Home Technology Event Show 66 Transcript
Here's the transcript of Show 66, where we explore the Home Technology Event, play with two underwater media devices and look at the world's smallest wi-fi camera
Listen to, or download, FrequencyCast Show 66 (31 mins) |
Show 66 Focus Transcript:
here's a transcript of Focus, from Show 66, our August Special:
Pete:
Right, what are we doing today?
Carl:
Well, we're going to look at some great products, and one of those products, I needed my smugglers on. But, before we go onto that, let's talk about what we were doing at the Home Technology Event in London at the ExCeL Centre. What was that - 28th to 30th of June, I believe?
Pete:
Now, what sort of stuff did we see while we were there, Carl?
Carl:
Well, the whole exhibition was concentrating on home automation, LED lighting, and home energy monitoring and saving energy, of course. The future is energy saving.
Pete:
True enough. One of the stands we saw was from a company called Savant Systems - do you remember them?
Carl:
Oh yeah - they had a large stand with a layout of like three rooms. There was a living room, wasn't there a kitchen area and a hallway, or something?
Pete:
Something like that, and their big selling point was, they can automate your entire home. We spoke to Jim Carroll, who is the President of Savant Systems, and he told us how you could control an entire house from your sofa.
For the full interview and full transcript, please go here: Savant Systems Interview and Transcript |
Carl:
Thanks Jim, and that's quite a low starting price. If you want to find out more about Savant, there's a link to their website via our website - that is at www.frequencycast.co.uk.
Link to Savant: www.savantav.com
Pete:
Other stuff we bumped into while we were there, we saw a lovely 3D TV. It was the Panasonic TH152UX1.
Carl:
And let me just add, the 152 stands for how many inches it is.
Pete:
A pretty serious telly, so 152 inches of 3D TV, and that was being shown for the first time in the UK - very impressive 3D as well.
Carl:
Yep - I wouldn't fancy cleaning that one though, would you?
Pete:
No, but we think we've found the product that we could use to clean it, should we wish.
Carl:
Well, only if you spill baby oil on it. We spoke to Bill Doherty, from a company called Screen-Kleen Ltd, and he told us all about their rather wonderful product.
For the full interview and full transcript, please go here: Screen-Kleen Interview and Transcript |
For more details, go to www.screen-kleen.com.
Pete:
Now obviously, home automation was a big feature of this show, and we found a company that offer a cheaper entry way into the world of home automation, through these rather clever light switches and mains plugs that can all be controlled from your iPhone.
Carl:
Oh yes - that's right, the one with the infra-red lightbulb - not a light switch, the lightbulb's infra-red!
Pete:
This is a British company, and we spoke to Chief Exec, John Shermer, to find out more about the LightwaveRF range.
For the full interview and full transcript, please go here: LightwaveRF Interview and Transcript |
Carl:
Okay, so look out for that lovely green logo with its wiggly, squiggly line in the middle.
Pete:
Something else LightwaveRF were doing was, they had a little plug-on adaptor that you can add to your radiator, and use their system to control the temperature of your radiator. But we did find one company that just deal with radiator remote controls, which is quite impressive.
Carl:
Oh yeah - that was a great product, headed by Anita and Barry, who we spoke to.
Pete:
So as we all know, gas prices have just gone through the roof, and this is a pretty good way of keeping some of your costs down. Now, back in show 19, we looked at energy meters, but we're talking about how to save on your gas and central heating. We spoke to eTRV to find out more about their rather unique product.
For the full interview and full transcript, please go here: e-TRV Interview and Transcript |
Carl:
Yes, a great product - the eTRV from Chalmore, and we're hoping that sometime soon we'll be able to give you a proper review on that when we try one of the products out.
Pete:
Also, I just want to mention their website that Barry was talking about there - Chris Gare, he's got a wonderful site (www.gare.co.uk), and of course he's an amateur radio person. On his website, Carl, he's got this - look at that picture. (Link to EME aerial) What kind of aerial's that?
Carl:
Good grief! - it looks like a Tie fighter from Star Wars. It's mahoosive!
Pete:
Do you actually know what that aerial's for? Earth-Moon-Earth. That sends a signal to the moon, reflects it back to the earth, and other amateurs can hear him bounced off the moon. How cool is that?
Carl:
Or he could always email someone on the Internet.
Pete:
So you were on holiday last month, if I recall, and you took a rather nice product, the Aquabeat 2.0, which is waterproof. How did you get on with it?
Carl:
Well, at first I found it quite painful on the ears, but I sorted that out by removing the back plastic part. The whole phenomenal idea of actually being underwater and being able to hear music was unbelievable, but this little gizmo has so many other features. Not only does it have FM radio, which was no big surprise, but it had a paedometer.
Pete:
I think you'll find that's actually pronounced "pedometer", Carl - please be careful!
Carl:
I thought that's what I said. Anyway, it's got one of those.
The Speedo Aquabeat 2 Waterproof MP3 Player
Pete:
A nice product, would you say?
Carl:
Yeah, I think a lot of clever design has gone into it, because what was quite bizarre was, when I put the earphones in out of water, it seems quite tinny and bright and toppy, but as soon as I went under the water, and my head was submerged, it seemed to kick in with the base.
Pete:
And you've very kindly written a review, haven't you? - so go to our show notes for today's show and you'll see a full review written by Carl on the Speedo Aquabeat. Now, we have this, on the same subject of waterproof MP3 players, this is a waterproof camcorder. Do you think it's time for a quick inside broadcast?
Carl:
Well, it looks like your kitchen. I thought, when you said we're going somewhere wet, we were going swimming, but clearly not, but technology is?
Pete:
Yes. In my hand, I have a Kodak mini camcorder, which I'm now about to switch on.
Carl:
That's a dainty little noise, isn't it?
Pete:
This thing, it's about the size of a credit card, but about three or four credit cards thick, about £25, and it actually records fairly decent quality video.
Carl:
Yep, and more importantly - underwater.
Pete:
And to put it to the test, this is what it sounds like being thrown into a kitchen sink. Now, what we've done is, we have just recorded a little piece of video, haven't we?
Carl:
We certainly have, using your said camcorder.
Kodak ZM1 - Available for around £25 from Dabs.com and Amazon
Pete:
And for those listeners that have always told us they want to see what we want to look like in the flesh, the video is now available online, on YouTube. Go and have a look, and let's see how many views we can get for you seeing us recorded on our camcorder.
Carl:
Yes - and you wouldn't believe it took us 45 minutes to capture that video, but then, of course, when you're trying to get the best side of Pete, miracles do have to happen.
Pete:
Talking of cameras, if you remember in the last show, someone was asking about wireless webcams, and the fact that they're huge monster beasts. We have found the world's smallest Wi-Fi camera.
The Smart-i Wireless IP camera, from Maplin
Carl:
That is tiny. It's about the size of a drinks lid - you know, the ones like on Soda Stream - do you remember those Soda Stream-sized lids?
Pete:
Given that effectively they've got a Wi-Fi transmitter built in, and they can stream over the internet to iPhone apps, and it is really tiny. The only possible downside is the battery life.
Carl:
Oh yeah - only two hours on that big battery.
Pete:
Two hours, and the camera is in the £75 mark.
Carl:
Great for attaching to your remote-controlled helicopters, cars, and things like that when spying around the house.
Bigtrak Rocket Launcher and Coke Can Carrier, available from I Want One of Those.com
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