homes

Energy Conservation / Green Building / Sustainable Home / Architecture / Healthy Home / Homes / Infographic

Infographic: Passive Housing | A Smarter Way of Living 

Passive housing is fast becoming one of the most sought-after types of accommodation as homeowners realize the energy-saving (and indeed bill-reducing) and sustainability potential of this fascinating concept. In a passive house, a steady, comfortable temperature is maintained in every room, so you won’t go…

0 Comments

15 August 2018

Connected homes can be much more than technology showcases. When smartly outfitted, they can help improve our quality of life.

Energy Conservation / Connected Home / Amazon Alexa / Smart Door Locks / Healthy Home / Homes / Secure Home

How Smart Homes Can Help Improve Quality of Life

Today’s increasingly popular smart home technologies impress the neighbors and make us marvel at how far innovations have come in the last decade or so. However, these gadgets do more than just provide bragging rights and give fascination. They can also offer a much broader…

0 Comments

25 July 2018

Your Wi-Fi router might be slowing you down. It's among the key things to check if your smart home network is not up to speed.

Connected Home / Homes / How-To

Tips to maximize internet speed in your smart home

Smart homes and connected devices have become a part of modern life for many—our homes can relay information to us at any time, no matter where we are, and many common tasks can easily be automated. These devices require non-stop internet bandwidth to operate, though,…

0 Comments

14 July 2018

A dehumidifier, such as the portable hOmeLabs unit shown here, can go a long way toward making your home a healthier place. Image: hOmeLabs.

Green Building / Connected Home / Product Guide / Healthy Home / Homes

Smarter dehumidifiers for a healthier home

Outside the temperatures are soaring, and its possible the humidity level in your home may be increasing as well. There are many issues that can manifest themselves due to high humidity in the home, so figuring out how to control it protects your valuable investment.…

0 Comments

13 July 2018

AIA Austin Homes Tour | Tim Brown Architecture. Image: Digitized House

Connected Home / Architecture / Design / Homes / Video

Video: A modern take on Victorian architecture

In this thoroughly modern home by Austin firm Tim Brown Architecture, classic Victorian forms and scale blend seamlessly with contemporary elements to orchestrate an eminently livable inside-to-outside experience for the family it was specifically designed around. Featured on the 2017 edition of the American Institute of Architects…

0 Comments

7 November 2017

Design: Barley|Pfeiffer Architecture. Image: Leonid Furmansky.

Green Building / Architecture / Design / Homes / Real Estate

Whirlwind view: AIA Austin Homes Tour 2017

Featuring 13 residential properties in and around metropolitan Austin, Texas, the American Institute of Architects (AIA) Austin Home Tour 2017 highlights leading-edge architectural projects that have been ideated, designed, and built specifically for the unique needs of the homeowners occupying them. In this 31st annual edition…

0 Comments

28 October 2017

Image: Digitized House Media.

Green Building / Water Conservation / Sustainable Home / How-To / Infographic

Infographic: Water Conservation in the Home

For many homeowners, water cost can compromise a large portion of their monthly utility bills. From our colleagues at Ireland-based Nature's Water Ltd., this infographic on water conservation in the home offers an outpouring of information on this all-important natural resource, and offers many suggestions…

0 Comments

27 October 2017

Image courtesy of Leonid Furmansky + Barley|Pfeiffer Architecture.

Energy Conservation / Green Building / Connected Home / Solar Photovoltaics / Water Conservation / Sustainable Home / Architecture / Design / Healthy Home

Austin green gems: 2017 Cool House Tour venue preview

The month of June in the city of Austin, Texas, can be blistering hot, as the sometimes-moderate temperatures of spring yield to an often-oppressive summer climate where the thermometer can climb toward or inch beyond the century mark. And it is no coincidence that the Cool…

0 Comments

10 June 2017

Sustainable Home / Architecture / Design / News

Product Brief: Antolini Shellstone Collection

Handcrafted using naturally-sourced mother of pearl oyster, opale, and abalone shells, the Antolini Shellstone Collection of surface materials reflect a strong affinity with the oceans they originate from. “The Shellstone Collection is the embodiment of extravagance and manages to capture the hidden beauty of oceanic…

