Apartment Therapy Unplugged

Final Frame Geek Cred

Just an early holiday gift suggestion for the tech nerd in your life.

The Secret Knock Which Unlocks Your Front Door

A secret knock can get you into a lot of places. This is the first time that we have seen a knock which could actually open a lock automatically. Steve Hoefer came up with this ingenious way of unlocking his front door to anyone who knows the right code.

What Are Your Tech Essentials?

Yesterday while visiting a loft for a house tour for our city sister site, Apartment Therapy Los Angeles, the person whose homes I was photographing and I began discussing the issue of accumulating things...things we need vs. the things we want. The conversation mostly revolved around the topic of knowing when to stop adding more things into your home. But then that got me thinking specifically how the ideas apply to a realm where owning the latest and greatest often means owning more than what you need: home technology....

Can You Use the Power Coming Through a Phone Jack?

If you keep a landline around, you know that you don't need to plug a standard, corded phone into an outlet because the phone jack gives up the few volts your phone needs to work, on the telephone company's dime...

Briz Solar Powered Window Air Conditioner Concept

We just dissembled and stored away our bedroom window air conditioning unit, a bit of a pain in the behind, but necessary as autumn weather starts letting itself be known in our area. Wouldn't it be nicer if your air conditioner wasn't an ugly and loud appliance and instead was integrated into the shape of window blinds? Oh, and it would also be solar powered, so no need for power cords!

Mint's Wireless Speakers Enable A Multi-Room Setup

At Unplggd, we're always trying to go wireless. It's not easy, but more and more systems are appearing on the market to cater to wireless fanatics like us. Let's be honest, unless you're willing to drill holes through your walls, you won't be able to setup multi-room speakers without creating a mess.

The 100" Multi-touch Table from Ideum

With a 86" viewable haptic touch screen with 2304x800 pixel resolution, this superwide multi-touch table was designed for the Space Chase Gallery at the Adventure Science Center in Nashville for visitor use; the setup is powered by dual Intel I7s with 6GB of triple channel DDR RAM, allowing several people to manipulate virtual objects all at the same time. Although meant for museum use, the MT-50 hints strongly at the move toward touch screen integration into table design, undoubtedly will make its way into home furnishing and entertainment setups...

Awesome Anechoic Chamber: McIntosh Laboratories, 1979

Looking at the Sound Egg Chair reminded us of some great retro images we saw from the 1979 construction of the anechoic chamber that McIntosh Laboratories used for testing their audio equipment.

10 Digital Kitchen Scales We Love
Roundup

A little over a year ago, our sister site the Kitchn extolled the virtues of the kitchen scale. I had, like the author of this post thought that kitchen scales were something for calorie counters and that I was quite alright baking using my measuring cups. After reading this post and taking a few pastry classes at culinary school, I began to feel the need for a little digital kitchen scale of my own.

Put a New Spin on Your Workspace Photos

If there's one thing we love more than designing and building beautiful spaces to work and watch in, it's taking pictures of the spaces when they're all said and done. What's the point in making it gorgeous if you're not going to show it off in a tech photo tour?

Audioengine Goes Passive with P4 Speakers

You can say I've been a little spoiled with my Audioengine A2 powered speakers in my home office. But while having peace of mind having to never worry about external amplifiers and wire forests is nice, I'll admit there are times when I wish I could put my other audio equipment to use with it.

Fortunately, Audioengine has heard my cries (and I'm sure many others) and decided to address the enthusiasts' speaker menu by adding yet another line of high-performance bookshelf speakers, the Audioengine P4s, only this time they've removed their built-in amps so you can use your own...

Rowenta Precision Valet Steamer
Unplggd Test Lab

Product: Rowenta Precision Valet Steamer
Price: $180
Rating: Strong Recommend*

I've never felt the need for a steamer until I started buying more and more clothes online and at thrift stores (hello, recession!). While extremely convenient, e-commerce leaves a lot of fabrics creased from tight folds and packaging, and thrift store scores can be easy on the wallet, but may need some TLC when you get home. Taking new duds to the dry cleaners to be steamed can turn thrifty finds into regularly priced items, but how to house a steamer at your pad without making your home look like it belongs in the fashion district?

After doing a little online research on what's available in the steamer category, I found one company who has been pretty consistent in designing home appliances that don't quite look like they belong in an old Wal-Mart catalog -- no, not Dyson. Rowenta...