Wired. It's More than the Name of a Magazine
Recently I posted a couple of articles on my blog that discussed the new products that were being introduced at February's International Homebuilder's Tradeshow in Orlando, and how they will ultimately change the way new homes are built in the future. (See: http://www.stlagent.com for these articles).Some of the products are novelty items (like a magnetic chalkboard door), some are trendy (like a built-in coffee machine), but some will truly change the landscape of new home construction for years to come by addressing issues like environmental changes (such as the plethora of recycled products designed to reduce builder's consumption of wood).But to really understand many of these new products and why their development is important, you have to look at the underlying changes in our society and culture that drives their inventions. Steel, for example, was invented to build skyscrapers which could house the hordes of people cramming into America's cities during the industrial revolution of the 19th century. Cookie-cutter subdivisions and timesaving construction materials like drywall came into play during the post-war housing boom of the 1950's which demanded homes be built cheap and quick. And what of the past few years? I wrote earlier about the many recycled products that are coming to market, but another cultural change that is shaping the design and construction of homes from luxury to low end is our cultural desire to be WIRED.Today's new homes feature a dizzying array of cabling, wiring, and jacks.
As recently as 30 years ago, the average new construction home would have only been wired for one or two rotary-dial telephones, a mast antenna for picking up the local TV channels, and perhaps an intercom system in the occasional luxury home. Today cable TV and telephone jacks are a virtual requirement in every room of the house and many homes are coming standard with high-speed Ethernet connectivity for the Internet. Add to that wiring for built-in stereo speakers, intercom systems, and video security cameras that even a modest homeowner can afford to buy, and the typical new construction home can have as much wiring as NASA's Mission Control!"Our customer's demands for technology has changed the way we build homes," says Jack Cavanagh, owner of St. Louis based Highland Homes. "If you had told me 10 years ago I was going to be including a TV and a computer router with every home I made, I would have told you that you were nuts.
Yet that's exactly what we are doing today. A 42-inch Plasma TV comes standard hanging on the wall of our living rooms connected to a datacenter in the basement that supports everything out there-- from multiple phone lines to high speed internet, satellite and cable TV, security cameras and alarms, wireless networking, and built-in stereo speakers.""A few years ago," Cavanagh adds, "you didn't sweat running a couple of phone lines-- it was an afterthought. Today, it's an important part of the design and construction phase just like running plumbing or electricity. We also have to stay up on what's new out there because you can find yourself setting on a house that people don't want because it's missing wireless or some other new thing."Fourteen million households now have high-definition televisions. Products like TiVo, which records TV shows on a hard drive, and PC's with high speed network capabilities to download and play audio and video files will replace the VCR and DVD players of today-- blurring the lines between technologies and putting an even greater demand on our home network.
The only thing that appears to limit the needs for greater wiring solutions in future new home construction is the rampant advancement of wireless networking.Nation's Building News Online (http://www.nbnnews.com), reports in an article titled, "Structured Wiring Among Technological Advances Transforming the American Home," that home connectivity is, "one of the fastest growing trends in home technology."So, what does the wired home of tomorrow have in store for you? For every gimmicky refrigerator with a built-in TV, there are real innovations that will change the homeownership experience. Computer controlled water heaters and furnaces that send out e-mail alerts over your home network when there is a malfunction or filter that needs changed may sound trivial until you are setting in a freezing home on a cold January with a broken furnace.Once the network is in place, connecting the "odd-ball" appliances like the furnace and water heater becomes a minor expense. Computer automation of heating, cooling, and lighting-controls can produce dramatic energy savings by using the home PC we already own- which makes putting a solution in place easy and affordable..
