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Home > News > 10 Cool Ways To Geek-Up Your Home: Affordable to Redonkulous

10 Cool Ways To Geek-Up Your Home: Affordable to Redonkulous

October 18, 2010 by Brodie Beta

10 items every home should have — some are more affordable than others but a geek can always dream.

Multi-Media Bed

The word that best describes this bed is epic. It’s equipped with a state-of-the art sound system, reading lights, a built-in PC, gaming console (Xbox 360), a high definition projector and a bedding system that adjusts the mattress to desired positions. The entertainment console is connected to a JVC projector system (DLA-RS15) that plays media on a sliding screen located at the foot of the bed. It also uses a built-in HSYSC supervision system so users can manage the bed from a web interface to control lighting, blinds, screen, bedding system movements and entertainment hardware — it also works with your smartphone. Hi-can’s futuristic bed is manufactured to fit each customer’s specific needs and comes in a variety of colours.
Hi-Can

LED Shower & Faucet Lights

Wanna spruce up your bathroom? Why not install some LED lights to give your bathroom that sci-fi feel. This should make the trekkie geeks feel right at home. These nifty little accessories will adjust the colour of water determined by the temperature and once the water has been warmed up to 89° F /32° C the LED light will turn to red. The coolest thing about these accessories is the effect you get in the dark — very spaceship-like.
Think Geek

Vitamin D

Every geek’s home should include a web-cam security system. Whether you’re trying to solve the case of the stolen lunches in the office or just want to monitor the activity at the front door, Vitamin D’s got it covered. To get the security system up and running the Vitamin D software needs to be running on the desktop accompanied by a web-cam.

After that, any motion that occurs will be recorded as a clip (QVGA 320×240) and saved to the daily highlights reel. This nicely saves you from watching endless hours of boring footage where nothing is happening. And, to further increase the security on your base you can turn on email notifications for specific events – sweet! The starter edition of Vitamin D is available for free and works with both Mac & PC. It’s possible to run multiple cams if you’re running the basic or pro editions of the software.
Vitamin D

Savant Home Automation using the iPad

Savant’s home automation technology is based on the Apple platform and enables users to control a variety of options from their iDevices. Home automation is nothing new but it has definitely seen a revival by utilizing devices like the iPad as control surfaces.
Savant’s residential solutions include: climate control, integration with advanced security systems, remote iPhone and iPad support and control systems for lighting and media. It appears to even allow for mood setting pre-sets. With one tap, a user can pre-set the lights to dim, shades to close and media to play — I’d file that pre-set under Quagmire. Without a doubt this system will completely geek out your home.
Savant

The MUTANDOR

This is a building kit for an automated multifunctional terrace. It’s called the MUTANDOR. The kit includes 10 functions to customize the look of the DIY pool-top terrace. The various functions alter the position from closed to open basically giving you a bunch of terraces in one. The multiple options are a combination “open air”,“partly covered” and “full in-house” (closed roof). A pretty cool gadget to Bond-ify the backyard.
eex.eu

Sonos Music System & iPad app

The Sonos wireless music system brings songsters a solution for multi-room rawking coupled with a sleek control-surface app for iDevices. Using both the Sonos iPad app and a Sonos S5 all-in-one wireless music system users can shoot music over to any room that is equipped with a Sonos unit. The system’s basically a speaker that you place in the rooms you want to jam, so that’s an investment of about $500 per room.  Songs can be added to queues, music can be streamed from the web, iTunes, a NAS drive or an Apple Time Capsule. Services like Last.fm, Napster, Pandora, Rhapsody, SIRIUS and Spotify, to name a few, can all be played in any room.
Sonos

FridgePad

The FridgePad is one of the cooler iPad accessories for the home and an extremely useful tool for the kitchen dweller. It’s a hands-free magnet mount that securely holds the iPad in place on the fridge nicely protecting the device from inevitable splashes and spills. There are a lot of reasons why you’d want an iPad in the kitchen; playing jams, watching cooking shows, creating grocery lists, searching for recipes, etc. The magnet can additionally be moved around to display in either landscape or portrait modes.
Woodforddesign

Human Touch AcuTouch 9500

Sure, this massage chair will work-out your aching muscles but what makes this chair really special (geeky) is its companion iDevice app (iPhone, iPad, iPod touch) called htconnect. The app controls the massage chair and gives users the option to alter the intensity, add heat or activate one of the custom auto-massage programs created by famous athletics and chiropractors. Within the quick-relief screen named Espresso Shots, a user can simply touch the part of the body that’s been ailing them for instant vibrating bliss. This is the chair of all chairs.
Human Touch

i-rise desk

The i-rise desk (from i-desk) appears to be straight from out of the Batcave. It’s definitely a guest-impressing piece of furniture. It simply hides away your desktop computer under solid steel, encasing the computer in a cassette that is fully locked into the desk. In short, it looks super cool opening and closing, right?!
i-desk

Microsoft Surface

I felt this round-up wouldn’t have been complete without mentioning Microsoft’s Surface. As you can see in the video, the multi-touch surface responds to hand gestures and objects and makes for a killer game of D&D –Its clearly a must-have in building a futuristic home. The large real estate of the surface makes this table-computer perfect for multi-user collaboration. I’m sure most geek-folk have already seen some footage of it in action but did you know you could buy one for $12,500 (US) ?
Microsoft Surface

You may also want to take a look at the mind blowing Cybertecture Mirror

Filed Under: News Tagged With: home automation, LED Lights, Microsoft, Sonos Music System

About Brodie Beta

Brodie Beta aka @iPhonegirl is a tech blogger, social media strategist and the Co-founder of Drink Social Media. She has written columns for well-known technology sites including The Next Web and a national newspaper in Canada, The Globe and Mail.
Brodie is also the social media strategist at CountMeIn, a social-gifting platform for collaborating on gadgets and products on Facebook.

Comments

  1. Donna says

    October 28, 2010 at 9:19 am

    Nice videos and very interesting and cool features about Home Automation i guess we really need it now a days.

  2. Murray says

    October 20, 2010 at 9:15 pm

    I was asking a contractor yesterday if he had ever seen a rain shower with a built-in light. He thought I was nuts (mixing electricity with water). Not 24 hours later, here it is, on your blog, in vivid colour. Great post Brodie.

    Thanks,
    Mur

  3. Donna says

    October 19, 2010 at 8:32 am

    That was all very amazing in the featured in Home Automation and very cool in their greek homes.

  4. Brodie Beta says

    October 18, 2010 at 5:28 pm

    Thanks Carl, I think I’ll start with the LEDs too =)

  5. Carl says

    October 18, 2010 at 1:25 pm

    Great post! I want the HiCan bed but will have to settle for the LED faucet light. 🙂

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