General Posts

Google recently let eager technology journalists get their hands on their latest piece of ‘wearable tech’ known as Google Glass. Essentially it’s a computer in a pair of glasses that, among other things, allows you to surf the internet, send emails, record 720p HD video and take pictures.

For such a small device it is packed with technology. Glass uses Wifi and Bluetooth to connect to the internet or your phone and offers 16GB of storage. The innovative screen gives the wearer a view of a translucent screen apparently suspended in front of them on which information, emails, directions, etc are projected.

Because it lacks a keyboard Google have incorporated several ways of controlling Glass. The touchpad allows clicking and scrolling functions, while voice activation software means you can prompt actions and search for information. Finally Glass uses an accelerometer and gyroscope to recognise gesture, such as flicking your head up to activate the computer. Voice, gesture and touch obviously have been around for a while now thanks to Apple’s Siri, Xbox’s Kinect and many mp3 players and tablets. But this is probably the most successful use of all three in a device. It’s a nail in the coffin for keyboards and another step towards invisible interfaces.

As innovative as Google Glass is, it’s not without its problems. While it makes checking emails and messages less intrusive than looking at your phone unless you’re an amazing multi-tasker you could trail off during a conversation to check out the latest alert to pop up in your viewfinder. It will take quite a confident person to stand in a crowd telling their glasses to ‘take a picture’, which doesn’t seem like a better option to simply pressing a button.

Because of its ability to unobtrusively film and take pictures it’s thought that many public places, like cinemas and swimming pools, will ban the use of Google Glass for fear of copyright infringement or voyeurism. Finally, while you’re lost in a cutting edge technological world all everyone else gets to see is you staring into the middle distance slowly stroking the side of their head.

While Glass is breaking new ground for technology, time will tell whether it redefines how we interact with technology or just becomes an evolutionary footnote. We should find out towards the end of 2013 when the first consumer versions will be released. They’ll come in a choice of five colours and will probably cost you the best part of £1,000.

Find out more: : http://www.google.com/glass/start/what-it-does/

I know it’s supposed to be summer, but many would agree, when you’re walking around on tiled floors and the weather outside is completely miserable, it is remnant of winter. I’ve been speaking to a few people who, after finding themselves with a ridiculous need to put the central heating on in the middle of summer, regret not getting under floor heating installed at the last, best opportunity. This would help to keep away the cold and make walking round the house bare footed a less unpleasant experience.

The Romans are to thank for the formidable idea of under floor heating. They built their homes on a hypocaust, a raised floor where a fire would be lit at a point and the heat would be convected around the house using the natural airflow. This enabled equal heat to be produced across the whole area.

Today, although central heating systems are incredibly sophisticated and ways of heating the home are numerous. I would assume that, with under floor heating installed, you can equally radiate heat in every room, depending on the flooring, and wouldn’t necessarily need the central heating on at some times of the year.
There is a range of different types of under floor heating for different types of flooring and different rooms.

If you have a tiled or wooden floor, you can purchase a system which includes readily constructed heating mats, with an included heating element, that is laid down and affixed to the floor. Then you place boards under the system to radiate heat, and your tiles or laminate are placed on top.

For carpeted rooms, a mat with a layer or thermal ribboning is used, and placed across thermal boards to radiate the heat back into the room.

You can also choose water heated under floor heating, although the electric systems are widely considered more advantageous since they do not take as long heat up and are easier to install.

Devi have a series of under floor heating mats for varying room sizes, with the different series' being set apart by their suitability to different types of floor. Whereas, Floor Heating can provide electric and water under floor heating systems, so you can choose the best possible system for your home.

Heating a room using underfloor systems not only frees up some space by abolishing the need for radiators, it is also a much more efficient heating method since the heat rises up through your rooms, rather than trying to heat them from the ceiling, down. Under floor heating is undoubtedly worth looking into, not only for the sake of your foot, but also your carbon footprint.

I recently spent the weekend with friends over in the West Midlands. We caught up on all sorts of news and they told me about their plans to take a camping holiday in August. They have invested in a new tent and all the accessories to go with it. It can be an expensive outlay initially, but if you manage to get away a few weekends during the year, it’s actually is a great investment. The female of the couple was questioning why her partner would want to put carpet down in the tent. Surely that contradicts with the tradition of being with nature and getting your hands dirty.

For those who want the camping experience, but find the “getting your hands dirty” element very off putting, there is Glamping. I only discovered Glamping a few weeks ago, but it would be right up my street.

