Efficiency...
Nice use of sarcasm in the article saving us from having to bother in the comments!
While much of the 100% Design show was devoted to furniture, textiles and materials, we love stuff you can plug in – especially if it also lights up. And there was no shortage of entertaining electricals on offer. ni_parasol_648 NI Parasol: For those who absolutely, resolutely refuse to go indoors NI Parasol: Don't you …
It's an LED with some glass around it. Why? Why make something modern look like something old that only looked like that due to technical limitations?
Why not take a modern 4K monitor panel and stick it in a ginormous CRT housing and pop a couple of sand-bags in for an authentic feel? Would that also be cool?
Why? Because it looks good, takes ages to fail, dims, sips power, and it's expensive but still within the reach of most people. Most CFL lights look awful, as did pearl lightbulbs, but this looks good.
A modern 4K panel might be cool if it looked as good as some of the very best stylish CRTs (let's face it, mostly they're big and ugly), and performed as well as CRTs (debateable, depending on which bits of CRT features you liked).
RE: "OOohh! Can the 4K panel duplicate the color and ghosting of the old P1 phosphor screens? Please say it will, please!"
And when you turn it off can it reduce to a dot in the centre of the screen that takes ages to fade away. And when you switch on Doctor Who the screen fills with William Hartnell, Zarbi, and Menoptera. Steam Punk TV!
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To me most of that was just pure hipster wankery. Pre-rusted lights, WTF!? I had to laugh at the crappy lamp thing due to "They couldn't turn it on at 100% Design because the cable was too short to reach the socket".
Would you like to buy our lamp? Can I see what is does? No, we're fucking idiots...
It's mostly so useless I end up coming out the other side and like it.
Although I would genuinely love an automated bath - so many times I go to check my emails while it's running, then come back and find the back is luke-warm because it's overflowed all the hot water down the drain.
Although a bath that simply stops the tap when it's full would solve this, temperature control and the ability to start it running while I'm still on the exercise bike would be sweet.
"In the old days you'd take a project idea from Practical Electronics or one of Mr Penfold's books, and a handful of parts from Maplin and build a buzzer that sounded when the water reached the right level, or was too hot."
Yeah.. Not so much today.
Go into Maplin with a list, and you will come out with their entire stock of parts, so long as you need no more than two of any one item. And the other 70% of your list will be ready to pick up Tuesday.
Except for the most crucial part, that you will go home and order from someone on Ebay, like the rest of us do.
21st century method.. Hook an Arduino up to an ultrasonic proximity sensor, points it at the water, and it texts you when the bath is full.
And still costs less than your list of parts from Maplin.
Hi folks
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Reminds me of the "make-over" craze a few years ago. Perfectly good things given a bad coat of emulsion to make them look trendy. One TV programme did a makeover of someone's lounge - and the owner literally burst into tears when she saw the abysmal result.
A shop has just opened in our High Street selling that sort of stuff. Give it 12 months to go bust. The previous shop like that was selling other closed-down shops' "remaindered stock" at relatively cheap prices - and still went bust.
There used to be a show in the UK where two random couples who'd never met were tasked with designing a 'makeover' for each other's homes. One couple ended up with a living room decorated extensively in fake furs. Turns out they were animal rights activists. The fake smile lasted less than a second before the tears started.
Rarely have I laughed so hard.
There used to be a show in the UK where two random couples who'd never met were tasked with designing a 'makeover' for each other's homes
That would be Changing Rooms, yes? It was remade in the US as Trading Spaces, and lasted for 8 seasons.
Some of the designers and teams1 did nice work, but usually it was somewhere between questionable and outright disaster. And as with pretty much all DIY shows, they showed terrible technique for things like demolition and painting.
1Of course the homeowner-participants did not do all the work; neither did their on-air budgets cover all the materials and supplies. But that's the norm for "reality" TV.
