RelaxStyle Lamp: Like Tripping at the Bottom of the Sea [Lighting]

by Sean Fallon [Gizmodo]

Filed under Household |

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Need to unwind? The RelaxStyle Room Palette Effect lamp can transport you to a tranquil undersea world at the push of a button. The lamp projects light onto walls or ceilings that resemble undulating waves—giving users the feeling of being submerged in shallow water, looking up into the sunlight. You can even set a timer that will automatically shut the light show down after 120 minutes. That way you can blissfully set adrift into sleep and peacefully pee your pants in the middle of the night. Available for $69. [Japan Trend Shop via Crave via DVICE]

ONELink Wireless, Networked, Talking Smoke Alarms Tell You When to Get the Hell Out [Alarm]

by Sean Fallon [Gizmodo]

Filed under Household |

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If you are ever confronted with a fire or carbon monoxide situation in your home, it goes without saying that you would want an alarm that will give you the best chance to escape. That having been said, the ONELink system from First Alert does just about everything outside of physically carrying you out of the building. Because they can be wirelessly networked (up to 16 units), when one of the devices goes off, they will all go off, giving you more time to take action no matter where you are in a building.The ONELink can also give you verbal alerts that define whether you are dealing with smoke or carbon monoxide and where the problem is occurring in your home. They can even be tested and / or programmed using your standard television remote. As you might expect, the ONELink is a bit pricey at $99 a unit, but if they work as advertised, it may be a small price to pay. [Smarthome and First Alert via Gizmag]

Samsung’s Vivace Shadow and Neo-Forte Air Conditioners Kill Germs [Gadgets]

by Jason Chen [Gizmodo]

Filed under Household |

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Having an air conditioner running during the summer while we’re sitting naked on our leather chairs is luxurious enough, but an air conditioner that also kills germs? That’s just plain opulent. Samsung’s Vivace Shadow and Neo-Forte (black and white) air conditioners do just that, using their Micro Plasma Ion technology to kill 78 percent of fungus and 58 percent of bacteria within 30-minutes in a closed environment. It may look like a printer, but when’s the last time you hung up a printer on the wall? [Crave Asia via Unpluggd via DVice]

Wall-Mounted Zuse Toaster Turns—and Burns—Bread into Art [Matrix Toast]

by Addy Dugdale [Gizmodo]

Filed under Household, Misc. Gadgets |

Who needs paintings when you have a Zuse? Attach the chrome toaster to the wall, feed a slice of bread through the slot and then, rather like an old-fashioned matrix printer, your toast comes out with a pixellated design burnt on the front, thanks to a library of images saved on its memory chip. The idea comes from Austrian design house Inseq, and it’s concept-only, I’m afraid. [ALBOTAS]

Vintage View-Master Clock: A Reminder That You Are Getting Old [Clocks]

by Sean Fallon [Gizmodo]

Filed under Household, Misc. Gadgets |

vintage-viewmaster-clock.JPGView-Masters were a part of just about everyone’s childhood. For those trying to relive those days, Minnesota artist Debra Dressler has come up with these handmade clocks made with genuine vintage View-Masters. As you might suspect, “handmade” and “vintage” are usually codewords for “expensive,” and at $145, that is pretty much the case here. However, if that is a little more money than you want to spend on a clock, you could probably build one using a newer View-Master fairly easily. [Uncommon Goods]

Water Ball Ripple Sink Makes Me Want to Tinkle [Design]

by Jason Chen [Gizmodo]

Filed under Household |

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If we were handy enough to build our own sinks, we’d build one exactly like this “The Ripple” faucet, designed by Smith Newnam, which equates relative ball movement to the temperature and amount of water flowing out. Hot water makes the LED glow red, while cold makes it glow blue, and the two hot and cold channels mix together in the open air to make for your desired temperature. Awesome? Definitely. Practical? Not so much. Just try moving that ball around without accidentally touching the scorching water. [Flickr via Yanko Design]

Readybot cleans your kitchen, might be single best thing ever invented

by Nilay Patel [Engadget]

Filed under Household, Robots |

We want one. Scratch that: We need one. Check out this ridiculously awesome kitchen-cleaning robot called the Readybot — if this is what the future of robot enslavement looks like, sign us up. The creators, part of a homebrew group called the Readybot Robot Challenge, are dedicated to finding a breakthrough application for consumer robotics, and team leader Tom Benson says the answer is simple: “We think people want a robot that can clean the kitchen.” Uh, yeah. The dishwasher sized Readybot prototype can currently do a little less than half of your common kitchen chores, but Benson says it’ll eventually get to 80 percent — which is about 100 percent more than we’re currently doing. Fall in love with the video after the break.

CyCool Uses Your Own Cycling Energy To Cool You [Design]

by Jason Chen [Gizmodo]

Filed under Household |

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Stationary biking may be fun and healthy, but unless you’re sitting right under an air conditioning vent, you’re gonna get hot. Real hot. So why not use the energy generated by all that furious pedaling to power a fan that cools you off at the same time? Sounds brilliant to us as long as you can shut off the fan occasionally so you’re not always getting the cooling effect. There’s nothing worse than cycling in the wind when it’s cold. [Yanko Design]

Slam-Dunk the Funk(y Clothing) with the Tian Chi Washer [Concept]

by Addy Dugdale [Gizmodo]

Filed under Household, Misc. Gadgets |

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Designed for electronic giant Candy and Italian business organization La Fucina, the Tian Chi washing machine introduces an element of fun to the daily grind of household chores, A spring-loaded trap door in the top means that you can play basketball with your dirty clothes every washday. Unlike me, Carlo Casagrande and Yu Wenhou Ben are obviously no fan of household chores, but that’s because they don’t have Jesus doing the laundry in nothing but a loincloth and high heels. [Yanko]

DIY kit lets houseplants Twitter when they need water

by Joshua Topolsky [Engadget]

Filed under Household |

Finally, your mind-exploding, breakdown-inducing struggle to keep your houseplants watered regularly is getting a little help. A group called Botincalls has come up with a method to monitor your plants remotely, then be Twittered when they need some water. Taking a slightly different direction than the ThirstyLight, the system is based around the popular (and versatile) Arduino board, which is combined with a DIY moisture sensor, and a small piece of code that will alert you when your greenery is starting to need a drink. Look, we’ll be honest with you: it’s a pretty complicated process to go through just to figure out when your plants need water, but if you’re as serious about flora as we think you are, this will be a dream come true.

[Via Make]

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