By 2026, three million South African households will adopt smart home technologies, up from 1.6 million in 2022. This is being driven by time-pressed consumers increasingly turning to technology for greater convenience and efficiency. With a poll amongst VISI readers revealing that the majority would opt to give their kitchens a spring ‘update’, why shouldn’t this start with making the heart of their homes smart?

Dr Andrew Dickson, Executive: Engineering at CBI-electric: low voltage says that with the cost of renovating a kitchen ranging from R10 000 to R250 000+, depending on the size of the kitchen and extent of the remodelling project, a more cost-effective way of making your kitchen work better for you would be to install smart home technologies.

“Not only will this mean a more modern kitchen in the time it takes to change a plug, but also one that actually helps you monitor, manage and control your energy consumption – especially with dishwashers, induction stoves and washing machines being the biggest power consumption culprits, he adds. “Additionally, some estate agents say that it could even increase the value of your home.”

Dr Dickson breaks down how homeowners can go about incorporating smart home technology into their kitchens to get the most benefit:

Waste not

With geysers using the most electricity out of all of a home’s appliances – approximately 1,984 kWh annually on average – one of the best ways to curb consumption would be to install a Smart Controller as this enables you to schedule the geyser to turn on and off at specific times. For instance, you could schedule for it to switch on an hour or two before mealtimes to ensure that there is sufficient hot water for prepping and cleaning up after meals. By keeping the geyser off at all other times, this can reduce consumption by 23%.

Peace of mind

Ever left home and then later worried about whether you switched the stove off? A Smart Isolator could be used to not only check and see whether your oven or stove is on from anywhere in the world via an app on your smartphone and/or tablet, but also turn it off

Lower standby electricity usage

Did you know that leaving multiple appliances on standby could be responsible for up to 10% of your household’s electricity bill? This makes sense seeing that the energy consumed by a coffeemaker on standby, for example, accounts for up to 55% of the total energy used by the appliance. With a Smart Plug, you can switch off appliances when not in use. Even better, you can turn them on remotely when needed, meaning that you can get the coffeemaker to start brewing even before you get out of bed.

Lighten the load

According to a Twitter poll by Gumtree, 61.6% of South Africans’ electric appliances stopped working due to power surges caused by load shedding. However, smart technologies can protect appliances from voltage fluctuations. Users can set a minimum and maximum ‘safe operating voltage range’ via an app. If the voltage is unstable, the smart device will monitor the voltage levels and only allow power to the appliance once it is within the safe operating voltage range. Alternatively, once power is restored, the smart devices can be set to automatically delay the re-energising of white goods like fridges, freezers and dishwashers, providing a basic level of protection against the likes of switching transients typically associated with system restore after loadshedding.

“It’s easy to build your dream kitchen one smart device at a time,” concludes Dickson.

With the locally developed and manufactured Astute Smart Range from CBI-electric: low voltage, everyone can have a smarter kitchen. Go to cbi-lowvoltage.co.za for more information.

The post Making the Heart of the South African Home Smart appeared first on Visi.

The consumer electronics industry is driven by the next big thing, making constant innovation a necessity.

As a technology leader in various categories for multiple decades, Samsung fully understands this and constantly works towards perfecting important aspects with every new product and solution. Focusing on the functionality is an undisputed fact however, the experience and design aspects of a particular product equally play a crucial role in today’s consumer market. 

Innovation and design is in everything we see around us and the products we use in our daily lives. Some of the interesting features of product development are the various design iterations implemented to ensure maximum efficiency for consumers. Balancing that aspect with innovation (something I like thinking of as inspiring excitement and capturing the imagination of the end user) is a process that requires precision and attention to detail. 

Samsung takes pride in applying the same approach and dedication to every solution and product. The evolution of product design and functionality especially has evolved over the years. Refrigerators, for example, have come a long way since the mid-1700s when William Cullen’s first refrigerating machine was developed. Since then enormous innovation has gone into propelling the appliance from a necessity to a beacon of style and innovation elevating a home’s desirability. 

