The “House of the Future” is supposed to be a wildly advanced place where we can control everything by just pushing buttons. Although there are some components of today’s homes that match up with yesterday’s vision of the future, some things are still annoyingly old-fashioned. For all of those things, SmartThings will turn any home into the technological marvel that people in past generations dreamed it could be.

After starting life as a Kickstarter project, SmartThings is poised to strike out into the real world and become a staple in every technophile’s home. The starter kit comes with a hub and three sensors, which can alert you to events happening in your home like people coming in or leaving, unexpected motion or the presence of someone when you aren’t home. In the future, the team behind SmartThings anticipates that the system will be able to lock and unlock doors, turn lights on and off, monitor thermostats or smoke detectors, and all kinds of other cool stuff – all via the internet, from anywhere in the world.

The ultimate vision of what the system could be in the future doesn’t quite mesh with what it can do right now, but that’s to be expected for something that’s in its early stages. And yes, there are some separate devices that can do some of these actions now, like turning lights on and off or changing the house temperature when you aren’t there. But so far, no one has come up with one system that can handle all of these tasks, and that’s what we’re really excited about.

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Getting halfway to work and suddenly wondering if you remember to unplug the iron is an awful feeling. Not as awful as not thinking about it and unintentionally starting a fire, though. Both of these moments could be avoided with a concept called the Off Door Handle. Designed by Ean-ah Kim, Jin Hyuk Rho and Maria Rho and winner of a 2011 Red Dot award, it is a door handle that integrates switches for your electricity and gas, allowing you to turn these services off as you are leaving the house each day.

There are some practical problems involved with using this type of system in the U.S. (particularly in cold climates where turning the electricity off in winter would mean coming home to frozen pipes), but the idea is actually very clever. Rather than putting notes all around the house or nagging your spouse half to death to turn things off, whoever leaves the house last can just take care of it.

We would love to see the handle paired with specific outlets in the house so that only the outlets where dangerous or energy-sucking gadgets are plugged in would be switched off every morning. Then when you come home, your stereo and computer can come back to life and get ready to entertain you.

The handle works with a small dial and on/off button on the end. The user would twist the dial to the appropriate setting – gas, electricity or both – to determine what should be cut off. Then a press of the power button ensures that the selected services are off and the resident can go about his or her day without worrying about the state of things at home.

The post Twist and Save: Door Handle Light Switch is a Bright Idea first appeared on Gajitz.

Air purifiers have become a common sight in homes and offices as people become more concerned with air impurities. Most of them are of the plug-in variety, but designers Mathieu Lehanneur and David Edwards had a bright idea: why not use nature’s air purifiers to serve the same purpose in buildings? Plants, of course, are known for their ability to scrub toxins from the air and release pure, fresh oxygen. The Andrea air purifier combines nature and technology into one beautiful and effective air-scrubbing machine.

Andrea uses nearly any household plant you supply and takes advantage of its natural purifying properties to absorb and neutralize airborne toxins. A powered fan pushes air over the plant’s leaves and through the roots and soil to speed up the plant’s filtration process. According to Andrea’s creators, the device removes toxic gases from the air at a rate of over 1000% faster than plants alone.

The Andrea seems to be a huge improvement over most other filter designs simply because it uses an elegant natural solution to clear the air. Other air purifiers require the use of removable filters that collect the toxins and must be periodically replaced or cleaned. The Andrea, on the other hand, utilizes a natural process that has been taking place since long before humans walked the planet – and adds a high-tech twist.

The post Clearing the Air Naturally: Plants + Technology Scrub Toxins first appeared on Gajitz.