Spruce up your home with a touch of the future with these edgy innovations that offer to boost convenience and aesthetics in your daily life.
Anti-Boogeyman Bed
Ask any sleep-deprived parent and they will tell that you that getting their kids into a regular sleep pattern can feel like endless torture. In an attempt to find a remedy for these parents — whose weary heads slump repeatedly into their cups of coffee — the SleepIQ Kids is a comfy bed for kids that boasts new features, like a sleep tracker and a remote control night light, and it alerts parents when their children decide to get up. There’s also a safety-conscious light under the bed that comes on when they get up, a reward system for when they sleep through the night and even a monster detector. This entire package of sleep-helping mechanisms syncs with an iOS app. www.sleepnumber.com
The Singing Lantern
While not exactly the first decorative household item to integrate hidden speakers, the Sony Symphonic Light’s unobtrusive and old-style construct warrants a mention. This evocative illumination invention is essentially a subtle bedside lamp that can also be hung from the ceiling as part of a room’s décor and it offers the extra feature of playing music. Aside from the softly radiating LED light bulb, the quality of the speaker is crisp and clear, focusing on simple, vocal-based music. The Sony Symphonic Light is part of Sony’s upcoming Life Space UX project. www.sony.net
Air2 Floating Speaker
The Air2 (pronounced ‘air-squared’) is a floating speaker the size of an adult’s palm that bobs on the waves while it plays your music of choice. It has two distinct parts: a metallic speaker and a microphone that can be used for conference calls and a micro-USB port that connects to the USB slot on the slightly larger circular floating dock base for charging. Given the magnetic surface of the speaker, it can be attached to almost any metallic surface, such as a fridge, allowing you to carry your own personal device and place it anywhere around the house without hindering your activities. www.axxessce.com
Keeping Up with Your Pets
After being one of the most successful crowd-funded pet products on Kickststarter, Petcube launched Petcube Camera as the first product that allows pet owners to watch, talk and play with their pets from anywhere around the world via their smartphones. If you’re the type who misses your cat when you’re at work, the Petcube Camera comes with two-way audio and a built-in laser pointer that allows you to interact with Whiskers, provided you have a working Wi-Fi at home. The required iOS or Android app is available for free and allows you to set an automated “play schedule” or share access so other people can play with your pet as well. www.petcube.com
Digital Flower Care
In terms of build, the sleek, Bluetooth-enabled Flower Power by Parrot is already a cute ornament next to your plants. What’s more, with this device you don’t have to worry about killing an innocent plant through careless neglect. Simply plug the unobtrusive branch-shaped Flower Power device into a regular-sized pot and it will monitor the soil for fertilizer and moisture levels, as well as the surrounding temperature and exposure to sunlight. With this information, the Flower Power will let you know when to water or add fertilizer to keep your plant nourished and healthy. www.parrot.com