Samsung is an integral part of the evolution of the modern refrigerator with one of our most iconic contributions being the energy saving product that debuted in 1995. Fast forward to today and the company’s latest product in the segment is the Bespoke refrigerator. Ushering in a whole new era of customisable home appliances, the Bespoke range gives one the freedom to personalise their fridge’s colour, material and modules to fit their lifestyle.

Another good example is one piece of technology that has arguably had the most impact on the way we live, the television (TV) set. At one point a TV set was a bulky, looming device that took up far too much room and only displayed black and white moving images, TVs have evolved into sleek, ultra-high resolution devices that seamlessly blend into our living environments. 

In 1998, Samsung began mass production of the world’s first digital TV, which raised the bar for picture quality more than ever before. The industry-leading innovation and development didn’t stop there, in 2013 the brand created waves within the industry by launching the curved TV.  The company has continued to innovate with picture quality that includes eye-popping colour reproduction and Ultra High Definition, 4K and 8K resolution and QLED displays all of which are designed immaculately to bring an attractive feel to any home.

Ultimately, as a company we’ve always challenged what’s possible with technology, and are now also progressing towards putting sustainability at the centre of our innovations. Marrying both (innovation and sustainability with design) through the use of recycled materials in our latest smartphones, wearables and accessories is a current big focus. Our products are thoughtfully designed to minimise the impact on the environment during their entire life cycle — including power-efficient semiconductor chips, sustainable packaging, energy-saving technology and the ability to upcycle old devices.

Working towards a specific goal, by 2025, we aim to incorporate recycled material in all products, eliminate plastics in packaging, achieve zero standby power consumption for smartphone chargers, and divert all waste from landfills at manufacturing facilities across the globe. 

Samsung will continue developing innovative technology that not only looks the part and bridges barriers, but also connects communities and addresses important societal issues such as the current climate crisis. The apparent constant technological innovation, design and, in Samsung’s case, eco-friendly considerations of products and solutions in the consumer electronics space is a clear indication that the evolution is only just beginning and will continue to reach new heights in years ahead. 

For more information, visit samsung.com/za/

The post How Technology, Innovation and Design are Elevating Consumer Electronics to New Heights appeared first on Visi.

Artist and designer Ralph Borland has taken wire art to a whole new level with African Robots. We asked him how and why.

What attracted you to wire art?

I am interested in creating new aesthetic forms, and the wire toys made throughout Africa have always appealed to me.

What inspired you to add electronic components to the models?

I have a background in art and electronics, so I’m interested in both disciplines. In 2013 I had the idea of combining the skills of wire crafters on the streets of South Africa and Zimbabwe with the informal networks for cellphone repairs in the same areas, imagining that you could combine discarded cellphone parts with wire art to make animatronic devices.

Why starlings?

Starlings are clever little urban birds that share the same pavements as informal traders, and move between different zones in the city.

My first attempt, Starling 1.0, was made with the help of Henrik Nieratschker, a master’s student in design at the Royal College of Art in London, and wire artist Dube Chipangura. It runs on a cellphone battery and can make simple head and wing movements.

My second effort, Starling 1.1, was created with the assistance of wire artist Bongani Magwenzi and electronics engineer Daan de Beer, and features a repurposed MP3 player that plays a recording of a starling call. It has a transparent cover made out of a plastic bottle, so it looks kind of space-age!

The latest version, Starling 1.2, has a Scotch yoke, a mechanism that transfers the rotary movement of the motor to drive the wings, and its sound comes from a hacked bird toy. It was made with the assistance of Lewis Kaluzi.

Starling in motion from Ralph Borland on Vimeo.

What next for African Robots?

I would love to start an academy where wire artists could come to share skills and learn how to make more robots – and I recently received a grant from the National Arts Council that allows me to explore this idea!

For more information, visit africanrobots.net.

The post Ralph Borland’s African Robots appeared first on Visi.

Copenhagen-based JoAnne Kowalski is a textile designer known for her experimentation with wearable technology. Don’t miss her Talk100 Session at Open Design Cape Town at the V&A Waterfront’s Watershed on 21 August 2015 at 1pm.

We got to ask her a few questions about the merging of art and electronics.