Glamping is, in essence, Glamorous Camping, and you’ll find sites all over the world. In the UK alone, there are over 100 Glamping sites.

While you still stay in a tent - either a Yurt, tipi, or bell tent, with Glamping, you enjoy the great outdoors in much more luxury than your traditional camping holiday.

The accommodation offered through Glamping tends to include wooden floors, a stove with somewhere to cook, eating facilities and the most comfortable beds. These lodgings contain some real home comforts, as well as hot showers and great toilet facilities.

Glamping is an incredibly eco-friendly way to go on holiday, and some of the sites are working farms and offer activities that are great for the whole family.  You will find Glamping sites all over the UK in some of the most beautiful locations and prices vary, often depending on whether you will be staying for a few nights, a week, or more. It really is the luxurious way to go camping, and you will feel that you’ve had an amazing break and got close to nature, without getting your hands dirty.

Last week, the Prime Minister, David Cameron, announced that home owners would have the right to protect their homes using “reasonable force”, which would void them from prosecution.

In the past decades, stories have made the headlines of innocent home owners trying to protect themselves, their families and their homes, and then coming under legal fire for using force.

Now this has changed, but who would really want to be faced with that situation in the first instance? It’s an incredibly frightening thought. With this in mind, I decided to take a look at some of the top security available in today’s market for your home.

ADT is one of the biggest names in security, offering a range of products including continuous monitoring and key holder response. When your installed alarm is activated, ADT will respond quickly and contact you to make sure everything is in order, they even filter out false alarms in case the cat has set it off. Packages start from 99 for total peace of mind.

Wireless home security has moved with modern technology, offering you a package with remotes that you can switch on and off in any room, so if you go to bed and forget to set the alarm, not a problem, with on touch of the remote, your house is secure.

As a preventative measure, Controliss electric blinds could give the impression of a home owner's presence, which is likely to deter anyone who might be considering your house as their next target for a break-in, since it is usually an empty home that they are looking for. The Controliss Air 30GMT can be programmed to operate our 240V mains powered roller blinds and wood blinds at any time of the day, on each day of the week, and so will make any room look occupied whether you are elsewhere in the home, at work or even on holiday.

CCTV is another option for intruder detection, monitoring entrances and grounds, and recording every minute, you can keep the recordings for a long period of time and even control the cameras' movement from an in-house set up. High tech security at your fingertips.

If you feel that none of these will quite cut the mustard, security guards can be appointed to residential properties.

Guard Corps offer bespoke residential security including static guarding for the entrance to your home and security officers, plus key holder response, so someone can always be around on your property, which allows you to relax, safe in the knowledge that you are totally protected.

Whenever we receive a phone call or email, here at Controliss blinds, we are happy to provide answers to any questions you have about our our range of remote control electric window blinds. Many businesses receiving a large volume of calls now use interactive voice recognition (IVR) technology in order to help improve the service provided to their customers. However, the process of following instructions of pushing keypad buttons and speaking to the system, only to be directed to a meagre voice recording or to be put on hold until a real person is able to take the call, rarely feels effortless or satisfying on the customer's part.

Imagine talking to a machine that shows a human-like understanding of what you are saying and responds with an answer that suggests a level of knowledge and reasoning, as opposed to responding with the same answer for different questions. American technology and consulting giants, IBM, have developed an artificial intelligence computer system that is capable of responding to questions posed to it in more natural human terms, much more effectively than other IVR systems.

IBM's question answering computing system, named Watson, produces it's answers by running over one hundred simultaneous algorithms which filter through the two hundred million pages of structured and unstructured content it has access to, in just seconds.

In order to test the capabilities of Watson, it's developers arranged to have it compete on the quiz show, Jeopardy!, against the show's two greatest players. The main objective in Jeopardy!, is to respond to clues given in the form of answers, with the questions that will fit those answers. The test was a success as Watson defeated both contenders and won the first prize $1 million dollars, which IBM divided and donated to two charities.

Watson shows great potential in the future of areas that could really utilise it's abilities, such as the practise of medicine, where it may be used as a clinical decision support system to assist health professionals with the diagnosis and treatment of patients. Although, given the fact that Watson is made up of a cluster of ninety IBM Power 750 servers along with other hardware, it is unlikely that businesses will be appointing it to answer their customer phone calls any time soon.

