Home Gadget Guide Q2 '16

SHARE

A round up of the must have home tech for the second quarter of 2016.


▲ Wally
As technology improves, it’s the exciting, futuristic and glamorous tech that gets the headlines. But some of the greatest innovations are, on the surface, perhaps not the most exciting. Enter Wally, named because it uses the walls in your house to test if you have a problem with moisture. And crucially, it does it before the electrics go, or the bath comes through the ceiling. Wally uses sophisticated sensors to monitor rooms and will give you a heads up if there are any unusual readings. It also syncs with the Nest system, for an even smarter home.

▲ LG Rollable OLED
One of the big stars at CES (the annual gathering of the gadget glitterati in Las Vegas) was LG’s Rollable OLED screens. What is that, you ask? Well is basically a high-definition screen that can be bent and rolled, much like a piece of acetate that teachers used to use on overhead projectors. While this product isn’t available yet, LG has big plans for it. The possibilities for game changing and beautiful pieces of home tech are almost limitless.

▲ LG Signature Refrigerator
Fridges are big, and if they’re not hidden behind a beautiful built in cupboard they can draw the eye for all the wrong reasons. But that’s not the case with the LG Signature model. Firstly, it looks like the monolith from 2001: A Space Odyssey, but in a good way. Secondly, it will sense when you’re close and silently open. Thirdly, if you tap on the window, the light will turn on. Which is perfect for those secret night time visits…

▲ Nanoleaf Aurora
A lot of technology these days is designed to blend in to the home, to disappear. Not so for the Nanoleaf Aurora, a set of stunning inter-locking triangles that can be mounted on walls and controlled with an iOS or Android app. You can control the hue, brightness and the shape of the nanoleaves. And naturally, the Aurora Nanoleaf is seriously energy efficient.

▲ Sony PSH-X500 turntable
If you have a large collection of vinyl, you’ll know that it takes up a lot of room, and is a nightmare to move – heavy and fragile, a nightmare combination. But you’ll probably also know that vinyl has a sound like no other format. It’s warm, rich, and filled with nuance and individuality from tiny imperfections. Sony’s new turntable allows you to preserve you records by converting them to a digital format. These devices are nothing new, but the PSH-X500 is different because it converts vinyl to DSD files, which is a high-quality format that was created by Sony specifically for this job. Nice.