Home Builder Developer - Interior Renovation and Design

If you believe the weekend rumors, Apple will announce a connected-home platform next week at WWDC. But before you get too excited about an iThermostat and an iFridge and an iCamera watching you sleep, consider this: If Apple does get into the home-automation market, that doesn't necessarily mean it'll make smart-home gadgets of its own.

Sure, the Nest thermostat looks like an Apple product; after all, it was designed and made by ex-Apple employees. But Apple doesnt need to start up its own smart-home hardware division, or even buy a company in that space. That's because plenty of companies are already making awesome connected-home products that solve real-world problems right now. And pretty much all of those gadgets work with the iPhone already.

So Apple could just ink partnership deals with the best players in the category. If it did so, the company would enter the market with a couple of potent weapons: tight iOS integration and the Apple Retail Store.

Consumers looking to smarten up their homes essentially have two options: You can go for a comprehensive managed system or just dip your toes in bit by bit.

Managed systems are popular if youre building a brand-new home and can install everything at once, or if youre comfortable turning to companies like Comcast, AT&T, or ADT to install the whole kit and kaboodle and then charge you monthly to monitor the service. I dont know about you, but my experiences with AT&T and Comcast dont make me super-eager to put them in charge of my entire home.

Nest cofounder Tony Fadell worked on the original iPod.

The bit-by-bit approach has the advantage that each gadget you add solves a particular problem. You get a Nest so you can save money on heating and cooling, you get a Dropcam so you can watch your home, and you get a Belkin WeMo plug so you can set up an IFTTT recipe that has the lamp in your foyer light up when you approach your front door. You know why youre installing each piece, rather than just chasing after the vague promise of a smart home.

The problem with bit-by-bit is that each of those gadgets uses its own app. Companies like Revolv and SmartThings are working on integrating multiple gadgets from different companies into a single easy-to-use app. But Apple could do them one better by adding smart gadget integration into iOS 8.

When Apple added Twitter integration to iOS 7, it suddenly became easier to share everything on Twitter, no matter what app you were in, and to log in to new apps with your Twitter credentials too. Adding similar integration for smart-home gadgets would be just as great, whether Apple wants to hand-pick preferred partners or to provide open APIs in the iOS 8 SDK. Either route would let these gadgets work with Siri, for starters, and provide a lot more benefits too.

iBeacons are already at work in retail locations, but Apples rumored smart-home platform could use them too.

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Apple doesn't need its own gadgets to dominate the smart home

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Ugly to Un-ugly Kitchen
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DES PLAINES, Ill. Vibrant, energetic color especially in kitchens is one of the top trends seen in 2014.

Kitchens remain a top remodeling project, according to member profile study data from the National Association of the Remodeling Industry. NARI put out its new data earlier this month May is National Home Improvement Month and 82 percent of NARI members identify kitchens as their primary service offering.

The use of color in kitchen designs was identified as one of the themes emerging from the associations 2014 CotY Awards program, which recognizes the top national projects in 25 categories and totaled nearly $73 million worth of remodeling projects.

This year in the kitchen, design experts agree it was all about color and creating contrasts, from pairing classic with contemporary styles to infusing touches of color into the timeless combination of black and white. Since most appliances are basic black, white or stainless steel, bold bursts of color are appearing on other surfaces. Color is often used to highlight the base of island or peninsula cabinets, colored stone in the countertop, different blends of cabinetry wood and in the tiles of the backsplash. For some homeowners, adding touches of color can update an existing look, while for others, it can be the starting point for a total remodeling of the space.

Bright colors are very trendy, especially in contemporary kitchens, said George Edwards, NARI awards chairman and chief operations officer of A & C Kitchens and Baths in Chester, Pa. Color is a great way to create harmony, especially in open concept kitchens that flow into other parts of living and dining room space.

In many of this years winning CotY kitchen designs, bolder colors such as blues, oranges, sunny yellows and avocado greens complement stainless steel and darker cabinet colors with neutral white finishes.

What is making color trends different is fusing them together in fresh and inventive ways. Colors found in nature, such as relaxing silver blues, gray/greens and earthy browns, remain popular, but are now being integrated with bursts of poppy, vibrant pink, daiquiri green or purple. Warm yellow and red shades continue to be popular in kitchens because of their comforting and subtle hues.