Darin "Sid" Cameron currently works for the STLagent Team of Real Estate Consultants in St Louis, MO. His website is http://www.stlagent.com, where he co-publishes the St Louis Real Estate Blog.He also moderates the St Louis Community Forum Message Board at: http://www.stlagent.com/forum.© STLagent.com 2005
Ascender Corporation Announces Font Sublicensing Program
Elk Grove Village, IL (ContentDesk) June 27, 2006 -- Ascender Corporation, specialists in fonts optimized for on-screen legibility and multilingual support, announced today that it is making its font software available to developers to re-distribute with their products targeted at mobile device and digital television OEMs. Developers that are currently providing products to mobile phone and digital television OEMs now have the opportunity to offer a more complete solution to their customers and earn additional revenue. The program is designed to enable companies that provide middleware, user interfaces, browsers and silicon chips to also offer high quality font solutions to their OEM customers in these markets. The Ascender font library is comprised of fonts licensed from Microsoft, Bigelow & Holmes as well as its own original designs. Among the many font solutions provided by Ascender in this program are fonts that have been specifically designed for user interfaces in mobile devices,...
Ascender Corporation Announces Font Sublicensing Program
Televisions > Ascender Corporation Announces Font Sublicensing Program
Smartpaper Networks Licenses Touchsmart Publishing to Distribute Next-Generation Textbooks Using a Unique "Touch User Interface"
Los Gatos, CA & Cincinnati, OH (ContentDesk) July 9, 2004 -- Smartpaper Networks has developed a breakthrough digital media delivery platform that finally unites print and digital media. Smartpaper is the only technology that transforms ordinary paper into a wireless control device, bringing printed pages to life by activating the power of video, audio, and the Internet with the touch of a finger. Smartpaper technology enables a multimedia learning process across multiple media delivery devices by linking text and graphics with audio and video, via personal computers, televisions with DVDs, game consoles, and other access points to the Internet.
Smartpaper technology facilitates the delivery of educational content in multiple modes, effective for students with diverse learning styles and special needs not addressed by traditional learning methodologies and materials.Touchsmart Publishing intends to create and distribute exciting and easy-to-use interactive textbooks that connect...
Televisions > Smartpaper Networks Licenses Touchsmart Publishing to Distribute Next-Generation Textbooks Using a Unique "Touch User Interface"
A New DVD Format War
Just when you thought it was safe to buy a nice new all-singing all dancing DVD player/recorder, along comes a new format war to add to an already confusing marketplace.Once the original DVD standard settled down, DVD players quickly became one of the most successful consumer items of all time. The new format revitalised the home entertainment market, and hardware manufacturers benefited both directly and indirectly, as enthusiasts clamoured to buy bigger and better televisions and sound equipment to get the best from their new DVD players.Then came recordable DVD, but the problem, as is so often the case, was that there were a number of different recording standards, all of them incompatible. It was just like Betamax versus VHS all over again. Now low-cost multi-format recorders supporting all the standards are hitting the streets, the recording problem is becoming less of an issue, and so one could be forgiven for thinking that's the end of the format wars.But technology has a habit...
A New DVD Format War
Televisions > A New DVD Format War
A New DVD Format War
Just when you thought it was safe to buy a nice new all-singing all dancing DVD player/recorder, along comes a new format war to add to an already confusing marketplace.Once the original DVD standard settled down, DVD players quickly became one of the most successful consumer items of all time. The new format revitalised the home entertainment market, and hardware manufacturers benefited both directly and indirectly, as enthusiasts clamoured to buy bigger and better televisions and sound equipment to get the best from their new DVD players.Then came recordable DVD, but the problem, as is so often the case, was that there were a number of different recording standards, all of them incompatible. It was just like Betamax versus VHS all over again. Now low-cost multi-format recorders supporting all the standards are hitting the streets, the recording problem is becoming less of an issue, and so one could be forgiven for thinking that's the end of the format wars.But technology has a habit...
A New DVD Format War
Televisions > A New DVD Format War
When the power goes out, Sirius is there!
Brought to you by http://www.siriusnews.comSeveral million Americans recently lost power when Hurricane Charley and Hurricane Frances came ashore in Florida. The refrigerator stopped working, the televisions went off, and air conditioning was no longer able to keep people cool from the summer heat. Unless you like to read books, you realize how few things there are to do without electricity. However, Sirius Satellite Radio helped many find entertainment with their portable boombox. "They work GREAT!! I had no signal dropout, I had the tunes cranked sitting in garage, the neighbors came by just for some entertainment.
One word of advice, fix the antenna well outside and buy a load of batteries" said one Sirius subscriber from Florida about how he dealt with the Hurricane Frances. Sirius is not just for your car, they offer several portable devices so you can virtually take Sirius anywhere you go. Better known as "Plug and...
