Around The Home

The Ikea Kreativ digital design tool lets customers scan a room using a smartphone camera, remove existing furniture and try out new products from the Swedish home furnishing giant's catalog in a virtual recreation of their living space.

Like most foods, mushrooms are best when fresh … but it can be difficult to grow them yourself. Shrooly is designed to help, by automatically providing the best conditions for pre-inoculated mushroom-growing pods.

It was back in 2015 that Tesla unveiled its Powerwall battery energy storage system for the home. Well, Toyota has now announced its similar O-Uchi Kyuden System, which can draw power from EVs.

As important as kitchen ventilation is, it’s something that’s often not up to scratch. French designer Maxime Augay has now launched the AirHood, a portable range hood that can sit on a bench and efficiently pull grease and smoke out of the air.

While it may not rate way up there on a list of life's annoyances, measuring a child's height in the traditional wall-marking fashion can be a tad fiddly. That's where the Kiko comes in, as it uses a laser to do the job quickly and easily.

Many city dwellers don't have access to an outdoor garden but would still like to grow their own greens. HydroArtPod is the latest in a long line of indoor gardening devices looking to automate the cultivation of fresh greens in the home.

Two years ago Reekon Tools introduced its M1 Caliber tool, which added digital measurement functionality to existing power saws. The company is now offering that same tech in a stand-alone tape measure, called the T1 Tomahawk.

A floor peppered with Lego pieces is a midnight minefield for barefoot parents, but a YouTuber going by "Unnecessary Inventions" has now designed a 3D-printed Shop Vac attachment that allows you to vacuum up lego and have it auto-sorted by size.

Based on a design that was patented in 1891, the German-made Weltrekord was a 1950's ratchet screwdriver that has since become a collector's item. British tool manufacturer MetMo has reimagined it, using today's materials and production techniques.

When you're working out with dumbbells, stopping to add or remove weights can disrupt the whole flow of things. In order to keep those stops as short as possible, NordicTrack has introduced its voice-controlled iSelect Adjustable Dumbbells.

During the pandemic lockdowns, the humble webcam has helped many of us feel less isolated, but can lack depth. What we need is the kind of freestanding holograms like the one in Star Wars. We're not there yet, but the M by Portl comes pretty close.

Although digital body-temperature thermometers may be easier to read than their analog counterparts, there's always the chance that their battery will go flat. That's where the BCool comes in, as you just give it a few shakes to power it up.

Though LG Display's transparent OLED technology has mostly been presented in concept form, the panels have made it out into the real world. And the company is hoping to seed more potential use cases with a bunch of new prototypes headed for CES 2022.

Many indoor growing systems aimed at supplying users with a steady supply of year-round greens have started life as startup dreams on Kickstarter. But the latest is a freestanding appliance from consumer electronics giant LG called the Tiiun.

A typical do-it-yourselfer may end up buying a reciprocating saw, a circular saw and a small electric chainsaw. The Photonix Multi-Tool is designed to simplify things and save money, with a modular system that combines all three devices.