Automated Home

It’s not often that something soft and fluffy makes it to the gadget of the week section but bear with me. I love podcasts (I even used to make some) and I listen a lot of them in bed. I’ve used in-ear buds and my trusty wireless Sennheiser headphones, but neither are anything approaching comfortable to wear in bed. […]

The home of Chris and Clare Hunter has a traditional stone exterior that belies the all-encompassing smart home system that resides within. A house that makes intelligent autonomous decisions rather than rely on its occupants to operate remote controls. Dr Karam from Idratek takes us through this incredible installation, their most comprehensive to date… In a recent article we described an IDRATEK installation in […]

The Brydge iPad keyboard and case started off life as a Kickstarter campaign.  Raising almost $800K on a target of just $90K it was a spectacular success. A couple of years have passed and the company is now under new ownership, with new retail distribution and pricing. The Brydge iPad case is made from aerospace grade anodised aluminium. It’s […]

A couple of minutes walk from a busy bustling Oxford Street, in London’s West End, is an oasis of calm. I visited the Cornflake Smart App-artment on a sunny day in July and its relaxing ambiance was a welcomed break from the heat and the crowds. Beneath its unassuming glass facade lies a contemporary mock-home. Opened just over […]

‘Otto’ the little robot logo for Automated Home has always been our ultimate symbol of the far distant smart home future. Who doesn’t want a robot, right? Now MIT Professor, Dr Cynthia Breazeal has formed a company with a team that may just bring us Otto MkI. The JIBO is billed as “The World’s First Family […]

‘Thread’ is a new IP-based wireless networking protocol for the smart home. Nest and Samsung are Thread Group founding members along with Yale Security, Silicon Labs, Freescale Semiconductor, Big Ass Fans and ARM. Thread recon there needs to be a low power mesh network in your home, in addition to Wi-Fi, that allows networked devices without requiring constant […]

Yes, the home automator in you is going to look at this and protest.  Yes you could do this with a Z-Wave socket or whatever and a home automation controller and some of your finest logic scripting. But sometimes the KISS principal is best obeyed and simple is often better for members of the family who […]

If it’s been a while since you gave the Plex media server a try then it’s time to take anther look. Plex supports a vast array of hardware including Google’s Chromecast, Amazon Fire TV, Roku plus Samsung and LG smart TV apps. You can run Plex software clients on all the major platforms including Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS, Android […]

A few weeks back we covered these little Bluetooth Suction Speakers for your bathroom as our useful gadget of the week. Shortly afterwards, the guys from Inateck contacted us to see if we’d take a look at their brand new BTSP-20 Waterproof Bluetooth Speaker and it arrived just a few days later. In the box you’ll find the […]

While many baby monitors have moved to work with mobile apps, Marmitek’s latest creation has opted to use it’s own touch screen monitor. The Marmitek BabyView 725 uses digital transmission to provide a secure and interference free audio and video link. The camera is mains powered while the monitor uses a rechargeable battery do it and […]