A few weeks ago I put 5 of the LED filament bulbs (in the small "candelabra" style) in a chandelier that hangs over my parents dining room table. They are great. With the old 60W incandescent bulbs, that fixture put out so much heat that it was uncomfortable to have it on in the summer time. The 4W LED filament bulbs look great in that type of fixture, put out plenty of light, and don't make you sweat. The LED filament bulbs do have a pretty low color temperature (they're yellower than "standard" incandescent, I'd guess no higher than 2500 kelvins) so I wouldn't use them for a reading lamp, but they're great if you want an early 1900's look.
That's the secret of good style - combining new things with old in a sympathetic way. Had a 1970s hanging lamp fitting that needed six tungsten "candle" bulbs to edge light six glass tubes. For about 250w there was almost no light - but the effect was nice. Tried CFL but they didn't have the same effect. Finally gave it to the charity shop in the hope of it finding a good home.
But being filament bulbs, they don't last long.
Does anyone actually have any concrete numbers to back that up? I'm not saying I disagree - maybe I just don't remember very well - but I spent most of the first 20 years of my life without there being such a thing as energy saving bulbs, and I really don't remember having to change them all that often.
I reckon I can count on one hand the number of filament bulbs that have actually failed on me - and at 50p a bulb it wasn't exactly a big deal when they did.
But being filament bulbs, they don't last long.
The longest-lasting light bulb in the world* is a filament bulb. This one's in California, but I'm sure I've read of another ancient bulb in Scotland.
* apologies for the Daily Fail link - it was just what came up on Google.
"I reckon I can count on one hand the number of filament bulbs that have actually failed on me "
Standard tungsten bulbs have generally lasted a long time - although a couple took the fuse out when they went. One even destroyed the bathroom pull-switch. The CFL replacements for the 100w bulbs were not as bright - and after two units failed in a short time I went back to tungsten ones.
However tungsten spotlight bulbs were relatively short-lived. The CFL replacements in new wall fittings have been reliable and efficient. The 3x4w LED spotlights in the kitchen have been in for a couple of years now - and are surviving repeated short on/off cycles. The old 80w fluorescent tube strips are only needed when an even spread of light is needed. The tubes needed changing for the first time after 30 years of service - but just before LED replacements looked worthwhile.
Actually filament bulbs take a lot of beating. Great light output, human-friendly colour spectrum (no eco-bulb gloom) and little wasted energy.*
* Yes, conventional wisdom has it that 80% of the energy is wasted, but since most illumination takes place in the heating season (in the UK anyway), unless your main heating doesn't have a thermostat, bulbs' heat is a net input.
"They couldn't turn it on at 100% Design because the cable was too short to reach the socket".
Cable length is a common review complaint on Amazon.
I can't remember what the item was but one reviewer knocked a point off because 'the cable was to short to reach the socket', the next knocked a point off because 'the cable was much to long.'
Handy Hint: If the cable is too short, move your appliance closer to the socket. If the cable is too long, buy a new house with bigger rooms.
No if the cable is too long you can do any of the following:
1) Place the appliance further away if it is useful.
2) Coil up the cable, possible with some form of cable tie to hold it neatly in place.
3) Cut the cable a little too long[*] and put a new plug on it.
Easy really...
* We all know a cable cut to length will be too short.
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In same boat.
I'm starting to aquire small bits here and there (sink, cabinet fittings, etc) that might work for me in the end (SO thinks I've lost my mind and am turning into a pack rat) - I've not finalized anything but I'm definitely making my own cabinets (no particle board going in this) and possibly might tackle the replacement kitchen table. Whilst I like some of the new HE appliances, I'm seriously wondering what level of stupid is taking over the planet when we've got (2/3/4 year) short lifespan software and electronics in an appliance that should last (based on the prices) 20 years. No thanks, I don't want your "didgital thermal management" (sic) in my goddamn fridge, nor do I want an electronic temperature control on my gas stove, just give me a dial.....