Coppery browns and Aztec clay colors such as henna, ginger and gold tones are also popular choices, especially in backsplashes where homeowners are inspired to use a variety of colors to personalize their kitchens and create a distinct decor.

Improving the overall look and feel of the kitchen was most often cited on the CotY entries as the main motivating factor by homeowners for remodeling, followed by improving function.

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Remodeling can become a colorful project

At a construction site in the Japanese city of Kawagoe, worker Fan Xiuyu says hes too busy to miss the wife and six-year-old child he left behind in China.

I came to Japan to make money and learn advanced construction techniques, said Fan, 29, a native of Taishan, who says his job making and installing metal ducts for Haruta Kogyo Co. pays him three to four times what he earned in his homeland. The working environment in Japan is much better than China. Its clean and Japanese colleagues are willing to teach me when I ask them for help.

With a dwindling population, Japan needs more people like Fan to build and run venues and hotels for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. The nation imported about 50,000 workers annually over the past five years. That needs to rise to 200,000, according to a Bloomberg poll of 14 economists -- twice as many as the public would accept. To satisfy the demand, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe would have to break down centuries of resistance to immigration.

Even 100,000 immigrants would do little to ease the labor population decline and even that would be politically difficult, said Yasunari Ueno, chief market economist at Mizuho Securities Co. in Tokyo. Immigration is unpopular, especially in the provinces. Abe still seems to flinch at the idea of accepting foreign workers on a large scale for fear of losing public support ahead of elections in 2015 and 2016.

Workers labor on a construction site in Tokyo. Utilizing foreign workers is one of main issues being actively discussed at governments economic and fiscal council, an advisory committee for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to work out the governments growth strategy. Close

Workers labor on a construction site in Tokyo. Utilizing foreign workers is one of main... Read More

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Workers labor on a construction site in Tokyo. Utilizing foreign workers is one of main issues being actively discussed at governments economic and fiscal council, an advisory committee for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to work out the governments growth strategy.

Japan is caught in an economic pincer. On one side is a declining population thats sapping the worlds third-largest economy of workers. On the other are some of the most restrictive immigration policies of a developed nation.

Japan will lose four out of every 10 workers by 2060, shaving as much as 0.9 percentage point off potential growth -- more than half last years expansion, according to Cabinet Office projections. Most Japanese oppose accepting more foreign workers into the country to offset the decline, according to a poll in April by the Yomiuri newspaper.

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Japans Olympic Dream Rests in Hands of Foreign Workers

Plans to build a new General Assembly office building adjacent toVirginia's historic statehouse are already prompting changes in downtown Richmond, years before the first ceremonial shovel of dirt is turned on that project. The Capitol Square improvements, approved by lawmakers and the governor earlier this year, are expected to cost around $300 million through 2019.

But that project is throwing a wrench in the plans of another project, nearly a decade in the making.

We're one of only five states in the nation that doesn't have a memorial honoring public safety workers who have died in the line of duty, said Matthew Gray, executive director of the Virginia Public Safety Foundation (VPSF).

The Virginia Public Safety Memorial broke ground in early January, and despite big plans in Capitol Square, it's still on track to be completed by the end of 2014.

Gray says it's Virginia's responsibility to move forward as soon as possible on the memorial to honor the 843 men and women who paid the ultimate price. But doing that means finding the memorial a new home, fast.

Plans to demolish and rebuild the General Assembly Building would have caused a delay of four or five years, Gray said. Our plan is for the memorial to be moved to a site about 50 yards to the east of the original location.

New plans would put the memorial next to the Patrick Henry building, home to the office of Governor Terry McAuliffe and his cabinet. The plans have yet to be finalized, but the Virginia Public Safety Foundation says it is still on track to finish on time, finally honoring our fallen heroes.

Tuesday night, Governor Terry McAuliffe participated in a memorial service at the capitol to honor law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty during the past year. Their names will join hundreds of others on the memorial when it's completed later this year.

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New General Assembly Offices Will Hinder Public Safety Memorial

At Wiley Plaza, a vision of what a 100-year-old department store/office building renovated into 73 apartments and a couple of floors of commercial space is starting to come into focus.

Thats especially the case on the second floor, where new interior walls have been framed, Sheetrock hung, joints mudded and sanded, a coat of primer applied and baseboards and trim nailed into place.

And in the southwest corner, a show apartment will be finished within another month. Kitchen and bathroom cabinets, sinks and a bathtub have been installed and doors hung. The walls have been covered with a coat of taupe paint.

