Category: Home Appliances
Rentokil's RADAR mousetrap has LASER BEAMS and James Bond SMS alert technology
The bigwigs at Rentokil no longer have to watch their backs anymore, and can cut back on security guards patrolling their office grounds, watching out for PETA and animal activists, as they’ve developed what they’re calling ‘smartest and most humane mousetrap ever’.
Like something out of James Bond’s Q’s laboratory, the hi-tech Rodent Activated Detention and Riddance Unit (Radar unit, for us civvies), uses infrared beams and carbon dioxide to catch, and then gas the mice dead within 45 seconds. That’s not all though, as when the little critter has floated off to mouse-heaven, a text message is sent…
Mister Miser thinks you deserve a folding urinal
I’m glad I’m writing about this folding urinal after lunch and not before, there’s nothing I hate more in this world than the aroma of urinals. An aroma which wiffs out of the mens’ toilets in bars as you walk past them to the ladies, I might hastily add. It’s not as though I spend my time checking them out. Ooh dear, I’m digging a deep hole here…
Small city flats or bathrooms more concerned with huge bathtubs than toilet space would be the perfect location…
Work those leg muscles with a bicycle/lawnmower combo
Wow, I’m really unearthing the crazy inventions this morning, what with the previous story on the flying car, and now these bicycle/lawnmower hybrids. Unlike the PAL-V car however, I can really see the use for one of these bikes.
Not that I’ve ever mowed the lawn of course, I was much too lazy when I lived at home, preferring instead to be inside with the curtains drawn, playing Tony Hawk for hours on end, but I remember my Mum coming in after several hours’ lawnmowing…
Marks & Spencer is after your parents' retirement fund with the Autograph Monroe TV Bed
Can anyone else imagine their parents walking into Marks & Spencer to do the weekly shop consisting of salmon, mixed fruit packs and raspberry ‘n white chocolate flapjacks, then making a slight detour at the home interiors department on the way to picking up some cotton Y-fronts, and ending up ordering a TV bed? Or is it just me whose parents are at ‘that age’ where their idea of being spontaneous and wild is buying some home furnishings? Still, better than skydiving at least!
Marks & Spencer have added to their home interiors/technology departments with the TV Bed, a leather upholstered Monroe design which features a built-in area for holding a TV. With the touch of a button, the TV…
Greenpeace launches range of dimmable energy-efficient lightbulbs
As part of the 100% Design London exhibition, Greenpeace unveiled what it claims to be the world's first dimmable low-energy light bulbs. They commissioned designer Jason Bruges to create an "interactive garden of light", which responded to human movement via…
Komfort Pets Carrier: carry your cat or puppy in climate-controlled comfort
Claiming to the world's first climate-controlled pet carrier, this is a kitty or pooch pen with a difference — it automatically keeps pets cool or warm (as required). Using both conduction and convection simultaneously, it's supposed to complement the…
Doro launches NeoBio range of designer home phones
Swedish consumer electronics company Doro has announced the launch of its NeoBio range of cordless DECT home telephones. Apparently, it's all about organic design, with NeoBio originating from an industrial design trend called "Neo Naturalism" which focuses on harnessing the…
The DIY clock, 'Harddisc-Uhr', made by some random German nutter
There’s not much to say about this clock except ‘wow!’. And possibly ‘where on earth do I get one?!’ Well, unfortunately for you, it’s a DIY clock made by some clever German in his basement, in the spare minutes between Star Trek reruns, probably.
The ‘Harddisc-Uhr’, as it’s known, features a rotating platter which allows for the time to be changed, instead of being…
The Bugatti Volo toaster will be the closest you get to the real thing
Car company CEOs are clever sods. Long ago they realised only a slight percentage of the world can afford their expensive wheels, so to ensure they work their way into everyone’s households, they branched out into other products, often collaborating with other high-end manufacturers, like we saw with the Ferrari-branded Meridian F80.
Possibly the only affordable device from the world’s priciest car company, Bugatti has rolled out the Volo toaster for car fans whose closest encounter to a Veyron is downloading desktop wallpapers of the car. £140 does seem…
IEC's vision for home appliance communications: it's good to have a talking washing machine
IEC (the International Electrotechnical Commission) has developed a new specification designed to allow various networked home appliances to communicate with one another, and with you. The complicatedly-named Home Network Communication Protocol over IP for Multimedia Household Appliances specification really boils…
