Appliances

When a fridge is opened, warm air gets into the main storage area and energy must be used to cool it again. LG tackled this problem with its Door-in-Door French-door refrigerator, which allowed regular-use items to be stored in a door-frame compartment. Now, the company has updated the design.

What if your dryer could send a notification that would buzz your phone or smartwatch to let you know your laundry is done? Well, it may be easier to tap into the brains of your appliances than you might think, with GE's US$20 open-source Green Bean module.

Nest Labs has announced the launch of a developer program designed to drastically expand the diversity of its home automation devices and the number of products they interact with. Names like Mercedes-Benz, Jawbone and Google Now are already on board.

LG has announced that three premium appliances featuring its HomeChat service are being readied for launch in South Korea. With HomeChat, the contents of the new smart fridge can be viewed remotely, washing machine cycles be started from afar and an oven set to pre-heat.

Italian product designer Simone Rebaudengo has created a connected toaster that becomes unhappy when it goes unused, drawing attention to opportunities for e-waste to be reduced.

LG HomeChat will allow users to issue commands and receive status updates from their smart appliances by texting them with simple, conversational language. According to the company, you will literally be able to ask your washer "What're you doing?" and it will respond just as a person would.

Signalling that Apple's Made for iPhone/iPod/iPad (MFi) certification may be set to play a bigger role in ushering in the "Internet of Things," Chinese manufacturer Haier has unveiled the first white good to be certified by the MFi program, a smart air conditioner.

Like other home automation systems, Ninja Sphere can monitor and allow the remote control of connected devices, but offers expanded capabilities with its gesture control interface and the ability to map the location of devices in the home in real time.

Fancy coming home to find a swarm of flying mini robots doing your cleaning? That's the futuristic picture of domestic bliss envisioned by young Colombian designer Adrian Perez Zapata, whose "Mab" has won this year's Electrolux Design Lab competition.

Siemens got the ball rolling at the 2013 IFA consumer electronics show in Berlin today, using the first press conference of the event to unveil a new model that features “vacuumTechnology.” There are no prizes for guessing that this involves using a vacuum to keep food fresher, longer.

Farm 432 is a device for kitchens that breeds and collects fly larva as a renewable protein source for less squeamish diners. As unappetizing as it may sound, the designer hopes that convincing the Western world to add insects to its diet could help increase the planet's overall food supply.

Compact4All is a space-saving kitchen appliance for breakfast lovers.