When the power goes out, Sirius is there!
Televisions > When the power goes out, Sirius is there!
Hotels in Central London: History and Luxury
Copyright 2006 S Wander
Central London is where everything is: the history, the culture, the center of the UK's government, and the night life. For about a three-mile stretch between the Tower of London and Hyde Park, you'll find most of the London you're looking for: Piccadilly Circus, Big Ben, St. Paul's, London Bridge, Westminster, Trafalgar Square. It only makes sense, therefore, to find a great hotel to stay in that area. You can do this for a reasonably-inexpensive rate, or you can splurge and be treated like the Queen.
The most important thing, though, is to reserve your spot as early as you can; rooms, especially the inexpensive rooms, go quickly. If you're arriving by midday, many places will hold your spot without a deposit. Others can be expensive if you're forced to cancel.
Bed and Breakfasts
In the streets behind Victoria Station, you'll find colonies of budget Bed and Breakfasts. It's a nice area, not at all touristy, and you...
Televisions > Hotels in Central London: History and Luxury
refinance Televisions Wired. It's More than the Name of a Magazine
Karel Furniture and Accessory Market Bets on Success in Atlantic City
(ContentDesk) September 28, 2005 -- Following a hiatus of 13 years, Karel Exposition Management (KEM) is returning to the burgeoning seaside locale of Atlantic City to produce the Atlantic City Furniture and Accessory Market. From Sunday, May 7 through Tuesday, May 9, 2006, retail buyers of furniture, lighting, bedding and accessories are expected to converge upon the Atlantic City Convention Center for KEM's highly successful Furniture and Accessory Market.The addition of Atlantic City to the...
furniture Karel Furniture and Accessory Market Bets on Success in Atlantic City
Televisions > Karel Furniture and Accessory Market Bets on Success in Atlantic City
Vehicle Recycling Partnership and USCAR Initiated Tests by Cooper-Standard Show Cost Reduction Potentials Using More than 25 Percent Recycled Content in Automotive Rubber Parts have been Repeated in Europe
Recent tests in Europe duplicated the previous tests conducted by Cooper-Standard Automotive initiated by the Vehicle Recycling Partnership of USCAR (United States Council for Automotive Research). These independent tests reported at the European Tyre Recycling Conference (ETRA) confirmed the consistent production repeatability of the generic CBp Europe technology to recover and upgrade the carbon black and mineral fillers, including silica, from pyrolysed scrap tires and rubber into a competitive...
atv tires
Televisions > Vehicle Recycling Partnership and USCAR Initiated Tests by Cooper-Standard Show Cost Reduction Potentials Using More than 25 Percent Recycled Content in Automotive Rubber Parts have been Repeated in Europe
Fenwal's Applications Lab Expands Into New Markets: Doubles OEM Customer Appliances Served in 2004
Fenwal Controls, Inc., a leading manufacturer of standard and customized automatic gas ignition and temperature controls for commercial and industrial OEM customers, has expanded the capabilities of its Applications Lab."OEMs in commercial cooking, hydronics, HVAC, pool/spa and RV have fast-track new product development timelines and are using Fenwal to optimize their designs and maximize performance and reliability. In 2004 the number of customer appliances under evaluation in Fenwal's applications...
appliances
Televisions > Fenwal's Applications Lab Expands Into New Markets: Doubles OEM Customer Appliances Served in 2004
Spacify Introduces Contemporary Bedroom Design Ideas and Designer Bathroom Furniture
Redwood City, CA, (ContentDesk) January 24, 2006 -- Spacify, Inc. (http://www.spacify.com), a leading provider of designer contemporary furniture on-line, announced today that it is launching a new line of designer bedroom and bathroom furniture that is in-stock, and can be shipped with short lead times. Along with the modern platform beds and bedroom suites, Spacify is also offering luxury bedding to complement the bedroom offerings.There is...
Spacify Introduces Contemporary Bedroom Design Ideas and Designer Bathroom Furniture
Televisions > Spacify Introduces Contemporary Bedroom Design Ideas and Designer Bathroom Furniture
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