News Archive
Mon 22 May 2006
Smart Meter to save money and mother nature
At the core of Tony Blair’s recent proposed ‘war on pollution’ is the "smart meter". A prototype by More Associates that will allow consumers to closely monitor their energy use by appliance and wattage. Allowing consumers to save money and subsequently conserve as much energy as possible seems like a sensible and rational approach.
As reported by BBC News earlier this week, there is a direct link between smart meters and changes in people's behavior. Jonathan Stearn of Energywatch says "When people can see how much energy and money they are saving when they switch off the TV rather than leaving it on standby, they immediately become more engaged in the whole issue of energy efficiency."
It won't be long until we see all types of home monitoring tools integrated together to save energy and money. Obviously the success of such measures is dependant on how user-friendly the systems are and what initial costs will be. This is such a great idea, please don’t drop the ball now!
For more info on automation: What can be controlled with Home-Automation?
Fri 19 May 2006
Obviously the Acer Ferrari laptop series was quite a money spinner then. Certainly if this new prancing horse non-car related product is anything to go by. Ferrari has teamed up with design studio David Weiner Ventures to produce a limited edition "audio instrument" called the Art.Engine. Encompassing the in-your-face design and performance of Ferrari this tall and proud speaker solution stands 47” high, 16” wide and 6” deep and clocks in with 280 bhp W of power designed to replace an entire surround-sound system. In terms of connectivity it can link up with traditional stereos, CD/vinyl decks or receive tracks from iTunes or stream audio wirelessly from a computer.
It wouldn’t be quite Ferrari if this audio system didn’t have an exorbitant price tag, so here it is to complete the circle: £12,000 is what you have to pay for Art.Engine, it kinda reminds me of one of those free-standing fans, don’t you reckon?
Thu 18 May 2006
Retro in-home Video Game Arcade
A true arcade game fanatic, Peter Hirschberg, has built a 500 sq ft in-house gameroom. He has 49 arcade machines, all classic titles, including pacman, space invaders, frogger, paperboy and pong, additional to the video games he has three retro pinball machines, two money changers and one candy grabber. I shudder to think how many times Peter has to hear the words “Oh my god! I remember this… I used to play it down at…” judging by the pictures on his website, the frustration is starting to take its toll. Smile man, you have fine collection of arcade machines!
Check out his site for some great photos of his impressive project.
Thu 18 May 2006
Z-text SMS Modem allows you to send SMS text messages over a normal fixed Line. No Sim card, contract, subscription is needed, texts are charged by the telephony provider just like any other call at a cost similar to the minimum charge for a voice call. The Z text thus allows for texting in places where signal strength is a problem for mobile phones and it also offers the advantage of showing the senders normal landline number.
For all you home automaters the Z-text SMS modem has been integrated with a number of third party solutions, including Homeseer Home Automation software so it is ideal for reporting alerts from environmental and network monitoring systems.
Z-text is suitable for use with worldwide networks that have implemented Fixed Line SMS Protocol 1 which includes the UK, Europe, Asia, South Africa, and Australia.
For more on home automation see What can be controlled with Home-Automation?
The Z text SMS Modem costs £80
