appliances

Summer means cookouts, and for some cookouts mean charred food. Those without a knack for cooking will likely find smart grills to be a godsend — they’re equipped with various bits of technology that monitor the food as it cooks and shuttles the data off to a paired smartphone. The newest example of this is Bright Grill, an electric grill that can be used on a traditional pedestal or on a countertop, and that uses things like integrated WiFi and thermostats to make the cooking process a little more modern.

Continue Reading

There seems no end to the Star Wars elements you can find for decking out your home, and many of them -- oddly enough -- seem to be specifically for the kitchen. This R2-D2 teapot is one example, allowing you to boil water on the stove with a bit of other-world flair. The rounded dome is designed to look just like R2, including his iconic blue painting, dark lens, and red light. The lid flips up for adding water, but when it is down the visage is uncanny.

Continue Reading

We have seen a lot of Star Wars gear over the years, including that X-Wing kitchen knife set and a snazzy Death Star rug for your living room. There's now another Star Wars item to fancy up your home, and it comes in the form of a mini fridge -- the Han Solo Carbonite Fridge, to be exact. This is a metallic-looking miniature refrigerator featuring an encased -- and glowing -- Han Solo, with a litany of tasty beverages tucked safely away inside.

Continue Reading

Neato, the makers of the Botvac robot vacuum cleaners, have just announced two new models of the their laser-guided floor cleaners, focusing on hardwood environments, as well as homes with pets. The Botvac D75 and Botvac D85 have been updated with a slick new black and white design scheme, fitting in well in modern homes and offices. Like many robot vacuums, Neato's D Series offers the basics of automated cleaning and scanning the environment for obstacles, as well as several improvements over past models.

Continue Reading

Life is busy business and coffee is the fuel upon which it runs (for many of us, anyway). Coffee shops have their place, but discerning coffee drinkers know making their own cuppa is the best way to make sure it tastes just right...and that there's enough for a second or third cup when needed. Coffee makers are nothing new, but the three we've detailed are -- and they're smart, too, able to accommodate your tech-filled life. Fancy a cup? Read on.

Continue Reading

There’s a new decorative lamp called the Pretty Smart Lamp, and while it doesn’t do super bright illuminating, it is both pretty and smart. There are several designs available with it, but more importantly there are several features that your average lamp won’t do. One of those features is finding your phone when you lose it; another is letting you know of (and dismiss) notifications. There’s temperature monitoring, brightness monitoring, support for home automation systems, and more.

Continue Reading

Appkettle is a smart kettle that allows users to set the temperature, monitor the process, and more when warming up water for their morning coffee or afternoon soup. It works, as you'd expect, in conjunction with a mobile app lending hands-off control of the kettle, which can be left on its own in the kitchen (after the water is added, of course). The design itself is modern with a shiny outer shell, but conservative enough to blend in with most kitchens with its round shape and matte black base. According to its maker, this is the first kettle that offers volume and temperature control in real-time on a mobile device.

Continue Reading

Dyson recently introduced a new home purifying unit that will be arriving in the United States in the near future, and it is bid as a way to make your home's air clean and as breathable as possible. Coupled with the filtering technology is a swanky design that blends in well with modern decor, not readily giving away that it is an air-cleaning appliance. Dyson has just recently released the air purifier -- called the Dyson Pure Cool -- in China, and it'll be doing so elsewhere on April 7, though pricing for all the regions hasn't yet been revealed.

Continue Reading

Jenn-Air has unveiled its new upcoming dual convection wall oven, a smart offering bid as the maker's first appliance with wireless connectivity and a related mobile app. According to Jenn-Air, its new oven brings with it some technology that's an industry first, giving consumers a never-before-available option when it comes to their stove. The smart oven won't be arriving until this upcoming September and there's no word on the pricing yet, but we do have a run down of all the features for you after the jump!

Continue Reading

Electrolux is planning to release a smart oven that'll bring the same sort of connectivity features we've seen on other appliances to your oven. Chief among them is a camera that'll make the food-monitoring process a remote job, and it'll be joined by a recipe app that is used to pull up instructions on how to cook whatever meal it is that you have planned. The plan itself isn't new -- we first heard about Electrolux's concept smart oven in the early fall of 2014. That concept is now set to become a reality, however, and it represents what looks to be a big push for more smart appliances on Electrolux's part.

Continue Reading

Universal remote controls are a dime a plenty and even smartphones have apps that try to perform those tasks. And yet here comes Ray, a "Super Remote" with a new look and a new promise. But why would you want to spend money on yet another remote to add to your growing (and eventually disappearing) collection? Well for one, it's quite pretty. But more than shininess, Ray actually has a user interface that makes sense in today's age of digital content and smart TVs.

Continue Reading

We're used to hearing about lawsuits between firms, some of them bordering on ridiculous, but there are those that really take the cake. Korean rivals Samsung and LG are due to face in court, not over smartphones or TVs but over washing machines. Samsung alleges that LG secretly and willfully damaged its washing machines before IFA last year and is suing for damages and defamation. The LG exec named in the suit, naturally, denies the accusation and even released a video to the public as proof.

Continue Reading