Although the show apartment will be finished, interested renters still wont be able to see it for months because of the ongoing construction.

Jay Manske, one of the principals in the development, and Keatin Herder of Key Construction, said the first apartment is being finished out now so that all concerned can sign off on the color selections before they get any farther into the job.

On Tuesday, bankers involved in financing the project took their monthly tour of the progress.

The third floor isnt far behind the second. Walls have been framed, drywall hung and bathtubs installed. Workers were applying joint compound to the drywall and sanding it down. Meanwhile, cabinets and doors have been brought up to the floor in preparation for their installation.

On the fourth floor, nearly all the drywall has been hung, but the job of applying joint compound hasnt started yet.

On the fifth floor, framing for interior walls is complete but the drywall process has barely begun, because workers are still installing plastic pipe leading to kitchens, bathrooms and utility closets.

On the sixth floor, workers are sweeping up dust and small bits of debris from the interior demolition and installing interior wall studs.

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Wiley Plaza apartments coming into focus

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Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher, also known as Joe the Plumber, who became famous (infamous?) during the 2008 Presidential Election cycle, has resurfaced after making shocking comments regarding Fridays deadly shooting near the campus of the University of California at Santa Barbara.

Wurzelbacher penned an open letter to the parents of the shooting victims. The letter was posted online on Tuesday.

He wrote: Your dead kids dont trump my Constitutional rights ... Any feelings you have toward my rights being taken away from me, lose those.

Wurzelbacher specifically targets Richard Martinez, the outspoken father of one of the shooting victims who said his son, Christopher Martinez, died in part because of irresponsible politicians and the NRA that talk about gun rights over the right to live.

Wurzelbacher wrote:

As a father, husband and a man, it is my responsibility to protect my family. I will stand up for that right vehemently. Please believe me, as a father I share your grief and I will pray for you and your family, as I do whenever I hear about senseless tragedies such as this.

He didnt stop there, instead going on to attack the media while trying to turn the incident into a political issue.

I noticed the mainstream media have stopped the practice of immediately reporting the psycho maniac is a conservative Tea Party Republican Christian. Guess they're sick of having to hide being wrong every time when it comes out the whacko votes Democrat?

He concluded his letter by offering his sympathy to the families affected by Fridays shooting.

Wurzelbacher may be known as Joe the Plumber. He is actually not a plumber at all, but rose to infamy but became a household name following a campaign stop in Ohio where he voiced opposition to then-Senator Barack Obamas planned policy on taxing small businesses, a moment which went on to become a campaigning tool for Obamas rival Sen. John McCain.

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Joe the Plumber Sounds Off on Dad of UCSB Shooting Victim

WASHINGTON, May 27 (UPI) --Conservative activist Samuel Wurzelbacher, better known as Joe the Plumber, wrote an open letter to the parents of the victims of the Isla Vista shooting saying that their children's deaths do not trump his constitutional right to bear arms.

After Elliot Rodger killed six people and injured others on Friday, Richard Martinez, who lost his son Christopher, lashed out in a passionate statement directed at politicians and the NRA for preventing gun control legislation.

"Why did Chris die? Chris died because of craven irresponsible politicians and the NRA," Martinez said. "They talk about gun rights. What about Chris's right to live? When will this insanity stop? When will enough people say 'Stop this madness, we don't have to live like this?' Too many have died. We should say to ourselves, not one more."

This has given new spark to the gun control debate only four days after the shooting. Wurzelbacher decided to also join the debate Thursday in an open letter to the victims parents published in Barbwire.

"I am sorry you lost your child. I myself have a son and daughter and the one thing I never want to go through, is what you are going through now. But: As harsh as this sounds -- your dead kids don't trump my Constitutional rights."

He went on to say that even though the shooting was a tragedy, he believes the protection of his second amendment rights is more important.

"We still have the Right to Bear Arms and I intend to continue to speak out for that right, and against those who would restrict it -- even in the face of this horrible incident by this sad and insane individual."

He also said that Rodger is most likely an Obama voter and liberals do not care about their families.

"They don't care about your family or your dead children at all. They sound like they do, whereas I sound uncaring and like I say, harsh. Don't be fooled -- I care about your family and mine. The future of our very liberty lies in the balance of this fight."

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'Joe the Plumber' in open letter: 'Your dead kids don't trump my constitutional rights'