| Honda test house features Smart Home System for controlling energy usage May 1st 2012, 23:01  The term "smart home" seems to turn up in tech circles every so often, only to fade into the background again without much sign of ultra-connected dwellings becoming a reality. Honda's at least putting one foot forward, with a just-unveiled test house in Saitama, Japan featuring a system for controlling and monitoring energy usage. The Honda Smart Home System (HSHS) consists of thin-film solar cell panels, a rechargeable home battery unit, gas and hot water supply systems and the Smart e Mix Manager. The latter is the central part of the energy-control system, and it keeps track of all the other components in addition to monitoring the home's use of power supplied by the grid. In emergency situations, it can also provide electricity via the home battery unit. On the day-to-day level, however, the system is there to let home owners know what sources of power they can kill. Honda also integrates its Japan-only Internavi system for controlling home appliances remotely. The car maker hopes to use the house for extensive demo testing, with an ultimate goal of reducing CO2 emissions by 50 percent. No word on how many decades till we actually call this sort of place home, though. Click on past the break for a look (in Japanese) at the test home's features. Continue reading Honda test house features Smart Home System for controlling energy usage Honda test house features Smart Home System for controlling energy usage originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 01 May 2012 19:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink  Gizmag |  Honda | Email this | Comments | | New York Times sees higher circulation numbers, digital paywall smiles knowingly May 1st 2012, 22:15  Given how aggressively The New York Times pushes its digital packages -- we've long since dropped our subscription yet are still bombarded with offers -- you'd hope the paper was at least seeing some results. Well, never fear: it is. A report by the Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) found that the Times has seen a healthy increase in circulation, with the Sunday edition selling 2,003,247 copies (up 50 percent from last year) and the weekday editions racking in an average of 1,586,757 (up 73 percent). The ABC attributes much of this gain to the NYT's addition of digital access to paper subscriptions, and we're sure the paywall, which limits non-subscribers to just ten free articles a month, has something to do with it, too. New York Times sees higher circulation numbers, digital paywall smiles knowingly originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 01 May 2012 18:15:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink The Next Web | | Email this | Comments | |
