Category: Home Appliances
REVIEW: iRobot Roomba 780 robot vacuum cleaner
The future promised a lot, and while robot butlers and hovercars are still pipe-dreams, robot vacuum cleaners are very much a reality. Hot on the heels of its IFA 2011 unveiling, Tech Digest got to spend some quality time with our very own clean-freak R2D2, the iRobot Roomba 780 vacuum cleaner. Read on to see whether or not it's time to send the Dyson to the dumpster.
Philips Wake-Up Light Tested in Worlds Northernmost Town
Philips recently launched an interesting campaign to test the effectiveness of their wake-up light in Longyearbyen Norway. If you like me have never heard of Longyearbyen, it is the northernmost town situated only 600 miles South of the North Pole….
Gro delivers the most stunning table football ever
A mix of chrome metals (there's a whiff of luxury bath taps) and atmospheric lighting, it really does look stunning.
Is this the world's coolest fridge?
Take a look at the gallery and you'll be able to see that it can used horizontally or vertically and customised to the user's requirements.
Ferguson Hill adds FH010 speakers and FH009 Home Theatre
The FH009 Home Theatre set up pairs a class A integrated amp that is compatible with any audio out enabled device. It comes with horn speakers that can be wall mounted or free-standing and are made from transparent acyclic. It will sell for around £800.
Dyson reveals world's fastest ever motor
Normally, we wouldn’t bother reporting about the release of a hand-held vacuum cleaner. They’re just not that exciting. But James Dyson – the man who revolutionised the vacuum cleaner and washing machine industries – has claimed that the DC 31’s motor is the “fastest motor in the world, by a long stretch”.
104,000 revolutions per minute make the motor ten times faster than the one found in a Boeing 747 and five times quicker than an F1 car’s motor. I bet the plane and the F1 car could still beat the vacuum cleaner in a race though.
Dyson has stated that the DC 31 is just the first of a long line of products that will include the new motor. He said: “It’s radical. It’s completely different technology. We are the only company in the world producing a switched reluctance motor.”
Get your Dyson DC 31 here. It’s £129.99. Or £149.99 for the Animal version.
(via The Telegraph)
VIDEO: 1cm folding plug on its way?
We poor old Brits must have the worst AC plugs in the world. Well, us Brits and also the 30 or so other nations who use the old type G, BS1363 AC power adaptor. Not only are they bulky, nay huge, and ugly it also hurts like hell if you accidental tread on one.
But, we may not have to put up with the old bulky adaptors for much longer if the video below is anything to go by:
It proposes a new design, measuring just an impressive 1cm thick that works by folding the three copper prongs into a nice, neat parallel line.
It’s just a concept at the moment, but surely someone has got to pick up on this and mass manufacture it. It looks brilliant. I’m going to go home tonight and hack of all of my old bulky plugs in anticipation.
(via Engadget)
Waterless washing machines to hit the market next year
To be fair, “waterless” is a slight exaggeration, but only slight because a company named Xeros has managed to develop a washing machine that uses just 90% of the water used by a normal houselhold unit.
This utility room game-changer employs reusable nylon polymer beads to wash your undies. They clean the clothes faster, using 30% less energy and each cycle only requires a single drop of detergent too. What’s more, expensive eco-enemy tumble dryers need less time because you’re linen will be less wet too. Therefore saving a few inches more planet. Sounds pretty marvelous really.
The trick has been working out a way to get the beads from your togs at the end of the wash but, now that’s sorted, Xeros reckon they’ll have commerical units in hotels and other such large operations by the end of the year.
And if that hasn’t got your juices flowing green, then check this – if these nylon polymer machines were as standard in the UK, it’d be the equivalent of taking 2 million cars of our roads. Where do I sign up?
(via Cambridge News)
Kerchoons KBox – pocket-sized vibrating speaker
We’ve seen these things before; vibrating units that turn whatever surface they’re on into giant speakers. The advantage with the amusingly named Kerchoons KBox is that it’s not shaped like a butt plug.
This time, what we’re looking at is a USB-charged device with around 20 hours of battery life and it’s about the size of an iPhone. Do I stutter?
It delivers a slightly bottom heavy frequency response of 40Hz – 20KHz, which isn’t massive, but, then, it does only cost £39.99 plus a fiver in the post. It plugs into just about anything you like and uses a patented gel on the underside to make whatever surface it touches vibrate and create the sweet sounds.
Probably not one for the audiophiles but certainly fun, if nothing else.
KBox
