Our homes are a fertile ground for engineer’s imagination. The basic functions of heating food or keeping it cool and fresh are now being re-imagined with advances in digital control and solid state technology.
For the past 120 years, our vision of the ice box or oven heat box has been exactly that.. a box. Whirlpool research is challenging that mental image with some exciting concepts- returning to gathering around the cooking fire or making the food storage and stocking a part of the room decor. Not a box in sight, and on the horizon for introduction as early as 2020.
TPN Interview by Andy McCaskey of SDRNews.com
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A CES-2013 Innovation Award Winner from Urban Hello puts the focus on a neglected category: the home telephone. It has been recognized by the IEEE Spectrum as the first product to recognize HD voice calls.
Smartphones have replaced many home landline connections – but there have been some compromises along the way in sound quality and the ability to set up a round-table conversation. Incorporating much of the commercial speakerphone technology, this Kickstarter project is compatible with DECT phone systems connected to landline or VoIP unit.
LCD control panels have been around four years – so don’t be confused by the fully capable Android tablet on the HiSense Smart Refrigerator, which integrates a general purpose Android tablet with full internet capabilities and some present day technology into a modern refrigerator concept. The concept includes a bar code scanner that enables real-time inventory awareness, andthe tablet can communicate shopping lists directly to smart phones and keep track of the freshness status of the items in the fridge.
The tablet allows you to leave notes, take photos, and communicate to smartphones. Recipe favorites can be incorporated into the inventory planning, as well as keeping track of specific diets and nutrition.
This unit is being introduced into China, and should be in the US in the next 12-18 months.
TPN Interview by Andy McCaskey of SDRNews.com
Sensors and Apps Combined into Affordable Alert Service
The smartphone is changing security monitoring and home automation – with consumers demanding the ease of use of app based display and control. Smartphone connectivity and apps permit Lowe’s to offer packages like the Smart Kit and Safe and Secure are basic security systems in a box. In addition to hardware such as plant monitors, smoke detectors, instrusion alarms, medical alert or area coverage monitors, Lowes now offers a variety of monitoring services that that can trigger alert or safety alarms.
Integration of pet doors, sprinkler systems and other sensors all combine to observe the daily routine of seniors and alert via SMS is less than $15 per month.
At this year’s CES, Pure launched Jongo, the world’s most affordable (and colourful) multi-room music system. Vicky tells Todd all about it.
The Jongo range will shortly include a couple of wireless speakers and a hi-fi adaptor, all with both Bluetooth and wi-fi built-in. Music can be streamed using the Pure Connect app via wi-fi to any speaker in range or else smartphones and tablets can stream music directly to the speakers using Bluetooth. Both Apple iOs and Android devices are supported and it uses the existing wi-fi infrastructure: there’s no need for special transmitters.
The S340B speaker will be available soon and can be pre-ordered on Amazon. Price is listed as $229.
The stereo speaker (T640B) and the hi-fi adaptor (A140B) will be on-sale in the summer with MSRPs of $329 and $119, respectively.
You like pinball games as much as we do so stick around and see what the pinball pros at Stern are doing to bring pinball machines to home consumers.
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This is Stern’s first venture into consumer pinball machines. They are the only company in the world currently manufacturing pinball machines and now they’re bringing them into people’s homes. Stern wants to begin training a new generation of pinball enthusiasts by making the games more available to them.
These products are half the price of the least expensive commercial version but with commercial grade bumpers and flippers so that it doesn’t feel like a toy or cheap pinball machine. There are two consumer versions available now, Transformers and Avengers branded machines. They include multiball and many other “pro” features for half the price.
Company Swissvoice has been around in Switzerland since 1893. They are bringing some of that technology to the US with the ePure. It’s a series of phones – a land-line version, but also a iPhone and Android version.
The iPhone dock phone lets you put your phone in to charge, but then you can use the handset to answer phone calls. If you turn the receiver on the side, you can use it as a bluetooth speaker.
The ePure also has a multi-phone solution. This is for your Android phone, or another smart phone. Once again, you can use the receiver as a cordless phone, or speakers when set on their side.
We finally looked at another device that you connect up to your router, it then will push the call to multiple lines. If you don’t pick up the land line, it rings the cell phone. Swissvoice has a patent pending. Your iPad, your iPhone and other devices can manage calls.
These products are planning to hit the US by July. The station is $99, the iPhone ePure will be $199, multi ePure will be $150. The cordless ePhone is $99.
The credit card is getting an upgrade. It also won the CES 2012 Innovation award.
Jeff Mullen, CEO of Powercards joins us to talk about the Dynamic Credit Card. They just raised over 40 million dollars to create one of the smallest devices ever developed. 70 electrical components in the size of a credit card.
This is the world’s first card re-programmable mag stripe. Push a button and the card will re-write the data to the magstripe. You can then swipe your card into the reader.
It feels like a regular credit card. You can bend it, and put in your wallet. The cards are completely sealed, so they can get wet without issue. The battery will last for up to four years.
If you have multiple accounts (personal, business), then you can push a button and your card is a business credit card. Push the other button, it is your personal credit card. After a while, the card can clear off your mag stripe, so you are forced to chose your card type again.
Another use of these cards would be Reward points. Push a button, and your card is using your rewards points.
There is another card that has a pin code on it. Enter your pin code and the system will put your card info on the mag stripe. After use, the mag stripe will clear, so your card becomes a blank piece of plastic.
Finally, Jeff showed us a medical card that will show emergency numbers and other medical information medical professionals may need to keep you alive. The card comes with a card holding case that you put in with your drivers licence. During emergencies, medical professionals look for your ID, then pull out the life card. They get a number which they put into their computers and get important information.
The cards do not have a price point. The cards will be announced later in 2012.
If you’re a DJ, you probably know the name Stanton, purveyors of DJ hardware. If you’re not a DJ, you probably still know the parent company, Gibson, of the guitar fame. Either way, we’re in good company here. Todd and Steve mix it up with Darrin “B-Side” Young from Stanton.
On show is Stanton’s SCS.4DJ Digital DJ Mixstation, a self-contained digital controller that has its own built-in computer and mixing software. The Mixstation is Linux-based with proprietary software that takes advantage of the unit’s features.
The music itself is all digital (.mp3, .wav, .aac) and USB storage can either be plugged in temporarily or else more permanently fitted on the underside in media bays.
Some of the cool toys include a 4″ hi-res colour LCD screen, display of the current track’s beat and wave form, media browser and automatic synchronisation between tracks (beat match). There’s also an auto DJ feature that takes a playlist and beat matches between the tracks. Nice.
Available now for $499 from over 500 retailers nationwide.
The great thing about CES is that every now and then an unknown shows off something cool. I’d never heard of Fulton Innovation but they have smart products based around wireless power transmission. Todd learns more about eCoupled from Dave Baarman.
Fulton Innovation have developed an inductive coupling solution that scales from simply making a magazine cover light up as you walk past to being able to charge a whole bag of devices without taking them out of the bag. Electric cars could be recharged by parking in the right spot and not by plugging them in.
Not all of these products are ready for market just yet, but inductive charging efficiencies are on a par with plug-in chargers though economies of scale are needed to bring the prices down to a point where it’s built-in as standard. Palm’s Pre range of smartphones used inductive charging with the Touchstone and the Motorola Droid 4 has inductive charging as an option. As a Pre 3 owner, it’s brilliant not having to fiddle with cables and I hope more devices come to the market with inductive charging in 2012.
If you’re a DJ, you probably know the name 
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