What at first glance looks like a very smart cordless telephone is actually hiding a few neat tricks up its sleeve, as the Siedle Scope can also control a lot of your home technology.

While it connects to your landline and works just like a regular phone, including caller identification, its other main strength is security. The full-colour screen on the handset can be used to access and control remote security cameras located about your property. So if you hear the doorbell you can look to see who it is and even open the door for them, all via the handset. It will even let you control your electric blinds, lights and garage door.

The Scope is from German design firm Siedle, specialists in home technology with products ranging from intercoms to thumb-print scanners. Prices for the Siedle Scope start at £600.

Find out more here: http://www.siedle.com

The Thomas Heatherwick Studio, famous for the stunning Olympic flame that was the centrepiece of London’s Olympic opening ceremony, has designed a £60m ‘Garden Bridge’ to cross the River Thames. It has come as a response to a tender from Transport for London (TfL) aimed at creating a pedestrian crossing to the river.

What makes it unique is that the bridge will be covered in trees, grasses and wild flowers to create an oasis of peace and tranquillity in the heart of the city. You’ll be able to take a direct route across, although meandering paths and places to stop will encourage you to take things at a leisurely pace. So then London Bridge in the rush hour won’t be the slowest way to cross the Thames.

The project is still pending key funding and planning applications, but it’s hoped that work will commence in 2014 for completion in 2016.

The war to own your living room is beginning to heat up again as Sony and Microsoft gear up for the launch of their new games’ consoles at the end of the year. At E3, the annual entertainment and electronics show in LA this week, both revealed more details about the forthcoming consoles, including the prices.

Sony’s PS4 also made its first proper appearance, and it’s not a million miles from the styling of Microsoft’s Xbox One, as both have favoured black boxes with minimal detailing. Things don’t change much on the inside either as both have similar hardware specs, including 500GB hard drives and Blu ray drives. Both also offer a wide selection of internet and streaming options so that you can access a range of media on your TV.

While the PS4 is rumoured to have better graphical clout the Xbox One looks like having a better line up of exclusive games at launch. Microsoft are also bundling its motion controller, Kinect, with every machine, making it a more rounded package. Its latest version promises greater sensitivity and accuracy as well as the ability to determine your heart rate. On top of that the Xbox One will respond to voice activation and instructions. But this all comes at a price, namely £429 (€499), while the PS4 is much cheaper at £349 (€399).

The price isn’t the only chink in Microsoft’s armour either. It is required to be always on in order to authenticate the games being played. Some people have raised security concerns with the Xbox needing to always be online since it has an active webcam permanently mounted in the Kinect module.

Existing Xbox 360 games and second-hand games aren’t playable on the Xbox One either. Something that will make it popular with games publishers, but not so much with games fans. Sony has taken the opposite stance by allowing the PS4 to always be played offline and for second-hand or borrowed discs to be playable. It could just be enough to give Sony the upper hand as both hit the market. But with so many variables at play time will tell who the real winners are.

Find out more:

http://www.xbox.com/en-GB/xboxone/meet-xbox-one

http://uk.playstation.com/ps4/

When choosing which electric blinds to have in your home there are a few things that you’ll need too consider. For starters, what do they look like open, closed and all the points in between? How do they move and catch the light when they are being opened and closed? Whatever style you  choose will determine what material, colour and pattern you go for as well.

Here is a selection of the types of electric blinds we make to help you decide what kind you would like to see in your home:

Roller blinds

Like the other blinds these are compact and ideal for varying lighting levels in a room. But roller fabrics also have a major advantage over other types in that they are made from one piece of material, so they can display patterned designs. Think of an electric roller blind as a large fabric canvas being unfurled against one wall of your home and you’ll begin to see the possibilities. They’re a great way of framing complex, regular patterns like flock as well as large asymmetrical designs like floral prints, which can be reflected in the other furnishings that you have.

Venetian blinds

The simple and practical nature of venetian blinds is that they are compact and unobtrusive. They allow a lot of control over the amount of light they let in while also enabling a degree of privacy. They are also best suited to minimalist interiors where the straight edges and plain colours won’t conflict. However, with a greater range of colours than ever you don’t have to settle for cold, characterless whites and creams when you can have something bold and striking.

Vertical blinds

A popular choice for formal interiors like offices or larger areas, thanks to their practical, unobtrusive design, vertical louvres are ideal for using bold colours and textured fabrics. Closing or even half closing the fabric louvres can change the whole look of a room, and not just because of the lighting change. In a big enough window a vertical blind can become the dominant colour feature and some textured fabrics, like those with reflective or metallic elements, will shift in tone as the light hits it at different angles.