0 Comments

30 November 2016

Review / Connected Home / Security Cameras / Secure Home

Nest Cam Outdoor: Home security time machine

Apple macOS aficionados have long enjoyed seamless data backup and recovery, thanks to the built-in Time Machine software. And when it was time to restore a single file or even an entire Macintosh, going back in time by scrolling deeper into a list of backups…

0 Comments

27 November 2016

Green Building / Sustainable Home / Architecture / Design / Healthy Home

Design lives large in this small Alley Flat home

This metal-skinned home measures only 850 square feet, yet lives large for the Austin, Texas, family it was designed for. A joint project by the Austin Community Design and Development Center (ACDDC) and Z Works Design Build, the home is architected and constructed with a…

0 Comments

17 November 2016

Green Building / Sustainable Home / Architecture

10 questions when choosing a green builder

Part 7 in our curated series on the state of green financing and green building. From: Green Energy Money In this seventh post on green financing and green building, we connect again with our Austin, Texas-based colleagues at Green Energy Money (GEM), one of the best…

0 Comments

10 November 2016

Connected Garage / Green Building / Connected Home / Solar Photovoltaics / Sustainable Home / Architecture

Tesla Solar Roof: Are metal roofs passé?

Metal surfaces have earned a well-deserved reputation as the leading roofing choice on today’s sustainable architecture homefront, and for good reasons. The benefits of these roofs are many, including an extremely long service life, near-zero maintenance, increased safety through fire resistance, higher energy efficiency, and…

0 Comments

31 October 2016

Smoke + CO Detectors

Roost begins shipments of Smart Smoke Alarm

Making a definitive play on the smart-home turf of Alphabet’s Nest Labs and their Nest Protect smoke alarm, Silicon Valley company Roost has begun shipments of their first Smart Smoke Alarm products, including the RSA-400 and RSA-200. Designed to work in tandem with the Roost…

0 Comments

30 October 2016

Perfect Wall house: Exterior, view from the street.

Green Building / Sustainable Home / Architecture

Sustainability redefined: The 500-year perfect wall house

Built around the perfect wall design specification originated by Joseph Lstiburek of Building Science Corporation, this home in Texas was featured on the American Institute of Architects (AIA) Austin Home Tour 2016. Architected by Eric Rauser of Rauser Design and built by Matt Risinger of Risinger &…

0 Comments

29 October 2016

Connected Home / Smart Door Locks / Secure Home / Sponsored Content

eBook: Smart-Home Security Report 2016

Prepared by the security consultancy group IFSEC Global through a joint effort with ASSA ABLOY, the “Smart-Home Security Report 2016” eBook is available as a complimentary download in convenient PDF format. Authored by IFSEC Global editor Adam Bannister, the report presents a comprehensive view of smart door…

0 Comments

20 October 2016

Mell Lawrence Architects

Green Building / Architecture / Design

AIA Austin Homes Tour: 12 architects, 24 images

There is a perfectly legitimate reason why the American Institute of Architects (AIA) Austin Home Tour 2016 runs a full two days: It is nearly impossible to fully appreciate the depth and design execution perfection of the dozen residential dwellings on the tour around metropolitan…

0 Comments

17 October 2016

Amazon Alexa / Apple HomeKit / Entertainment

Google Home and WiFi raise smart-home stakes

Smart-home conversations just got louder, as Google has announced details around its voice-activated speaker, Google Home—the tech giant’s response to the popular Amazon Echo. Powered by the new Google Assistant service, voice request conversations begin with “OK, Google,” and will be able to control smart-home accessories,…

0 Comments

10 October 2016

Connected Home / Smart Door Locks / Secure Home / Sponsored Content

Smart locks to play key role in move to connected living

Technology touches so many areas of our domestic lives. Our homes are becoming automated, and increasingly filled to the brim with intelligent appliances and accessories. When we’re away, we monitor them with smart cameras, connected alarm systems, and other sensors. We back up treasured photos,…

0 Comments

5 October 2016

Architecture / Design / News

Product Brief: Bronze Amani by Antolini

Italian stone maker Antolini has launched their Exclusive Collection, a unique offering of natural stone surface materials designed to complement today’s modern residential architecture. Among these stone designs—exclusively available through Antolini—is Bronze Amani, a variation that originates from a quarry in Spain and emphasizes an…

0 Comments

1 October 2016