Ordinarily, to watch to your favourite entertainers performing whichever art they do best, whether it be acting, dancing, comedy or any other form of entertainment; you would turn on your television, put in a DVD if necessary, maybe even lower the light levels with some Controliss Remote Control Window Blinds to enhance the experience. But to witness a truly unique showing of their talents, you may be able catch their appearance at the largest arts festival in the world, the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

The three week Edinburgh Festival Fringe started as a result of eight theatre groups arrival, without invitation, at the Edinburgh International Festival in 1947. The groups managed to get their shows on the stage, despite not being previously scheduled, which influenced other performers to turn up in the years that followed. In 1959, the Festival Fringe Society was created to try to provide better arrangements for the increasing numbers of unexpected performers by providing information for artists, publishing a programme and creating a central box office for the Festival Fringe.

The current line-up for the 2011 Edinburgh Festival Fringe includes over 2,500 shows carried out by around 21,000 performers, so there is sure to be something for anyone interested in joining the thousands of people who buy the tickets to these shows.

The talent incorporated in the line-up includes the 2009 Britain's Got Talent finalists: Flawless,  who will, no doubt, deliver a incredible dance performance; comedians Al Murray, who will be staging a live version of his Dave TV quiz 'Compete for the Meat' and Arthur Smith, who will host a show where he is sober but his guests are drunk; as well as the return of Paul Daniels and Debbie McGee.

An interesting first appearance for the festival is that of Hollywood phenomenon John Malkovich, who will put together and direct a theatrical piece on the life and works of playwright Harold Pinter. Entitled 'A Celebration Of Harold Pinter', the play will also feature Julian Sands, another actor who has worked with Harold Pinter in the past.

With additional renowned performers such as Ricky Gervais, Phil Jupitus, Omid Djalili, Ed Byrne and Russell Kane confirmed in the Festival Fringe programme, the box office may just be on track to beating last year's show ticket sales which were recorded to have been close to 2 million.

It might be the wrong time of the year to start thinking about fireplaces but some of the cooler summer evenings I would love to just build a fire and sit in front of it until late in the evening. It’s probably more cost efficient and let’s be honest, there is nothing quite like the plush homeliness created by a roaring open fire.

Whether you live in a modern or period property, an open fire, wood burner or stove can be a great focal point and will obviously serve a purpose when needed. And to establish a truly relaxing atmosphere within the room, placing Controliss Remote Control Blinds on the windows will, with one touch of a button, enable you to banish outside disturbances while holding in that comforting warmth.

If you need ideas or want to install a new fireplace, surround or stove, you may have taken a trip to Harrogate on the 5th of June. From the 5th to the 7th of June, Harrogate became home to the Hearth and Home Exhibition, a huge event dedicated to fires, stoves, and the like with hundreds of exhibitors.  The Hearth and Home event has been running for over 15 years and attracts buyers and sellers from all over the world. It is a showcase for a variety of gas, electric, and solid fuel appliances and innovations in the fireplace industry.

You might be looking for accessories to adorn the fireplace like coal buckets, companion sets and fire guards. For accessories such as these, you will find companies like Black Country Metal Works who were present at the exhibition. Beautiful surrounds come in all shapes and sizes in Marble, Wood, Tile and Stone. Therefore, there is sure to be a surround to suit your tastes and décor, even if you didn't find time to look for one at the exhibition.

If you are looking for something superbly special in a modern handmade stove, take a look at the products from Firebelly Stoves. They are incredible and will be a real talking point in the home.

So if you need inspiration and need to inject warmth into the home, maybe you want to try a different system and convert from electric to solid fuel, it is unfortunate if you have missed the Hearth and Home exhibition in Harrogate, but it is sure to return for it's 16th consecutive year. And besides, the exhibitors who regularly attend it can easily be found, just not all in one place.

To keep yourself updated about the next exhibition and see a list of exhibitors visit www.hearthandhome.co.uk

Friday the 24th to Sunday the 26th of June, see the annual Salvo Fair. This year, Knebworth House is the host to this fantastic fair. Friday is trade day, then Saturday and Sunday are open to the public.

The salvage trade has increased dramatically over the past few years, with people investing more effort in their existing homes rather than moving up the property ladder. Home owners have been giving their homes face-lifts, and have been savvy spending on antique and salvage goods, rather than brand new items. Your sure to find some individual home wares whilst giving environment a helping hand by recycling products.

You will find some real weird and wonderful items at salvage fairs, and with a little bit of creative flair, you’ll be able to change them into wonderful pieces for the home. Some of the most interesting purchases have been nickel taps, railway sleepers, a stunning marble bath, stained glass windows, life rings and oak barrels.

