Home Builder Developer - Interior Renovation and Design

If you're like me, fumbling around the supermarket looking for obscure items is a pretty commonand frustratingoccurrence. Lighting giant Philips has developed a solution: smart lights.

The company yesterday introduced a system that connects in-store LED lights with consumers' smart phones. Using a downloadable app, people will be able to locate items on their shopping lists or get coupons as they pass products on the aisles. Retailers can send targeted information such as recipes and coupons to consumers based on their precise location within stores, while gaining benefits of energy-efficient LED lighting, says Philips.

The beauty of the system is that retailers do not have to invest in additional infrastructure to house, power and support location beacons for indoor positioning. The light fixtures themselves can communicate this information by virtue of their presence everywhere in the store," said Philips Lighting's Gerben van der Lugt in a statement.

The company is demonstrating the retail lighting system at the EuroShop retail trade show in Dsseldorf, Germany, this week. Philips is already testing it with an undisclosed number of retailers.

The system uses Visual Light Communications (VLC) to talk with consumers' smartphones. Unlike the wireless protocols Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and Zigbee, which use radio waves to send information, VLC relies on the store lights to transmit data to the camera on a smart phone in fast pulses. The lights blink at frequencies that are undetectable by people, according to LEDs Magazine.

There are already a number of other efforts aimed at adding communications and sensors to LED light fixtures. Last year, researchers at the University of Strathclyde in the U.K. demonstrated LED lights with optical communications, which they call Li-Fi. That setup was able to operate at gigabit-per-second speeds, according to a BBC article.

Startup ByteLight has developed a system similar to Philips retail lighting network. It also uses light pulses to communicate with consumers smart phones in stores. Other companies, such as Silver Spring Networks, in Redwood City, Calif., have developed street lights with sensors and radios that allow city managers to remotely monitor traffic density or air quality.

The New York Times today reported that the airport in Newark, New Jersey, is operating smart lighting systems with cameras that make it easier to monitor the facility. The lights allow personnel to spot long lines, look at license plate numbers, and potentially send alerts about suspicious activity.

But these smart lighting systems, while powerful, are raising concerns about privacy and whether new policies are needed to address this emerging technology. There are some people in the commercial space who say, Oh, big datawell, lets collect everything, keep it around forever, well pay for somebody to think about security later, Justin Brookman from the Center for Democracy and Technology told the Times.

In the case of Philips' retail lighting application, consumers would have to download an app, which indicates their willingness to have their movements tracked. But as lighting and other everyday items such as thermostats and streetlights are equipped with sensors and wireless networking, it raises new questions about what is an acceptable amount of monitoring and data collection.

See more here:
Philips Creates Shopping Assistant with LEDs and Smart Phone

Thompson #39;s Point Fly over

By: Carroll Associates Landscape Architects

The rest is here:
Thompson's Point Fly over - Video

Interview with Eva Byrne on Dublin City FM
Annie O #39;Reilly interviews Eva Byrne, Founder of Architects House Exchange on "Talk Travel" show on Dublin City FM, 5 February 2014.

By: Architects House Exchange

Read the original:
Interview with Eva Byrne on Dublin City FM - Video

Architects - Broken Cross - Bass Cover
Architects Broken Cross Bass Cover. From the new album lost forever Lost together Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheDCFaust Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/...

By: Daniel Cruz

Link:
Architects - Broken Cross - Bass Cover - Video

How to Choose an Architect for Your Project
http://network.aia.org/cran/Home http://www.youtube.com/CRANtv Licensed architects are specialists. Part of becoming one is to understand a multitude of deta...

By: CRANtv

The rest is here:
How to Choose an Architect for Your Project - Video

Sir Nicholas Grimshaw: Architects as Social Engineers / Knowledge vs Vision
On architect-client relationships, always questioning projects to test their necessity Architecture vs Politics a balance of technical knowledge vs. crea...

By: NOISE Festival.com

Read more from the original source:
Sir Nicholas Grimshaw: Architects as Social Engineers / Knowledge vs Vision - Video

QuickBooks for Architects -- How to Bill Costs Back to Your Clients

By: bqesoftware

See the rest here:
QuickBooks for Architects -- How to Bill Costs Back to Your Clients - Video

Noji Architects
Brand sculpture for Noji Architecture, Dublin, Ireland: It started with four letters and a perfect cube. Once noted that the letters of the brandname #39;Noji #39; ...

By: El Yob

Read the original:
Noji Architects - Video

View Larger The Bottom Line Other Business Features Local Stories from ThisWeek By Tim Feran The Columbus Dispatch Wednesday February 19, 2014 8:07 AM

McGraw-Hill Education and Persistent Systems are in different industries, but the companies have something in common. Their Columbus offices have been redone recently to encourage workers to put their heads together.

The term were using is resilient work space, said Tim Hawk, president of WSA Studio and adjunct professor of architecture at Columbus State Community College, who designed the new offices for both educational publisher McGraw-Hill and technology company Persistent Systems.

Four decades ago, architects began designing open-plan offices for clients who sought increased employee communication and reduced renovation costs.

But there were downsides. In study after study, employees complained about distractions from noise and lack of privacy, two things that paradoxically would slow employee output even though the design was intended to speed productivity.

Today, architects have perfected open offices or resilient work spaces by taking into account past complaints. Thus, the trend is very much driven by employee needs, Hawk said.

In the past, jobs were focused on a singular task and could, therefore, be focused on one desk in one office.

The idea for many companies today is multi-tasking, working fluidly, working at home, working at lunch or not, Hawk said. As a result, workplace design needs to be more open and flexible and easily able to adapt. Were seeing this all over the place.

At McGraw-Hill Education, employees know that the industry is moving very rapidly, said Peter Cohen, president of the Columbus-based textbook giant. A century ago, the company would work with a state to meet educational requirements and then create a textbook that would be a benchmark for four years or more.

Today, new editions are published annually or even more often, and content is moving to digital media that can be updated on a continuing basis.

Read the original post:
Architects improving work space

By Kylie GalbraithFeb. 20, 2014, 4 a.m.

ARCHITECTS design buildings, right? But theres a lot more to the profession than meets the eye, with all to be revealed at a unique event in Tamworth.

ARCHITECTS design buildings, right? But theres a lot more to the profession than meets the eye, with all to be revealed at a unique event in Tamworth.

Architecture on Show is at Ray Walsh House tomorrow night and is a chance for members of the public to hear from local architects and view the work of the winners of the recent Australian Institute of Architects Country Division Awards.

Its the first time an event of this kind has been staged in the city, and Tamworth architect and seminar co-ordinator Nick Brown, from Studio Two Architecture, is excited about sharing his passion for his profession.

Hell be joined by Carolyn McFarland (nee Austin, a former Tamworth girl) from Austin McFarland in Wingham; Michael McPhillips, from Magoffin and Deakin in Armidale; and Virginia Wong-See, of Armidale firm Virginia Wong-See Architects.

Each of the architects will be making a 15-minute presentation, with some slides of their work, to illustrate what theyve done in the local community and why.

There are so many people interested in design and architecture in regional Australia, so hopefully they can come along and enjoy an informative night and ask a lot of questions, Mr Brown said.

Architecture on Show began in 2010 as an open day during the Sydney Architecture Festival.

Since then the program has grown throughout the metropolitan and regional areas of NSW to include 20 local councils.

Here is the original post:
Be fascinated by architecture