard, the walls, floors and ceilings are insulated well and all the necessary u-values are being achieved or the benefits of 'free energy' will be lost literally out the window. And if your building ticks all the right boxes and you make the decision to invest - please do consider your neighbours (and any passing designers you might upset)!
However, have you ever heard anyone admire the majestic beauty of a solar panel? Wind turbines are probably one of the very few renewable energy producers that have a kind of aesthetic elegance about them but fitting one of those to the side of your two-bedroom South Kensington flat is not exactly an option. Solar panels, on the other hand, are not exactly the most aesthetically appealing addition to your period property. They're fine when fitted to a new building or onto a side of the roof not directly in street view. However, when they start to impose upon the main facade of the building they really become an imposition. We have seen them fitted to all sides of a roof and to the front facade of the building.
It's really a miracle Planning doesn't get involved in these cases. As designers, we often battle with the Planning Officers of the local councils where we work to better the visual appearance of a building - often when an application is rejected, it is on the grounds of needing to protect the original appearance of the building versus an aesthetic improvement (perhaps the design was too modern or deemed to detached from the original fabric of the building). In any case, I have never heard of an application being rejected on the grounds of an imposing solar panel.
It's not just designers who feel that the over use of solar panels is ruining our street views - residents have their complaints too. Where solar panels are being used in idyllic countryside streets or on a row of period properties, designers and residents alike are speaking out about this 'visual cancer'. A council that approves an eyesore of a solar panel but rejects a refurbishment of a building's facade on the grounds that it is not in keeping with the existing street view is highly hypocritical and these policies should be reviewed urgently.
Furthermore, it is not just the visual impact that concerns us. Solar panels are being fitted on houses that are quite literally falling apart. Old, solid brick constructions with cracking all down the front of the rendering, one hundred year old wooden window frames with leaky single glazed window panes and roof structures urgently in need of insulation... and a row of solar panels on top. Not exactly a winning formula to reach those required U-Values. There is no point in this fickle attempt at environmental betterment at a high initial cost when the fabric of the existing building has not yet been addressed - it's much wiser to spend on a 'fabric-first' approach.
Solar panels are absolutely fantastic energy-saving creations which environmentally are far superior to the current fossil-fuel-based sources of energy and we love them. However, what concerns us is the blatant over-marketing of their energy-saving qualities to unsuspecting customers who have not been explained fully where the real benefit lie. Our advice on the topic is to only invest in this technology if the fabric of your building is of a high standard, the walls, floors and ceilings are insulated well and all the necessary u-values are being achieved or the benefits of 'free energy' will be lost literally out the window. And if your building ticks all the right boxes and you make the decision to invest - please do consider your neighbours (and any passing designers you might upset)!
Sources:
Homebuilding and Renovation Magazine
A Solar Eyesore
Tuesday, October 8, 2013
Manifest Side Table is a clever side table idea from Australian product and furniture designer Chris Vincent. This table incorporates USB charging cables for multiple electronic devices. Three USB ports enable convenient charging, with cables wound and stowed away and the charging end left ready
to access when required.
to access when required.
The table is constructed of solid oak and powder coated steel tube, and plugs into a standard 240V power point. Wool felt details protect the timber surface from damage. Manifest Side Table is suitable for a domestic setting as well as commercial environments.
H: 500
DIA: 460
WINNER: BEST CONCEPT AWARD, Vivid @ Furnitex, JULY 2013
@ 100% Design, London 2013
Manifest Side Table
Sunday, September 29, 2013
Quite often people do not consider technology as a part of interior designing. 21st century is an era of progress, meaning that all your appliances are capable of both: doing their job and decorating the space at the same time. Here are some interesting ideas of speakers and sound systems, which could be used to maximise your interior’s “wow” factor.
Home Sound Systems as a “WOW” factor
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