Smartphone Meets Smarter Light? Turning On Remote Controlled Lighting For The Home

Smart technology has moved beyond smartphones and personal electronics. Its future lies in household interconnectedness – smart homes that make Jetson-like living closer than ever. As our appliances, thermostats and other devices become electronically entwined, there are shining stars and bumps in the road that light our way along the path to connectivity. Enter remote controlled lighting.

Enjoy chlorine-free summer fun with ECOsmarte

The ECOsmarte filtration system, courtesy of ECOsmarte

As we shift from spring into summer, dreams of summer pool parties dance merrily through our heads. Preparing your pool for summer fun means loading it with harsh toxic chemicals. With so many of us wanting to lead healthy lifestyles, going that direction makes no sense.

There’s a more efficient, healthier alternative.

New energy efficiency software makes life easier for builders and homeowners

Ed & Rachelle Begley, the King and Queen of living green; photo by Lisa Franchot

For those of you who may not know them, Ed Begley, Jr. and Rachelle Carson-Begley are “the King and Queen of green”.

Well-known environmental activists, the Begleys take living green to new heights in order to achieve the lowest carbon footprint possible. Along with driving an electric vehicle, being vegan and having what could be considered one of the greenest homes in America, the Begleys introduce TV viewers to an expanding variety of energy efficient, eco-friendly products, services and lifestyles on a weekly basis as hosts of the show Living with Ed.

The iWavecube: a compact, portable, personal microwave

These compact microwaves combine energy efficiency, technology, comfort and convenience

Microwaves are perhaps one of the most popular household appliances around. Most homes have at least one and even boaters and RVers wouldn’t be without one.

It’s the idea of the portability of this essential technology that was the inspiration for the iWavecube, a small yet powerful personal microwave.

For more on this versatile, affordable, go-anywhere microwave, see the full story at http://bit.ly/nLLu9U.

A Solar Notebook That Outlasts What’s Out There

Samsung's soon-to-be released notebook features a built-in solar panel

For those who’ve longed for a notebook with real lasting power, that day has finally arrived. Samsung has announced the release of the first and only solar-powered notebook – the Samsung NC215.

This solar innovation is really Samsung’s NC110 reworked with a solar panel integrated into the netbook’s lid. First released in Russia and Asia, Samsung has given the go-ahead for a U.S. release, with product to be available in mid- to late August.

For more details on this innovative n0tebook, see http://bit.ly/ntuNuS.

A Rechargable Battery that makes that "bunny" jealous

Remember the last time you went to get a battery you’d stored, only to find it didn’t work? The bunny that “keeps going and going” may have met its match. Sanyo’s Eneloop Rechargable battery changes what we think we know about rechargeables.  

Coming soon – connect your gadgets thru home Wi-Fi

By mid-2010, consumers will be able to connect their home electronic “gadgets” via Wi-Fi without a wireless network.

An industry group called the Wi-Fi Alliance has just completed a set of technical “rules” called Wi-Fi Direct to guide consumer electronics companies planning to add this new capability. Now cell phones, cameras and computers will be able to “talk” to each other directly.

Only one gadget will need to have the new Wi-Fi technology to make two-way connections. This technology overlaps with that of Bluetooth, whose wireless technology already has gadget-to-gadget connection capability allowing consumers to send videos and other bandwidth-hogging files around the house.

Things could be getting a little simpler. Add this to the news earlier this year that the major electronics firms have agreed to make standardized charger adapters in the near future and it sure seems like we’ll have a few less headaches in this department next year.

Could Harry Potter's Invisibility Cloak be real?

Okay, so this is off topic. But I couldn’t resist this fantasy meets reality technology news.

Radar waves go around a bare-bones real Cloak of Invisibility

Back in October 2006 a team of American and British scientists created what could be considered a rudimentary “invisibility cloak”.  They succeeded in “hiding” a copper cylinder from being detected by microwaves. The radar or other waves simply passed around the cylinder as if it wasn’t there.

Flash forward. A report released in London today says:

“An international team of physicists have revealed that metamaterials, which are currently being used to make real-life invisibility cloaks, may soon shrink cellphone antennas, leading to smaller gadgets.”

And who said truth was stranger than fiction?

Someone else (Mr. Anonymous himself) said “if you can dream it, you can do it.”

So where do I buy mine?

From LED to OLED means greater light efficiency

New OLED technology - a breakthrough in energy efficiency

For energy efficiency, you can’t beat LED lights. Or can you? The the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) just announced a breakthrough in OLED technology that stands to shatter previous efficiency standards.

For those who don’t know (and I had to look it up), OLED stands for organic light emitting diodes. This new technology is supposed to reduce the energy consumption of this very thin light source by 75%.

GE's OLED-embedded wallpaper

For a light that already significantly reduces energy use, this is an exciting development. This cool technology will likely first be used for computer monitors and TV’s, easily replacing LCD-based screens. It’s already being applied to cell phones and, due to its flexiblity, GE has already printed it onto some amazing looking curved wallpaper.

To learn more about how OLEDs work, check out this video.

No set date for when they’ll actually hit the market but rumor has it that will be in the not-too-distant future. This should make for some fun and cool-looking new “toys”.