Roman blinds

Because they are made from one expanse of soft fabric electric roman blinds are like roller blinds in that irregular patterns will work well, and like vertical louvres textured fabrics will look really effective. When raised the blind is gathered towards the top, creating an irregular, folded bunch that will obscure any formal, regular pattern. But roman blinds are a lot softer looking, which makes them an ideal antidote to the minimal, straight lines of verticals and venetians that can appear harsh.

London’s Design Museum announced this week that it will stage an exhibition dedicated to British fashion designer Paul Smith. It will explore his inspirations, and collaborations, giving a rare insight into the wit and wisdom that he brings to his clothing and accessory ranges. His eccentric and playful designs have established the Paul Smith name as a one of the biggest fashion brands in the world. The exhibition will look at Sir Paul’s past, present and future, starting with a recreation of his first shop in Nottingham, a windowless 3m by 3m room located in a narrow  alley in Nottingham's city centre.

Hello, My Name is Paul Smith, opens on 15 November, and you can find out more here:

http://designmuseum.org/exhibitions/2013/paul-smith

It uses an algorithm that can track small changes in the wifi signal and is currently programmed to recognise nine different gestures with 94% accuracy. The team hope to increase its vocabulary and accuracy so that it can be used in a number of household applications. It can already be used to switch on lights and change TV channels.

The system is still in development and isn’t currently as accurate as other gesture controlled tech, such as Microsoft’s Kinect, but it’s still early days and is a clear indicator of where home automation is heading.

A company from California is about to change the way you look at your windows – or should that be look through your windows? The firm, called SONTE, has developed a Smart Film that can be stuck on to your existing windows and can be controlled by a smartphone app via a wifi connection, allowing you to change the opacity of the glass. So you can go from crystal clear to frosted glass in the blink of an eye.

The 0.4mm thick film is made up of lots of particles that are suspended in a liquid between two thin layers of plastic. Left alone they make the film appear opaque. But when a live current is passed through the film it becomes completely transparent. So you can reveal a beautiful view or guard your privacy in less than a second simply by using a free smartphone app. It will even let you adjust the settings to choose what amount of light the film lets through.

The film can absorb up to 85% of UV rays, helps retain heat and only uses around 5 watts of power, so SONTE’s Digital Shade, as they are calling it, has excellent eco-credentials.

The film that comes in one metre squared pieces is simple to install and has multiple uses around the home, from your living room to your bathroom. It’s also very affordable meaning it has the potential to revolutionise home and interior design. In homes that have a lot of glass it could prove an ideal replacement for or accompaniment to more traditional blinds.

Find out more here: http://sonte.com/

If you’re planning your holidays this summer and want a helpful guide with a difference chances are Herb Lester has just the thing. In an ever-expanding library of maps Herb takes a quirky look at some of the world’s biggest and best cities and renders them in a beautiful retro style.

Much of his work would look just as nice in a frame as it is useful in navigating destinations like Paris, Madrid, London and New York. Plus they promise to make you look at even the most familiar places in a different light with each map taking a different subject to focus on.

Writing Manhattan takes you on a tour of New York’s literary landmarks associated with certain authors or that actually appear in their books. The Look of London will guide you to some of the most influential fashion hotspots in the capital while At Your Service: London’s Specialist Suppliers may well prove invaluable in tracking down the unique and obscure for your wardrobe or home.

To find out more visit Herb’s shop at: http://www.herblester.com/

You would be excused for thinking that Virtual Reality had been left for dead in the ‘90s with the current focus on gesture control and 3D media. But all this time some companies have been busy refining the technology to make it less cumbersome and within reach of most mortals’ wallets.

Enter Oculus Rift, a ‘high-field-of-view head-mounted-display’ which was presented as a prototype at last year’s E3 exhibition in the US. It left many people impressed. Shortly afterwards a Kickstarter campaign was launched to cover development costs that quickly exceeded the required amount, hitting $1million in 36 hours.

Development kits have now been created and shipped out for companies looking to develop games and media that will make the most of the Oculus Rift hardware.

Although the headset still looks very bulky it promises to deliver a consumer-friendly, fully immersive 3D VR experience that will drop you right into the action of your favourite games.

Find out more here: http://www.oculusvr.com/

Where: Design Museum, 28 Shad Thames London SE1 2YD

When: 4th June to 22nd July 2013

As part of the London Festival of Architecture the Design Museum is running a free exhibition that celebrates London’s under appreciated buildings. Leading architecture critics have nominated 10 buildings that are often overlooked, forgotten or rarely seen and give them a chance to be in the spotlight.

Selected architectural gems include the ubiquitous green Cabmen’s shelters, which are found in some of the Capital’s leafy squares providing sustenance to salt-of-the-earth cabbies, and the Brownfield Estate, dominated by Erno Goldfinger’s brutal looking Balfron Tower.

To see what other left-field architectural treasures have been unearthed click here: http://designmuseum.org/news

The London Festival of Architecture runs until the end of June, find out more here: http://www.londonfestivalofarchitecture.org/