You’ll find a wide variety of exhibitors at the fair from salvage companies, selling everything for the garden and home, including reclaimed building materials, architectural salvage, garden antiques, decorative antiques, bygones, crafts people and green building.It can be a real weekend away for the whole family, another bonus is if you want a break from the hustle and bustle of the fair, you can visit Knebworth House itself.

You can pretty much use old items to recreate new, for instance old watering cans can be planted with bedding flowers, railway sleepers can create raised beds in the garden or become a mantel pieces over an open fire.
Even old ld meat hooks can, having been made safe for home utilisation, be reused in the kitchen to hang pots, pans and kitchen utensils on, and old glass and tiles can be broken up to create mosaic features in the garden or in the home.

If you’re looking for some individual items with authentic character or just fancy spending a day browsing beautiful and interesting vintage pieces, visit the Salvo Fair on the 24th-26th at June, you can purchase your tickets here and get 10% discount when booking in advance for the Saturday and Sunday.

After a delightful weekend spent at my brother’s house in Northumberland, I set about thinking what we could do as a bit of a surprise for when he gets back from his duties in the forces.

My brother owns a very beautiful Edwardian terrace in a small seaside village, and is very intent on furnishing the house as it would have been in the Edwardian period. He has some lovely antique furniture and quite a modern kitchen which the previous owners have installed. Can you successfully mix old and new? I think sometimes you have to, although my brother does not have a television, he doesn’t believe that it’s worth having one, he has plenty of books and ahem a laptop.

What I do love about the house is it feels really homely, it doesn’t feel like something trapped in time, it’s very tasteful and as a bit of a surprise, together with my brothers partner, we’re planning on giving some of the rooms a face lift.

Project number 1 is the main bedroom. Currently covered in strange anaglypta wallpaper with the most hideous curtains.  Luckily it’s very on trend to find a vast array of wallpapers which copy old Victorian designs, and we have found such a paper which is beautiful and very elegant.  Because the bedroom window faces north the sun streams into the room all day long which is nice, but if you’re trying to sleep in summer its annoying getting the sun in your eyes at 5am. So I suggest blackout roller blinds, in a design of fabric that works with the house or maybe even some wooden blinds, this way you’re blocking the light out. The Controliss blinds are fab because you can lie in bed and open the blinds by remote control, plus there are no hanging parts, so the cat won’t end up playing with dangling cords.

Project 2 is the conversion of the small rear garden, imagine if you will the opening scene from Coronation Street, small back yards with the original coal shed and privy.

This will soon be magically transformed into a Greek Terrace, in white and blue, with lots of pot plants, furniture. There is a lot of paining to do, and a lot of moving stuff, I’m just hoping my brother will appreciate this, and not get too angry! We’ll try and be as Edwardian as possible, but I’m hoping it will be a nice surprise and he’ll appreciate the work we put in.

Here’s to the Edwardian House in all its glory. Stick with the Controliss Blinds Blog to see how we’re doing with the house projects.

If you’ve been reading previous blogs, you may know that over the weekend I stayed in Nottingham to look after a friend’s house and dog and to visit the guys at Controliss Blinds.

One morning as I got up to go and freshen up I heard some clatter downstairs. It was the cleaner! The cleaner! Which is brilliant, and I realise that people do have busy lives and children and so on, so having a cleaner come for an hour or two to spruce up the house is wonderful, and to be honest she was fantastic, I couldn’t make a work surface sparkle like she did, and how did she do it? with minimum fuss and effort. Which got me thinking about how many products there are out there that do everything from  descale your kettle to clean the inside of the oven and remove stains on the carpet. But also these are highly formed chemicals, which although do a great job could be toxic.

Kim and Aggies How Clean Is Your House created a flurry of home owners going back to the good old ways of using cupboard ingredients to clean. This saved them a lot of money on costly cleaning products and the results were just as good if not better.

You’ll probably have some of the essentials for cleaning lying around the home and under the sink, like Lemon, white wine vinegar, baking soda and olive oil.

These products are great for cleaning tiles, wooden floors and the great thing is they’re not harmful.

White wine vinegar breaks down mineral deposits, olive oil will polish your furniture to a high sheen and protect it, and lemon will deodorise and destroy grease. They are all you really need!

So the next time you peer through your beautiful Controliss electric blinds and spot murky windows grab some white wine vinegar and a newspaper and rub the window panes until they sparkle!

The old ways are definitely the best.