How did you get involved with textile design?

After completing a bachelor’s degree in design in France, I entered a masters programme in design, through which I had the opportunity to do an exchange trip. I went to The Swedish School of Textiles at the University of Borås. I had spent a lot of time writing about process, perception and transitions and needed to get my hands on something to apply this heavy thinking. Also, textiles were kind of new to me, so I wanted to position myself as a beginner. It is great for questioning, evaluating and learning.

You work a lot with electronics. How do you incorporate these two very different design styles?

There is actually an emerging field of research and development focusing on textiles and electronics. There is this Sci-Fi futuristic aspect in electronics that is applied into textiles, making it a territory that is waiting to be discovered further. So far, I have focused on very simple, soft-circuit prototyping using micro controllers (electronic circuits made of textile materials), as well as knitting and experimenting with conductive materials. It’s rather abstract and technical so far. It takes time to get a feel for both textiles and electronics before anything actually works, not to mention that there is some coding knowledge you need to grasp as well. I have been testing a lot sensors (sound sensors, pressure sensors, light sensors) that give a very expressive dimension to pieces of traditional electronics.

What are some examples of wearable technology?

What we call wearable technology is actually soft-circuit prototyping onto a fabric or garment. A pair of glasses, or even a watch, are actually forms of wearable technology, something we easily forget about.

Some examples are: a cycling jacket equipped with LEDs embedded directly into the jacket, or a garment equipped with a data gathering sensor (temperature sensor, light sensor, GPS). I participated in a workshop where I could install a little circuit on my T-shirt that allowed me to plug my headphones in on one end and my music player on the other. I have also seen people installing batteries inside belts, so you can always charge your phone and have it with you, or even a drum set directly developed onto the body.

How do you see technology influencing design in the future?

My main concern for the future is that technology doesn’t replace, but rather continues to assist people on a human scale. A machine or a tool should be an extension of the body, rather than a replacement. The situation nowadays is very delicate.

Who are some design names that influence you in this particular field?

I am a big fan of designers in the Netherlands who work with electronics and digital mediums. They are quite advanced and are very flexible in their design thinking. They also work closely with other experts in related fields. Check out the work that Oscar Tomico from Eindhoven is blogging about – it’s a gold mine. I have a crush for the project TexTales by StudioToer, a storytelling system based on augmented reality, where you can scan a woven fabric with a tablet or a phone, and see digital versions of the characters of the story appearing.

Very few companies are focusing only on soft-circuits because it is a very young field, but wait for a couple of years and I am sure we will see some new and consistent work.

Technological design is about functionality. How do you bring visual appeal to these projects and do you find this challenging?

There are different ways: if you work with garments, you can work by customising a piece with a soft circuit or you can design the whole garment according to the actual circuit. More and more attractive electronic components and conductive textile materials are coming onto the market. They are actually quite beautiful – a micro controller no longer looks like an ugly brick with pins all over it. Now you can sew it and use embroidery connections instead of wires.

It is definitely challenging in the sense that it is not just about a garment or a piece of fabric, it is also about the circuit itself, so aesthetically, you have to marry textile techniques and electronic constraints to end up with something that does not look bad. Conductive textile materials are surprisingly beautiful: delicate, ultra-thin thread-knitted structures, shiny silver-coated conductive thread, cute little push-buttons, conductive satin ribbons… you can make amazing embroidery work that looks as fine and neat as traditional embroidery. Added to this the fact that you can use all kinds of textile-related things such as fasteners, buttons or zips – all of which are metal and therefore conductive, allowing you to make visually appealing and functional pieces of wearable technology.

To purchase tickets for JoAnne’s TALK100 session, click here.

The post Open Design Q&A: JoAnne Kowalski appeared first on Visi.

Watch this amazing short film about artist and TV repairman Bill Czappa, as he talks about his passion for electronics, sculpture and found objects.

Czappa works from his television repair shop, which also serves as his gallery space. From Van Gogh replicas made from nails to kinetic moving scenes, he uses a variety of found objects to create his “California Assemblage”.

The post Czappa: A Conversation On Art and TV Repair appeared first on Visi.